Tamatar Paneer with Shobanjana Parantha

Tomatoes, Corriander, Paneer, Cashews

Shobanjana (Murungai Parantha) Tamatar Paneer

Without onions, i was wondering, how to get the paneer gravy consistency, till my Odiya colleague suggested cashew paste, just 5 cashews and paneer was simply yum! Ideally keerai should not be had at night. Mom said, tomorrow is there to cleanse up the alimentary canal.

I will have to start from home at 7 pm tomorrow and i will not have time for making paranthas, not even dosas which will make me feel thirsty later. So it would be idlies with corriander chutney, since pudhina chutney would make me hungry in the middle of the night.

Strawberry Kanne! Vinveli Penne!

"Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe or take for granted; nor to find task and discourse; but to weigh and consider" - Sir Francis Bacon Sr.

Strawberries instantly takes me to "Autobiography of a Yogi". Paramahamsa Yogananda says, how his guru Yukteshwar Giri, predicted that, he would relish the very same strawberries when offered in America, which he had disliked initially in Kashmir years ago. Another story told, how a saint predicted, the date on which the king would eat previous day's gruel, which happened as predicted. So does this mean, you can predict the kind of food that you would eat, eagerly or in disgust? It is another thing, that after reading yogi's autobiography, i made mom fry my poories in ghee. Sheer ambrosia it was. It is so difficult to just weigh and consider and not believe what you read.

I had read in wholesome and unwholesome combination that milk should not be mixed with fruits and the only healthy milk shake was dates milkshake, since the rasa virya vipaka were same. I thought, i could add honey as at least, if not milk or curd. And then this site told me that not even honey could be added. So i proceeded to eat strawberries, as it was, without any honey or without milk. I could not eat more than 2 strawberries and finally decided to make a smoothie, much against combinations. I just prayed, that this strawberry milkshake, should not harm my body and savoured the delicacy to hearts content.

 

Goopshimbi Kakamanci Shobanjana

Kothavaranga Cluster Beans Goopshimbi

Kakamanci Manathakkali Keerai Black Nightshade

Shobjanjana Murunga Keerai Drumstick Leaves

Kothavaranga Parupu Usili

Kakamachi Manathakkali Keerai Black Nightshade

Dessert Dates Chikkis, Kothavaranga paruppu Usili, Manathakkali Keerai poriyal, Murungai keerai Sambar

Dessert Dates Chikkis, Kothavaranga paruppu Usili, Manathakkali Keerai poriyal, Murungai keerai Sambar, Curd

Kothavaranga Cluster Beans (V-PK+)

Kothavaranga Paruppu Usili is my favourite.

Kakamanci (Manathakkali)  

Shobanjana (Drum stick leaves)
As mom was plucking the drumstick leaves, a part of the whole branch broke off. So i was wondering, whether to make drumstick leaves or manathakkali keerai. Finally decided to make just keerai sambar and make the rest of the murugai keerai tomorrow.

Staying away from home in a PG, my serrated tongue (Vit B2 - niacin deficiency) and curled up nails (Zinc deficiency) made me re-think about food that i mindlessly ate when work rather when there was a gap between these perpetual meetings. Much against my no drug policy, i popped in multivitamin B-Cosules.I ordered a fruit bowl after speaking with my dentist sister. I was under the impression that winter was almost over with January. For a vata pitta person like me, my bones shook me inside out, i was cramped, especially in the evenings and nights. This is what happens when i forget my ritucharya. I bought 1 kg of ghee, hope the joints and bones don't make its presence felt, all nights with dry chill winds. Our festivals - deepawali, kaarthigai deepam in winter with its oily unguent sweets are so very scientific.

I was thinking whether it made sense to come home taking so much trouble. Only after seeing the kitchen, i realized how mom was eating. She didn't have oil to light lamps, leave alone cooking. She bought curd and milk just because i was coming home. So this day, i made everything with ghee, since, no cooking oil was there at home. Now, i have definitely drop in once a while to make sure, she is, rather both of us, are eating well. Next week, i have to buy groceries, especially, pulses, oil when i come home and not stop with just fruits. Even when i could cook in my dupleix, before i shifted to PG, cooking and eating for just self made no sense, and i would starve, being so lazy, to cook, that my house owner started keeping food in the kitchen for me. There ought be someone to cook for.

I have a question, i remember reading in a book, that oil bathing on sunday made one lose luster, similar other prohibitions are there for monday and thursday. In a way, it makes sense, since sun, moon and jupiter are the luminaries. But for an predominantly vata type of person with extreme dryness, would it make sense not to self massage with oil just the body with oil on sunday, monday or thursday?

Pongal

Venpongal, Akaravadisal, Thengai Chutney, Sambar, Kilangu, Sugarcane

Signage Agency's Gift

Top row: Cashew, Badam, Raisins. 2nd row: Pista, Walnuts, Anjir

After 7 years, we were home for Pongal. Was glad to be with family. Was overwhelmed traveling unreserved in SETC bus. My brother was offered 4 gift packets of dry fruits. But being the large hearted simha lagnam Swati, he accepted just one. So for the akaravadisal, i added even pistas in addition to badams, cashews and raisins.

It was a work from home day, so, i was just preparing the deck all day. Relatives came home and forced me away from the laptop; to make them yummy Pista milkshakes. After a fortnight, will make walnut dates cake in cooker. Need to figure out what is to the right of walnuts.

Health Benefits (source)


Pista (V-,PK+)
Tonic, sedative
Indications: Anemia, neurasthenia, builds muscles. Rich in Potassion, Magnesium and Phosphorus salts

Almonds (Decreases vata and pitta and increases kapha)

Walnuts V-PK+
Actions: Nutritive, aphrodisiac, laxative; unripe fruit and hust is antiparasitical
Indications: Marrow, calms the nerves, reproductive tissues, laxative for elderly, useful for parasites, ringworm (internal and external), skin conditions. Leaves are used as a wash for malignant sores and leukorrhea. High in Potassium, Magnesium, Vitamin A, reduces serum cholesterol.

Veg Pulav

Soya Nuggets, Capsicum, Ginger, Beans, Carrots, Tomato, Paneer, Peas, Chillies

Yummy Pulav with Ginger Dalcha

Can plain rice have fragrance? I relished the aroma of plain rice in the lush green paddy fields of thirunelvelli during a Thiruchendur Senthil Gurunathan darshan trip. Needless to speak about flavoured Basmati rice. The only thing missing was nuts - cashnew and almonds. Stomach was full, yet could not help taking one last spoon, so many times. Mom too did the same.

Every time is a learning, realized that I need to add capsicum, carrots towards the end, so that the colours don't change. I like the vegetables, soft yet crunchy, mom likes the vegetables to dissolve in her mouth without having to chew. I like them, fried in ghee, mom needs oil not more than 1-2 spoons. Balancing act !

 Starters

There was a March 30 doctor who told me that the reason, why people in weddings give sweets first is so that guests consume less food. The ayurvedic explanation is that when we start with desserts when the agni is high, it gets easily digested and absorbed and gives the least side effects. Plain wheat flour and jaggery fried in ghee and flavoured with ellaichi and scooped with round spoons, while still hot. With carrots, sauted. 2 minutes delicious desserts. I typically start with sweets and keep one last bite to have at the end.

Plain Wheat flour, Jaggery, Ellaichi, Carrot Slices sauted in Ghee

  
A month earlier

Aval Payasam, Laddoo, Ponnakanni keerai, Maanga thokku, Raita, Rice and Veg Pulav with soya nuggets

7 months later

Vellam kadalai parappu Poli, Kothamalli Paneer Pulav, Rice, Dalcha, Rasam, Curd

Buddh - Few Questions and Partial Answers

Am jumping with joy. Few of my question nagging me from last weekend have been answered that I can’t sleep now. I was doing a pattern analysis on 83 kundlis over the weekend.

Background

My colleague’s father died this evening. I read Deccan Herald’s center page article on the young Railway engineer being charred to death and his old father searching for him without knowing that (after being separated due to son's out of caste girl's choice). In spite of my sister asking me to watch Talaash over the weekend, especially, since I had not been sleeping since Friday, I watched the movie till 12 am. Admire the levels of human perception, discernment that a Piscean can portray. Thanks to him in 3 idiots, I learnt to really let go of CGPA and learn instead and only when I did that, my CGPAs astonished me. Wish Aamir shot his movie in the campus in the 1st year itself. And to join the dots, I listened to katha Upanishad on Dharma Chariot.

My questions

Out of 12 houses available, why does mercury stick around sun? Why does mercury’s mentalizing  domain be only in the 3rd house from its position? Like in the dystopian 1984, what lessons do these repeating thought patterns intend to teach us?

What causes birth and death at specific timings? When does the soul decide to be born and when does it decide to leave? What causes birth and death? Ok am not talking about the soul in gita of chapter 2, which says, souls have no death or birth; my question is about births and deaths in family, all around us.

Why does Buddh get exalted in the 6th house? What is the relation between  our repetitive thoughts (buddhi) and the 6th house of debt, enemies and diseases and that of 8th house of death?  Is soul one or many? Why does the son of a religious father who goes beyond the family to help the society have rahu in his 7th house? Why is Ram, Dasharath’s son? Why is a teacher’s son a fool and a police’s son a thief? Of course, the opposite holds true as well. In some cases, traditions get passed on to progenies, in others it gets grossly violated.

If people around, all relations, mirror our own thoughts – how much is the 23 year old girl who got gang-raped in a moving bus, or the wife whose husband threw acid on her face, responsible for the trauma inflicted on her? Since thoughts turn into words which in turn become deeds - is there something,  that could have been done at the thought level by the women to stop such acts? To stop attracting lust, to stop attracting violence and all the vices that plague humanity? I have experienced the power of positive thoughts – call it prayers or petitions above– they do work. The key is in sustaining the positive momentum.

 My Partial Answers

As to why Mercury- (thoughts) is so closely associated with Sun or just before or after. Answer was in Katha Upanishad.

ātmānaṁ rathinaṁ viddhi śarīraṁ rathameva tu |
buddhiṁ tu sārathiṁ viddhi manaḥ pragrahameva ca || 3||

 Know the Atman as the Lord of the chariot, the body as the chariot; know the intellect as the charioteer and the mind again as the reins. (I.3.3)

indriyāṇi hayānāhurviṣayāṁ steṣu gocarān |
ātmendriyamanoyuktaṁ bhoktetyāhurmanīṣiṇaḥ || 4||

They say, the senses are the horses and their objects are the roads; the Atman, the senses and the mind united, the wise call the enjoyer.(I.3.4)

2 souls made 2 exits and 1 entry within a short span of 2-3 months, which still haunts me even after 3 years. It appears in my dreams so vividly – in various states, and as my mind would choose it, the gory details replay time and again even during my waking hours. Why do some people pour out thus to me – the answer was re-found in Talaash. Wandering souls with similar mindset associating themselves with the human pain.  Birds of a feather flock together.

Elders say, you should not cry in bed, yet I could not help crying, thinking, I was not there for any of those souls when they died. I never did proper shraadh for any of them at an individual level, I just let the family take care of it. They don’t disturb the family folks, but I even got slapped by my dead grandmom in my dream , these souls haunt my dreams.  The answer is in our thoughts.

Afterthought
 
View 1
But you see, there is nothing about you that you can get rid of. The energy that you expend to ‘get rid of’ something actually draws it to you. That is what occurs when you are afraid of something. There is so much energy expended in the fear that the universe says, “Oh, good…this is lots of energy here…we’ll push some more this way.”  You see how it works?  - Ptaah

View 2

It is an unlimited force; your power to think is inexhaustible, yet there is not one in a thousand who may be fully aware of the possibilities of his thought power. We are mere babes in handling it. As we grow in understanding and in the right use of thought, we will learn to banish our ills, to establish good in every form we may desire. It is our power to think that determines our state of living. As one is able to think, he generates a power that travels far and near, and this power sets up a radiation which becomes individual as he determines it. Our thoughts affect our welfare, and often affect others we think of. The kind of thoughts we register on our memories or habitually think attracts the same kind of conditions. - source

Hope to internalize these 2 verses to get the remaining answers. Sarvam SriKrishnaarpanamasthu

Tuberose Rajnigandha

We decided to meet near Oasis Mall. As usual, i make it  a point to try a new fragrance in these malls. I like floral not fruity fragrances. This time, i tried YSL. No matter what, nothing can be more soothing than Sandalwood, jasmine and rose, shenbagam essentials. Few weeks ago, i was reading about Anahatha chakra and on an impulse dialled Justdial to check the rates of essential oils. Was flabbergasted, 1 kg Sandalwood powder was 60k. 10 ml sandalwood and jasmine was Rs.1750 something. I decided, i would rather buy a rose for Rs.10 a day. Jasmines and Nandhiyavattais, wish all over the world, fragrant flowers were planted. Back in college, the only thing that stopped me from tonsuring my head was my love for adorning jasmine flowers. Like a school kid, i would pin jasmine strands to my boy cut hair inside home. 2.5 hours and tatas later, I almost walked past the bouquet shop, when this Saugandharaja fragrance stopped me. The smell was not near the flower, but 1-2 feet away from the bouquet shop.

Tuberose

Reminded me of Palace Guttahalli days, when i would go to KR Market, buy 1 kg of Sampangi flowers. A kg used to be 30-60 Rupees then. There was one large Venkatachalapathi photo in the hall, and i would make a garland with sampangi flowers. 1 kg was too much for swami and i would put the remaining garland of the flowers near the window, door and near the bed, so that i could savour its smell, till the flowers died 2 days later. Victorian funeral flower wiki says. Whatever, Sampangi is a fragrance to die for.

I would make do with whatever little was available and make our home look grand. Neighbours would often say, even the bare things looked inviting when i was at home. Dad let me buy that RD's heavy weight interior decoration book. Vanity, thy name is ss folks would say back home. Afternoon colourful juices had to be served in glass tumblers, with levels matching to perfection, arranged symmetrically on the tray. Even if there was no sugar for coffee, sukku malli kaapi with jaggery would be served shining in its amber glory. Milk had to be in silver tumbler flavoured with ellaichi for night. Honey with silver spoon. I would spend half an hour grinding sandalwood paste for bathing, which periyamma would have kept for God.

Ears can be abused, so can eyes, but nose is perhaps the best when it comes to sensory adaptation. I don't use coffee beans to smell multiple fragrances. I just let 1 fragrance linger in my mind for a while.

Reminded me of Nachiketa responding to Yama in Katha Upanishad. Yama entices Nachiketa with chariots, apsaras, song and dance, instead of responding to the question - what happens to life after death.

श्वोभावा मर्त्यस्य यदन्तकैतत्   सर्वेंद्रियाणाम्  जरयंति तेजः
अपि  सर्वं जीवितमल्पमेव तवैव  वाहास्तव नृत्यगीते ||26||

All things have no tomorrow (ephemeral), they make all the senses lose their vigour. Even the longest life is short. You keep your chariots music and dance to yourself. 

Amazing Nachiketa.

I simply love listening to Swami Sarveshanandha. He compared Kumbipaka naraka to our Indian cooking of mollaga bajji and baigan bartha. Heaven and Hell are very much here. Yet so difficult to go beyond likes and dislikes. Need to. As my mentor says, this world is a beautiful place. Just enjoy it as it is.