KEYS TO MY HEART

Mile sur mera tumhara..

2010-02-26T21:38:07Z

..tho sur bane humara.

The evergreen song that reminds us that, no matter how uniquely different we are, how we can all unite and stand together as one. This was brought to my attention recently through a FB post an old friend of mine made. Enjoy the cultural diversity exhibited in the song, blended together beautifully with a medley of melodious voices!

Here is the old, original version:

Original Mile Sur Mera Tumhara

And the new one, released recently in 2010:

New Mile Sur Mera Tumhara – Part 1

New Mile Sur Mera Tumhara – Part 2

Yummy chocolate chip cookies!

2009-12-20T05:33:59Z

Cooking Healthy & Yummy

My latest addiction is…

2009-07-18T23:32:24Z

….Lipton PureLeaf Raspberry Tea. This stuff is truly delicious! I have never been a fan of tea–of any kind, until I was introduced to the green tea frappucino at Starbucks. My goodness, that stuff is good. Yeah, not much tea-like though! Then, I tried citrus-flavored green tea (also by Lipton), which is refreshing. However, the raspberry tea is just awesome! I have been looking everywhere for a bigger pack of it, hoping it will be cheaper. I have only been able to buy a 2-serving bottle for $1.49+tax at the market at school. I have been, in pursuit of this amazement, to Smart & Final, Vons, Walmart, Target, Big Lots, CVS, and Rite-Aid. Nowhere is the deliciousness to be found–not even on Amazon! If anyone knows where this is to be found in a larger pack of bottles, please let me know. With the summer heating up (to 97F today in San Diego!), there would be nothing more enjoyable than sipping on this PureLeaf Raspberry flavored Iced Tea.

If you are looking for something new, with far few calories (the PureLeaf Raspberry Tea is 80 calories per serving, and 150 per 8 fl oz bottle) than a green tea frappucino without whipped cream (290 calories for a 12 fl oz Tall), and have never tried these iced teas, give it a shot. I don’t think you will regret it for one minute. Cool relief on a hot, hot summer day. Mm, Mm, Mmm good.

PS If you have not tried Starbucks’ Green Tea Frappucino, which is usually available every summer, you are missing out! It’s quite good, but not for the calorie conscious. It’s a treat for the self, once in a while

Eating healthy, staying healthy

2009-07-18T23:29:37Z

I have never been one of those crazy health freaks. I have laughed and ridiculed people who watch their calories everyday, drinking diet sodas, eating fat-free food and drinking fat-free milk. I love good, tasty food. Having grown up in India where almost all the vegetables you eat are organic and the milk was freshly squeezed from the buffalo every morning (agreed it was diluted with water but still it was yummy). I really just hated everything I ate when I first came to US. The milk tasted like water, the yogurt didn’t taste right. The potatoes and peas were sweet. The eggs I ate had no taste and smelled too bad . Eggplants were huge and tasteless. The complaints I had about food were endless. Recently, I started going organic and that made a world of difference to the taste. Organic whole milk tastes much better than Indian milk, organics eggs = yummy; I just avoided the label ‘fat-free’ and I realized that the food in US never tasted better.

There was a downside to this whole experience. When you start avoiding fat-free label, you are getting into a territory where your food is potentially unhealthy for your body. Obviously, the trade off has always been taste and health and that’s really unfortunate. I don’t understand how we can’t have tasty and healthy food which are not fruits. You don’t really know how much of this food is polluting your body until you check your weight on a regular basis.

Recently, I started going to the gym because I realized my body needed some strength and stamina. I was always too lazy to go to the gym because it was too far away and I didn’t want to spend an hour walking there when I have about 4-5hrs of time to myself every day besides work. But, one of my friends offered to drive me back and forth every morning and I told myself why not? I started getting into the habit of checking my weight on a daily basis and I realized how much you can gain by gouging yourself on good food for just one night .

I always felt like I was a fairly healthy person. I have good immunity and I still don’t have glasses. I don’t get sick too often. But, there is always the need to improve the tone of your body and also increase the stamina. Especially at this age, where we get little to no physical activity, it is important to know what you are eating and keep yourself healthy. I still don’t get fat-free food but I limit my intake and get some exercise to burn off the excess calories .

Good weekend, good food

2009-07-18T23:40:11Z

Yummy

It feels like it has been forever since I last blogged. Jagadish would definitely agree (I can almost hear him say, “That’s because it HAS been forever”). But here I am. It was a generally good weekend. I did a lot of clean up around the house. I may (or not) be moving, but I’ve come to realize I have a zillion things I don’t need or use around the house, but that blog is probably for later. I made a scrumptious meal this weekend–one of my all-time favorites: Vegetable Fried Rice with Cauliflower Manchurian. Here is how you can make it yourself: trust me, it is not as painful or time-consuming as it may seem if you use the shortcuts I did!

For the rice, heat some oil and toss in a teaspoon of ginger and garlic, along with half a green chilli, and a couple of red chillies (these are entirely per taste, and I picked the addition of red chillies up from Sanjeev Kapoor). Add onions, but do not brown them. While they turn translucent add sliced green peppers, and frozen carrot/beans/peas. Saute on high with a light sprinkling of salt until the veggies turn bright green, but do not let them brown! Set aside.

For the crispy florets of cauliflower, first steam cauliflower in the microwave (2-3 mins). If you are using frozen cauliflower, make sure it’s thawed out, and then steam it in the microwave. For the batter, I used half cornflour and half all-purpose flour, 1 tbsp of red chilli powderand 1 tsp of soy sauce. The batter should be the consistency of pancake batter–not too thin though, because as I’ve learned, that absorbs a lot of oil. Heat the oil until hot enough for deep frying and coat each floret and drop it into the hot oil carefully. Gently turn over until the florets are completely browned on all sides. These are very yummy all by themselves, and I must admit I sampled a little at this point

For the gravy, heat a tbsp of oil until hot, toss in 1 tbsp of ginger, 1 tsp of garlic, and depending on your taste for spice, 1 green chilli. Add finely chopped onion, and chopped bellpepper, and fry until onions are browned. Add soy sauce, cook for half a minute or so, and then add water. Lower the flame and let it simmer for 2-3 minutes. While it’s simmering, add some cornflour to water. While stirring, add the cornflour mixture to the sauce and continue to simmer for another minute or two. This will aid in thickening the sauce to a perfectly edible consistency. Toss in the florets and coat well with the sauce. Top with some freshly chopped coriander/cilantro.

Finally, for the rice, add a tsp of oil and separate the grains. Then combine small amounts of rice gently with the veggies on low heat. Continue until desired amount of rice+veggies is reached–I try and add lots of veggies! Now turn up the heat and continue to gently fry the rice. Remember to use a tsp or two of oil as it is frying, especially if the pan is not non-stick. Sprinkle soy sauce generously (I used Tamari sauce, which had extra flavor I thought), about 1 tbsp for the amount I made. Although I did not use them, spring onions add a definite kick to this rice–if you have them, use them in the veggie step.

Now, that does seem pretty easy does it not? Anyone can make it! And not only is it incredibly delicious, the rice packs in a lot of veggies, so I’m thinking, it can’t be all that bad either.

Fickle thing called love..

2009-07-19T03:21:29Z

Isn’t it weird how some people keep falling in and out of “love” at the drop of a hat? It has been one of those things that’s been bothering me a lot lately. I do not intend to be self-righteous but it is just ridiculous and irritating the way some people act.

One of my roomies is a complete womanizer. It is, of course, true that nobody ever gets along with their roommates and you could think that I might have some unknown agenda for laying such allegations on him. Believe me, whatever I say here is just the tip of the iceberg.

As I was saying, this guy had a girl friend in India when he came to the university with me. This did not dissuade him from adding a multitude of American girls to his Facebook and flirting with them into the wee hours of the night. He eventually found another girl living in New Jersey and would spend talking to her in the late nights spending all his minutes on the phone. He even met her when he went to meet his sister in NJ. But, apparently, nothing happened as she found out that he had a girlfriend (she saw her picture on his phone’s wallpaper which he forgot to change) and he never talked to her again or maybe she never wanted to talk to him

Well, that’s just one instance. He recently broke up with his girlfriend for reasons unbeknownst to me and he is already in “love” with another girl. It took him a couple of months to get over his relationship and fall in love again. He insists that she is not a rebound girl and that this relationship is more “mature” than the previous relationship and what not!

The point of this rant is not to pick on him; it is just confounding how people use the word “love” for every silly feeling they have. It is just abusing a pristine word. I am not saying that you have to fall in love only once in life (even though that’s how it should be, ideally). We all have false positives, we were all young once when we fell for the wrong people. Even then, you don’t just give it all up in a few days when you have invested your time and emotions in it for a good few years. I know wallowing yourself in pity and sorrow is hardly a good thing, but could you honestly say that you were in a relationship with someone if you do not feel that way?

Having said that, I don’t even know what is the right time to move on and get on to next relationship. I just think that it is disrespectful for something you cherished and valued all these years if you just “fall in love” too soon. I really hope people don’t use “love” for every high they feel. I believe that love just does not come out of thin air. There could be attraction or even a connection to begin with but it will take awhile to understand each other, to understand your own feelings for him/her and finally to understand the ramifications of being together. It will not all be easy, not everything will be perfect but even with everything going against you, if you want to hold on to that person’s hand forever, that is when you are truly in love.

Go Green

2009-07-19T03:28:16Z

Recently, just around Earth Day, I bought some seeds to plant. I did have plants before, but only 2-3 have survived my neglectence. I was determined not to let that happen to these seeds. I took care to peek at them everyday and water them as needed (but not too much). I planted sunflower seeds (those are the large leafed ones), basil, and some perennials.

If you noticed, these are all in little pots. I do have larger ones that I plan to transplant these into. I’m not sure when is the best time to do that, so any suggestions are welcome, but I think the roots have to be pretty strong for the plants to withstand the move.

It really is amazing how hard seeds, with just a little soil, water and sunshine can grow into these brilliant green little plants. I really, really hope they live to be healthy strong plants!

Sad Update: I discovered two fat little caterpillars feasting on my sunflower plants I got rid of them, but the plants are in dire state. I am not sure they will make it. Boo. I hate insects.

An apology..

2009-07-19T03:50:36Z

Dear Archana,

I want to apologize for my behavior last night. I lose control of myself every time I get on the red Poltergust 4000. It pumps my adrenaline and I want to drive as fast as I can bumping into everything that comes in the way. I agree that I should not have dropped all the banana peels on the road with the intention of tripping you. Worse, I should not have got my hands up in the air and jumped “Gotcha!” every time you tripped over them. I should not have shot you with all the red shells when you were about to win. I should not have braked and moved into the second spot so I could hit you with the devastating blue shell. Sorry I screamed “Ha Haa!!” every time I crossed the finish line.

I promise I will not put fake item boxes near the real item boxes to confuse you. I also promise I will not say “Oh yay!” if you fall off the ledge. I will definitely not slow down to get better items. I hope you will forgive me and connect to WFC again. I will look for your yellow blinking icon. Please come back so we can play again.

Love,

Jagadish

(For all those who don’t get it. Go play MARIO KART)

I love Apple!

2009-07-19T03:57:38Z

Here I am again, blogging about Apple. What can I say? It warrants a blog!

A while ago I had posted about Apple’s excellent customer service. There is nothing like that to keep a customer going back again and again to the same retailer. This, I think, is a big part of what distinguishes Macs from PCs. I had a Dell Inspiron before my current (very beloved) MacBook. Bigger screen, and I spent almost an equivalent amount ~1k on its purchase. It was a top-of-the-line notebook at that time. I was quite happy with it for a while, but as almost everyone would agree, it slowed down considerably with use, and that is really not unusual with any computer, I’ve noticed, but more about that later. So, there was this one time where the darn comp entirely crashed and refused to boot. I had to call Dell, which of course took me to a center in India. Not only was the rep entirely unsympathetic, but refused to do anything about it. After several unsuccessful attempts at dealing with the issue, I finally found a person who was willing to abide by the warranty coverage. However, this was the deal: they would send me a hard drive, I’d have to install it all by myself, and I’d have to send back my old one. I’d never done a hard drive installation, and how was I to recover any of the data? Sorry, no help there. Anyway, after that debacle, I soon bought a MacBook. Now, Jagadish is not an Apple fan and he will say they have problems too. Sometimes very bizarre ones! I mean, a melting adapter? Hmm. That was only the beginning. The Bluetooth had a mind of its own and came on and off as it pleased, and a fairly visible crack developed along the side of the right palm rest. Worse, it was just barely out of warranty! I should have gotten AppleCare, I kept telling myself. Splurging another $1200 on a laptop and not buying warranty seemed like a silly thing to have done. However, I was more than pleasantly surprised with the awesomeness of the customer service at Apple. While it did take persistence, after gently reminding me that the comp in question was indeed out of warranty, I was allowed to send it to Apple to be fixed, free of charge. Now, that did not fix the bluetooth problem, but I was happy the crack was gone and felt I could live with the bluetooth going on and off (sometimes though I’d wonder, why me?!). I have to admit, I was incredibly happy when Apple offered to REPLACE the MacBook. Wow! It was a problem they could not fix, they admitted, and simply replaced the out of warranty MacBook with a new one. Yay!

Now, almost a year later though, another problem. The fan was running incredibly loud. You turn on the machine, and you can hear it go wheeee. Well, that was going on for a few months, but I kept ignoring it because I needed the laptop for presentations, posters, etc. The second issue I was having was with the comp slowing down a little. Now this was nowhere nearly as bad as the Dell I had. I was running Illustrator, Parallels with Prism, Excel, Firefox, iChat, Mail, Skype, Preview, iTunes all at once.. so a little slowdown is expected, I suppose..but I really needed something where I could transfer files back and forth and make corrections faster to save me time when making figures of publication quality.

So I looked around for some RAM, and upgraded to 4 Gb (Corsair Value Select for ~$30 after rebate) from the 2Gb that was in there. I looked up a video on how to do it on a MacBook. Easy enough, I thought. Well, 2 of the 3 screws that needed to be removed got undone like a charm. The third was such an incredible pain, it wasn’t even funny. Like Jagadish said, there’s always that one screw! Darn it. So, the two things put together, I figured, time to pay a visit to the Apple Store. I duly took an appointment online and showed up.

“You’re having trouble with a screw?” the Apple guy asked, rather enthusiastically, I might add. “Yes”, I said, “it’s pretty darn near impossible to get it out”, “I was trying to upgrade the RAM”, I added, trying not to sound like a complete idiot. “No problem, let’s see here, do you have it on you?”. I handed over my RAM modules. “Normally we don’t do this… but I’ll be back”, he said, after taking one look at the offending screw, which was a bit stripped on the top, no thanks to my persistence in trying to get it out. About 10 minutes later (while I was playing around with the newer MacBook with the wonderful aluminium finish), he was all done and my MacBook now held 4 gigs of RAM. Wow, neat I thought, and moved onto the next issue, of the fan. He checked my Book in after ensuring I had backed everything up, and said it might take 4-7 days. Aw, I thought, goodbye MacBook for now. Just about four hours later though, I got a call from the Apple Store and get this: The comp was ready to be picked up! “Are you sure”?, I asked the lady who called, “I only dropped it off this evening!” She assured me it was completely ready, and I went back over there and brought it home, thrilled!

Moral of the story? Apple deserves the praise it gets for being what it is–quality and design, yes, but what really sets it a world apart is this incredible customer service. Kudos to them for that!

PS: 4 gigs has turned my MacBook into an awesomely speedy machine! Loving it.

Apple: No, not the iPhone.

God bless the weekends

2009-07-19T03:58:22Z

After a long and hard week of work, weekends usually mean getting some rest and catching up with the rest of the world. Being grad students means working on the weekends sometimes, but it doesn’t have to be the same as a weekday, so we can take it easy. I actually like to start working starting Sunday afternoons, whether I have any work to do or not. It actually helps me get over the “I hate Mondays” syndrome really quick.

Archana and I have a really lazy way of spending weekends. We spend most of the time catching up on the TV shows and picking movies to watch. It actually takes us an hour to pick a movie to watch and we usually end up not liking it. We don’t watch horror or drama, so that limits the choices. It’s almost always romance and comedy that wins the vote. Unless we want to get some regional flavor, we watch Telugu or Hindi movies and it’s difficult to find a good Hindi/Telugu movie that is intelligent and devoid of all the hyping up of the hero.

In Indian movies, the hero can hit a 100 people single-handedly without even using a weapon. It seems believable in Kung-fu movies where Jackie Chan jumps around taking a few blows but still managing to beat up a few thugs using the environment as props. It is also quite believable if Keanu Reeves fights 100 Agent Smiths in Matrix, because it is a fictional world. But, in Indian movies, the hero punches every thug into the air with just one mighty blow. Worse, the hero is almost always a lanky kid (who is probably the son of a veteran actor). The Indian hero is Superman, without a cape. Even in movies that does not involve a lot of action, the emotions seem unreal and over the top.

Our latest obsession is watching TV shows. We pick a TV show and watch all its episodes from its season 1 until we reach the current season. We started this trend with “Prison Break” and we quickly got addicted to the show. We used to spend our weekends just watching one episode after the other. The show is in its final season now. I guess the season finale is supposed to air on May 15th. It was a good show and even though we will miss Michael Scofield and his crew, I think the decision to end the show is a good move. It was getting predictable and it doesn’t bode well for the show that relies on surprising the viewer at every corner.

Currently we are watching the Heroes and loving it. Even if it’s getting a little contrived after 12 episodes, it’s still quite enjoyable. I hope it will be as interesting and fun as Prison Break.

Happy Valentines Day