I does come before U

For a long time now, I've been feeling little, heavy at heart.

Reasons are either several or few, doesn't matter, fact is - discomfort!

I love people, most would know by now, if there is one thing I cherish - its my people.

Being accused of thinking too much, caring too much or saying too much did not seem to affect me, what bothered me was expecting me to take responsibility to what others understand, Boss - wait a second.. I am responsible for my words and actions alone, not for your interpretations.

King & I had a good long conversation after a long time, we both could start from where we stopped, reason - we both realized that its fair to be away, to give space and even be angry.

Here is what I told him, and I'm happy that such a sane thought came to me - if one has to co-exist with another, alterations and adjustments need to be made, which will provoke anger. And, anger any day is better than ego.

I so believe in it, If I am mad with you, wouldn't you rather prefer me to come to you and express it, than bury it, but move away and create distance because my ego is not letting me be clear and candid.

Well this is debatable, it really depends on the subject -matter and person.

If I need the person, ego is distanced. If i don't, ego obviously prevails, for I can eliminate the person.

Life is the way you look at it, lies in the eyes of the beholder.

It seemed intense and complicated till i shed a tear or two, it then seemed easy. Now, I don't know, is Life really simple? or has it always been complicated, but we choose not worry about it, just brush it and assume easy....

All this, and much more felt heavy only because I did not know how to prioritize my thoughts.

It comes very naturally to me to put others ahead of me, I had forgotten the whole wonderful meaning of "me".

As I said earlier today in a conversation with Amar and email to Kambi - treating Bygones as Bygones, is helping me move ahead to see what freshness can be brought in to ease the "me" space.

Through out this journey of juggling my head with weighing words of wisdom, Raksha made me let lose and Raghu made think beyond, what would I ever do without him...

Its "me" time folks, so random thoughts in my head all flow down to my fingers to words here in front of you.

Killing Time

Oh baby!! So typical of us to complaint, doesn't matter if there is ample work or not.
Too much work - Yes we nag, don't lie now. Too much time - OH ya, we SULK big time.

Now, whoever said " Time is money" or "Time once lost, never returns" said it right.
Going back to my MAT LEAVE , Pre-Raksha, I did a lot of Crochet. Post Raksha after my parents returned to India, I'm indulging in making Cards, Bags and invites. Such a Stress Buster, I can't tell you how much am loving it.

Raghu is such a Darling, needless to say, he has been letting me buy all my tools for using paper appropriately, I still have about $200 to spend on. But I'm not gonna buy until I return from India, who knows I might find my stuff there.

I am going to hand pick some recycled material to bring them back here for my craft work.
And then, my creative juices would start flowing, which only means, all my favourite people will get one piece of work from me.

Attempt to Lose weight

Most of you know me as a plump person for a while now. How many of you recall the Skinny me until Mid School??

Ya...for over 15 years I have been on the plus side, I woke up one day and had this inner voice that said "its now or never". Thats it, I woke up,wore my gym pants, drove to the community centre and took a 3 month Membership on Feb 11, 2010. Two weeks later I googled for a HOT YOGA place and so lucky, I found one close to home. Feb 24th onwards I have been doing that as well.. which means my trip to the gym has gone down.

Ahh..Na Na..Am not complaining, I at least get to move now, and I am all Happp Haappp Happy!!

Temptations

Mango Salsa
Makes 4 Servings
This is the perfect dip for a tangy day!

Ingredients
2 mangoes, peeled and diced
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1/4 cup chopped red pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp finely chopped parsley
2 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp rice vinegar
pinch crushed red pepper flakes

Directions
Combine all ingredients. Cover and refrigerate until chilled and serve.

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My hands were itching to make Golden Fried Baby Corn / Baby Corn Manchurian / Baby corn Chilly.

Baby Corn Manchurian / Baby corn Chilly. is made out of Golden Fried Baby Corn + / - a few ingredients, So I Mixed them all up.

I had some batter left, which I used to make the same recipe with Paneer.

Corn / Paneer Jalsa
Serves 4

Ingredients
250gms Baby corn / Paneer - (Sliced / Cubed)
3/4 cup - Schezuan Red Chilly Sauce
1 tbsp - Soy Sauce
1/2 cup - Vinegar
1/4 cup - Ketchup
Salt & Chilly Powder to taste
1 Large Onion sliced
10 Green chillies
1 large Green pepper / Capsicum - Optional
1 cup Green / Spring Onion
1/2 cup Corn Flour.
1 tbsp Ginger Garlic(GG) Paste

Directions
- Heat oil for frying
- In a large pan, combine corn flour, gg paste, salt, chilly powder, and water to make batter (consistency - milkshake) now add, the baby corn /paneer.
- Deep fry till golden brown.
-In another pan , add hot oil from frying , saute Chillies, Onion & Pepper / Capsicum.
- Add the 3 sauces
-After a minute, add the Fried corn / paneer.
-Sprinkle Green Onion, and serve hot.

PS: For manchurian, add finely chopped ginger and garlic to the onion saute, sprinkle pepper powder. For Chilly, do not add chopped ginger and garlic, and squeeze lemon instead of green/spring onion & pepper powder. The dish is served DRY per my directions above, if you need sauce in this dish, add 1 spn cornflour to water and add to the saute.

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I was going through Orkut Albums, and Aarthi, my childhood buddy from home- Coxtown, Bangalore, now in US, had uploaded a picture of homemade (Milk) Dhood Pedas. You think I spared her for the recipe..Of course not, She was damn sweet to share it with me right away.



Dhood Peda

Makes 2 dozens approximately



Ingredients

2 cups Dry milk powder,
420ml Sweetened condensed milk
120ml Unsalted Butter
Cardamon Powder- optional
Halved Almonds for dressing


Directions

-Melt butter in deep microwavable bowl
-Add powder & milk to butter
-Mix well-microwave for 3 mins stirring every 1 min
-Roll after 15 mins wen it cools, (But I rolled it with 3 mins after pressing it adequately with a wooden / rubber spatula.)


TIP---- Press the Halved Almond while the pedas are hot

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Somasi



















Ingredients to make 50:
For the Base:
-2 cups All Purpose Flour (Maida)
-1/4 cup Cream of Wheat (Rava)
- 1tbsp hot oil
- A pinch of salt & water
- Knead all the above similar to pizza dough / roti / chappathi / puri dough.

For the Filling:

-400gm Fried Gram / Split Dhal (Pottu Kadalai)
- Sugar to taste (approximates 1 cup)
-200gmsGrated Coconut
- 3tbsp Cardamom powder
- 2 tsp roasted poppey seeds
-Make a coarse powder of all the above.


Directions
1) Heat Oil for frying.


2) Roll out small portion and flatten them like Puri
3) Place about 1Tbsp of the fillings in the each pooris and fold them and seal the ends tightly by pressing some water on one side of the semi circle to act like glue and avoid the filling from dropping out.
4) Now deep fry them on medium heat.

Been a While..

Since Boyz, Sush & We met. Today It Is!!
Am making Pizza from Scratch.
I know 2 Large Pizzas may not suffice us Hogs, but Hey am not strong enough to knead beyond.

To start you'll need:
2 Tsp ----active dry yeast
1 1/3---Cups warm water
3 1/2 -3 3/4---cups (400-430 g) All purpose flour /Whole Wheat
2 Tbs---Olive oil
Pinch of salt
Pinch of sugar.

*Dissolve the yeast in the water with salt and sugar, in a large mixing bowl; let it stand for 5 minutes.
*Add the remaining ingredients and mix. Now knead the dough till smooth and elastic (Little more than the Roti/ Chapathi / Puri Consistency).
*Brush bowl with olive oil and turn the dough into it & cover with plastic wrap and set it in a warm place to rise for an hour, or until it doubles in volume.
*Preheat oven to 475 F (250 C) , grease and dust two flat baking sheets with corn meal. Divide the dough in half, shape each half into a ball and let them sit for 15 minutes. Then shape them into disks, stretching them out from the center on a floured surface. Do not roll them, because rolling toughens the dough.
** Suggestions from an Italian Chef, Let the Base cook on the top rack for 4 minutes / until slightly firm, before you throw it onto the bottom for another 10 minutes, until toppings are cooked.

** Top the base with ,
-Italian Tomato Sauce / Minced tomato, herbs /
-Garlic - optional
-Veggies of your choice
-Moz'la Cheese - I personally don't like this... but do i have a choice?
-Or anything you want.

Must say, the Pizza was a hit. I have to thank Amar for all the assistance. In fact Raghu made one too, was yum.

I made several variates, to note are
- Onion, Pepper
-Banana Peper, Green Olives
- Corn & Onion
-Banana Pepper & Pineapple
Raghu made a final one with all the leftovers...Trust me on this, pizzas were to drool for.

Kambi made those Corn Chips with baked cheese n salsa. Sush made a drink for all. As much as King was the official Bar-Tender for yesterday, he still was just sunk in his own world.
Sindhoora made pakoras..but too many cooks spoilt the batter. well we still didn't spare them, they were all down the throat in minutes.

The hang out was not as expected, was too short, thanks to King. He delayed like a bride.
Kambi was the Dj for the night, he played requests from all of us..& my favourite song was..Hairathe from guru, By Hariharan.
We didn't take any pictures at all...so am so sorry, I have nothing to post from the party.

I am all thrilled and waiting to bump into King, to belt him for the delay :-))
All of you stay hooked in here...much more fun coming right ahead!

Rewards..

Where does a fortunate person start? From Birth, School? Teens? College? University? Work? Soul-mate? Marriage? Joined family? Living Abroad? North American Work Life? Pregnancy? Layoff? Motherhood???

I'm so fortunate, I have been rewarded to Live..

At every stage quoted above, Life has been behooving me.
It has taken me through so many curves, slants, straights and pits in life, this is why I feel truly Rewarded.

Being born (21.09.1981) for a lovely couple, who wanted to have me...(they assured, I was not an accident), nurtured me with love, and let me lose to learn my own lessons.

At School - June 1987, yes I found my identity as a talkative person, tom boy, average scorer, slow..sorry rather lazy runner, partly why I used to defend under the net, while we played basket ball :-).. and a very emotional person. I made lots of friends, some of whom I treasure till date, I live by the saying "Friends for life". Buddies - Mohan, Biju & Ren...hear me loud. And the rest, we may not be in touch as often, but but but..you'll still are in my thoughts. Last to quote, I was nick named PAMBU :-((

July 1997, College was a platform for my networking skills. I joined the institute with no ease, I recall dad spending long hours outside the Principal's office asking her to consider me as a prospect student. Yes ! I was rewarded with a seat, despite a 59% in my ICSE, if not for Dad..I would have been a loooZerrr!! I bullied girls from my own batch and the seniors, had a fan club, who'd pep me up to be a rowdy.
' recall Sister Rinsey, who humiliated me in front of the whole class , some 100 students, because I score 5/100 in Accountancy. Girls shat in their pants to talk to her, wait a minute, Not Me Though. I walked out of the class and I told her " I come from a family of chartered accountants, I will prove it to you in my final". I can't thank Renuka enough to have taken the interest to teach me, & I scored 55% in 1st year. Thanks to our tutor Mr Pius, I scored 80+% in my 2nd year.
Oh my..and her efforts and patience to put up with my Hindi..THANKS REN!!

Never will I miss out on penning down a booster to my complex - Getting the MISS ST. ANNE's Tittle. La & Maal, if you guyz didn't chase me, That title would not have had a Highlight by being tagged to me :-).

My first Brahmin friend Pavithra, so pious...was from the same college, she was more like a sister than a friend..more like family I mean..

July 1999 - SJCC, Blore Univ, was fun..trust me, I am a proud Josephite. Commerce college was a piece of cake, Kudos Dad. My first day - I step in with just one motive - Will make parents proud. So did I - won the Principal's Award for Batch 2001-'02, for modesty and an Award for outstanding organization skills for leading the Business Club.

B.com-Year 1, not so great. Year 2, I was getting there, Year 3 - I was there, I was their - Unanimously elected Class Rep. HR Coordinator, loved organizing campus recruitment - Had 5- 6 jobs in hand while graduating.. ha!!

And a noteworthy event - relished leading the mass bunk to take the class to Green Valley Resort for a Picnic.
Man! Man! what fun i say :-) Some of them called me Pondy too, as I wanted to organize a class trip to Pondy. By-the WAY, I was still called pambu :-(!!

Bench mates - Kala, Athu, Ally Anneka.
Ride mate - Ranju
Gangmates - Adarsh, Ashwin, Aiyapa, Kunal, Amit...
Tutionmates - Amal
"Nag"mates- MANY MANY.

June 03, 2002 - Ernst & Young, India SSL. - US TAX COMPLIANCE :-)
This was fun guyz, all work and still all play. Made some cool friends here, Archu & Hemi to mention. Had my whole Joseph's gang too. Fooled with Tax & moved Workflow management.
Can you beleive this, I had no clue about nominations for the Culture Leader post, my CEO elected me - Hands Down, Its Gai she said. I hosted the first 2 anniversaries. Met lotsa nice, cool, & annoying people. Gave me an edge towards a lots of aspects.
There used to be an ad, I met my life at Shaadi.com, i tweaked it.. I met my life at EY.com..on SAMETIME CONNECT.

March 17, 2003 - Monday; by about 3.30pm, I sent an email out to "iyer r" which in my mind was Rohit Iyer, EY Singapore (whom I became friends with, i wanted to reach out to a collegue Rohit Bhatt on sametime - ey instant chat. and being new to the application I stared sendin msgs to Iyer instead of Bhatt, and that turned to be friendship) This was a Holi Greeting, and opening the attachement on the email will color the whole screen and any application that was opened. I was casually talking to Rohit and asked him if he got the greeting I sent, and he replied "No". I quickly checked my sent box - boooooooom!! I had sent it to Raghu Iyer instead of Rohit Iyer.

O M G!! I quickly sent Raghu an email, asking him to ignore my email, he got back asking me who I was, I shivered, thought he was an Oldie- Partner or some Senior guy...and I explained myself, and that it was an error. We went back n forth - to my luck, I noticed his signature - Raghu Iyer- IT Manager, New Delhi, and my fear reduced, knew he was in a higher position, but not so high that I could be in trouble :-)
He seemed friendly, and took my mistake lightly. I had organized Holi Celebration for the firm, so I had to cut shot the conversation with this hunk:-d!
Tuesday- 10.30 am to 6.pm, all that i did was chat with Mr Iyer, this routine continued for the next 3 days, by then I was addicted to the chat or the person chatting , if I have to be precise ;-)
He told me he had to leave work soon for he had to go to the embassy to collect his Visa...VISA VISA I said, and he smiled back saying he was leaving to London on Monday, and shared his number with me to talk to him over the weekend.

I remember, texting him on Sunday morning while watching the movie- 5star at 7.45 am..and trust me it went on n on n on n on till 8.30pm, it was world-cup match and everybody was hooked on to the TV but we were to each other.

After all the texting the whole day, Raghu decided to call me and he returns drunk from the worldcup match viewing & started talking to me from 8.30pm to 11.30 that night.
Least expected a North Indian guy to talk such clear english. Relished talking to the flirt.

On 24th March, Monday 2003 - He left to UK, it is his absence that made me restless. I was not sure what I missed, but I was not myself, My Mom was not in town, and it all together hit me..UNEXPLAINED.

April 14, Monday 2003 - A month passed, and he came down to visit me. All the feelings that I had put together, fooled me when we met at the Cantonment Railway Station. He looked so much differnt. Much older than I expected. I could barely talk with him. Despite all this, he proposed to me the next morning. You must listen to this..hehehe very funny..atleast to me.
This is how the proposal happened :
Raghu - So madame X, not X anymore..tell me what do you think..
Me - Think what?
Raghu - Haa.. well about us,
Me - About us what?
Raghu - Ok, Tell me, whats next..
Me - Next what.. I dont know!! Just cant decide...I dont want to be taking the wrong stand.
Raghu - I am clear, I like you - ( well, I knew he did, as he had told Renuka this the previous evening, and she insisted I went around with him.)
Me - Raghu, I don't know...
Raghu - I am ok with any deciosn you take. For I have the will to accept it.. I know you dont..

This went on..over and over ..I was so full of his gyaan .. I am not trying to say that i didnt like him, I did, infact the % of liking was 90 for me and only 75 for him (eheh ya we asked each other how much of a probability it was te night before he saw me..)

Me- Fine Fine..what do you want, that we both move on make kids? Well lets do it..

HAHAHAHAH, I think this would have been the most unromantic way of proposing and agreeing, yet cute and I must admit, from then till date, Raghu has always based it on my emotions.

Rest of our courtship is a treasure between us two only, trespassers restricted :-)

Soon we were married, and everything fell in place well. I had a nice time being in a joint family in Delhi. Yes, must admit, for a 23 year girl, I handled in-laws very well. Thanks to my upbringing. I was appreciated , welcomed and loved.

Raghu had moved to Canada, and what do I have to do in India without him, so I cam trumbling after.

Halifax- hehehe funny place. Downtown Dartmouth, is where we stayed. I was surrounded with senior citizen and only lovely friend Annie Andrews. She was a blessing in disguise, Raghu She & I would go for walks every night. They both would laugh at my jokes sitting on the waterfront..
We discused all kinds of issues. It was a world with just 3 of us in it.. and occasionaly Dr Malik's daughter Yasmin would join us for a taste of Indian food and movies.

3 months, and thats it I said..was a punishment for a jovial person like me. To my luck, Sharda Cherwoo our CEO of SSL was then heading operations in NY for Americas. So she had referred me and gottenme a job in EY Toronto.

September 1, 2006 - Toronto here I come - I said loudly.
Beautiful, big, fast, and crowded, no comparison to place I came from. Meena Ganatra from SSL had introduced me to a girl also from SSL but then in Toronto - Sushma Srinivas..
ehhe not Su-su to me. She & I met the very 2nd day I came to Tornto. From then till this minute, we laugh n roll and scream n yell in both joy and pain...

Sush and I could talk about anything and everything under the sun. I would reserve myself from talking anything sensitive to her and I don't know if she had any such topics she reserved from talking with me.. But we spoke..we speak and we shal speak....n speak n speak.
Our conversations are never short. Luckily we both sat in the same floor, sometimes took the same train.. we had the world ahead of us to mock and mimic.