Flowers in the window

Photographed by Aravind Prakash, Bangalore

Yeaaah!! Final year is here !!!!

The vacations are over and the final year is here..... The countdown has begun and the year  has rolled out ...
With another year passing by in college ,  a few  realizations happened, new  thoughts ,  newer approach to the system ... but well all of these are  just as good as a new year  resolution, they die away as soon as they were made.

Last semester when i got my  marks, i had a feeling; had i put in a lil  more effort, and attended classes regularly, i would have scored better. But  would the satisfaction of high scores equal or compensate for the exposure acquired by participating in the college activities, fests, organizing events and connecting with people. For us the  clock is ticking ,  and  before  we  would know , we  would be knee deep in assignments and submissions.

I found this in my in my drafts... it was  written on the first day of coll.. it is fairly incomplete , but by large words out my feelings on the first day of college :) n a month into final year .. trust me when i say , i m crammed for time with assignment, association, visits and projects ..... but I m loving every bit of .... YAY !!   coz it's  FINAL YEAR !! :)

KalaAnantarupah Art Center: Dance & Mime Play -Maa.....- July 2nd 2010- Alliance Francaise,Bangalore

 Hi friends,  i have recently joined bharatnatyam classes  at kala Anantarupah Art Center. Our center is holding a dance and mime play called MAA- my guardian angel. You could  check the link below for further details on the same :)

KalaAnantarupah Art Center: Dance & Mime Play -Maa.....- July 2nd 2010- Alliance Francaise,Bangalore

MANGO ICE CREAM

I prepared this last summer, and it  turned out be almost perfect and as good as ice cream bought from the store. It s the season of mangoes and the best  time to try this recipe too...

Ingredients:

3 cups Whole milk

3 tbsp Sugar

2 tbsp Vanilla custard powder (Brand: Brown & Polson)

2 cups Sweetened condensed milk

1 Cup Mango Puree

1/2 Cup Malai

1/2 tsp  Vanilla extract

Method:

• Make a smooth paste of the custard powder and 1/4 cup milk (at normal temperature). Bring remaining milk to a boil. 
• Add sugar and stir to dissolve. When the milk comes to a rolling boil, reduce heat and slowly stir in the custard mixture. 
• Keep stirring till the milk thickens. The custard is ready when it coats the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and let it cool completely.

• While the custard is cooling, take a large bowl (which will fit into your freezer) and blend the mango puree with the condensed milk. Stir well to combine. 
• Once the custard has cooled, add it to the puree-condensed milk mixture. Also add the heavy cream and the vanilla extract.

• Cover and freeze for an hour. 
• This is the most important step…the 'churning'. Since this ice-cream is made without an ice-cream maker, doing it right manually determines the final quality of the ice-cream.   
• Remove bowl from freezer and using a hand beater, whip the mixture for 10 minutes at the highest speed on your beater. The mixture will begin to bubble because of the whipped cream. Return to freezer for another 30 minutes.
• Repeat the whipping process, but reduce time to 5 minutes. Return to freezer for 30 minutes.
  
  
  
  This needs to be done 2 more times(once every 30 mins). By the third time your mixture would have thickened and would be harder to churn.  After the last churn, you can transfer ice-cream to  the container and freeze overnight or for at least 6 hours.
  
  
  

SUMMER '10 It all happened this summer :)

FINALLY, college is reopening tomorrow, the two month long lovely summer vacation is coming to an end with a chain of wonderful memories :) Here's a treasure full of memories of the times gone by !

The summer of 2010 .... my  last summer  vacations this would be. This post is dedicated in the memory of the days gone past...... It all happened this summer :)

Time spent with friends , planning, going to each others  house, experimenting in the kitchen, playing in the  fields, getting drenched in the rain, riding triples ... the  smiles the tears, painful moments of separation .... it all happened this summer :)

Most of the time spent at  home with parents,  sometimes traveling, just being with each other, shopping, cooking, arguing, evening walks, fighting over the remote, watching movies and  spending some good  time together :)

Kids kids ... so much fun you are to be around with , teaching you , i've  learnt from your ways ... and have enjoyed being a part of the EB CLUB ... it all happened this summer :)

 

With  an egg less mango cake, poha samosa, ragada patties, pani poori and more ... it  all happened this summer :)

  

 

 Rain rain the pitter patter rain .. and the home coming of my  turtles after 2 years... oh  boy !!!  look at em .... SO HUGE, they have become!

Photography, yes the digital  variety; not that the digitized version of photography pleases me , but its definitely helping in the learning stage when I'm struggling with a shaky hand... What i still fantasize to own some day, is a SLR the old version .... :) what a beauty it is and pure joy it is to click pictures through it. Here's a little sneak into my experimental photography.

Finally, ART ! a little amount of art also consumed some time this summer.... i enjoyed working most on poo's  farewell gift , a friendship calender, which she has carried along to her hostel.... another project was furniture restoration for the OM stand, and also working on the OM project which had been pending for long. It finally happened THIS SUMMER :)

Bundled with the memories of this summer ... I'm eagerly looking forward to going back to college tomorrow !!

COLORFUL MOBILES

I made these beautiful  mobiles 2 months back when my vacations had just begun. It was the first time few of my friends were coming home, and as a token of remembrance i gifted 'em these ... there were a whole lot of other designs like flowers, leaves, fishes, snail etc .. here are a few in this pic.....

These are very simple and quick to make. You could also involve your children in this activity. It could be used as a book mark, or hang it by ur bedside, dressing table, on the window bar... ur study table any where you wish.

All you need to make these cute looking mobiles are ... 

• a pair of scissors, 
• OHP sheets, 
• glass paints, 
• paint brush, 
• thin black marker and 
• a string or a ribbon to tie.

                                           

This is how you do it:

• Trace or draw a design on the OHP sheet. With the help of craft scissors cut out the outline.
• Use glass paints of your choice to paint the pictures. You could take help from your little one with painting and tracing. Kids would surely love to do it.
• Finally, i took a compass from the geometry box and pricked in a lil hole and inserted a flower making string in it. You could also punch in a hole and pass a colorful ribbon through.
• To personalize it, in one corner of the picture you could write your name, a lil message or date.

 Colorful mobiles are ready to be hung :)

VEGETABLE NOODLES

Today's  post is the recipe of vegetable hakka noodles. This recipe goes as a gift to APU, who has been asking for it ever since she tasted it. This is yet another simple recipe which can be cooked in no time if the vegetables are kept cleaned and chopped :)

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 Packet hakka noodles

• 200g each, assorted vegetables cut in long strips (julienne) ( I used carrots, beans, onions, cabbage and capsicum)

• 1/2 cup tomato sauce

• 3 tsp soy sauce

• 1/2 tsp ginger paste

• 2 tbsp oil

• 2 green chillies

• salt to taste

METHOD:

1.  Boil the noodles as per the instruction on the pack. Keep it aside and allow the water to drain.
2. Heat oil in a wok. Fry onions till they are cooked to a shade of pale pink.
3. Add ginger paste and chopped chillies, cook for a minute by stirring it. 
4. Drop in carrot and beans. When they are half cooked add capsicum and cabbage. Cook for 2-3 minutes by stirring it occasionally.
5. Add tomato, soy sauce and salt to it. 
6. When its  almost cooked, add boiled noodles and mix it well.

VARIATIONS:

You could also try other vegetables like green peas, leafy vegetables, chives or spring onion, paneer, chicken chunks anything that appeals to your taste buds.