Just a weekend in Honolulu..

Started our Hawaii vacation in Honolulu. As my previous post says, I had been in Hawaii for two weeks before Sapan got there. Sapan landed on a rainy Friday evening. It was too late by the time Sapan got there so, we just had some Pizza at the hotel and decided to call it a night..



On Saturday, we woke up really early and decided to go for a run along the beach. After couple miles of the run, we had breakfast at the Wailana Coffee House . A few hours later, we met up with Armando and Will and decided to go to the USS Arizona Memorial . While waiting for our Arizona tour, we decided also visit the USS Bowfin Submarine . Didn't realize how claustrophobic the submarine would be. As expected on a boat, everything is bolted down. Would love to tour one of the recent subs to see how much has changed. Arizona was a humbling experience. Before you board the boat to go to the memorial, you see a video describing the attack and all the loss the US Navy suffered. Made me want to learn more about WW-II. The ride to the memorial was about 10 minutes. We spent some 1/2 hour so at the memorial and took the next boat back. By the time we got back, it was lunch time. We had decided to go up the Diamond Head Crater , so we decided to have lunch somewhere in Waikiki. We had a hard time finding a place that all 4 of us liked. So, we split up. Sapan and I had lunch at Taco Bell and Armando and Will had lunch at Ono Hawaiian Foods . This is supposed to be a place to get the best Hawaiian food in town. But, Armando and Will didn't like it as much. They initially rated it at 6/10 and then a few hours later demoted it to 4/10. After lunch we headed over to the crater. We pulled out of a tunnel into the parking lot of the crater. At this point, you look around and realize that you are in the middle of the crater. Quite impressive. This photo of the crater that I had taken from the plane a few weeks before when I got to Honolulu. The activity in this place was to hike up one of the edges of the crater to see the spectacular views at the top. And, it was well worth it. Didn't take us too long. I definitely realized how horribly out of shape I was when I climbed up the 200 stairs to the top.. Spent some time at the top taking photos and then came back down and drove back to the hotel to drop off Armando and Will. Later in the afternoon, we drove up the west coast of Oahu. Most of it looked it industrial land. We stopped at a beach and watched few people boogie boarding. Sunset also looked quite pretty from this place. After sunset, we drove back to Waikiki and went to Cafe Maharani for dinner. This place is really good. The wait however was too long at an hour. By the time we were done with dinner, we were too exhausted to do anything else and decided to retire for the night.

On Sunday, we had a nice relaxing breakfast the hotel before our Atlantis Submarine Tour . The tour was nice but not worth the money they charged. Maybe because I had already seen a lot of the fish that we saw when I went snorkeling at Hanauma Bay. It was however neat to be at the bottom of the ocean, some 100 ft. down. After the submarine tour, we headed up to the north shore to watch surfers at the bonzai pipeline. Always amazing to see high waves and people riding them. We then decided to keep driving the Kamehameha Highway along the coast. We stopped along to roadside to have lunch of the Indian leftovers. Saw lots of pretty sights, including a pregnant seal along the way. Later in the afternoon, we went to the Ho'omaluhia Botanical Garden saw some pretty flowers there and got eaten alive with mosquitoes. People who were in Hawaii with me the previous week will tell you how big those mosquito bites get (as big as a quarter) and I had 10 bites all over my arms and legs.. Yah, I counted.. After the mosquito bites, we decided we had had enough of the nature and decided to bid adieu to Honolulu and started heading back to the airport. We took Pali Highway. The road that I had taken every day for two weeks. It was hard not to feel sad as the reality of maybe never coming back and never seeing my Hawaii friends kinda sunk in. We did stop by the Pali lookout point to see the panaromic views of Kaneohe bay.

We finally got to the airport and got on our plane to Hilo (Big Island). Stay tuned for stories of our Hilo adventures.. The rest of our photos from Honolulu are posted here

Working Hard? Hardly Working? In Hawaii....

The next few posts are going to be really LONG!!

Most of you already know that I was in Hawaii for work for a week in December and then for couple weeks in January.. The work involved experimenting with some new technology at the Marine Corp Base in Kaneohe, HI.. Hawaii as you might know is a collection of 6 or so islands. Kaneohe is on the island of Oahu.. The same island that Honolulu is on.. Some trivia about Hawaii.. Its the most remote set of islands in the world. The closest land mass is around 2500 miles away. The chain of islands is still growing due to an active volcano under the ocean.. More on that in the next few posts.

Hotel - My december (I've forgotten grammar.. Should the "d" in december be upper case?) trip was very short.. Got to Honolulu sunday afternoon .. Hawaii is 5 hours behind eastern time this time of year. So, it was already night time in Boston by the time I got there.. I had taken a VERY early (5 am) flight that morning so was pretty beat.. When I first got to my hotel, Hilton Hawaiian Village it felt like a big zoo.. The place is huge with multiple high rises on the property. The front desk is not in a building but, kind of in a courtyard between the buildings. One of my co-workers, Dan had insisted on staying here because there was some 24 hour coffee shop across the street from the hotel.. People from other companies that we were working with were also staying at the same place.. So, after standing in line for what seemed like eternity (it was only about 10 minutes and I didn't see that there was a separate line for Hilton Honors members, so I had to stand with the masses ;-) ), I was checked in and was in the Rainbow tower on the 17th floor.. The guy said that he had upgraded me to "partial ocean view" which I was excited about... Ofcourse when I got to the room, I realized that almost all the rooms of this hotel have some or the other view of the ocean.. Mine wasn't that bad.. I didn't get a chance to take a photo during the day but, this is what it looked it at night.. We had to reach our work by 7:30am, which meant that we had to leave our hotel at around 6:45am, which was before sunrise.. We used to leave our work around 5:00pm and it would already be dark by the time we got back to the hotel. The hotel complex also had some 5 or so restaurants and 2 or 3 swimming pools, hot tubs, a HUGE shopping area with designer stores.. In January, I stayed in the Tapa Tower on the 25th floor.. This was set little further back than the Rainbow tower, but I could easily see the Hilton Luau (which was on the rooftop of their parking garage) from my room. Every friday the hotel has fireworks.. Which are LOUD.. Almost made me jump out of my bed one friday..

Food - Breakfast at this hotel was a nice EXPENSIVE buffet.. I opted for that for most days of the 1st trip.. I used to get their awesomely (is that even a word?) sweet Papayas and acidic pineapples and their divine guava juice and toast with guava jam and strawberry yogurt with granola.. Sometimes I would get their macadamia and coconut pancakes with coconut syrup.. Yummmmmm!! This was way more food than what I have for breakfast everyday.. I did go to the 24 hour Wailana Coffee House once to try it out and see what Dan's fuss was all about.. Its just a generic diner that is open all 24 hours.. For lunch, we had our pick of Subway or Taco Bell and MCBH Officer's Club .. And then for dinner, we went to restaurants in waikiki like Singha Thai which used to feature tradtional thai dances, Yard House which I found out later is a chain, Todai which is an all you can eat sushi / sea food buffet.. On the last thursday of the second week, almost everyone got together and we had a very nice dinner together at a oceanside reastaurant called, House Without A Key .. Their drinks were yummy.. And for dessert, I had a panna-cotta... The vanilla custard layer and pomegranate jelly was good but, I didn't care much for the green tea layer that they had added to it.. I can't go too long without Indian food so, during my January trip after about a week or so, I started craving some Indian food.. Searched on yelp and found Maharani Indian Restaurant which had gotten pretty good reviews. Went there with the BBN gang.. The place it seemed was really popular. We had about a 45 minute wait. When we did finally sit down, order and eat, the wait was definitely worth it.. I had some Malai Kofta and Naan and Tomato rice.. All very very yummy!! The Malai Kofta had the right amount of sweetness to it.. The naan was very soft and tasty and this is the first time that I had tomato rice, loved it.. Would highly recommend it to people going to Honolulu.. They don't take reservations.. So, be prepared to wait..

Work - With this awesome weather around me, I had almost forgotten that we were there for work.. Met some very nice people there.. Most of my work day involved either sitting in a windowless freezing conference room or sitting in a non-airconditioned disel fumed HMMWV(Humvee) or sitting in a nice SUV. Liked the SUV the most.. The people I worked with were super funny and we became really good friends towards the end of the trip and used to often get into mini competitions on who could type the fastest or speak on the radio the quickest.. Here are the photos..

Hawaii Work

Fun - As they say, All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Well, we are by no means dull.. So, we also took some time out to go sightseeing.. On the last day of the first week, we took the long way home and drove around the east side of the island.. Was great seeing the ocean against the moutains.. We also saw a few people body surfing some big waves... And, then during the second week, we learnt surfing and went snorkeling where we saw turtles and some very pretty fish and coral.. Most of the people in our group had also invited their wives and families to come to Hawaii.. It was great meeting them and hanging out with them..

OK.. I could go on and on and on.. but, I'll stop here for now.. Stay tuned for the Hawaii Vacation Posts(Sapan came to HI on the last day and then we stayed an extra week and vacationed on the different islands) ..

Weekend Update

Weekend started on Wednesday night on account of the Thanksgiving holiday.. We had pizza for dinner.. Hadn't had pizza in the longest time.. Was yummy..

Thursday - We went to Sital's place in Springfield for Hersh's 1st birthday celebration.. Hersh seemed to be enjoying the party.. Was running around everywhere, picking up everything that was on the floor. Sital tried to capture all this on video.. It was nice seeing Nehal after almost a year.. Am jealous of her "almost at the beach" apartment.. She was telling us how just last week, she was at the beach in her shorts and t-shirt.. Hmm.. That would be nice but, I'd miss the distinct seasons that we have here in the Northeast.. Also hung out with Deepa, Premal, Diya and Ami at the party..

Friday - Sapan had to go to work.. I had the day off.. So, I slept in.. When I did finally wake up, I did some cleaning around the house and then headed into Boston for lunch with Sapan.. I wanted to go to Chacarero but the location was closed (Something we should have checked ahead of time, before walking a mile in the rain...) so, we ended up going to Salvatore's near Sapan's office. It was a good decision.. The lunch was yummy!! I had Gnocci and Sapan had their Butternut Ravioli.. Stuffed from lunch, we were wondering how we'd be able to manage a heavy indian dinner.. We had plans to go to Pongal that evening.. At Pongal , I ordered their specialty Adai which came recommended by Arun. Sapan and the rest ordered NorthIndian food.. Both were good. I was able to finish half the Adai there and brought the rest home.


Saturday - This was yet another "lazy"ish day.. Woke up, watched some TV, heated up leftovers from the previous night for breakfast and then sat down to read a book. I had been reading Jhumpa Lahiri's latest book Unaccustomed Earth . As I finished the book, I realized that all her books are very morbid. They are quick to read, but, there really isn't much of a happy ending in them. Leaves me feeling depressed at times.. Oh well..Later in the afternoon we went out to get a Christmas tree for the house. Didn't end up buying a tree then, but, got the trimmings for it. Later in the evening, we had a nice satisfying dinner of bhel.

Sunday - Went out to finally get the Christmas tree. We got a small (3 ft) potted one. . Figured it was easier to deal with it rather than a cut one, where we'd have to get a stand, skirt, etc. Decorated it as soon as we got back home while Sapan was making me lunch! All we need now is presents! We spent the rest of the day watching football games. Am bummed that Texans couldn't beat Inday.. Felt bad for Dixon when he lost the Pittsburg game. We also saw a documentary about last year's terrorist attack on Mumbai. It was quite enlightening. It doesn't portray the Mumbai Police and the Indian Army in a very good light. Not sure if Indian authorities have actually seen it. Hope last year's tragedy has been a wake-up call for the authorities.

And, its back to the work week now.. Was nice having a 4 day holiday.. Need it more often!..

Hum Tum Ek Kamre Mein Bandh Ho.. Aur Chabi Kho Jaye..

Ok.. Nothing that drastic.. But, this is the first weekend since we've gotten married that we didn't have any social engagements.. OK.. We had one on Saturday that we forgot.. And then the one that we had on Sunday got postponed.. So, we spent the weekend just the two of us.. It was great.. And suprisingly enough, other than having ice-cream on saturday evening and onion rings at the beach, we had all other meals at home..

On Friday, we just hung out at home, had leftovers for dinner, watched Singh Is Kinng on On-Demand.



On Saturday, we went to Narragansett Beach . Had a blast in the water there.. It was getting to be high tide when we got to the beach. The weather was perfect.. About 85 degrees at the beach and the water temperature was close to 70 degrees. There were about 2-3ft waves which was just the icing on the cake.. The beach was quite crowded, but we managed to find space to plop down our beach towels and get some tan too.. We plan to go there couple more times while the weather is still good.. Then in the evening we had dinner at home and realized that over the past few weeks, we're gaining lots of weight. So, we went out for a nice relaxing walk in our neighborhood.. Since we had burnt lots of calories on this walk ;-) we decided to go out for ice cream. We met up with our friends Raju and Divya and went to Toscanini's in Cambridge. I had their "cake batter" ice cream. It was OK. I still prefer Cold Stone's Cake Batter though.

On sunday, we did our religious house hunting open housing activity. Saw houses in Lexington, Arlington, Brookline and Watertown. Haven't liked any just yet.. I've been told to be patient.. So, that is what we're being.. Then we got our weekly supply of fruits from Russo's. I'm begining to love this small farmstand.. They even have vegetables that used to be found only in indian stores, like dudhi, methi, chillies, okra.. As for fruits, we got grapes, oranges and lychees.. Looking forward to savoring them all.. And then we spent the rest of sunday lazying at home and watching the Red Sox beat the Orioles.. We had leftovers for dinner again..

And, now its monday and its back to the grind stone.. I am however looking forward to our spain trip now..

Kakdi Mag Ni Dal Nu Shaak (Cucumber and Moong Dal)

Couple weekends ago, we had gone to Costco to buy some grapes. We're trying to eat healthy food. While there, I also decided to buy some cucumbers and tomatoes. We're on a big sandwich kick these days so I figured we'd use them all.. Well, that didn't happen. So I needed to figure out what I was going to do with these cucumbers that I had. Growing up, my mom often made "Dudhi mag ni dal" (Bottle Gourd and Moong Dal). I figured that cucumbers and dudhi were in the sorta in the same family so, I could just substitute one with the other. I was mostly correct. What I learned though that cucumber isn't as tough as dudhi, so it cooks much faster. Something to remember for next time. Overall the dish tasted really nice. We ate it with the last of the theplas that we had gotten from India and some malaysian parathas.

Here is the Recipe

Ingredients:

1 Chopped Cucumber
1/2 Cup Moong Dal
1/4 Tsp Turmeric
1/2 Tsp Corriender Cummin Powder
1/2 Tsp Red Chilli Powder
1/4 Tsp Hing
2 Tbsp Oil
1/2 Tsp Ginger
2 Tsp Chopped Cilantro
Salt to Taste
Sugar to Taste

Method:

1. Soak moong dal in water for 1/2 hour or so
2. Cook the moong dal and cucumber in a pressure cooker for 2 whistles
3. Let the pressure in the cooker drop naturally so that you can open the cover easily.
4. Once you've opened the cooker, if the dal was cooked directly in it then add some water to it so that its at the desired consistency. If the dal is cooked in cooker containers then transfer it to a pot and add water.
5. Add turmeric, cilantro and cumin power, red chilli power, ginger, salt and sugar to dal and cucumber and stir well.
6. Let this cook for a few minutes till it is simmering
7. Heat the oil for tempering and add hing when the oil is sufficiently hot
8. Once Hing has cooked (about 10 s or so) add it to the dal and stir well
9. Add Cilantro leaves and stir well.
10. Serve hot with roti or rice

Two Dreams, Two Hearts, Joined Together in Friendship and Love.....

Here are the wedding photos...

May 26th, 2009 - Lagna Geet Na Hindola (Wedding Songs while pampering Tanvi)
This is a non-traditional event which was held at my aunt's home.. She decorated the swing that she has in her living room with flowers for me to sit on. And, then people sang songs for me and fed me sweets.

Hindola

June 1st, 2009 - Tanvi's Mehendi (Bridal Henna)
This was at our home. Took 24 man hours (6hours * 4 people) for my henna to be done. And took 4 man hours (2 people * 2 hours) each for my mom's and Sapan's mom's henna to be done. The photos are from half way through the process.

TanviMehendi

June 2nd, 2009 - Raas Garba (Dance Party)
This was in the evening couple days before the wedding. We all danced the night away.. Started with a few choreographed dances and then the dance floor was open to everyone. We had the traditional "Raas", stick dancing for a while and then switched to popular bollywood dancing.

Raas Garba

June 4th, 2009 Morning - Grah Shanti (Pre-Wedding Ceremony)
This started at 7:00am with a small ceremony of my leaving "home" to get married. The rest of the ceremonies to pacify the "planets" for the day were held at the wedding hall.

GrahShanti

June 4th, 2009 Afternoon - Wedding
The wedding went on for four hours or so. The ceremony was both based on what our family does and what his family does. Key events include, me garlanding Sapan at the entrance of the wedding hall, us holding our hands for the first time, us going around the fire, us making seven vows with rice, us garland each other again, sapan giving me the traditional necklace, sapan putting vermilion in my hair.

wedding

wedding2

June 4th, 2009 Early Evening - GharBharavni (Home Welcoming Ceremony)
This was done at Sapan's home after the wedding. They formally welcomed me into their home during this ceremony.

Wedding Ghar Bharavani

June 4th, 2009 Late Evening - Reception
This is basically a receiving line where we greet the guests and take pictures with them.

Reception

Reception2

June 6th, 2009 Afternoon + Evening - Ankleshwar Reception
This was in Ankleshwar, Gujarat at my Dad's factory. We had an afternoon lunch reception for the factory workers in our factory lawns. The evening reception was for the Ankleshwar friends at Hotel Shalimar.

Reception at Ankelshwar

I'm Back .....

I'm back after this long hiatus.. Hope you all haven't given up on me.. I promise to do better..

So, lets see.. Here is what has been going on in my life..

Wedding - Its only 69 days to our wedding now. There is so much still left to be done and most of it won't even start till I get to India.. Hope I can get everything done in month.. Can't beleive that in 69 days, ther'll be someone whom I'm refer to as "My Husband".. Also, everytime I sign my name, I'm reminded that its going to change now.. Sapan has said that he doesn't care if I change my name or not, but I'm a traditional kinda girl.. So, I'm going to change my name to Tanvi Akkad Devimane..

Move - I also have to move out of my apartment and into Sapan's condo.. I'm going to miss my place.. It was a nice home for me for the past couple years.. But I'm now looking forward to starting my new life with Sapan..

Work - I've been traveling back and forth to San Clemente Island (an island off the coast of San Diego). Now, when I first started working on this project, I was loving the idea of going to an island. Little did I know what I was getting into.. This place has NOTHING.. It has one dining facility which makes the dining halls at UMass
seem like good restaurants. It has one bar which serves mainly grease and beers. The work is challenging, but, being stuck here just makes it NOT fun.. Yesterday however we had lost an asset and had to go looking for it with an underwater camera.. So, that was fun.. I also learned kinda how to drive a boat..

Flu - I've been battling this cold / flu for the past couple weeks.. I hope I haven't gotten anyone here on the island sick..

Bachelorette Party - Rina is planning my bachlerotte party for April 4th.. My friends and family are coming into town for that. Shivani will be here.. Sujal and Gargi are coming from Chicago.. Rhythm is here all the way from India.. Saya is coming from Philly, Angela is coming from North Hampton. Sital and Deepa are coming.. Payal, Nisha and Yogita are probably coming as well.. I feel so humbled and loved when I see who all is coming.. Thanks Rina for organizing this..

In-Laws - Sapan's parents are here.. So, I've been hanging out with them a bit and getting to know them.. Its been fun..
His sister Shruti had her baby couple months ago and we went to her cradling ceremony couple weeks ago.. It was great being called "mami".. Sapan also loves being called "masa" .. We're both very excited to be a part of each other's families..

Food - Since I've been traveling a lot, I haven't been cooking much.. I did however cook this stuffed red pepper with risotto with tomato cream sauce.. It came out wonderfully the first time around, the second time that I cooked it, we used light cream instead of heavy cream and also went a little light on the cheese, and it didn't taste that good .. Oh well, I now know the secret to good tasting food.. Unhealty things!

Well... Thats about it from my side.. I'll try and do a better job of updating the blog now..

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..

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.

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!

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

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!

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..

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.

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..

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 ..

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.

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...

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..