Is it?? Really??

It all started on a snowy November morning when I was in Minneapolis. I got a call from an unknown number and on attending the call, I got to know that it was Him. We talked about very generic stuffs and got to know each other little bit (I would say, less than what the people in my apartment office would know about me :-)). We did a couple of video chats and few more phone calls (I got to know more about His parents than Him during these video chats and phone calls :-)). Me and my mom-in-law (she had not become my MIL then) used to yap a lot about fashion, movies, news, food, recipes and what not :-). And between us (me and HIM) it was pretty much a weather channel report :D (He’s going to kill me for this ...)

So, we decided we need to meet before deciding. I was working on a project which ate up like 18-19 hours per day of my time and He was equally (if not more) busy (Atleast that’s what he says :P). We decided on a weekend in December (Dec 13-14 2008) and there started I, packing my bag for the historical trip to Seattle. I was happier that I got a chance to meet my brothers (I was excited to meet Him as well ;-)) who were also flying to Seattle for the poN-parkum ceremony .Actually since I traveled, it would be more apt to call it a payyan-parkum ceremony.

I couldn’t sleep the night before the day of travel. If you think that We were chatting all those sweet-mushy-nothings over phone, you are 100% wrong… I was working on a critical issue in my project and my next day travel was also in Jeopardy. At one point I even thought whether I should cancel/postpone my trip (Thank God that I didn’t :-)). So, I reached Seattle, caught up with all the family gossips and everything with my brothers. The next day was the historically important meeting. We talked for sometime. Hearbeat racing…. Butterflies fluttering in my stomach… Nopes…. Nothing happened… But then there was something which was so compelling me to say “YES”… I still don’t know what that was/is, I even don’t want to know :-) and I’m happy that I listened to that!

The phone calls continued for another 6 months; as days went by, less of weather channel reports and more of non-stop nonsense (No points for guessing that there :-)). So, after a courtship period of 6 months, I flew to India for the D-Day. In fairy tales, I’ve read that the prince will cross 7 mountains and 7 oceans to marry the princess. But in reality, the princess needed to do the same as well.. (Ahem, the princess mentioned here is me… Hello... This is my blog. Don’t I have the freedom to call myself a princess in my blog?? :P)

The D-day (06/18/2009) dawned… the D-moment occurred… there was I, standing as a married girl, His wife. Life has been going on nothing less than great since then and can’t believe it’s a year now.

To Him: Happy Anniversary, Honey!!!

மாதங்களில் அவள் மார்கழி.....

போன வாரம் அம்மா கூட பேசிண்டு இருக்கும்போது அம்மா சொன்னா - " நாளைலேர்ந்து மார்கழி மாசம்.. தினமும் திருப்பாவை, திருவெம்பாவை சொல்லு.." ஒடனே எனக்கு முன்னாடி ஒரு mosquito coil... அதான்.. Flashback... நான் school படிக்கும்போதுலாம் மார்கழி மாசம் ரொம்ப special எனக்கு.. அதுக்கு நெறய reasons-உம் இருக்கு -

1) School Half yearly vacations- நான் school-லாம் திருச்சி-லெ படிச்சேன்.. அப்ப வந்து எங்க வீடு, சித்தி வீடு அப்பறம் சித்தப்பா வீடு எல்லாம் ஒரே Street-லெ தான் இருந்துது. Weekends and holidays-னா எல்லா cousins-உம் சேந்து ஒரே கும்மாளம் தான்... அதுல நானும் என் சித்தி பொண்ணு பாரதியும் சேந்து புதுசா ஏதாவது சமைக்கறோம் அப்டினு சொல்லி, எல்லாரயும் ரொம்ப படுத்துவோம்... அத பத்தி தனியா ஒரு post போடறேன். (அவ்ளோ இருக்கு.. :D)

2) காத்தால சீக்கிரம் எழுந்து வாசல்-லெ பெரிய ரங்கோலி போடறது - அதுக்குலாம் அப்பொ பெரிய போட்டியே நடக்கும். யார் வீட்டுல பெரிய கோலம் போட்ருக்கா, யார் கலர் நெறயா use பண்ணிர்க்கா,அப்டின்னு.. பக்கத்து வீட்டுல 20 புள்ளி கோலம் போட்டா, நாம atleast ஒரு 21 புள்ளி கோலமாவது பொடனும். அப்பறம் அவங்க கிட்ட போயி, "ஓ!! உங்க வீட்டுல 20 புள்ளி கோலமா.. எங்க வீட்டுல 21 புள்ளியாக்கும்.." அப்டின்னு பெரும பீத்திக்கறதுல ஒரு அல்ப சந்தோஷம் :-). மார்கழி மாசம் ஆரம்பிக்கரதுக்கு முன்னாடியே நான் அம்மா-வ நச்சரிச்சு கலர் பொடி-லாம் வாங்கி கலந்து வெச்சு, மார்கழி மாசம் ஒன்னாம் தேதி எப்ப வரும்-னு காத்துண்டு இருப்பேன்.

3) Daily visits to the temple - இத படிச்ச உடனே ஏதோ நான் பெரிய பக்திமான்.. கோவிலுக்கு போறதுன்னா அவ்ளோ புடிக்கும்னுலாம் நெனச்சுக்காதீங்க. அது என்ன விஷயம்-னு சொல்றேன் - நான், நிர்மல், அப்பறம் என்னோட cousins பாரதி, ப்ரஸன்னா, ராஜாஜி and விஜய் + கொஞ்சம் neighbourhood kids எல்லாரும் சேந்து காத்தால 5:30-க்கு கோவிலுக்கு கெளம்புவோம்... எல்லாரும் ஒரு sweater, monkey குல்லா/muffler எல்லாம் போட்டு கொள்ளை அடிக்க போற மாதிரியே போவோம்.. கொவிலுக்கு பொயி கொஞ்சம் பஜனை பாட்டு - அதுல 2 groups இருக்கும் - Ladies group and Gents group.. அதுல எந்த group சத்தமா பாடறாங்க அப்படின்னு ஒரு சின்ன போட்டி.. கொசு தொல்லை வேற மார்கழி மாசத்துல கொஞ்சம் ஜாஸ்தியா இருக்கும் (courtesy: stagnant water due to incessant rains during October and November).. So, பஜனைக்கு தாளம் போடற சாக்குல கொசுவ அடிச்சுண்டே பஜனை பாடி முடிச்சா.. ப்ரசாதம் தருவா கொவில்-லே... Fridays are extra special- சக்கர பொங்கல் கடைக்குமே.. மார்கழி மாச குளுருக்கு சூடா நெய் ஒழுக இருக்கற பொங்கல அந்த குட்டி தொண்ணைலேர்ந்து சாப்பட்றது இருக்கே.. Wow!! இப்படியாக கோவில்லே கொஞ்சம் பஜனை கொஞ்சம் ப்ரசாதம்-னு முடிச்சுட்டு வீட்டுக்கு வர வழில... நேர் வழி எடுக்காம, சுத்து வழி எடுப்போம். அந்த வழிலே 2-3 emplty plots இருக்கும். அதுலாம் full-ஆ தண்ணி ரொம்பி இருக்கும் (courtesy: The same rains). அதுல நெறய குட்டி குட்டி மீன், நண்டு, tadpoles, snails எல்லாம் இருக்கும். அதெல்லாம் ஆராய்ச்சி பண்ணுவோம். அந்த marine life research-லாம் முடிச்சுட்டு வீட்டுக்கு வரதுக்கே ஒரு 8:30 மணி ஆகிடும்.

Mosquito coil again.. Back to present.. "சரிம்மா.. திருப்பாவை, திருவெம்பாவை தானே.. Net-லெ இருக்கு.. பாத்து சொலிட்றேன்.." (School படிக்கும்பொது திருப்பாவை திருவெம்பாவை-லாம் எனக்கு மனப்பாடமா தெரியும்.. அந்த season-லெ அதுக்கு நெறய competitions-லாம் கூட நடக்கும்... அதுலலாம் கலந்து நான் நெறய prize-லாம் வாங்கிர்கேனாக்கும்.. அப்டினு ஒடனே ஒரு அண்ட புளுகு புளுக மாட்டேன்... :D)

P.S: என்னமொ தெரில, இந்த blog பேசர நடை-லே எழுதணும்-னு தோணித்து.. தமிழும் English-உம் கலந்து கலந்து எழுதிர்கேன்.. தமிழ் விசுவாசிகள் கொஞ்சம் மன்னிக்கணும்... :-))

For those who can't read Tamizh fonts -
Title: MaadhanGgaLil avaL maargazhi.....
pOna varam ammaa koda pesindu irukumbOdhu amma sonna - " NaaLaileNdhu maargazhi maasam.. dhinamum thiruppaavai, thiruvempaavai sollu.." odaNe enakku munnaadi oru mosquito coil... adhaan.. flashback... Naan school padikkumbOdhulam maargazhi maasam romba special enakku.. adhukku NeRaya reasons-um irukku -
1) School half yearly vacations - Naan school-lam Tiruchchi-le padichen.. appa vandhu enGga veedu, chiththi veedu appaRam chiththappaa veedu ellam orE street-le dhan iruNdhudhu. Weekends and holidays-naa ella cousins-um sENdhu orE gummaaLam dhaan... adhula Naanum en Chiththi poNNu Bhaarathiyum sENdhu pudhusaa edhaavdhu samaikkarom apdinu solli, ellaarayum romba paduththuvom... adha paththi thaniyaa oru post pOdrEn. (AvlO irukku.. :D)
2) Kaaththala seekkiram ezhuNdhu vaachal-le periya rangoli pOdradhu - adhukkulaam appo periya pOttiyE nadakkum. Yaar veettula periya kOlam pOtrukaa, yaar kalar NeRayaa use pannirkkaa,apdinnu.. pakkaththu veettula 20 puLLi kOlam pOtta, naama atleast oru 21 puLLi kOlamaavdhu podanum. AppaRam avanga kitta pOi, "O!! unGga veettula 20 puLLi kOlamaa.. enGga veettula 21 puLLiyaakkum.." apdinnu peruma peeththikaRadhula oru alpa ChandhOsham :-). Maargazhi maasam aarambikkaradhukku munnaadiye Naan ammaa-va Nachcharichchu kalar podi-laam vaanGgi kalaNdhu vechchu, maargazhi maacham oNNaam thEdhi eppa varum-nu kaaththuNdu iruppen.
3) daily visits to the temple - idha padichcha udanE EdhO Naan periya bhakthimaan.. kOvilukku pOradhunna avlo pudikkumnulaam nenachchukkadheenga. Adhu enna vishayam-nu solren - Naan, Nirmal, apparam ennOda cousins Bhaarathi, Prasannaa, Rajaaji and Vijay + konjam neighbourhood kids ellarum sENdhu kaaththaala 5:30-kku kovilukku kaLambuvOm... ellarum oru sweater, monkey kulla/muffler ellam potu koLLai adika pora madhiriye povom.. kovil-kku poi konjam bhajanai paattu - adhula 2 groups irukkum - ladies group and gents group.. adhula endha group saththamaa paadaraanGga appadinnu oru chinna pOtti.. kosu thollai vEra maargazhi maasathula konjam jaasthiyaa irukkum (courtesy: stagnant water due to incessant rains during October and November).. So, bhajanai-ku thaaLam pOdara saakkula kosuva adichchuNdE bhajanai paadi mudichcha.. prasaadham tharuvaa koville... Fridays extra special - chakkara ponGgal kadaikkume.. maargazhi maasa kuLurukku choodaa Nei ozhuga irukkaara ponGgala andha kutti dhoNNai-lerNdhu sapadradhu irukkE.. wow... ippadiyaga koville bhajanai konjam prachaadham konjam-nu mudichchuttu veettuku vara vazhila... NEr vazhi edukkaama, suththu vazhi eduppom. Andha vazhile 2-3 empty plots irukum. Adhulaam full-a thaNNi rombi irukkum (Courtesy: The same rains). Adhula NeRaya kutti kutti meen, NaNdu, tadpoles, snails ellam irukum. Adhellam aaraichi paNNuvOm. Andha marine life research-lam mudichchuttu veettuku varadhukke oru 8:30 maNi aagidum.
mosquito coil again.. back to present.. "sarimma.. Thiruppaavai, thiruvempaavai dhane.. net-le irukku.. paaththu solidren.." (School padikkumbodhu thiruppaavai thiruvempaavai-lam enakku manapaadamaa theriyum.. andha season-le adhukku NeRaya competitions-laam kooda nadakkum... adhulalaam kalandhu Naan NeRaya prize-laam vaangirkEnaakkum.. apdinu odane oru anda puLugu puLuga maaten... :D)
P.S: Ennamo therila, indha blog-i pesara nadai-le ezhudhanum-nu thoniththu.. tamizh-um english-um kalandhu kalandhu ezhudhirken.. tamizh visuvasigal konjam mannikanum... :-))

My maiden experience in making Kozhakattai.....

I'd been so anxious last weekend about making kozhakattai (we'll call it kozhuk/s.. kozhakattai being a lengthy name ;-)) for Ganesh Chathurthi. I'd collected recipes from my mom, mom-in-law and some of my friends.. got them cross-verified and was so confident that I indeed have the easy and perfect recipe to make kozhuks. Making the poornam was really easy and that boosted my confidence.. poornam looked and smelled great.. just like the poornam which my mom makes...

With the poornam packed in my suitcase, I left to Seattle to make kozhuks on Sunday for Ganesh Chathurthi and impress Arun with my kozhuk making skills (He is a big time kozhuks lover)... I was reminding myself about that-somebody who said that "The easiest way to reach a man's heart was through his stomach"...

Sunday dawned with so much of hope... I got ready, got the recipe validated by my mom for the final time and there was I in the kitchen.. busy mixing the rice flour in the hot water... oops.. I'd forgotten to add salt and oil.. I was determined to follow the exact same steps told by my mom and mom-in-law to make the best kozhuks.. So, the very first cup of rice flour with hot water mixture landed perfectly in the very new kitchen bag put in the trash can.. Disheartened? Me?? No...

This time, I'd kept all the necessary ingredients (Rice flour, water, salt and oil.. Just 4 ingredients... making kozhuks is so easy, man!!) right on the top of the cooking range and started - Step 1 - boil water.. Done.. Step 2 - Add salt (a pinch!) - Done -Later did Arun make me realise that I'd added a little too much.. But that's ok.. Common' nobody gets it perfect the first time.. Step 3 - Add oil - Err..How much?? fine.. adding a little extra oil doesn't harm, you see... it'll make the rice flour wrap/shell mixture all the more soft and smooth (I thought to myself) and added 2 generous spoons of cooking oilStep 4 - Mix well so that the the wrap/shell mixture doesn't stick to the sides of the vessel.. Hoo.. hoo... I'd already used a non-stick pan so that the wrap mixture will not stick to the sides.. my kozhuks are going to turn out awesome... (virtually patted my back for using the non-stick pan)

The wrap mixture looked all the more good.. just like how it used to look when my mom makes it... I started making the wrap/shell (choppu, we call it..) I used to make excellent choppus back at home when my mom makes the wrap mixture.. My granny used to say that I make the best choppu among all our family members.. Thinking about that... I was busy making the first choppu... Hmm.. The first one didn't come out that well.. hey.. it's just the 1st one.. Be patient! Then came the 2nd one.. Err.. The first one was a lot better... The 3rd one had a lot of small bumps in it.. but the shape came out good... Just when I was appreciating myself for the perfectly shaped choppu... it started breaking down from the corners.. oh..wait!! wait!! wait!! it can't break like that.. Before I could take any rescue operations, the damage was more than repairable... Ok.. that's fine.. what's there in the shape.. ultimately taste is what matters... so.. on similar lines, I made my 4th, 5th.. 9th choppu... I'd beautifully arranged it on a ceramic plate... wow.. they looked pretty...

Then came the part of filling the choppu with poornam.. I filled the first one with poornam.. but hey.. what's happening.. I'm not able to close it.. I somehow managed to close the choppu with poornam inside it.. It looked no where near a kozhuk.. :'(

"So, Is kozhuk not so easy to make as I thought it to be?"
"Well, May be!"

I managed to close 5 of the 9 choppus.. I gave it up.. the more I struggled, the more distorted it looked.. Contented with the 5 kozhuks (the eventful 5!), I steamed them.. after testing my patience for 10 minutes, I convinced myself that the kozhuks would all have been cooked by then. Out of the whole lot, one.. only one.. resembled vaguely like a conventional kozhuk...
We then offered them to Ganesh Ji.. (just to make sure that we don't fall sick after eating them ;-))
Dejected by my futile attempts to make kozhuks, I was telling Arun "Next time, I'm going to make kozhuks and after eating that, you'll say -I've never eaten such a kozhuk in my life...."
Arun coolly replied - "Even now I say, I've NEVER eaten such a kozhuk in my life..."
BOINK... BLANK FACE... !@#...

P.S:The brighter part of the story is that the poornam tasted very good... Both of us (Arun and myself) liked the poornam a lot.. So, we thought of devouring the poornam as it is... :-)

Spinster Cooking...

Confused about the title? If there can be a word called Bachelor cooking, why not Spinster cooking?? :-)

Coming to the topic... One of the advantages of staying in a shared accommodation (where you need to cook on your turn) is that you get to try out many new recipes (even if you are lazy, you'll get bitten by that enthu bug once in a while). I used to try out a lotta new recipes, sometimes even come up with my own and sometimes add a little bit of my creativity to some new recipes available over net... Here is one such combination....
Thirattuppal (Milk halwa) is one of my favourite sweets. One fine weekend, I badly wanted to taste thirattuppal, but was not ready to put in hours of effort like my Mom, to make Thirattuppal. I browsed over the net to find a recipe which is easy to make... I found one and added a little bit of my creativity to it and voila... it came out decently good....

(P.S - You can check with my friends over here who have tasted my Thirattuppal and have become a great fan of that.. Ok.. Ok.. That was a little bit of exaggeration.. But you need to believe me that everyone said it's good.. )
So, here is the recipe...

Thirattuppal (Milk halwa)

Ingredients -
Ricotta cheese - 1 box (You'll get this in major Indian/American stores)
Condensed milk - 1 tin (Sweetened/non-sweetened doesn't matter actually)
Sugar - 8-10 table spoons (This actually depends on how much sweet toothed you are... you can add more if you like)
Ghee - 2 table spoons

Procedure -
1) Empty the Ricotta cheese, Condensed milk and sugar in a microwavable bowl (a bowl with lid is preferred) and stir the contents slightly. It doesn't matter if everything doesn't get mixed up well. While heating, they will.
2) Keep the bowl in Microwave oven in high power for 20 minutes (Open every 5 minutes and stir the contents). You can add sugar anytime you want now.
3) Add ghee, stir the contents again and keep the bowl in oven for 7 minutes (you need to stir after the first 4 minutes).
4) Thirattuppal is ready... Leave it to cool for sometime... Even after it is cooled, if you feel that it's not solidified, you can keep it in the micorowave for another 3-4 minutes stirring once every 2 minutes).

This procedure is so easy and the end product tastes awesome.. atleast I liked it... ;-)

Try and let me know your comments...

An eventful climax for an otherwise not so eventful story....

10:30 AM EST – I was waiting in front of the Logan International Airport in Boston. I’d been in Boston for 5 weeks for an official training and there was I, waiting to go back to Minneapolis after the training. I was having a nail biting wait (not literally ofcourse, I’d left this habit of biting my nails long back) here for my team mate who had also come for the training and was coming in another cab to the Airport. Both of our cabs started at the same time, but he was no where to be even after 20 minutes after I reached the Terminal. My flight was at 11:25 and here was I standing outside the terminal, still not checked in my luggage and the time was 10:45. Then came my team mate dragging his luggage and coming towards the Terminal. Phew!!! He’d come at last…. He then told me that his cab driver had dropped him in a different terminal and he had to walk back to our terminal.

We thought of doing a curb side check in. It’s 2$ extra, but actually worth it…. It’s better than standing in the queue inside and that too checking the luggage at the last minute. Time was 10:50. The lady at the check-in counter told that though the ticket was issued by US Airways, the flight is operated by United airlines and so we need to check in at the United airlines counter. And the worse part was United airlines is not in the same terminal. The lady at the counter told me that I need to walk a while, then go downstairs and then try to get a cab to the United airlines terminal. Time was 10:55. I thought, that I’m gonna miss the flight or atleast I would not be able to check-in my luggage for my flight now.

Luckily, a cab came to drop somebody at the US Airways terminal and we took that cab to go to United airlines terminal. We reached the United airlines counter at 11:05.We rushed to the check-in counter and I checked in my bag. Then came another bomb. My bag was overweight. The guy at the check-in counter said “Either take out some stuffs or if you wanna still check in, you need to pay 125$ for that. Boarding has already started for the flight”. I had no other option that to take out some junk stuffs which I’ve packed. Time was 11:10.

We then dashed to the Security check area. Luckily there was no major crowd at both the check-in counter and the Security check area, so, we were able to reach the gate at 11:18. Boarding was almost over and we were the last to board the flight. When I finally dumped my carry-on luggage inside the cabin and sat down on my seat, the idea of writing a blog on this came to my mind. What an eventful way to conclude an otherwise not so eventful trip to Boston. Such eventful things rarely happen to me, you see…. :-)

So... what will you want to change??

During one of our daily conversations in our way from Office back home, this came up... going back in time. If I'm given a chance to change something, what will I want to change?? I've still not decided on what to change... I'm putting forth the same question to you.... If you are given a chance to go back in time and change something, what would that be.... (See.. it shouldn't be anything that might create a grandfather paradox - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandfather_paradox) It could be a simplest answer like "I would go back and mark the right answer in my 10th standard exam" to a very complex one.

The stage is all yours.... If you get a chance to go back in time... Where will you go back?? What will you want to change?? Mind you... You get only one chance...

Yaawwnnn....

Oh.. My God.... I've almost forgotten that I even had my blog space.. Long since I've penned down anything... I started my blog space with a blog saying.. I'll use this space to write about anything I think about.... Now you can ask me.. "Aren't you thinking anything at all??" All I could say is "he... he... he... "