Woodwork project

DH and I refinished an old coffee table recently. This was the first woodwork project that we undertook and were mighty pleased with it :-D. We’d this old coffee table lying around for a long time which we wanted to refinish but never got the time/energy/<put other excuses> :). Anyway, finally we did get on to it and here’s a before after comparison!

How it looked…

How it looks NOW …

Isn’t it lovely?!?!? It took us some sanding, some varnishing, some more sanding and then again varnishing to get this look. Now we’re on the lookout for more furniture that we can refinish :-D

Another beautiful verse…

…from Narada Purana.

There is no teacher as your mother,

There is no wealth as reputation,

There is no friend as wisdom,

There is no pilgrim place as the Ganges,

There is no mother as forgiveness,

There is no God as Vishnu,

There is no penance as fasting,

There is no gain as knowledge,

And there is no fast as Ekadashi.

A year of living biblically

Author: A J Jacobs

My expectation from this book was very different from what it actually is – so I was somewhat disappointed. On reading the title, I was under the impression that it would feed my hunger for learning about different religions – in this case Christianity; that wasn’t entirely true.

The book is about how the author spent a year by following the rules of the bible, yes that’s exactly what the title says! His goal is to follow the rules literally. He consults a number of Rabbis and different versions of Bible to decide upon the set of rules. One does get an interesting perspective on the literal meaning of these rules and also how they get out-dated. What is impressive is that the author is an atheist when he begins this experiment but by the end of it, is not completely so.

I was expecting a deeper analysis of these rules and was irked to see the shallow interpretation – but of course, that was author’s intent. Reading this also made me realize that there is a huge common base underlying all religions; what totally amazed me was that like Hinduism, Christianity also has special rules for women during their monthlies!! All along I always thought that it was only Hinduism which prescribed it. Well this was one small example and it illuminates the granularity of commonalities.

Bottomline: An ok read.

Eggless Banana bread

I got this recipe from Cook With Love and must say this was my best experience with a recipe tried for the first time! The banana bread came out perfect, in fact DH and I kept comparing it to the Banana Walnut loaf that Starbucks sells :). Believe me, it WAS that good!

The crust has a slight crisp texture and the inside was soft and moist! Since I had 2 bananas, I scaled the recipe to 2/3rd and that seemed to suffice for 2+ persons.

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• 3 bananas
• 4 tbsp melted unsalted butter
• 2 tbsp yogurt
• 1 and 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional), I’d 1/4 cup and that seemed fine.
  

Method

1. Pre Heat oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit
2. Mash the bananas.
3. Add sugar and yogurt to it.
4. Add butter, salt, and flour. Mix well.
5. Add Baking Soda, milk, vanilla essence and walnuts. Stir till everything is well blended.
6. Pour this batter in a greased bread tin and bake for about 50-60 minutes or till a tooth pick inserted comes out dry.

Pyaaz ki kachori

This is a favorite in our home and my DH’s specialty! All I can say is – it tastes delicious! The recipe is from Tarla Dalal.

For the dough (crust)

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• ¼ cup ghee
• ½ teaspoon salt

For the onion filling

• 2 cups onions, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon nigella seeds (kalonji) Skipped since I didn’t have it
• 2 teaspoons fennel seeds (saunf)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1½ teaspoons green chillies, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons Bengal gram flour (besan)
• 2 teaspoons coriander (dhania) powder
• 2 teaspoons chilli powder
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• 3 tablespoons chopped coriander
• 2 tablespoons oil
• salt to taste

Other ingredients

oil for deep frying

For the dough (crust)

1. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and knead into semi-soft dough using enough water. Knead well for 5 to 7 minutes.
2. Divide the dough into 12 equal parts and keep covered under a wet muslin cloth.

For the onion filling

1. Heat the oil in a pan. Add the nigella seeds, fennel seeds, bay leaves, green chillies and onions and sauté till the onions turn light brown in colour.
2. Add the gram flour, coriander powder, chilli powder, garam masala and salt and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes.
3. Add the chopped coriander and mix well. Remove the bay leaves and discard. Allow the mixture to cool completely.
4. Divide into 12 equal portions and keep aside.

How to proceed

1. Roll out each portion of the dough into a 50 mm. (2") diameter circle.
2. Place one portion of the onion filling in the centre of the rolled dough circle.
3. Surround the filling with the dough by slowly stretching it over the filling.
4. Seal the ends tightly and remove any excess dough.
5. Roll each filled portion into a 62 mm. (2 1/2") diameter circle taking care to ensure that the filling does not spill out.
6. Gently press the centre of the kachori with your thumb.
7. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling to make 11 more kachoris.
8. Deep fry the kachoris in hot oil over a slow flame till golden brown.The kachoris should puff up like puris. These take a long time to fry as the crust is thick and needs to be cooked in the insides also.
9. Serve hot with chutney.

God’s reach is everywhere

God’s hands are everywhere so that anywhere on this earth when devotees make an offering to him, he can accept it.

His legs are omnipresent so that when devotees lay prostate on his feet, he can bless them.

His ears are all around so that he can listen to his devotees’ prayers wherever they are.

His mouth is everywhere, so that when devotees give him something to eat he can have it.

His eyes are all around us, there’s nothing hidden from him; he sees everything.

His forehead is everywhere so that when devotees seek his blessings by touching his forehead, he can bless them all.

De-clutter

I love the feeling of de-cluttering! Of course, if you have NO clutter in your house you would be bereft of the lovely feeling of de-cluttering :). Ah how unlucky you must be!

I think the number of things in your house as a correlation with the complexity of your mind. The less the number of things in your house, the simpler your mind is.

There are countless advantages of de-cluttering and especially if you do it the right way: by sending things to the right place you’re making sure that things are where they need to be – that reduces waste, saves somebody money, frees up your space and time!

I came across this wonderful article by Martha Stewart – “100 Reasons to Get Rid Of It” - which tells you where all you can donate your things when you de-clutter.

Now once you de-clutter, how do you make sure that it doesn’t re-enter your house? You need to follow a simple rule - “For every item that enters your house, you should give away an item”. Never make an impulse purchase! There’s no deal that’s not going to come again. That item is not the last of its kind on this earth.

Try however much you may, clutter does find its way into your house over some period of time. Then, its time to de-clutter again!