Bread usli/uppittu

 

coarsely pulse bread into the grinder so it looks like rawa.

coarsely pulse coriander leaves, green chillies, garlic, ginger as per your taste
soak frozen peas in water
heat oil and ghee, add mustard, jeera, curry leaves (optional, i love it) . once the tempering is ready, add chopped onions. once the onions are aromatic/slightly pink in colour, add the pulsed mixture. fry for a bit. add turmeric, salt and pinch if sugar. mix well. add peas...(at this stage you can add tomatoes, i did not., instad squeezed aromatic lemon from our teerthahalli farm, just before serving the dish)once the peas are done, add the crumbled bread. mix well. chk for salt. add freshly grated coconut (optional)
my fav food to carry on travels.
Srikant just returned from Bhopal. it was an official visit but he got to spend two days with my Nimpi. peas were selling at 20 ₹ per kg.. so he got some since he arrived by flight. i love green peas.

you can watch the preparation on instagram reel. 👍❤️😀

Christmas/ ಕ್ರಿಸ್ಮಸ್ ಹಬ್ಬ

 

ನಾನು ಹೆಚ್ಚಾಗಿ ಓದಿದ್ಫು ಕಾನ್ವೆಂಟ್ ಗಳಲ್ಲಿ. ಹಾಗಾಗಿ ಕ್ರಿಸ್ಮಸ್ ಗೆ ನಮಗೆ 10 ದಿನಗಳ ರಜೆ. ಹಾಗಾಗಿ ಖುಷಿ ಆಗ್ತಿತ್ತು. 8 ವರ್ಷಗಳ ಹಿಂದೆ ಅಕ್ಕ ಅರ್ಥಾತ್ ಮಾಲವಿಕ  ತನ್ನದೇ ಸಣ್ಣದಾದ ಗೃಹ ಉದ್ದಿಮೆ ಬಿಸ್ಕೂಟ್ ಫ್ಯಾಕ್ಟರಿ ಪ್ರಾರಂಭಿಸಿದಾಗ ಇನ್ನೂ ಖುಷಿ. ಮೊಟ್ಟೆ ಹಾಕದ products. ಇದಕ್ಕೆ ಅದರದ್ದೆ ಆದ ಮಾರುಕಟ್ಟೆ ಇದೆ. 

ಕ್ರಿಸ್ಮಸ್ ಗೆ ಹದಿನೈದು ದಿನ ಇರುವಾಗಲೇ ಆರ್ಡರ್ ಬರಲು ಶುರು ಆಗುತ್ತೆ. ಮನೆಯಲ್ಲೆಲ್ಲ ಅಮೋಘವಾದ ಪರಿಮಳ. rum ಮತ್ತು ರಮ್ ರಹಿತ ಕೇಕ್ಗಳು ಮಾತ್ರವಲ್ಲದೆ ಕುಕ್ಕೀಸ್, ಚಾಕಲೇಟು ಗಳು ಹೋಗುತ್ತವೆ. 

ನಾನು ಆಗ ಮನೆ ಬಿಟ್ಟು ಎಲ್ಲೂ ಹೋಗುವುದಿಲ್ಲ. ನನ್ನ ಕೈಲಾದಷ್ಟು ಸಹಾಯ ಮಾಡುತ್ತೇನೆ. box assemble ಮಾಡುವುದು, ಟ್ಯಾಗ್ ಕಟ್ಟುವುದು ವಗೈರೆ....

ಈಗೀಗ ವೇಗನ್ ಕೇಕ್ ಗಳಿಗೆ ಹೆಚ್ಚು ಬೇಡಿಕೆ ಇವೆ. ಅಕ್ಕ ಅದನ್ನೂ ಮಾಡುತ್ತಾಳೆ. ವೇಗನ್ ಅಂದ್ರೆ ಯಾವುದೇ ಪ್ರಾಣಿಗಳಿಂದ ಬಂದಂತಹ ಉತ್ಪನ್ನ...ಉದಾಹರಣೆಗೆ ಆಕಳ/ಗೋ ಉತ್ಪತ್ತಿ...ಹಾಲು ಮೊಸರು, ತುಪ್ಪ , ಬೆಣ್ಣೆ , / ಜೇನು ಮುಂತಾದವುಗಳು.

ಕೆಲವು ಚಿತ್ರಗಳು 👆👆

A quiet evening

 I finshed the household chores early today and went shopping for boxes and other stuffs, prepping for Christmas baking. It is rainy and cold day. Husband attended a grihapravesh and had lunch there. 

Srikanth had a siesta. akka cocooned herself in her duvet and watched a korean drama. and.i spent a quiet moment among my balcony plants with my tea and.i thought i will read a book, but my writer, lyricist friend (of international repute..yes yes, just showing off 😀)sent me some reading materials and you tube videos and time just passed and before long it was too dark to sit in the balcony.the light bulb there has gone gor a toss). my snack was horsegram usli topped with finely chopped onions and sev from teerthahalli.

just sharing my evening scene. on Sunday it is jyst the morning walk and a break from evening sudarshana kriya (AOL) and walk.

If you are interested in ordering cakes or cookies from #biscootfactory 👇👇 call/whatsapp 9902825368

Kashaya/ ಕಷಾಯ

I prepare many types of kashaya/ ಕಷಾಯ this is one of them. in water boil jaggery and then add crushed pepper corns, coriander seeds followed by ginger, tulsi leaves and doddapatre leaves. when the concoction reduces into half the quantity, add milk and serve.
for people with sweetness/sugar issues, skip jaggery , add a pinch of salt and a squeeze of lemon.
good for the present wet and cool weather.
you can add pepper as per.your tolerance for heat/ಖಾರ
 

15 days in himachal pradesh/Lime water tank training on HP hills

 

Pre paid taxis are available outside the Dharamshala airport.
'the cottage' is the name of our hotel. The balcony has a lovely view. 1500/- charges.
It is a steep walk anywhere..up and down. One can always take a break to absorb the sight and sounds.
4th Oct. Morning walk and breakfast at alt cafe. We placed our order almost 45 min ago..no sight of it 😊
Put me in my right surroundings and you wont hear a peep from me.

4th oct we travelled from dharamkot up to gallu temple on a very rough Rocky car drive..by a handsome guy manu. From there we had to walk for an hour to reach the training venue. 

I was not part of the training.I just tagged along for a break. We hired porters to carry luggage. Felt bad. They charge 300 rs. The car drive was 400 rs.

Me and srikanth had a cute cottage to our selves while the rest of the trainees stayed in Bear cottage at the training venue. Separate accomodation for men and women.All together we were 9 of us. Our hosts were Felicitaz a german and her partner,Jacob Urban +a viennese.

 

Trainers Kimbereley Moyle, Rafiq and his two assistants Zubair and Dilshad. Since i am not part of the training i clicked photos of them and fetched tea, snacks, lunch and dinner from top to bottom and vice versa. I lost considerable weight trudging up and down. But slept really well all the days.

no

Today is the second last day and i woke up early at 4 to click pics of the full moon.

On the the penultimate day it rained heavily all night. It was really a show of thunder and lightning through the glass ceiling. But the morning was clear and we had a clear view of snow capped mountain from Jacob's (pronounced yakoob) cottage. Oh so happy to have experienced mist, sunshine, thunderstorm and clear skies all in one day.
On the last day after walking from the cottage to gallu temple and then an exhilarating drive down to Mc leod ganj in the open jeep belonging to and driven by Jacob.
We visited H H Dalai Lama's temple, tibet museum the parliament house,and did a bit of shopping. All the trainees were like family members. 3 of them left in the night. Smitha Maiyya - namma bengaluru, Suresh Nair, a keralite settled in -benares, Madhuri Maheshwari - pune, Graziela and Eva from France , but currently based in Pune
This morning i.e. 13th Oct we said good bye to Lomesh Pathak- Vadodara. And the kid of the training Ovia- a 22 year old from Hosur, Tamil Nadu.
Most of them are architects. Eva from france is a teacher, Suresh Nair an artist, Srikanth into Sustainable living and Lomesh into restoration and reconstructiom  of old heritage structures. Felt good to hear them talk. All are well versed and knowledgeable in their respective fields. Felt glad that they included and tolerated me 😀❤️
The viral fever last month had sapped me of energy and was quite unsure of my mountain travel. It was on Srikanth's encouragement i undertook this trip. I found i could walk an elevation of 2250 mtrs with ease and that is indeed a feat and i am mighty proud of myself.
I enjoyed this trip Immensely..

though we had to be very careful in usage of water and not much civilization around us except our hosts, ourselves, three dogs (Kia, Ayesha & Timur), 3 horses (whom i befriended feeding them over-ripe dates), 3 household help Sudarshana who cooked with the assistance of  Bicky and Kulwant) 1 cow 1 calf (urmila)..😀. They are almost self sufficient. Essential household items are ordered below at Naddi village and brought up on the horse.  We went twice to this village. Climbing down is easy. 😀

I am fully charged now. I needed this break very much

U

Yummy brownies

 

Husband had been to thailand last month. A boys only trip. Had sent sugar free oats biscuits with him which came back unopened. Yesterday when i thought i will munch on them, i found them all gone soft.

We konkanis dont waste anything 🥳😀

So i just put the biscuits in a blender and powdered them finely. Added cocoa, baking powder, few soft cashews, some overly ripe sweet sour bananas, butter milk and mixed them into smooth dough. 

Baked at 180 degrees for 35 minutes and got lovely fragrant brownies.

The biscoot factory girl who rarely eats sweets, tasted them and said 'ಲಾಯ್ಕ್ ಜಾಲ್ಲಾ ಗೋ ಅಮ್ಮಾ' and to me it is ಸ್ವರ್ಗಕ್ಕೆ ಮೂರೇ ಗೇಣು... 

Cannot share proper recipe cos i eyeballed the ingredients.

Decorated with left over cream from the cake order from day before 😀👍

ಓಲಾ ಆಟೋ - ಆಟಾಟೋಪ

 

ಈ ಮೊದಲೂ ಹೇಳಿದ ಹಾಗೆ ದೊಡ್ಡ ಕೇಕ್ ಇದ್ರೆ ನಾವೇ deliver ಮಾಡೋದು. ಕೆಲ ಒಲಾ ಆಟೋ ದವರು ಒಳ್ಳೆಯವರಾಗಿರುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಒಂದೆರಡು ಕಿರಿಕ್ ಪಾರ್ಟಿಯವರೂ ಸಿಕ್ಕಿದ್ದಾರೆ. 

ನಿನ್ನೆ ಹಾಗೆ ಆಯಿತು. 6 ಕಿಲೋ ಕೇಕ್. ಡೆಲಿವರಿ ಪಾರ್ಟ್ನರ್ ಜತೆ ಎರಡು ಕೆ ಜಿ ಸಿಂಪಲ್ ಕೇಕ್ ಅಥವಾ ಕಪ್ ಕೆಕ್ಸ್, ಅದೂ ಸ್ಕೂಟರ್ ಆದ್ರೆ ಕಳುಹಿಸಬಹುದು. ಇಲ್ಲದಿದ್ದರೆ ಕಸ್ಟಮರ್ಸ್ ಬಳಿ ತಲುಪುವಷ್ಟರಲ್ಲಿ ಅದರ ಶೇಪ್ ಯೇ ಬದಲಾಗಿರುತ್ತೆ. ಅವಳು ಡಿಸೈನ್ ಮಾಡ್ದ ಕೇಕ್ ಎಲ್ಲ ವೆಸ್ಟ್. ಹಾಗಾಗಿ ದೊಡ್ಡ ಕೇಕ್, tier ಕೇಕ್, ತುಂಬಾ detailing ಇರೋ ಕೇಕ್ ಎಲ್ಲ ನಾವೇ ತೆಗೆದುಕೊಂಡು ಹೋಗೋದು. ಅತಿ ದೊಡ್ಡ ಕೇಕ್ ಅಥವಾ ತುಂಬಾ ಕೇಕ್ ಇದ್ದಲ್ಲಿ ನಾನೂ ಹೋಗ್ತೇನೆ. ಅದನ್ನು ಸಹಿ ಸಲಾಮತ್ ಹಿಡಿದುಕೊಂಡು ಹೋಗುವ ಜವಾಬ್ದಾರಿ ನಂದು. Of course ನನಗೆ ಇದರ ಸಂಬಳ ಸಿಗುತ್ತೆ 😊.

ಹಿಂದಿನ ಸಲದ ಓಲಾ ಆಟೋ ದವ ಹೆಂಗೆಗೋ ಗಾಡಿ ಚಲಾಯಿಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದ. ನಯವಾಗಿ 'ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ನಿಧಾನಕ್ಕೆ ಹೋಗುವಾ' ಅಂದದ್ದೇ...'ಎನ್ ಮೇಡಂ ನಾನು ಏನು ಫಾರ್ಮುಲಾ ರೇಸ್ ಗೆ ಹೋಗ್ತಿದ್ದೀನಾ' ಹಾಗೆ ಹೀಗೆ ಅಂತ ಸಿಟ್ಟಾಗಿ...ಇದ್ದ ಬದ್ದ ಹೊಂಡದಲ್ಲಿ ಜಾನ್ ಭೂಜ್ ಕೆ ಗಾಡಿ ತೆಗೆದೊ ಕೊಂಡು ಹೋದ...ಸಧ್ಯ ನಾನು ಕೂಡ ರಸ್ತೆ ಮೇಲೆ ಕಣ್ಣಿಟ್ಟಿದ್ದು, ಕೇಕ್ ಬಾಕ್ಸ್ ಅನ್ನು balance ಮಾಡಿಕೊಂಡಿದ್ದೆ. ನಾವು ತಲುಪಬೇಕಾದ ಸ್ಥಳ ಬಂದ ಮೇಲೆ..ಇನ್ನೂ ಏನೋ ಕಿರಿಕ್ dialogue ಹೇಳಲು ಮುಂದಾದ. ನಾನು ಸಮಾಧಾನದಿಂದ ಹೇಳಿದೆ ' ನೋಡಪ್ಪ ನಿಮಗೆ ಹೇಗೆ ರಿಕ್ಷಾ ಓಡಿಸುವ ಉದ್ಯಮವೋ...ಹಾಗೆ ನಾವು ಕೇಕ್ ಮಾಡಿ ಮಾರುತ್ತೇವೆ. ಚೆಂದದ ಕೇಕ್ ಹಾಳಾದ್ರೆ, ಕಸ್ಟಮರ್ಸ್ ಗೂ ಬೇಜಾರೂ, ನಮಗೂ ಬೇಜಾರು. ಇದೇನೋ ಮೊದಲನೇ ಕೇಕ್ ಅಲ್ಲ ನಾವು ಡೆಲಿವರಿ ಮಾಡಿದ್ದು. ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಒಳ್ಳೆ ಓಲಾ ದವರೆ ಸಿಕ್ಕಿದ್ದಾರೆ ನಮಗೆ. ಅಂತ ಹೇಳಿ ಅವನ ದುಡ್ಡು ಪಾವತಿಸಿದೆವು. ಮುಂದೆ ಜಾಸ್ತಿ ಮಾತಾಡದೆ ಹೋದ. ಅಕ್ಕ ಅವನ ಮೇಲೆ complaint ಹಾಕಿದಳು.

ಮತ್ತು ಕೆಲವು ಚಾಲಕರು ಮ್ಯಾಡಂ ಚೆಂದ ಮಾಡಿ ಬಂದಿದೆನೆ ಐದು ಸ್ಟಾರ್ ಕೊಡಿ ಅಂದಾಗ ಅಕ್ಕ 5 star ಕೊಟ್ಟಿದ್ದಾಳೆ

ಮತ್ತು ನಿನ್ನೆ ರಾಜಾಜಿನಗರ ಕಡೆ ಹೋಗಲಿಕ್ಕಿತ್ತು. ನಮ್ಮ ಹಳೆ haunt. ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನ 21 ವರ್ಷಗಳಲ್ಲಿ 12ರಡು ವರುಷ ಅಲ್ಲಿ ಕಳೆದಿದ್ದೀವಿ. ಆ ಕಡೆ ಹೋಗದೆ ಸುಮಾರು ಸಮಯ ವಾಗಿತ್ತು. 6 ಕೆ ಜಿ ಕೇಕ್. ವಾಪಸ್ ಬರುವಾಗ ಮೆಟ್ರೊ ದಲ್ಲಿ ಕೆ ಆರ್ ಮಾರುಕಟ್ಟೆಗೆ ಹೋಗು ಬರುವ ಪ್ಲಾನ್. ಈ ಆಟೋ ದವನಿಗೂ ಸಿಕ್ಕಾ ಪಟ್ಟೆ ರೋಡ್ ರೇಜ್. ಮೂರು ಸಲ almost ವಾಹನಗಳಿಗೆ ಡಿಕ್ಕಿ ಹೊಡೆದು, ಗಲಿಜೂ ಗಲಿಜೂ ಬೈಗಳು. ನಾಲ್ಕನೇ ಸಲ two wheeler ನವನಿಗೆ ಗುದ್ದಿಯೇ ಬಿಟ್ಟ. ಇಬ್ಬರದ್ದೂ ತಪ್ಪಿತ್ತು. ಇಬ್ಬರೊ ಒಬ್ಬರನ್ನೊಬ್ಬರು ಮೀರಿಸಿದ ಕೆಟ್ಟ ಬೈಗಳು. ಆಮೇಲೆ two wheeler ನವನು ನಮ್ಮಿಬ್ಬರನ್ನೂ ನೋಡಿ ಸುಮ್ಮನೆ ಮುಂದಕ್ಕೆ ಹೋದ.

ನಿಜ ಹೇಳಬೇಕೆಂದರೆ...ರಿಕ್ಷಾ ದವನಿಗೆ ನಿಧಾನಕ್ಕೆ ಹೋಗಪ್ಪ ಅಂದ್ರೆ... ರಸ್ತೆ ಸರಿಯಿದ್ರೆ ತಾನೇ? ಎಷ್ಟೊಂದು ಹೊಂಡಗಳು? ಅತಿಯಾದ ಮಳೆ, ಕಳಪೆ ಕಾಮಗಾರಿ, metro rail construction ಅಂತ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನ ಬಹುಪಾಲು ರಸ್ತೆ ಪೂರ್ತ ಹಾಳಾಗಿದೆ...

ಸಧ್ಯ ಕೇಕ್ ಹಾಳಾಗಿರಲಿಲ್ಲ...

ಸುಮ್ನೆ ಒಂದು ಅನುಭವ ಹಂಚಿಕೊಂಡೇ. 

ಕೃಷ್ಣ ರಾಜ ಮಾರುಕಟ್ಟೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಹಣ್ಣು ತರಕಾರಿ ಎಲ್ಲ ತುಂಬಾ cheap. ಚೀಲಗಳನ್ನು ತುಂಬಾ ತೆಗೆದು ಕೊಂಡು ಹೋಗಿದ್ವಿ. ಅಲ್ಲಿ ಹೆಚ್ಚಿನವರು ಕ್ಯಾಶ್....ನಮಗೂ ಗೂಗಲ್ ಪೆ ಅಭ್ಯಾಸ. ದೊಡ್ಡ denomination ಹಣ ನನ್ನ ಬಳಿ ಇತ್ತು. ಅವರ ಬಳಿ ಚೇಂಜ್ ಇರಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಎಲ್ಲ ಹತ್ತು ಇಪ್ಪತ್ತು ರೂಪಾಯಿ. ಇದ್ದ ಚಿಲ್ಲರೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಕೆಲವು ಹಣ್ಣು ತರಕಾರಿ ತಂದೆವು. ಕಡಿಮೆ ಬೆಲೆಗೆ ನಾಟಿ ಚಿಕ್ಕ ಚಿಕ್ಕ ಕೆಂಪು ಟೊಮ್ಯಾಟೋ ಹಣ್ಣು ಸಿಕ್ಕಿತು. ಅದನ್ನು ಬಳಸಿ ಇವತ್ತು ಅವಲಕ್ಕಿ ಒಗ್ಗರಣೆ...ಅದಕ್ಕೆ ಇಷ್ಟೊಂದು ಕತೆ....😀😀

ಕಂದ ನಿಮ್ಮವಳೆಂದು ಕಾಣಿರಿ 😊

 ಮಾಲವಿಕಾ ಕೊರಿಯಾ (ಮತ್ತು ಭಾರತ ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತಿ)ಅಡುಗೆ  ಸ್ಪರ್ಧೆಯಲ್ಲಿ 20 ಮಂದಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಒಬ್ಬಳಾಗಿ ಅರ್ಹಳಾಗಿದ್ದಾಳೆ.  ಕೊನೆಯ ಐದು ಮಂದಿಯನ್ನು ಅವರು ಸೊಶಲ್ ಮೀಡಿಯಾ ದಲ್ಲಿ ಅತಿ ಹೆಚ್ಚು ಲೈಕ್ಸ್ ಬಂದವರಿಗೆ ಆಯ್ಕೆ ಮಾಡುತ್ತಾರಂತೆ. ನಿಮಗೆ ಇಷ್ಟವಿದ್ದಲ್ಲಿ instagram facebook ನಲ್ಲಿ ಮಾಲವಿಕ ಳ ವಿಡಿಯೋ ಗೆ ಲೈಕ್ ಹಾಕಬಹುದು. ಕೆಳಗಿದೆ ಕೊಂಡಿ. ಧನ್ಯವಾದಗಳು ❤️🙏😊

Korean culinary contest

Banana stamen chutney

 

#ಬಾಳೆಹೂವಿನಪರಾಗದ#bananafloretstamens #chutney #ofclunchbox

highly absorbent source of iron. tasty too

heat oil

Add few mustard. Once it splutters add jeera, green chillies, red chillies, asafoetida, cleaned florets,coconut salt, jaggery and a small piece of tamarind ..in that order. Fry for a few minutes. Once it cools down, run in a grinder, adding just enough water to make into chutney consistency

Memories

 

Today was a day for lazing in the morning. Akka took the responsibility of cooking breakfast. Niha made me adrak wali chai. Afternoon it was eat out at the Garuda Mall/ swiggy company's birthday bash. We are even featured in their insta stories 😀😀

Hence i thought i will update my blog.

A couple months ago i watched a movie about a 4/5 year old gone missing and they found the body between a space in the bed. The police, detectives, private eye nor the sniffer dog could locate the child.

There were various theories like the child has been murdered elsewhere, and the body is planted after the police work, the child died accidentally, the child was totally rolled in the bedsheet when she fell , hence nobody got a decaying smell...etc etc

Felt very bad. At the same time i remembered something. I must have blogged about in kannada, not sure though..hence recounting my memory.

It was in belthangady ( dakshin kannada dist) where my husband was posted from his bank. We did.not have much household stuff then. So me, srikanth and tiny tot Malavika travelled on the goods vehicle from Koppa (chikmagalur dist) to belthangady. We did.not know a soul there. After an early breakfast we left and reached belthangady by noon time. We ate at a restaurant. I was pregnant with second child.  Something did not agree with 10 month old baby and she had severe case of diahrrea. 

The house we rented was old and huge. But not a drop of water. Had to fetch the water for the entire household activity from a well nearby. That is the only thing i remember about my stay at belthangady. Waking up early, cooking breakfast and lunch before Malavika would wake up. Then entire day draw water from the well. Most times Srikanth's office colleagues would be invited for lunch...or else relations wanting to visit dharmasthala, since Srikanth had close contacts/quick visit access to manjunatha temple. 

I did not mind cooking then..but fetching water tired me out...i had applied for a Masters course via Bombay University distance education. I hardly found time to study. I was a frail lady..who needed to fetch 40 to 50 vessels (ಕೊಡ) of water...funnily i now think why did not I ask for household help? To enter the house we had climb two really wide steps. I would oil massage malavika and make her sit on the step so the early morning sun light would be helpful to her growth. 

I always told her 'babu sit here quietly.. Don't move..if u fall u will be hurt...and she always obeyed me, my poor baby.

But on that one day after fetching water i could not find her. I was alarmed for a bit and searched every nook and the corner inside the house and the outside space. It was a huge compound with 5 independent houses situated in lush greenery, which of course i did not have time to enjoy. I even with trepidation in my heart  went and peeped into the well..though it was not possible for her to escape  my eyes. I wept a little. There were no landline at home let alone cell phone..we really have made leaps and bounds as far as technology is concerned. 

Then i closed my eyes and took deep breaths trying to calm myself. I thought i heard a faint sound of breathing. I waited for a while and again heard the sound of breathing. Went to the bedroom and stood with my own breath stilled. Now i could hear strong sound of breathing..and following the sound i found her in the tiny space behind my clothes horse...i pulled her out and held her very tight. She was/is a very smart kid. 

At 11 months she recited all the alphabets, days of the week, months in a year. I got to cuddle and kiss and hug only when i was travelling to mumbai by bus. I had to travel to mangaluru and take bus to mumbai from there, 24 hour journey, mostly never on time, no way to let our family know where we were...(once our bus fell into a ditch and we had to stay overnight in a tiny maharashtrian village..with kind hearted people)...we spent time singing rhymes, playing games etc..

This is the breakfast she made today ❤️👍👌

Just sharing like always 😀😀

ಅಕ್ಕಿ ಹಿಟ್ಟಿನ ಉಕ್ಕರಿಸಿದ ರೊಟ್ಟಿ ಮತ್ತು ಅಣಬೆ ಮಸಾಲೆ

ಪಾತ್ತೋಳಿ & birthday

  A chocolate cake i baked and decorated for malavika's birthday

Whenever i make patholi ಅರಸಿನ ಎಲೆ ಕಡುಬು, i remember the day i had made 90 patholis and 75 kotte kadubu ಹಲಸಿನ ಎಲೆ ಕೊಟ್ಟೆ ಕಡುಬು for srikanth's office party when he was in Koppa branch.

I made it all single handed..with no help. Malavika was about 10 months old and just learning to stand. I put her in her walker and did all the grinding work manually. I had to grind udad dal three times. I had/still have with me a huge grinding stone. Malavika was a no tantrum baby..very quiet. So i could do it. Had to grind chutney 3 times...grate lots of coconut both for chutney as well as the stuffing for patholis. Only help i had was for house cleaning and  washing clothes by bayamma. Bayamma was christian konkani but she spoke GSB konkani so well that my daughter learned our mother tongue through her. I was a 21 year old with yet to complete my graduation studies and exam. So once my house work was finished i sat and studied, while bayamma kept up a prattle with Malavika.

Today is her birthday. Love my girl. Not only that she is the apple of the eye of entire family.

When i was pregnant and almost near my due date, i remember sitting on the ground, leaning on the wooden diwan, very tired. My dad was seriously ill and in hospital. Amma was tired...going to and fro to the hospital on the bus. Our finances were very low and i was sad that i too was a burden on them. The delivery of the first child is  always considered the responsibility of the mayka...mothers place...

Amma seeing me sad , sat besides me and tenderly touching and caressing my tummy said'come soon babu, if possible tomorrow for it is my birthday....my brother who had just come from a job hunt says, no come on the 12th it is my birthday. Somehow the contraction started at night. I went to wake up my mom..but she was in a deep sleep after a very tiring day so i did not have the heart to wake her up...meanwhile several people in the building had offered to take us to the hospital in their vehicle when the time came for my delivery. Amma woke up at 4 and i told her of the pain. Since there were still many a days to due date...amma first gave me hot water with butter and cumin added to it to check if it was just pain due to gastric trouble Contractions got more constant. Amma asked whether i could walk to the hospital, i said yes, i can manage. It was only 15 minutes away on a shorter route from our building. Akka was born only in the evening. It was a very quick and easy labour much to the surprise of the doctor and nurses.

Before going to the hospital, amma lit a lamp praying for my safe delivery and checked kaalnirnay calender which showed it was 'varamahalakshmi' day on it. It was a friday.

Malavika (fondly called 'akka' by the entirely family) only cried a bit and was frowning fiercly when she was born. But she settled down and was soon the favorite of everybody at the hospital.

Like some magic happened, everything at home was better. Daddy was declared healthy to return home, my brothers got job opportunities and my amma thinks it is 'paay gun' of malavika, born on an auspicious day. Luckily my father and malavika bonded so well that he took care of her most times and he gained is good health back.

Today the birthday falls on  yajur upakarma 

Another fun thing is not only amma and malavika both of my sis-in-laws share a birthday today..3rd August. 😊❤️

PANIC ATTACK

 WARNING : please do not read if it scares you

Please dont ignore panic attacks. Reach out to friends and family and trust your doctor..but mainly keep in mind panic attack is not life threatening. 

It has been 15 + days that i had a panic attack and i am still reeling under it's affect.  

As usual i was doing my mudra breathing exercises before my Sudarshana kriya yoga. I have been regularly practicing it for 25 + years. I felt breathless as if i am trapped in a box and trying to get out. I immediately opened my eyes came to the balcony and took a few deep breath and felt better. Later that night i had a slight congestion of the nose. But fell asleep. I was awakened by the feeling of breathless ness and woke up with a gasp ,, after which i could not lie down. I just kept walking around. After three days of sleeplessness i got into panic thinking if i lie down i will  not be able to breathe. I just sat down and cried. I have cried copious amount of tears crying alone, or clinging to husband and daughter or hugging the banister in the picture above..i have probably cried 52 years worth of tears

I am by nature quite bold. But panic attack broke my spirit when i was not able to do my daily much loved routines of drinking tea, reading, watching netflix, watching/doing reels..etc. i felt restless, breathless.i would not even pick cell phone calls. I have not played my wordament game on mobile, but kept cleaning the house..arranging cupboard, kitchen cabinets, my balcony garden. Only thought which kept me going was dont sit idle. Which made me overworked and more stressed as to 'what should i do next'..it was doubly scary at night when all else were asleep. I kept looking out to houses in the flat opposite that had lights on in them...probably night shift - work from home - people..thankful to them too. Also super thankful for my balcony. 🙏🙏

I had a thorough medical check up. Physically i was fine. (Doctor thinks it must be post meno pause symptom 🤔🤔)Mentally i was not. I started obsessing about relations staying alone and not being able to get immediate medical help, my daughter who had wheezing , other one with sinutisitis, felt guilty about not feeling empathy towards them, about people who died during corona/covid...all underwater movies. anything that related to breathlessness sent me into panic . Talked to counselor, took sleep medication from psychiatrist. I should have done that first..getting my sleep pattern corrected. I have always been healthy and dont take any medicines. So i thought i would get addicted to it. I began the medicine a week late. Once i began sleeping i felt slightly better. I still cannot settle down properly. I keep walking outside as well as at home till my limbs are tired and i am about to drop...i have walked till kanyakumari and back i suppose. I have my food standing. I am still afraid of being in a prone position. I do loads of auto suggestions . I dont eat many of favorite food especially deep fried one's.

I am slowly on the mend. I am afraid yet to travel long distance. Twice i made plans to travel and was overcome by panic and felt overwhelmed.

I have to do it slowly. Now i watch simple movies like persuasion on netflix, food videos..cannot watch my favorite crime movies nor read books...i have lost my appetite. I eat and drink water to sustain myself

Will share my road to recovery. I am not trying to scare anybody. Just sharing my experience. I am just sad most of the times...

My family members are terribly worried..they keep encouraging ,assuring me saying everything will be okay.

Niha came all the way from MP to be with me for a few days..akka and srikanth are very supportive...he actually took two days off, and had to cancel his ofc tour for my sake, which is a FIRST (and hopefully last) i must say. All our acquaintance are worried. They have never known me to be sick ☹️☹️

i will ever be grateful to them.

I would never wish a panic attack even  on enemies..not that i have any..o

I wrote this entire post standing up...(as in pic) husband is cooking today. Later i am planning to go out..will share how it goes.

Hope what I have written makes sense 

Have been doing reels on instragram attempting a semblance of normalcy...

Do wish me a better health folks. Thank you 🙏🙏

Story of appams

 

These golden appams have a special place in my heart. This is unfermented appam and no rice is used. Only skinless split moth bean dal, moong dal and bit of lentil. Soak overnight and next day, grind to a fine paste along with some green chillies, ginger and salt. Once the batter is ready give it a good beat with a spatula or a beater. Add finely chopped coriander leaves.

Me and my second younger brother had morning school while the other two had afternoon school. Our timing was 7.30 to 1 pm and theirs 1.30 to 5 pm. We would hardly meet. Also me and my bro had to wake up early for the morning school. Because I used to heat water for bath on the stove and once my water was hot I would keep another vessel for him. Later mom needed the stove for preparing breakfast. We lived in bank quarters and we did have a boiler in the bathroom which was always in a state of constant repair. 

We also had a gas stove. Gas cylinders were costly and were used only in times of emergency or sudden visit by guests. Standing in line at the ration shop and fetching sugar and kerosene oil for the stove were my responsibility. Though there were no cell phones or whatsapp in those times we always somehow knew when stocks would be available at the ration shop. 'ration madde raakel (kerosene), saakhar aale' loukar java'..otherwise stock would be over soon, not only that the ration shop owners would sell their wheat, rice, sugar, oil etc to the other grocers at a higher price and we ration card owners would be left in the lurch. 

Let me come back to these appams ..we call them aappo in konkani. Sunday was the only day we could have breakfast together. I would wake early and help Amma in preparing the chutney which was manual, on the grinding stone, which I enjoyed immensely.   Once everybody was up, we would sit around the stove and Amma served us hot appams..two each. It was a heavy cast iron appam griddle which could make 12 appams at a time. Amma is a good cook. Whatever she prepared turned out /turns out really yummy. Sundays were special. Afternoon she made us chicken curry or pulav..evening ended with amma preparing fried snacks, rose milk or ice cream all home made,and then all of us watching a movie on Doordarshan. If it were an art movie..brothers would go play cricket, sister and mom would go to their friends' place. Only me and dad would watch Basu bhattacharya films. We did not have friends...😊👍

Story of appam ends here 😊😊

ಇನ್ನಷ್ಟು ಕೇಕ್ ಗಳು

 ಇತ್ತೀಚಿಗೆ ಬಿಸ್ಕುಟ್ ಫ್ಯಾಕ್ಟರಿ ಯಿಂದ ಹೋದ ಕೆಲವು ಕೇಕ್ ಗಳು. ಕೇಕ್ ಗಳ ಚಿತ್ರ ನೋಡಲು ಫೇಸ್ ಬುಕ್ ಮತ್ತು instagram ನಲ್ಲಿ ಅನುಸರಿಸಿ 😊👍❤️

How do take-outs work

 As received on whatsapp - for my reference

Before placing food order through ZAMOTA or SWIGGY  please think twice. Please read the following to understand better 🤔🤔🤔🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

How the food delivery commerce works? 

If I order 2 idlis with chutney and 1 masala dosa with sambar, from a nearby restaurant which is 1.5 km from home, the total bill comes to 177.3 rupees. Very normal darshini kind of a hotel. You can choose any aggregator like Swiggy or Zomato. 

1. Food - 110/- 

2. GST - 6.30 

3. Packing - 16/-

4. Delivery - 45/- 

Total - 177.30

This is the customer bill. 

You pay 67.30 extra, or 38% of what you spend on this order is on Non-food services. 62% is for food. 

So, the broad allocation is 62% for food, 5% to the government, 9% for packing and 25% for delivery. 

Now, let us take a look at how the restaurant reconciliation happens, after 10 days of the transaction. 

Amount paid to the restaurant = 70% of the order value. Zomato and Swiggy take 30% as sales commission.

Restaurant receives - 0.7 X 110 = 77/-

Amount paid to delivery partner = 15/- 

Amount paid to government = 6.30

Amount that Zomato or Swiggy pockets = 79/-

Now, if you analyze percentages and look at how much each of them have benefited from the transaction, you will realize this.

Food - 43.4% and non food - 56.6%.

Restaurant share - 43.4%

Delivery partner share - 8.5%

Government - 3.5%

Zomato / Swiggy share - 44.6%

So, what actually happens when this is how the transaction actually looks like? 

1. Quality and quantity of food. 

Your dine in experience is going to be much different as compared to food being ordered through a 3rd party.

2. Highly inflated prices on aggregator portals.

As a restaurant, if I need to run discounts and still manage to keep riding the gravy train, I need to raise my prices by 150% at least. That only means that the aggregator makes more money and the customer pays for it.

3. Food delivery in itself is not a sustainable practice with our inefficient solid waste management, use of plastic and the extremely affordable fuel prices.

There's another secret  wish to share. Most restaurants also have a "police menu" that is cooked separately for their "free takeaways", generally cooked with the most inferior ingredients. So, if you are offered biryani in a police station, please refuse it politely. 

Still hungry. Please reach for a chopping board and a frying pan and enjoy

Time to dig in.

delivery partners are making more money than restaurants...

😳🧐

PS : Forwarded as received on Whatsapp

ಚಪಾತಿ

 ಆಕೆಯ 100 ನೆ ಹುಟ್ಟು ಹಬ್ಬದ ಸಂದರ್ಭ. ಮಕ್ಕಳು, ಮರಿ ಮಕ್ಕಳು ಅವರ ಮಕ್ಕಳು ಎಲ್ಲ ಸೇರಿದ್ದರು

ಆಕೆ ಮಾಡುವ ಚಪಾತಿ ಹಲವು ಕಡೆ ಪ್ರಖ್ಯಾತ ಆಗಿತ್ತು. ಮಾತ್ರವಲ್ಲದೆ ನೆರೆ, ಅತಿ ಮಳೆ, ಕೊನೆಗೆ ಕೊರೊನ ಸಮಯದಲ್ಲೂ ಹಲವರಿಗೆ ಎಸ್ಕೆ ಚಪಾತಿ ಮಾಡಿ ಕಳುಹಿಸಿ ಬಹು ಜನರ ಹೊಗಳಿಕೆಗೆ ಪಾತ್ರರಾಗಿದ್ದರು.

ಹಲವಾರು ಜನರು ಆಕೆಯ ಮೆತ್ತಗಿನ ಚಪಾತಿ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಕೇಳಿದರು. ಆಗ ಆಕೆ ನಗುತ್ತ..ಏನಿಲ್ಲ ಚಿಕ್ಕ ಪ್ರಾಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಸಿಟ್ಟು ಬಂದಾಗಲೆಲ್ಲ ಚಪಾತಿ ಹಿಟ್ಟು ಕಲಸಿ ಅದನ್ನು ಗುದ್ದಿ ಗುದ್ದಿ, ಹಿಟ್ಟು ಮೆತ್ತ ಗಾಗುತ್ತಿತ್ತು, ಸಿಟ್ಟು ಶಮನವಾಗುತ್ತಿತ್ತು. ಕೊನೆಗೆ ಅದನ್ನೇ ರೂಢಿ ಮಾಡಿಕೊಂಡೆ. ಇನ್ನೇನೂ ವಿಶೇಷವಿಲ್ಲ ಅದರಲ್ಲಿ. ಮೆತ್ತನೆಯ ಚಪಾತಿ ಜತೆಗೆ ನನ್ನ ಸ್ವಭಾವವೂ ಶಾಂತವಾಗಿದೆ ಅಂತ ನಕ್ಕರು

(ನಿನ್ನೆ ಚಪಾತಿ ಹಿಟ್ಟು ಕಲೆಸುವಾಗ ಹೊಳೆದಿದ್ದು)

Call me by your name

 Call me by your name is the coming of age  story of teenager ellio who has homosexual leanings. A good must watch movie. Available on Netflix

The title has nothing to do with the movie though. I found the flowers that i was named after, malathi pushpam, wild jasmine that grows in the wilderness of malnad hill ranges. We have it in our teerthahalli agricultural lands too. They have a heady/intoxicating fragrance and grow in summers and through the monsoons... These vines climb to a great height...

This is a picture of me with wild jasmines on our short trek to the light house, belekan, Gokarna

Obbattu & mixed fruits rasayana

 

I have been helping my mom in the kitchen from the age of 12. Mostly manual grinding was my department. My dad had a good senior post at the bank at a very young age. But he had other familial financial constraints and added to that he invested in shares , very heavily i must say. Once there was this huge fire and a stock market crash and we  really needed to make ends meet, with our own financial needs and also catering to all the relations and guests. So we led a very simple life in mumbai.  we had to use to kerosene stove, manual grinding etc...to save on money. Standing in line at the ration shop with bags made from our old uniform, stitched by amma...are somethings i remember and keeps me grounded and humble. 

All this recap for...i am no good at preparing obbattu/holige. Obbattu was a family activity. We made this a day prior to 'holi' festival.  My duties began with grinding mustard to give a yellow colour to the dough. Then grinding the boiled chana dal with jaggery to the required consistency. We helped at every stage and i know all the details. Yet when i tried on my own, after my wedding, it turned out so hard i almost broke my teeth...i tried 2 mote times but no good

Last sunday attended the wedding of our best friends daughter..and i had this awesome holige and mixed fruits rasayana and wanted to try this combo at home. So got obbattu/holige from mangaluru stores and made the rasayana for Ugadi 2022.

Hope you all had a great Ugadi ❤️❤️😊

The mixed fruit rasayana has musk melon, apple, green grapes, banana and pomegranate. Jaggery, coconut milk and crushed cardamoms.