happy pongal

kalakand / milk sweet

From Blogger Pictures

Hope you all had a funfilled Diwali.I'm trying to bounce back into the blogging world with this simple sweet I made on Diwali day (pretty lazy...Oh I made few other kinds too. :) )
I got recipe for this sweet from my dear friend Sailu,who is an awesome person. This is going to the event sweet series hosted by sireesha of Mom's recipes.
Ingredients:
1 pkg(15oz) natural ricotta cheese ,
1 can (140z) sweet condensed milk,
4-5 tsps sugar ,
1/4 stick butter,
chopped nuts(for garnish)
Method:
It's pretty simple ...Mix all the ingredients(except nuts) in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for about 20 mins(till it thickens) stirring ocassionally. Transfer it to a greased plate and let it cool.Cut it into pieces and garnish with chopped nuts.

Happy Vinaya chavithi

From mix

Hope you all had a funfilled celebration of vinayaka chavithi.

EDITED: This Ganesha is hand made out of air dry clay and adorned with water colors

Spring so far....

The much awaited spring time came and almost 8 weeks of it is spent.The other day when I was thinking what did I do in spring so far..these pictures came as rescue to refresh my memory...


This picture is a view from my kitchen window in the very beginning of spring and I was excited to see small new leaves springing up on bare tress.Can't wait to see the greenery.

This picture is few days back ...time just flies by.....pleasure for the eyes.

Then came spring break and I managed to make a few crafts with my sweetie and her friends.

The paper flowers and lanterns came out so well I'm soo excited.

In spite of my pollen allergies I dared and managed to take a few pictures of spring...good thing I did ..look how pretty those flowers are..

I learnt that spring not only brings beauty but it also brings rains :)....it has been raining from 3 days.....

These are my spring encounters so far(recorded ones)...hope it brings more surprises and happy things.

happy earth day

It's an undeniable fact that the earth and ultimately we are effected by global warming.so it is our duty to protect it. I found a nice article on worldwatch.org which has simple things that most of us can follow in our daily lives.
here is the link http://www.worldwatch.org/resources/go_green_save_green
So let's start taking little steps to make our earth green....
HAPPY EARTH DAY
this is link that has incredible pictures from earth hour on march 28th..enjoy.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/earthhour_global/sets/72157615780247025/show/

Happy UGADI(repost)

First of all....HAPPY UGADI to you all............

For those who don't know about UGADI.....Ugadi is telugu new year day which comes on first day of first month(chaitra Sudda padyami) in telugu calender.It's the spring festival .Usually winter is followed byspring bringing blooms to plants that are barren.Similarly even a person's life filled with hardships will ultimately bloom into happiness...that's the spirit of ugadi.



Usually UGADI day begins with ritual showers,prayers to god followed by eating ugadi pachadi.Ugadi pachadi is a mixture of six tastes (shad ruchulu) ......symbolising life is mixture of happiness,hardships/sorrow,anger,fear,disgust,surprises but we have to accept them all as a whole .Main ingredients in UGADI PACHADI are neem flowers (bitterness),raw mango (tangy),tamarind juice(sour),jaggary/sugarcane pieces(sweet),pinch of salt(salt),green chili/red chili(hot).

I still remember my childhood days ....we used to have a big neem tree in our front yard from which we(atleast half of the village along with us) used to get neem flowers...skillfully separate the petals ...and use them in ugadi pachadi...(..memories..)

If we go through telugu magazines during ugadi we can come across numerous jokes on ugadi pachadi but really it doesn't taste bad at all..(of course my mom uses very little salt and green chillies)

The other thing we usually do on UGADI is listening to panchanga sravanam (alamnac) . Usually temple poojari used to come to the house and recite raasiphalalu from panchangam.But now we have it conveniently at the click of remote button or mouse..but don't we miss the human interaction????

Link to raasiphalalu 2010

And here is the recipe for ugadi pachadi...(of course the recipe differs from family to family)

Ingredients:

1-2 tsp neem flowers,

1/2 cup green mango peeled and diced,

2 medium ripe bananas,

1/2 cup tamarind juice (put tamarind in water and extract juice),

3tbsp putnala pappu(roasted channa dhal),

pinch of salt,

1 green chili or pinch of red chili powder,

1tbs grated jaggery

method:

In a bowl mix all the ingredients until they are mixed well like salsa.Offer to god and enjoy...

souces :wikipedia,eenadu

HAPPY HOLI

Happy womens day

HAPPY WOMENS DAY......
and thank you GOD for your best creation....

What a crowd !!!

Now the inauguration gala has subdued... I stumbled upon a site with a great photographs of inauguration.I liked this one in particular...kind of like God's view...click it and enjoy the big picture.

You can look for more interesting pictures @ this link
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/01/the_inauguration_of_president.html

Happy sankranthi

..... HAPPY NEW YEAR ......

virginia satsang '08

This is a picture from satsang held in Virginia on dec 27th....divine ....isn't it??

Our first chirstmas tree