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!

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..

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!!

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!!

Vegetable Biryani - Oh the possibilities

The wonderful thing about this dish to me is that I can make it with whatever vegetables I have on hand.
Now, there is probably some official way to make it, but, I will tell you about my way..

Now, I often don't keep a lot of vegetables in the house. I don't end up cooking a lot and things tend to go bad, even if they are in the fridge ;-).. So, on a cold saturday afternoon, (the temperature was around 35 F), as I was looking for inspiration for lunch, I happened to come across some green and red bell peppers that were about to start growing furry things on them.. So, I decided to use them in my Veg Biryani.. As luck would have it, I also had a yellow onion and some green spring onions and carrots. I unfortunately didn't have any peas, potatoes, green chillies or cilantro, but, that didn't stop me. Here's the "Recipe" I used :

Ingredients:

1/2 medium yellow onion chopped
2 springs of green onion chopped
1/2 red bell pepper chopped
1/2 green bell pepper chopped
1/2 carrot chopped
1/2 cup rice
2 tsp oil
1 tsp butter
1 tsp biryani masala
1/4 tsp cummin seeds
1/4 tsp Asafoetida (Hing)
1/2 tsp grated ginger
salt to taste
1 1/2 cups of water
2 sprigs cilntro (for garnish)

1. Heat up the butter in the pot that you are going to use to make the rice.
2. When the butter starts to melt, add the cummin seeds
3. Wait for the cummin seeds to sputter slightly

4. Then add rice. Sauteé the rice for couple seconds till it turns translucent
5. Add water
6. Let it cook for about 15 - 20 minutes. I like to have the rice left "Al Dente" - slightly undercooked as it will cook when mixed with the veggies
7. In another pan, heat up the oil
8. Add Hing when the oil is sufficiently hot. The Hing should sizzle a little when added
9. Add the two types of onions and sauteé them for couple minutes

10. Add the peppers and carrorts and let them cook for a while.
11. Once the veggies are sligtly tender, add the biryani masala, ginger and salt to it and mix well and let the flavors marry.
12. Let this cook on medium heat for a few minutes (Approx. 5 minutes). Stir every mintue or so, to make sure that nothing stick to the bottom of the pan.
13. Once the veggies are tender, add the cooked rice to it and mix well.
14. Let this cook for another couple minutes or so.
15. At this point the biryani is cooked are ready to be served.
16. Garnish it with Cilantro (which I didn't have and wished that I did!)

I ate this with "chundo", a sweet gujarati mango pickle. But, I would have ideally liked to eat it with some form of raita. All in all, it came out pretty good. Now, if you didn't have these veggies, you could add anything you have at home. You can also add chicken to make it chicken biryani!!

Boston Red Sox - 2007 World Series Champs!!!!!

OMG!! OMG!! OMG!!! They are the world series champs again.. And what an awesome game it was.. Its amazing that all 4 starting pitchers got the win in their games!


OK.. there is sooooooooo much to write, and I'm way too excited right now.. I think I'll write some more later in the week..

Can't wait to go to the parade.. Hope its on the weekend.......

BBN Fest Poster