Saturday 29 September 2012

The white pearl by Kate furnivall - my thoughts

Atmosphere atmosphere atmosphere!! The book takes you straight to the tropical weather of Malaya.The atmosphere is weaved into the sentences she writes. Connie , an expat from England enters a new life in Malaya, her husband being a rubber plantation owner.She has been living in Malaya for years when the story begins ,however she is not yet used to the hot and humid weather of the country. The introduction of the native girl 'Maya' in the story is so strong that for a time I wondered as to who was the real heroine. Maya belongs to the poor section of the society and her thoughts are always on the mundane things of life.
 "What would you like for your future"? Connie asks.
 Maya replies "plenty of food and a bicycle"
Maya is always analysing what the white people speak and what is going on in their minds. She doesn't trust them.

The war where the Japanese attacked Malaya in 1941 ,when it was under the British rule, is the highlight of the book. The author has done good research and the history is authentic.

Connie's relation with her husband and son as well as Maya , brings out her kind and compassionate nature. And her connection with the Japanese is well embedded in the story.

'Madoc' and 'kitty' are characters whose story runs parallel to the main characters and one knows that they have to meet with the central character somewhere in the story.

Connie's escape from Malaya on a boat ( the white pearl), along with her family and friends, is full of adventure,complete with war planes, hidden islands and death.

The author makes use of lot of similes throughout the story.
"Humidity was something solid, like running into a brick wall"

She gives the readers an olfactory perception of the  atmosphere .
"Smell of rotting vegetation, suffocating, smelled strongly of wood smoke"

I love books which have a backdrop of history and where one can learn about different cultures and countries. If you have the same interests this book is a good read .
Kate furnivall's websit


Thursday 27 September 2012

Sabudana vada to satiate hunger pangs

Fasting on specific days is a way of devotion in Hinduism.

Fasting means eating only certain foods and excluding others.We eat only sattvic ( pure ) food on these days. Sattvic foods are those foods which keep the body temperature and pressure under control and a stable body is then fit to fix the mind on God.
Many people partake fruits and milk while fasting. We are also allowed to eat sago seeds otherwise known as tapioca pearls and we call it sabudana in our local language.



We need to first soak these seeds in water.My mom's techniques is to soak them in just enough water to immerse the seeds. In about an hour all the water will be soaked up and u will get well soaked but well  separated seeds.

I have soaked about 1 cup of seeds .My  cup measures about 200 ml water.
Ingredients
Sago seeds - 1 cup
Potato ( boiled ) - 1
Cumin seeds ( jeera) - 2 tsps
Garlic- 2 inch
Green chilli - 2
Salt
Oil
Make a paste of green chillies, and ginger.
Now mix together sago seeds, potato and the ginger- chilli paste.also add the cumin seeds and salt to taste. Make round flat balls of this mixture.
Heat oil .Fry these balls on a medium heat .
Serve them with green Green chutney. Sabudana keeps u full and one doesn't think of food the rest of the day while fasting. And they taste yum.
I would love to hear about other kind of foods eaten during fasting .
Do share your ideas. Happy fasting with happy thoughts


Wednesday 26 September 2012

Diy ice skating dress for school sports themed mufti

My daughter had mufti day in school. The theme was sports.  She goes to iceskating school but does not have a special dress for it.
So what would she wear for the mufti.


I went online and found a iceskating badge in google images.


I took a printout of the badge and made it sturdy by sticking a card paper behind.
Next I took a ribbon and attached it with the help of a tape.

Just made her wear skin coloured tights ,the same that they wear for iceskating.
And so we had a last minute skate dress ready.
The kids loved it at school and the teacher appreciated it.
My daughter was all smiles and I was a happy mom.

Monday 24 September 2012

Eggless vanilla cupcakes

Everyone in our family enjoys cupcakes . However we are vegetarians and hence are not able to buy cupcakes from shops ad most of them contain egg.
 
   So my quest to make eggless cupcakes at home bean.
 
  Here is my recipie for eggless vanilla cupcakes with chocolate butter icing

    Instead of eggs I have used egg replacer
   
 
Ingredients
Self raising flour - 1 cup
Butter(at room temperature) - 125 grams
Caster sugar - 1/2 cup
Vanilla extract - 1/2 Tsp
Eggreplacer - 2 large tsp
Milk - 3 tbsp
Method
1. To mix egg replacer
 Take 2 tsp of egg replacer and add about 4 tsp of water to it .mix well so that it has a medium egg like consistency.

Add butter ,caster sugar ,vanilla extract and mix with a hand mixer.now add the egg replacer which u have made. Add the self raising flour to it. Mix again .Add milk warmed for 10 sec to this mixture .Mix well with hand mixer. Do not over mix.

Spoon the mixture in cupcake cases and keep them in muffin pan. Preheat the oven at 180 deg .
Bake for about 15 min or until a knife comes out clean .
I used my cupcake maker so its very easy ,makes cupcakes in 12 min .

For the icing
I used Chelsea rich chocolate icing sugar.So all you have to do is add butter and a little warm water to it and you get a rich thick icing. I added 1 tsp of butter and 1 tsp of water.Add water carefully otherwise the icing will become too watery.

I made 6 big cupcakes from the quantity given above and I used 1 cup of chelsea icing sugar tomake the icing .I have put a very thin layer of icing as my children dont like too much of it ,however u can make icing according to your taste.

Spread the icing on the cupcake once theyare cooled and I decorated with 100's and 1000's



And now the final result








Saturday 22 September 2012

Mumbai's unique language

I live literally on the other side of the world. There is not much opportunity to meet Indians here. However the other day I met a friend's friend and the moment she opened her mouth I had a big smile on my face.
    Her opening words were " Hi kaisi hai yaar" Now only a mumbaikar can be that informal. I immediately replied "Jhakaas" and her face lit up we both said at the same time " mumbaikar"? 
    That's the beauty of our lingo we are so unique we are recognised anywhere as mumbaikars.
     We always address our friends as tu, tereko,bhidu, dost......I know the north indians are appalled at disrespect for they always use aap even for close relations. 
     We have invented a new kind of hindi which people from other parts of India donot understand.When I was living in Calcutta for a short time , I asked the roadside vendor "Ek kilo kanda dena bhai " and he stared at me as if  I was asking for some exotic fruit .After hard thinking did I realise that kanda is actually a marathi word for onion and not a hindi word at all .
     I am sure thereis none other in the world who can say " chall pakka mat " on someone's face meaning don't fib or don't bore me. 
     And if something is not quite all right we will say   " Lafda hogaya yaar ,aaj pandu ne pakadliya " pandu here meaning the traffic cop.
     Who else will understand when we ask for " cutting  chai" that we mean half a cup of tea.
     If someone is irritating us , we promptly say "dimaag ki dahi mat kar" meaning dont eat my head .
No mumbaikar will feel insulted if we use these words ,infact we have a feeling of kinship with this person who speaks our ishtyle .
    We are always on the go, vada pav in hand, cutting chai for a drink and always ready to make friends .Barabar bola na bhidu !!

When Ganesha comes a visiting

September is the time of the year when my heart and mind are back in India .

   Festivity is in the hearts of the people  and that spreads in the atmosphere. The Ganesh festival which has now gained world wide prominence was started by Lokmanya Tilak, a great Indian revolutionary, in the 1800's .His idea was to get people together as a community and create a sense of unity. Back then caste system and discrimination was at its peak in India. Truly amazing is how one man by his unique thinking could  bring people of all sections together in the name of God.
      Over the years ,the festival has only become bigger to say the least. During the festival people bring Ganesha idols at home and treat the God as a guest . Also people in a particular area together bring a life size ganesh idol .In Mumbai one can see life size ganesha idols ,every km or so.
      For me the coming of Ganesha was devotional when I was young because I had a firm faith in God. However over the years I have been analysing this feeling ,I know understand why the heart is so happy during this festival. Its because all people remove bad thoughts, cleanse their minds and do pure hearted devotion.this devotion is not only towards God but there is a feeling of love towards the community as well.People forget their grudges and come together.That's the true meaning of worship according to me. Loving mankind .and literally God shows the way.
  This a video of Ganesh utsav in Mumbai added from youtube



We treat Ganesha as a guest ,hence we make the treats which are pleasing to Him and The Lord's all time favourite is Modakhttp://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=35486425
Modak is a rice dumpling filled with coconut and jaggery. An offering of 21, or 101 modaks depending on your capability pleases the Lord no end.
Here's a simple recepie for Modaks
Ingredients
Rice flour - 1 cup
Water - 1 cup
Grated cocunut -1 cup
Jaggery - 1cup

The filling
 Mix thecocunut and jaggery  together on a medium heat on the stove.keep mixing till jaggery melts and the mixture is well combined .Add a little cardomom powder. Allow the mixture tocool
In a pan boil 1 cup of water,add 1 spoon oil and salt to taste(a pinch). Add 1 cup rice powder to theboiling water ,remove it from heat and mix well .all the wter will be absorbed by the rice flour .Knead the dough when it is hot so that no lumps form. Make six balls .Flatten each ball with hand ,fill it with the cocunut jaggery filling and make modak shapes.
Steam the modaks in a steamer or cooker for 10 minutes .Very yummy


Thursday 20 September 2012

Libraries in Auckland ,New Zealand

Ask me what is the best thing I like about Auckland,New zealand? The public libraries.
       I come from India and sadly there are only a few libraries in india, most of them u have to pay a monthly fee.I had a membership with a local mobile library where I payed Rs 150 for borrowing a handful of books every month . So i spent a lot of my money on buying books and had a problem of storing them.
     As soon as I came to NZ 2 yrs back, the first thing I did was take a local library membership.The moment I stepped in I was so happy to see such a large collection of books.
     The library staff are so helpful and in a matter of minutes I had a magnetic card( like a credit card) in my hand and was told that I can borrow books from 55 libraries around Auckland. I can also return the books at any of the 55libraries across Auckland no matter from which library I have borrowed them from.
     Membership is free if u are a resident of Auckland.Wow!
   All libraries have a free internet access. Too good.
      Earlier I used to spend hours searching for a book, but later I found how easy it was to order a book online and also mention which library you would like to collect it from. I could borrow 35 books at a time ,including magazines ,cds etc.
      I can also renew the books online so i need not worry that I dont have time to visit the library.It has a huge collection of Dvds to rent for a small fee.
      Library was always a place where one has to maintain silence or the librarian hushes you.
However Auckland libraries have rhyme times and story times for children free of cost. They have craft and art activities for older children during school holidays. All this without charging a penny.At the same time the others can still read books without being disturbed and have ur coffee too.
    The Digital Library includes over 100 databases which provide
 access to the world’s information and e-audio books which can be downloaded.
     They also have foreign language books ,play area for small children and a vibrant atmosphere and well heated rooms.
     I take my 2year old and we spend many happy hours at the library . it has installed a love of books in my daughter and she looks forward to our visits.
    Whenever I leave this country, the lovely libraries I will miss most.They have spoiled me for life.
        Happy reading develops Happy Thoughts.
       I am adding a link of the auckland libraries
www.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz


      www.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz