Post Diwali Blues

Wow! It's been a long time since I last posted. What can I say? Diwali is the all-consuming festival and I have been so busy the last week preparing for the Festival of Lights. Rooms to be cleaned and dusted, cobwebs all swept away, buying sweets and new clothes - it's been a hectic time and I loved every minute. Probably because this festival is all about family bonding time. I decorated the door and gate with marigold garlands, had a kumkum and haldi rangoli adorn the front of the gate and lighted diyas with sesame oil and cotton wicks (like in the picture). We performed the Lakshmi Pooja in the evening to usher in prosperity and lit a few fireworks. The rest of the evening was spent in watching a movie.
Now that all the excitement is gone, I feel like one of those flowerpots on the roads - all spent and empty:-) To get over the post Diwali blues, I'm going to post the recipes for my festival foods.

Medhu Vada (or Vadais) are fried lentil snacks shaped like doughnuts. A must for every auspicious occasion, this festival food is simple to make.

MEDHU VADA RECIPE

2 cups of urad dal/ split black gram lentils/ minapa pappu soaked overnight
1 cup finely chopped onion
2-3 chillies sliced finely (skip if you don't like your vada too spicy)
1 tsp cumin/jeera/jillakarra
Salt to taste (about 2 tsps)
Sunflower Oil and wok for deep frying
A square of plastic sheet or a banana leaf
A small bowl of water

Grind the lentils along with the salt in a mixer-grinder or wet-grinder, adding as little water as possible as you don't want the batter to get too runny. The resultant batter should be a smooth sticky paste. Mix in the chopped onion, chillies and cumin. Place the square of plastic sheet or banana leaf on a chopping board and keep a bowl of water handy.
Place the wok on the stove and pour oil in it. Light the stove and keep it at medium-hot. The oil should get really hot but should not smoke.
Wet the sheet/leaf so that batter does not stick to it.
The batter will be really sticky, so dip your hand in the bowl and form it into a little ball the size of an orange, by tossing it a little. Place it on the sheet / leaf and spread till it is flattened. Dip your finger in water and make a hole in the center of this flattened vada. Use the sheet to slip the vada into the hot oil. Be careful! The oil may splutter. If the oil is hot enough, the vada should rise, bubbling, to the surface.
Wait for a little and turn the flame down to low, so that the vada cooks through. The perfect vada is crunchy, deep golden-brown on the outside and deliciously soft on the inside. Like so,


[Picture courtesy:http://www.vahrehvah.com/ Go check out the recipes there!]

Vadas are served with coconut/peanut/tomato chutney or sambar. Enjoy!

Have been reading: Harry Potter series again, Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson: The Battle of the Labyrinth, P G Wodehouse's Piccadilly Jim

One last thing!

Oh and before I leave you all for the weekend, I couldn't resist this last post, sort of like 'one for the road' picture. Awwwwwwwww - isn't he adorable!
All you want to do is cuddle him and scratch his ears!

It's a FRIDAY!

It's been a week since I last posted and I did promise myself that I would be more diligent. Ah, well! Promises were meant to be broken:-) It's a FRIDAY! What more can I say? I feel like a bird let out of the cage. But Saturday means a lot of pending chores (grrrr!) to catch up on. And Sunday means lots of cooking (sigh!). I wish a weekend was three days - so that I could spend one day just recovering from Saturday and Sunday:-) I keep wanting to look like this:


But end up looking like this:


LOL!

My DH is home and that means we'll probably watch a movie or two. My daughter will be too busy preparing for her Monday test. Poor kid - it's like she's been locked up in a prison and someone's thrown the key away.

I am currently reading the last three Harry Potter books again along with a P G Wodehouse. Which reminds me - I need to go buy some more books. My daughter has a Rick Riordan that I'll read after she finishes. Both of us couldn't progress beyond the second Stephanie Meyer book - too little plot and too much embellishment. I'll post again next week. See you later, folks!

Haiku : Word Picture Poetry

Haiku is a form of Japanese poetry with strict restrictions on the number of syllables. In English, haiku are usually written in three lines that consist of five, seven, and five syllables to resemble the three metrical phrases of a Japanese haiku.

My attempts at haiku :


On the monsoon:

Raindrops drum on glass,
Runnels form patterns in dirt,
Nature’s play unfolds.

Wet roads, slick pavements,
Signals blinking blearily,
Traffic swirls and pools.

Lightning rips the skies,
Clouds rumble ominously,
The heavens weep tears.

Newly washed blue skies,
Rainbow on the horizon,
Where are you, my heart?

On work:

Ties that bind and choke,
Salaries do not feed souls,
But wolves snarl at doors.

A four walled prison,
Desiccated lives and hopes,
Power play and games.