Saturday, August 2, 2008

Where did july go?

I can't believe its already almost the middle of August. July just flew by. These days, it feels like there is always something or other going on over the weekends.. If its not meeting with my friends or family, then its meeting with Sapan's. OK! So, I'm not really complaining, but, just saying!!

Some of the things we did in July..

1. Get engaged
2. Sapan started playing soccer with his buddies, I just go cheer them on.. I think I need pompoms..
3. I've been cooking quite a bit on sundays. The latest craze for Sapan is Muthiya.
4. Couple weekends, Sapan and I walked some for exercise.. Once was a nice 2 mile walk around Harvard Sq and then the following weekend we walked to a local bakery in Davis Sq called When Pigs Fly. I had heard a lot about them on TV and always wanted to try it out. We bought some "Mango Pineapple and Ginger" bread and made french toast with it. Needless to say it was quite yummy :-)



Work has been busy too.. We're starting integration for the project that I am working on, so, the pressure is now on.. Don't know if I'll have much time to blog.. I'll try to..

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Omlette - A satisfying brunch dish for Mein, Meri Patni Aur Woh!

Mein - Ofcourse Me..

Meri Patni - Sital - As most of you readers know, my friend Sital is staying with for a few months.. Her husband works in New Jersey, so for the time being I am her husband.. I tell her that she looks pretty and sometimes I tell her that she looks fat, but then I have to add that she does have that pregnancy glow that everyone talks about :-) ..

Woh - Sapan - Last weekend, I spent Saturday with Sital making Sapan feel that I betrayed him and that I am not even ashamed of cheating on him ;-).. Oh well, sometimes he is the "woh" in our relationship..

Anyway, back to food.. On sunday morning, I was craving some brunch food so, we decided to go to Cambridge Common . Though, after realizing that we had been eating out too much and spending too much money, I decided to cook brunch at home.. I planned on making some omlettes for the three of us. Sapan also suggested that I make some home fries with it. So, I made those too..



The picture in this post is from the previous time that I had made omlettes.. The result was so good that now Sital and Sapan are going to pray to God that I make brunch for them every week.. Here is the recipe for a single omlette..

Ingredients:

2 Eggs
2 Tbsp chopped cilantro
1 Tsp finely chopped green chillies
1/4 cup chopped tomatoes
1/4 cup chopped white onion
1/4 tsp ground pepper
1 tsp butter
splash of milk
salt to taste


Method:

1. Heat a non-stick skillet with butter on high heat
2. In a bowl, add the cilantro, chillies, onions and tomatoes.
3. Crack the 2 eggs on this mixture and beat it a little to combine everything
4. Add the milk, salt and pepper and beat it some more so that all the ingredients are properly mixed
5. Once the butter is heated, pour this mixture in a skillet. You might want to make sure that the mixutre is distributed evenly in the pan. Do this quickly though, as eggs start to cook very rapidly.
6. Cover this skillet and let it cook for about 3 - 4 minutes.
7. After this time, You should see them fluff up on the top side. Also, check to see if the eggs are cooked at the bottom. One way to check this is to try and shake the skillet to see if the omlette will shake loose. Another way to check is to use a spatula and go around the edges. If they lift up easily and the spatula comes up clean (ie, not liquidy), the eggs are cooked on the bottom
8. Very gently, lift up the bottom of the omlette with a spatula and flip the omlette over. If you use the first method of shaking the skillet, you might want to be adventurous and try flipping the omlette in air. I tried this and it worked beautifully.
9. Cover this again and let it cook for couple more minutes on the other side.
10. Plate and serve hot with buttered toast.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Question - Mujhse Shaadi Karogi? Answer - YES! [Outcome - We're Engaged!!]



Prologue:
On Friday June 27th Sapan said to me, lets go to Barmakian Jewellers in Natick to see what kind of rings they have. Its always good to shop around. We decided that we would go on Saturday.. For some reason (Oh, I think its because we went to see the Sex and the City movie) we ended up not going to the jewellers. And, then the rest of the week went by quite quickly as well. On Thursday July 3rd, we decided to try again, and then it rained and we never ended up getting to the store but decided that we would go on Monday. On Friday July 4th, Sapan insisted on having to talk to his parents before we left for Maine. I thought he was insisting because we were going to be away for the weekend and wouldn't have good cell phone reception. Little did I know this was all planning and fake plays for the big event..

Chapter 1:
When we were driving to Maine, I decided to give my mom a call.. Couldn't reach her, so, left her a message.. She called me back, we talked for a few minutes and then she abruptly hung up.

Chapter 2:
We were almost done getting ready to go watch the fireworks. Sapan was sitting in chair with his laptop in his lap and there was something in his pocket. We were also watching the bottom of the 9th inning of the RedSox - Yankees game with 1 man on 2nd and 2 outs. , where the Red Sox were up 6 - 3. Anyway, I asked Sapan what was in his pocket and he mumbled "oh nothing" and pretty much right then, Coco Crisp made that awesome diving catch which they ruled a base hit and a run scored with a man on second now. The tying run was now at the plate, so, I forgot about the fact that there was soemething in Sapan's pocket and I started watching the game. Anyway, the Red Sox won the game, so, I now wanted to go out and watch the fireworks.

Chapter 3:
As we were leaving Sapan asked me if I wanted to know what was in his pocket and I said "sure" and he pulled out the ring box and man oh man I was suprised.. I had not expected this at all.. He then got down on one knee and asked me to marry him and slipped the gorgeous ring on my finger and ofcourse I accepted. He then asked me if I wanted to celebrate, to which I again said "sure".. He then asked me to look in the drawers of the dresser that was in our room to see if they had something we could celebrate with.. I wasn't quite sure what was going on, so, to put me out of my misery, he opened the drawer and pulled out a box which had 2 beautiful Champagne flutes with our names and date and hearts engraved on it. He also pulled out a bottle of Champagne which had been chilling quite stealthily behind the chair..

Chapter 4:
After our mini celebration, we called our parents and asked for their blessings, which they very lovingly gave us.. Thanks!
And, then we spent the next 2 days hiking and driving and enjoying the rustic beauty of Maine.

The rest of the pictures from our trip are posted here

Epilogue:
Hmm.. Our story has just begun so, there is no epilogue.. As for our next milestone, we are looking forward to planning our wedding. Suggestions that would make our planning easier are always welcome! We are hoping that all our near and dear ones can make it to our wedding and share our joy!

Monday, June 30, 2008

Medhakaki's Mexican Rice - Dish 2 of the Mexican Dinner

Like I said in my Enchiladas ... post, Dhrumil's parents and sister had come over for dinner. We planned a mexican menu and this is the second dish from that dinner. Now, I had been planning on making this mexican rice for couple years now and just never got around to doing it. The first time I had Medhakaki's mexican rice was the in the first week of my coming to the US in 1996. She had made it for us along with Enchiladas and it was yummy.. I've been a fan ever since.. I modified her recipe just a little. I couldn't find any ginger in my house (it was in the fridge, I just couldn't locate it..) and then mom doesn't like garlic, so, I didn't add that either.. Also, I cooked the rice in part vegetable broth and part water. I think it added a little different flavor to it. I liked it a lot and I think everyone liked it as well.. So, here goes the recipe


Ingredients:

1 cup washed rice
1 can vegetable broth
2 cups water
1/2 medium white onion diced
1/2 medium white onion sliced
1/2 medium green pepper sliced
1 tomato sliced
1 tbsp butter
salt to taste

Method:

1. In a pot, mix the vegetable broth and water and start heating it up
2. Sauteé the diced onions in 1/2 tbsp of butter
3. Once the onions are translucent, add the washed rice and sauteé for another few minutes
4. When the rice is also translucent, pour in the water/broth mixture and add salt to taste and let the rice cook for 20 minutes
5. While the rice is cooking, sauteé sliced onions, bell pepper and tomatoes in butter
6. When rice is done (i.e. no water left), spread the onion/pepper/tomatoes on top of the rice
7. Serve warm

Friday, June 20, 2008

Enchiladas with Sital's Special Sauce --- Dish 1 of the Mexican Dinner

We (my mom - who is visiting me and I) had invited Dhrumil's parents and sister, who are visiting from India over for dinner yesterday. My mom was suggesting Indian food cos, she wasn't sure if they would like any other cuisines.. Normally, I would be up for that, but I've had too much Indian food last week, so, I wanted to cook something else.. Now, the closest thing (in my mind) that comes to Indian food and is also easy to cook is Mexican food.. So, I decided to just make Cheese and Onion Enchiladas (Generic Recipe with Sital's Special Sauce), Mexican Rice (Medhakaki's Recipe) and Warm Corn and Zucchini Salad (My Recipe). We served all this with Fruit Punch and Ginger Ale (Mom's Recipe). And for Appetizers, I made Guacamole (Raja's Recipe) and served it with Tortilla Chips. And then for dessert, we had Strawberry Rhubarb Pie (Shaw's Recipe ;-)). All the food was amazing and everyone loved it.. Dhrumil's dad said that he generally doesn't like foods other than Indian food, but, he loved this.. Yea!! Here is the recipe for the Cheese and Onion Enchilada with Sital's Special Sauce..

Ingredients:
15 Flour Tortillas Soft Taco Size
1 Tsp Butter to grease baking pan
1 Large Yellow Onion Diced
2 8oz Packets of Mexican Flavored Shredded Cheese
3 Cans of Refried Beans (Your favorite flavor, we used a mixture of Ranchero and Original)
1 Red Onion Diced
1 Green Pepper Diced
1 Red Pepper Diced
1 Can of Tomato Puree
1/2 Cup water
1 Tsp of Red Chilli powder or 2 Jalapenos finely chopped
Salt to taste
1/2 Cup Corn Oil
1/2 Cup Sour Cream

Method:
Sital's Special Sauce:
1. In a sauce pan heat up about 2 Tbsp of Corn oil on high heat.
2. Once the oil is hot, sauteé the onions till they are translucent
3. Next add the peppers and sauteé them for a few minutes
4. Now add the tomato Puree and mix well
5. Then add the Chilly power or Jalapenos and add some salt to taste
6. Next add about 1/2 cup of water
7. Reduce the heat to medium low and let this sauce cook till you are ready to top the enchilads

Tortillas (This step should be done when you are almost ready for filling):
1. Start Pre-Heating your oven to 350F
2. Add the rest of the corn oil in a frying pan and heat this up till its at frying temperature
3. Take 1 tortilla at a time and fry this for 2 - 3 seconds on each side till they start puffing up just a little
4. Remove it from the frying pan and lay it on paper towels to drain the excess oil

Filling + Baking + Serving
1. In a microwave safe bowl, heat up the refried beans for about 2 minutes

2. Next form a little assembly line on your counter as shown in the picture
3. Grease your baking sheet with butter.
4. Take 1 fried tortilla, lay it on your assembly plate
5. Lay about 4 Tbsps of refried beans in a line in the center of the tortilla
6. Sprinkle the beans with about 2 tbsp of onions and 2 tbsps of cheese
7. Fold the left half of tortilla half way till it covers the beans
8. Fold the right half of the tortilla over this.
9. Hold this folded tortilla with 2 hands between your thumb and 2 fingers with the thumb at the bottom and fingers holding the tortilla shut
10. Now flip the tortilla such that your thumb is on the top taking care that the tortilla remains shut
11. Lay this inverted tortilla on your baking sheet
12. Repeat Steps 4 through 11 for the rest of the tortillas.
13. Pour the Enchilada sauce over the tortillas (About 1 medium ladle full for each tortilla) such that they are completely covered in sauce
14. Sprinkle the rest for the cheese on the sauce
15. Bake this in the pre-heated oven for 10-15 minutes or untill the cheese starts to bubble
16. Remove it from the oven and let it sit for couple minutes
17. Serve this fairly hot with couple dollops of sour cream and enjoy!

Thursday, June 12, 2008

At day at the beach..

Past couple times that my mom visited Boston, she mentioned that she had never been to Cape Cod so, this time around, I figured I shoud take her there... And then this past week, Sapan's sister (Shruti) and brother-in-law (Neelesh) were visiting so, we wanted to have a nice family outing. Also, Shivani and Dhrumil had also been trying to plan a cape trip for a while. The weather report said it would be a perfect day with thunderstorms in the evening. All these things put together seemed like the stars were aligning for a Cape Cod trip.

On Saturday morning, we woke up and decided to make thikhi poori and mango ras to take with us. Sapan and Co. were supposed to come pick us (me and mom) up at 10, so, we were already running a bit late. And, indeed they did get to my place on time. And, I hadn't even showered till then. (very bad!!). So, a really quick shower and about 1/2 hour later, we were out of the house driving south. We called and asked Shivani and Dhrumil to meet us by the highway.. And, they were running a bit behind as well. Oh well, we all finally got together around noonish and started driving!

Our first destination was the Cape Cod National Seashore . We drove down Rt. 3 South for an hour or so, hit a *little* bit traffic. About half way to the beach, we took a little bio-break at a rest area. Finally, we reached the beach! yea! The weather was perfect. Nice and hot, just the way I like it. One thing we forgot were beach towels. I wasn't exepcting a sandy beach, instead I was expecting a nice rocky one with picnic tables. Well, we didn't care. We found a nice spot and just plopped down. Opened our lunch and started eating. Viraj had a lot of fun just running around near the food.
After food, we decided to just hang out at the beach for a while. We dipped our feet in the chilly water. Here is a photo of my mom taking Viraj in the water for the first time.
And he just loved it. Didn't want to get out. Everytime we would drag him out of the water, he would just run back in.

After spending some time here on the beach, we decided to start heading further up the coast to Provincetown, a small town at the tip of Cape Cod. To get a caffine fix, we first went to a small bakery in by the town ceter and had some coffee and tea (and romantic moments ;-)). After getting some energy we decided to walk down commercial street and pop into tiny little stores along the way. This was more or less like walking down any other main street of a New England beach town. After couple more hours and another round of food, we decided to head back to Boston. Once we were back in Boston, we decided to go to an indian restaurant Grain And Salt . The food there was OK! Has gotten smaller in quantity and didn't come with free rice.. Oh well. We enjoyed nonetheless. After dinner, we went home, plopped into bed and were fast asleep in a manner of minutes.

The rest of the pics from the trip are posted here. The first few ones are of Neelesh and Shruti's visit to Boston Public Gardens. Whew.. That was fun exhausting day.. Looking forward to many more..

Monday, June 9, 2008

Sabudana - Ni - Khichadi --- Its really not as hard as it looks!

In my previous entry Whats Been Going On In My Life , I had promised to write about the sabudana ni khichadi. So, over this past Memorial Day weekend, my gradmother had come over for a visit.. We've had a tradition of her teaching me something new to cook everytime she comes over.. This time, it was Sheera, Gol Papdi and Sabudana Ni Khichadi. Sabudana are also known as Pearl Sago and are used quite often in Gujarati and Marathi foods. One of things with sabudana is that if not soaked properly, they either remain very hard or they become slimy and sticky, and that is what would always make me think twice about even buying them. Anyway, my grandmother showed me the "trick" to perfect sabudanas, which is to soak them for atleast 2 hours! Shivani and Viraj had come over as well to hang out with us, so, even she got to learn the trick.. And rumour has it, that she indeed tried it out at home by herself and the result was awesome.. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to take a picture, but, without further ado, here is the recipe ..

Ingredients

1 cup sabudana
1 cup water
1/4 cup chopped peanuts
1 medium potato
1/4 tsp jeera
1 - 2 curry leaves
1/4 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp grated ginger
1 tbsb finely chopped green chillies
1 tbsb corn oil
salt and hing to taste

Method:

1. The longest step in the preparation is soaking the sabudana. In a bowl, add 1 cup water to 1 cup of sabudana.
2. To this, also add 1/2 the ginger and 1/2 the chillies, 1/2 the salt.
3. Mix well and let this soak for ATLEAST 2 hours.
4. Meanwhile, start chopping the potatoes and peanuts
5. After about 1 1/2 hours of soaking, start heating the oil
6. Once the oil is hot, add the hing and curry leaves
7. As the curry leaves start to cook, add the jeera
8. When the jeera also starts to sputter, add the potatoes
9. Add the remaining ginger, chillies, salt and sugar.
10. Cook the potatoes covered for a good 15 to 20 minutes till they are tender.
11. Next, if its been 2 hours since the sabudana have been soaked, add them to the potatoes.
12. Also add the peanuts
13. Cook this for a few minutes (around 5 or so) so that all the flavors marry.
14. Serve this hot with buttermilk.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Whats been going on in my life....

1. Sapan and I are back together and will be getting married at some point in May 2009.. Stay tuned for updates




2. Have way too much work to do
3. Learned how to make Gol Papdi, Sheera and Sabudana-ni-khichdi . Stay tuned for recipes and pics..

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Girls Evening Out!!

Had dinner with Sital and Deepa last night at Margaritas in Waltham.. It was so nice seeing Deepa after a long time.. We talked about this and that and everything under the sun.. We also blew off a little steam and ranted for a while and relaxed! It was great.. And, I was finally able tell Deepa that Sital is pregnant!

Makes me realize that we need to do this more often.. Lets hope we can all take time out of our schedules and meet!

And, here is what Sital looks like now ..

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Spaghetti - A justification for having Wine on mondays!

We had some sort of a power surge/failure in my office yesterday, so, I decided to pack up and work from home the rest of the day.. Now, leaving home around 6ish is a pretty rare thing for me.. So, I felt like going home and relaxing for a bit and having some Wine.. And, seeing as it was just Monday (a long way from the weekend, which usually seems to be a good time for alcohol), I felt I need to justify my drinking cravings.. Which made me think of Spaghetti.. Since it was still early, I drove over to my favorite pasta store in Davis Square called Dave's Fresh Pasta . Now this place has all different flavors of pasta. I generally get their cracked pepper pasta. However, they were all out of it, so I decided to get their special for the day, Lemon and Basil Pasta. I had them cut it Spaghetti style. I also picked up a bottle of red wine from there.. I also got picked up some green and red peppers from the neighborhood store, Evergood Grocery Store .

Once I got home, I opened the wine to let it start breathing and started cooking the pasta.. Took me about 1/2 hour to cook, and the result was amazing.. This morning, Jacquelyn said, "oh and pasta was amazing last nite. the best yet".. Can't wait to go home and have left-overs.. Pasta always tastes better the next day, because it absorbs all the sauces.



So, here is the recipe

Ingredients:

1/2 Medium Onion
1/2 Green Pepper
1/2 Red Pepper
2 Small Green Chillies (or 1 Jalapeno)
1/2 Pound Fresh Pasta (You'll need more if you are using dry pasta)
1/2 Jar of Classico Four Cheese Sauce
1/2 Cup of Stella 3-Cheese (Parmesan, Romano and Asiago) mixture
1 Tablespoon olive oil
6 Cups of Water
1 Tsp Salt

Method:

1. In a pot, start boiling the 6 cups of water (This step takes the longest amount of time)
2. While the water is boiling, start dicing the chillies, onions and peppers.
3. In a saucepan, start heating the olive oil, remember that olive oil heats up very fast, So, I'd atleast have the chillies and onions chopped before heating up the oil
4. Once the oil is hot, add the chillies and onions and sauteé them.
5. As the onions start getting translucent, add the peppers into the sauce pan.
6. Next, add the sauce to this and let it simmer.
7. If the water has started boiling, add the salt in it and then add the pasta
8. Cook the pasta either as instructed on the box or till the water starts to boil again for fresh pasta.
9. Once the pasta is sufficiently cooked, (I like it a little Al-Dente) strain it and transfer to a bowl
10. Next mix it well with 1/2 of the cheese and all of the sauce.
11. Plate it and garnish it with some more cheese and Enjoy!

Note. Now, I don't like mushrooms, but these would also be a good addition to this dish. Also, for protien, you could choose to add meatballs to this.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

How much is too much money to spend on dinner?

I say, anything over $25 is starting to be an expensive dinner and that includes drinks..

I was watching Phantom Gourmet the other day on TV.. I watch this show to learn about the different restaurants in area.. They had a segment going on "New and Hip" restaurants in Boston and at one point said.. "Drinks for around $10 and Entrees for less than $20, can you beat that deal.. " Now come on, is that cheap? I don't think so.. OK.. OK.. I know I am ranting.. But, seriously, some of my friends feel that spending $30 (without tip) is a normal phenomenon..

I guess, sometimes I don't mind spending money if the food is good.. But, a lot of times, the food is either not too good or not enough to fill me up...

I understand that I live in an expensive city, but, there is still a limit.. Fortunately for me, there are good restaurants in my neighborhood in my price range...

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Guacamole - Raja's recipe

When I was in in california over the winter break, Raja made his signature Guacamole a few times and it was very very yummy.. And, then a few weeks ago, I came to know of Jacquelyn's obsession with avocados.. So, the other day, I brought home some avacados and the necessary supplies for guacamole and decided to give Raja's recipe a try.. It ofcourse wasn't as good as how he makes it, but, I think it came close. We had it with the scoop shaped tortilla chips.. And was definitely a big hit with Jacquelyn, Danielle and Rina!! Here's the recipe..

Ingredients:

1 Avocado
1 Roma Tomato diced
1 Medium Red Onion diced
1 Jalapeno pepper finely chopped
Juice of 1/2 lime
Salt to taste

1. Grip the avocado gently on one side with one hand. With a large, sharp knife in the other hand, cut the avocado lengthwise around the seed. Open the two halves to expose the pit. Gently tap the pit with a knife with enough force so that the knife edge wedges into the pit, but not so hard as to cut all the way through it. Tap it very gently a few times, each with increasing pressure, until a cut is made in the pit sufficiently to twist the pit out. With the edge of the knife, twist the pit out of the avocado and discard the pit. The scoop out the avocado flesh with a spoon into a mixing bowl.
2. With a fork, gently mash the avacado. I like to have texture in the avocado, so, I tend to not over mash it.
3. Fold in the rest of the ingredients and mix well
4. Serve with tortilla chips and enjoy!

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Om Shanti Om



Ok.. So, I watched this movie the other day.. And I must say, it was entertaining.. I definitely wouldn't say it was a good movie, but, I really haven't had this much fun watching a hindi movie. A lot of Hindi movies that I have watched these days have been the ones with a "message" .. This one reminded me of those good old moives, where you could leave your brains at home and go and be just plain entertained.. The story was "no big deal", but, it was done very well.. The South Indian fight parody was awesome.. And, Shah Rukh's "Dard-E-Diso" dance.. Man, he could give these new kids a run for their money..

I've also been listening to some of the songs of the movie and the tunes are quite catchy.. When I was in India this past January, my cousin Rhythm introduced all the new actors and actresses from the song Deewangee... So, it was nice watching it again..

All in all, it was a fun way to spend a rainy afternoon..

Monday, February 18, 2008

My broken foot has taught me.......

1. My brother Raja is absolutely amazing..
He took me to the Grammys, inspite of my foot.. Hung out with me, carried my crutches, held my hand, stood in line at the after party for food and drinks and didn't make me feel like I was spoiling his fun.. Thanks!

2. Its really really realy good to have doctors in the family..
The day I broke my foot, I was in Bombay and were thankfully in Deepakmama's and Ameetbhai's neighborhood. So, we rushed to their places so, they could take a look at my foot. Since they are doctors, they had cell phone numbers of other doctors and also personally knew them. So, we were able to get in touch with a really good orthopedic surgeon who interrupted his wife's birthday party to put a cast on my foot. Before we met this doctor, we had to get my x-rays done and Sejubhabhi and Ameetbhai came with us so that I would get the correct care. Sejubhabi insisted that I get the x-ray from a particular angle. I am glad that she did that because, that is what was needed to see the fracture.....

3. Jet Airways has amazing service..
When they saw that my foot was in a cast, they moved me to a really good seat in the front of the plane, arranged pillows in front of me, so, that my foot could be elevated, and all this with a smile on their faces.. I'm quite impressed. Hope this continues.

4. Need for routine change..
I am allowed to take my brace off when I shower, but have put it back on immediately after. So, I have to remember to take my clothes including my socks to the bathroom. So, I had to diverge from routine of showering first and then ironing clothes when my hair was drying, as this would involve removing and wearing the brace twice. Instead, I had to wake up, iron my clothes and then go shower.. Not that its a huge deal, just took a few times to get the system down.

5. Think ahead to what I would need..
Similar to point 3, I now think 2 steps ahead. A simple matter of bringing things downstairs from the bedroom requires thought, cos, I don't want to make multiple trips up and down the stairs.. Making coffee requires thought, cos, I need to grab everything from the cabinet at once, then everything from the fridge as well.. Making multiple trips is very tiring..

6. Having good friends is also quite a blessing..
My friend Niky has been driving me back and forth from work, bringing me coffee and food and cookis.. and I don't quite know how to thank her.. She has gone above and beyond the call of friendly duty.. Guess, I'll have to make it up to her somehow.. My roommates Rina and Jacquelyn have also taken amazing care of me.. Rina accompanied me back to Boston from India and it was such a relief to have her with me. I didn't have to worry about anything. It was great and then at home she was always around to help me with food and whatever else I needed.. Jacquelyn actually went out in the cold to bring me my sandwich that I had been craving.. Prithwish drove me to the supermarket, carried my groceries around and then drove me to a movie, carried my bag when we went out for dinner a few times. Sapan picked me up at the airport. Shivani helped me unpack and put all my things away

7. Family members go out of their way to make you feel special..
When I was in India, everyone at home made sure that I didn't have to do ANYTHING!! Much to my annoyance at the time, but I now know how useful that was.. And, then everyone has been keeping in touch with me constantly to ask me how I am doing.. The other day Rhythm called me to ask how my foot was now.. And, its good that she called, cos, I needed to wakeup anyway :-)..
Saloni and Jeetu came to cambridge to pick me up so that I could attend Amitkaka's and Medhakaki's 25th wedding anniversay party. And then Jayukaka woke up at 3:30am to drop me off at logan express.

Hmm.. this is about all that I can think of right right now.. Will update more soon!!

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Chilling with cousins!!!

So, here I am in Mumbai at Bhanumasi's house, immobilized because I fractured my foot yesterday.. Yeah, it is a silly story.. I twisted my ankle walking down a step, and apparently, I'm sooooooo heavy that I actually broke the fifth metatarsal of my right foot.. Now, breaking the right foot is a big pain, cos, now I can't drive.. oh well, we'll figure something out.. I was supposed to leave for the US today, but, I could get it postponed, so, I could travel with Rina..

And, now, I am chilling at home with my cousins, Ushma, Rhythm and Mithila.. We got to be in front of the computer because we are trying to figure out what to have for dinner.. I want to have only parathas.. But, Ushma doesn't cos, she doesn't like the food.. I'll let her write what she wants...

Ushma says,.... only parathas is a boring place to b...n d food isnt dat gr8....
i wanna eat chinese...since v havent eaten it for a lng tym...
but as i m d smallest i wont get to decide ne stuff!!!!hehehehehe....but nw it seems dat v arent gng der..yeppie!!!!!finally my plan seems 2 b wrkng out...m sooo kewl na...making my elder sisters follow wat i want......

Rhythm says,.....have not tried the place..but sure it sounds good...n it will be good to have checked out a new place...at least then v ll know in future if its a joint to go next time or no..also as i love parathas esp the different kinds which v generally dont make at home i m hoping it turns out to be a good place...lets c who wins this dinner war....ushma or tanvi...m cool with both chinese n parathas....well ushma i sure dont know what kewl is...

Mithila says.....hmmmm...so finally i get to write in here.....well...i really dunno abt this place ....but i m not really hungry....so i guess anythin will do...but anyways....right now am havin a really nice time wid Tanvi,Ushma n Rhythm....quite a rare ocassion where we r all together thanks to tanvi's fracture..... ;)

Yep,... Yep.. Yep.. Mithila is right, we never really get a chance to just hang out together.. And, seeing as I am the eldest sister, and in pain and going to the US, I might just get to decide where to go eat!! More later!!