Smriti's World

Woodwork project

2009-05-05T21:46:00.001-07:00

DH and I refinished an old coffee table recently. This was the first woodwork project that we undertook and were mighty pleased with it :-D. We’d this old coffee table lying around for a long time which we wanted to refinish but never got the time/energy/<put other excuses> :). Anyway, finally we did get on to it and here’s a before after comparison!

How it looked…

How it looks NOW …

Isn’t it lovely?!?!? It took us some sanding, some varnishing, some more sanding and then again varnishing to get this look. Now we’re on the lookout for more furniture that we can refinish :-D

Another beautiful verse…

2009-04-27T21:07:00.001-07:00

…from Narada Purana.

There is no teacher as your mother,

There is no wealth as reputation,

There is no friend as wisdom,

There is no pilgrim place as the Ganges,

There is no mother as forgiveness,

There is no God as Vishnu,

There is no penance as fasting,

There is no gain as knowledge,

And there is no fast as Ekadashi.

A year of living biblically

2009-04-13T20:18:00.001-07:00

Author: A J Jacobs

My expectation from this book was very different from what it actually is – so I was somewhat disappointed. On reading the title, I was under the impression that it would feed my hunger for learning about different religions – in this case Christianity; that wasn’t entirely true.

The book is about how the author spent a year by following the rules of the bible, yes that’s exactly what the title says! His goal is to follow the rules literally. He consults a number of Rabbis and different versions of Bible to decide upon the set of rules. One does get an interesting perspective on the literal meaning of these rules and also how they get out-dated. What is impressive is that the author is an atheist when he begins this experiment but by the end of it, is not completely so.

I was expecting a deeper analysis of these rules and was irked to see the shallow interpretation – but of course, that was author’s intent. Reading this also made me realize that there is a huge common base underlying all religions; what totally amazed me was that like Hinduism, Christianity also has special rules for women during their monthlies!! All along I always thought that it was only Hinduism which prescribed it. Well this was one small example and it illuminates the granularity of commonalities.

Bottomline: An ok read.

Eggless Banana bread

2009-04-06T20:48:00.001-07:00

I got this recipe from Cook With Love and must say this was my best experience with a recipe tried for the first time! The banana bread came out perfect, in fact DH and I kept comparing it to the Banana Walnut loaf that Starbucks sells :). Believe me, it WAS that good!

The crust has a slight crisp texture and the inside was soft and moist! Since I had 2 bananas, I scaled the recipe to 2/3rd and that seemed to suffice for 2+ persons.

Ingredients

1 cup sugar
3 bananas
4 tbsp melted unsalted butter
2 tbsp yogurt
1 and 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional), I’d 1/4 cup and that seemed fine.

Method

Pre Heat oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit
Mash the bananas.
Add sugar and yogurt to it.
Add butter, salt, and flour. Mix well.
Add Baking Soda, milk, vanilla essence and walnuts. Stir till everything is well blended.
Pour this batter in a greased bread tin and bake for about 50-60 minutes or till a tooth pick inserted comes out dry.

Pyaaz ki kachori

2009-03-25T20:37:00.000-07:00

This is a favorite in our home and my DH’s specialty! All I can say is – it tastes delicious! The recipe is from Tarla Dalal.

For the dough (crust)

2 cups all purpose flour
¼ cup ghee
½ teaspoon salt

For the onion filling

2 cups onions, finely chopped
~~1 teaspoon~~ ~~nigella~~ ~~seeds (kalonji~~) Skipped since I didn’t have it
2 teaspoons fennel seeds (saunf)
2 bay leaves
1½ teaspoons green chillies, finely chopped
2 tablespoons Bengal gram flour (besan)
2 teaspoons coriander (dhania) powder
2 teaspoons chilli powder
1 teaspoon garam masala
3 tablespoons chopped coriander
2 tablespoons oil
salt to taste

Other ingredients

oil for deep frying

For the dough (crust)

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and knead into semi-soft dough using enough water. Knead well for 5 to 7 minutes.
Divide the dough into 12 equal parts and keep covered under a wet muslin cloth.

For the onion filling

Heat the oil in a pan. Add the nigella seeds, fennel seeds, bay leaves, green chillies and onions and sauté till the onions turn light brown in colour.
Add the gram flour, coriander powder, chilli powder, garam masala and salt and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes.
Add the chopped coriander and mix well. Remove the bay leaves and discard. Allow the mixture to cool completely.
Divide into 12 equal portions and keep aside.

How to proceed

Roll out each portion of the dough into a 50 mm. (2") diameter circle.
Place one portion of the onion filling in the centre of the rolled dough circle.
Surround the filling with the dough by slowly stretching it over the filling.
Seal the ends tightly and remove any excess dough.
Roll each filled portion into a 62 mm. (2 1/2") diameter circle taking care to ensure that the filling does not spill out.
Gently press the centre of the kachori with your thumb.
Repeat with the remaining dough and filling to make 11 more kachoris.
Deep fry the kachoris in hot oil over a slow flame till golden brown.The kachoris should puff up like puris. These take a long time to fry as the crust is thick and needs to be cooked in the insides also.
Serve hot with chutney.

God’s reach is everywhere

2009-03-23T20:29:00.001-07:00

God’s hands are everywhere so that anywhere on this earth when devotees make an offering to him, he can accept it.

His legs are omnipresent so that when devotees lay prostate on his feet, he can bless them.

His ears are all around so that he can listen to his devotees’ prayers wherever they are.

His mouth is everywhere, so that when devotees give him something to eat he can have it.

His eyes are all around us, there’s nothing hidden from him; he sees everything.

His forehead is everywhere so that when devotees seek his blessings by touching his forehead, he can bless them all.

De-clutter

2009-03-16T20:40:00.001-07:00

I love the feeling of de-cluttering! Of course, if you have NO clutter in your house you would be bereft of the lovely feeling of de-cluttering :). Ah how unlucky you must be!

I think the number of things in your house as a correlation with the complexity of your mind. The less the number of things in your house, the simpler your mind is.

There are countless advantages of de-cluttering and especially if you do it the right way: by sending things to the right place you’re making sure that things are where they need to be – that reduces waste, saves somebody money, frees up your space and time!

I came across this wonderful article by Martha Stewart – “100 Reasons to Get Rid Of It” - which tells you where all you can donate your things when you de-clutter.

Now once you de-clutter, how do you make sure that it doesn’t re-enter your house? You need to follow a simple rule - “For every item that enters your house, you should give away an item”. Never make an impulse purchase! There’s no deal that’s not going to come again. That item is not the last of its kind on this earth.

Try however much you may, clutter does find its way into your house over some period of time. Then, its time to de-clutter again!

The Red Dahlia

2009-03-10T19:17:00.001-07:00

Author: Lynda La Plante

“Red Dahlia” is a murder mystery in the Anna Travis series by Lynda La Plante. It follows a true story “Black Dahlia”, where a woman was murdered – her body cut in two and drained off blood. Yes it sounds very gory and it is but that’s just the description of the murder. Once you get past that, there’s no goriness – if you’re like me and can’t stand gory murders!

The story is very interesting especially because to start with the body didn’t have any evidence on or around it. So it’s interesting to see how the small things here and there give a lead to the detectives. It is very gripping and hard-to-keep-down novel. Though I must say that the biggest clue was given to them on a silver spoon. At that juncture, it’s a bit disappointing but if you can ignore that it has pretty good twists and turns.

Bottom line: A good read

Pedas in a jiffy

2009-02-14T21:21:00.000-08:00

This is one of the quickest indian sweets to make. As we all know, indian sweets require a lot of labor to get the perfection. So such recipes are always welcome! I got this recipe from my friend R who in turn got it from here. The pedas are delectable!

Ingredients

Instant Dry Milk (Milk Powder) - 2 cups (150gm). I used the Nestle Nilo Whole Milk powder
Sweetened Condensed Milk - 1, 14oz can (396gm)
Unsalted Butter - 1, 4oz stick (113gm)
~~cardamom powder - to taste~~ (I didn’t have any so I skipped this but I’m sure it would add a wonderful flavor)

Method

In a microwave safe dish, melt the butter.
Add in the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
Cook in the microwave for 3 minutes, stirring very well after every minute.
After the 3 minutes, mix well again and leave aside for the mixture to cool down enough to handle. I put the mixture in the fridge, as suggested by R, and it took it out after 15 or so minutes.
Once the mixture has cooled down, make small balls and gently press the balls and flatten them to shape. When I made the balls the mixture hadn’t completely cooled down.
I pressed the fork horizontally and then vertically to give a criss-cross pattern on the pedas.
Decorate them with colored sugar, almonds, cashews, pistachios or raisins.
Let the pedas set and cool down. Again I kept them in the fridge overnight.

Quick and easy rich Chocolate cake

2009-02-12T21:30:00.000-08:00

One day I had a craving to bake a rich chocolate cake – by rich I mean it should ooze chocolate! So I started scavenging for it a recipe on allrecipes.com and came across this one which looked pretty easy.

INGREDIENTS

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups milk

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). ~~Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.~~ I used a round approx 6-7” pan and a loaf pan as I didn’t want to make a big huge cake.
Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt, set aside. In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and butter until smooth. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Gradually mix in the dry ingredients, alternately with the milk. Once all of the ingredients have been incorporated, mix on high speed of an electric mixer for 2 to 3 minutes. Pour batter into the prepared pan.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. The time may vary from oven to oven, it took me around 45 mins.

The act of giving

2009-02-09T20:07:00.001-08:00

The act of giving with wrong intentions is the most inferior.

The act of giving with selfish interests is mediocre.

The act of giving to please God is the best.

Even a tree spreads its branches far and wide to provide shade to strangers; it bears fruits to satiate the hunger of one and all. Then if a man does not give, he’s as good as dead and should be considered a sinner.

Yummy waffles!

2009-02-02T09:41:00.001-08:00

Waffles are our latest faves! They are easy, quick to make and delicious!

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-2/3 cups reduced fat milk
1/2 a banana, mashed
6 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 large eggs
handful of almonds (or any other nuts that you like), finely chopped

Method:

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well with a hand mixer (or by hand if you want).
Let batter sit for 5 minutes.
Use little less than 1/2 cup of batter to make one waffle if you don’t want it to overflow on the sides and are fine with a few holes in the waffle. If you want a perfect round and are fine with cleaning the mess of overflowing then take a 1/2 cup. Pour over pre-heated waffle iron. Bake till ready! Tastes delicious with maple syrup. When we don’t add banana in the mix, we top it with banana slices.

An accomplished man

2009-01-29T20:43:00.001-08:00

How do we know an accomplished man when we see one? He has very defined qualities.

He does not harbor the feeling of hatred towards any being or thing. The word hate does not exist in his dictionary.
The feelings of compassion and friendliness are natural to him.
He neither has the sense of ownership towards anything nor does he have a conceited opinion about himself. He is a down to earth person. The moment you "own" something or somebody, you've enveloped yourself with the feelings of love and hate; pride and arrogance; hurt and dismay. If somebody criticizes what you own, you feel hurt. If they praise, you feel elated and proud.
Though he feels pain and comfort, he does not feel joy and sorrow that emanate from them. He would feel the pain if he gets sick, but he would not be sad because of it. Similarly he would be comfortable when he is healthy but would not be joyous from it. When any good or bad thing happens they do not feel joy or sorrow because they have same emotions irrespective of whatever happens.
He is very forgiving. If somebody does any misdeed towards them they have no intention of punishing the person. They do not believe in blaming anybody for any incident because they believe from their heart that only God can make things happen.
He is always satisfied; at no moment and place does he feel dissatisfied. Nor can the lack of anything give rise to that feeling in him. A worldly man feels satisfied because of a thing and as soon as he gets that, he again starts feeling dissatisfied.
He has his mind, body and senses under his control.
His mind is determined to be devoted to God; neither pain nor any action can deter him from his determination.
He immerses his mind and intellectual faculties in the service of God.

These are all great qualities and when I try to imagine a person who has all these qualities, the first thought that comes to my mind is - how lucky is he! To imbibe all these qualities in our self, is a formidable task; but I think if we were to truly follow even one of these qualities, it would bring a sea of change in what we are.

Choco-Vanilla cookies

2009-01-25T20:10:00.001-08:00

When I was baking these cookies I realized that my mom used to make these when we were kids! So next time I’m going to get the recipe from her rather than Martha Stewart :-D.

So here’s a direct link to the recipe from MS. For my records, I’ll also jot down the recipe in this post. The cookies turned out simply delicious!! The key tip in baking these is that you should take them out when they look half done as they’ll harden when they cool down. If you wait for them to look cooked before taking out then they’ll be a little on the harder side after cooling down.

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
1/4 teaspoon salt
14 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened (yes it’s 14!)
1 cup confectioners' sugar (I used ordinary sugar – didn’t see any problem with that)
1 large egg yolk (I used a full egg – don’t like wasting it)
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder

Directions

Sift flour and salt into a medium bowl; set aside. Put butter and sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (I used the regular hand mixer), and mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Reduce speed to low. Mix in egg yolk and vanilla. Gradually add flour mixture; mix until just combined, about 1 minute.
Remove half of the dough; set aside. Add cocoa powder to remaining dough; mix on low speed until well combined. Turn out chocolate dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Roll into a two 10-inch log, about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Repeat with reserved vanilla dough.
Press a vanilla roll on a chocolate roll and roll then together to have single roll with half chocolate and half vanilla. You should now have 2 such rolls.
Wrap each log in plastic wrap, and refrigerate until firm, at least 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut log into 1/4-inch-thick rounds; space 1 inch apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. If dough becomes too soft to slice cleanly, return to freezer until firm.
Bake until firm to the touch (this didn’t work for me – the batch which was little soft when taken out turned out to be nicer than the one that was fully cooked when taken out), 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer to wire racks; let cool. Cookies can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature up to 3 days.

Heavenly job

2009-01-23T21:37:00.000-08:00

The man who offers all his actions to God is different from the man who performs all actions for God and they're different from the man who sacrifices the fruits of his labor in the name of God,

The one who offers all his actions to God believes that he's simply a puppet in the hands of God; that he alone does not have the ability to perform any action but it is the power of God due to which he can do anything and everything. His senses, mind and body - all in the hands of God and they work according to what God wants them to do. Such a person can never have any attachment or sense of ownership over his actions or the results of his actions. Whatever he gets in life, be it joy or sorrow, he takes it as a gift from God.

The man who performs all his actions for God does not believe that he's a puppet in His hands; but believes that God is the supreme one who loves him and is his friend. He feels that it is his duty to serve God and to follow his orders. Thus he performs every action according to God's commandments and with the sole purpose of serving Him. Again such a person can never bear attachment towards either his actions or the results of his action.

The man who sacrifices the fruits of his labor believes neither that God is the power behind all his actions nor that he does everything for God. He believes that is the duty of mankind to work and that a man's right is limited to the performance of the work and not the outcome; that one must keep doing work in accordance with the scriptures and for the sustenance of the body but never get bound to its outcomes. Thus he sheds any attachment towards the worldly objects.

Different ways for different men - Part 2

2009-01-21T21:15:00.001-08:00

On reading Part 1, one gets the impression that the methods advised are in some order of difficulty; but that it not true. Every man has a different belief, nature and belong to different sections of the society, hence a method may appear easier to one and difficult to another. Nor do they lead to different ends; they all have the same end - achieving God.

The first method is apt for a man who has feels the love for God straight from his heart; one who has an ardent desire to know the essence of God and would love to spend his whole life looking for the ultimate truth. This is what is natural to them.

Then there are men who have faith in God and want to engage their mind in the thoughts of the Supreme one. Such men should practice the said exercises.

Another type of men is who like to pray regularly, make donations and perform rituals. The third method is for these people. This is what is inherent in their nature.

The last method is for men who believe that God does not take any particular form and they believe in doing something for the welfare of one and all.

As we can see one must do what is natural to them; but do it from the heart, with all their faith and completely believe in what they're doing. Now that I've written it, I can see that this applies to our everyday life also. If we do some work, with complete faith and whole-heartedly we will always succeed in it. Once again I can see how Gita gives you principles for everyday life.

Different ways for different men

2009-01-18T21:27:00.001-08:00

To unite with Him in the end, one must devote one's mind and feelings to Him. To submit your mind to God, one must understand the essence and secrets of His virtues, influence and power; and keep them in his resolve always and everywhere. To immerse your feelings Him and Him alone and nothing else one must detach oneself from all objects of senses; and at all times of only Him.

However, due to attachments resulting from ignorance men are involved in attachments to worldly objects and hence are unable to perform the exercise above.

Since not everybody has the same nature, they can't unite with Him using the same method. For different kinds of men there are different ways to achieve God.

If you can't devote your mind and feelings to Him do not despair. One who tries can also obtain Him. In whatever form of God you have the most faith and love for, you must try to devote your mind to that form. There are various means to do this and some of the most appropriate ones for common man are the following:

You must resolve to make an effort to devote your mind and feelings to God.
You must try to see God wherever your mind goes and whatever your eyes see and hence think about him.
You must try to steer your mind away from all other objects and concentrate on the idol/picture of the form of God that you love the most.
Chant "Omkar" and meditate.
You must try to chant his name as often as possible.
You must try to read scriptures again and again to understand the essence of his virtues, influence and power
Perform pranayama.

Any of the above performed with true faith and love will clear you of your sins, destroy all the hurdles and lead you to God. If one doesn't obtain results soon then one must not loose heart. Instead, try with increased effort.

If all the above exercises are beyond you, then all you have to do is perform every action for God and for nothing else. Behind every action of yours, there should be no self-interest, no attachment and no sense of ownership. Perform every action from your heart and to please the God; serve God through your mind, speech and actions; perform yagya, make donations and do prayers - all in the name of God and as your duty towards him.

If you think that it is difficult for you to selflessly perform every action, then all you need to do is take control over your mind and feelings and sacrifice the fruits of your actions. If you don't have control over your mind and feelings, then you'll be entrapped in indulgences and when this happens one can't escape from the desire to indulge in the fruits of one's actions. These actions include the rituals that you perform, the donations that you make, the prayers and service that you and all other actions performed as part of your duty or for your body to survive. Relinquish any attachment, any sense of ownership and any interest in the results of these actions. The actions do not include such actions as stealing, lying, infidelity, violence or any action not sanctioned by the scriptures because these are the actions that result from a man's attachment and sense of ownership.

I got an award!!

2009-01-11T21:09:00.001-08:00

My mom gave me an award!!! :)

This award is about "acknowledging the values that every blogger shows in his/her effort to transmit cultural, ethical, literary and personal values every day." If your mom gives it to you, then I believe it’s truly an honor!

Thank you mom!

Teacher Man

2009-01-04T20:51:00.001-08:00

Author: Frank McCourt

Frank McCourt is the author of the bestseller "Angela's Ashes" and "Teacher Man" is a book in the same vein as the former. It is an autobiography and talks about his life as a teacher. I didn't find anything spectacular about the book but there are times when I find him [as a teacher] very creative. He comes up with unique ways, depending on his students' background, to make them understand the concepts. At times he's a very untraditional teacher and it would've been good to know whether his maverick ways of teaching led to successful students or not. Alas, one doesn't come to know of that. In general one also gets to know the life and plight of a teacher. While reading the book, I could relate his annoyances towards his profession with what I've heard from my aunt who's also a teacher (in India).

Bottomline: It's ok.

More from the "Shopaholic" series by Sophie Kinsella

2008-12-25T22:03:00.001-08:00

I bought this 3-in-1 volume on the Shopaholic series; one of these I'd already reviewed. The other two are:

Shopaholic takes Manhattan
Shopaholic ties the knot

In STM, as you can very well guess from the title that this time Becky goes under debt in Manhattan. The guiding principle that takes her there is "The more you invest, the more you get back". In her case, the investment becomes clothes and accessories; because she's is mass communications she justifies that by buying good clothes,etc. she's investing in her career. The most interesting snippet in this book was: her financial position is ridiculed by the media and becomes a public humiliation for her. Of course, her parents also come to know of it. However, when she talks to them her dad says: "if such a big country (USA) can be in debt and still run fine; then I'm sure you can". Parents can never see a flaw in their child!! :)

In STTK, Becky has other things along with debt to worry about. She's getting married and in TWO places! Luke's mother wants them to get married in New York where she's preparing for the most laving wedding in the city. On the other hand, Becky's parents are preparing for the wedding in their hometown in England. On one side is the wedding of her dreams and on the other side is her parents' dream. She, as we all know, is not so good as saying "no" :).

If you read too many in this series then of course you get the feeling that how come the same character commits the same mistake in every book. However, if you treat them orthoganlly, I think they're a pleasant read. Definitely, not much exercise for the brain :). It makes up for a nice light read!

Bottomline: A light, pleasant read.

Pray for the end; not for the means

2008-12-07T14:46:00.001-08:00

I don't know what you thought about my subject but when it came to my mind first it almost felt as if I'm saying "pray for your end" :). That is certainly not what I've in mind!

My subject wants to convey that we should pray for what is our ultimate goal in life and not the small little things that we think we need to add to our basket on the way. If all you want from your life is to be happy; then pray for that. Not something like: "God please give me X, Y and Z so that I'm happy".

Often we pray that I get X (where X could be an object or an intangible) or that Y would happen (where Y is an event). My question is: why do we that?

Isn't all that we want is for us and our family to be happy? Then why don't we simply pray that we be happy? Why do we add clauses to our prayers? If we're praying to the supreme one then that means we believe that he has the power to grant us. Then we must also believe that whatever he does is for our benefit.

I remember that when we were in high school, some students would pray to get good scores/marks/grades. So I asked myself that why don't they just pray to God that they be happy. The answer that I got back was maybe they're too young to understand that.

So I thought of people older than those students. People in that category are praying for a good job or a good house or some such thing. I asked myself the same question and couldn't explain why they do that except that they don't know what they want from life.

How can we be so sure that getting X would make us happy? Why not make our lives simpler (and His job too :)) by simply praying for the happiness of our family. Can you imagine the power of the prayers when everyone in your family prays for the same thing?!?!

I would love to hear what everybody thinks about this!

The Memory Keeper's Daughter

2008-11-24T18:43:00.001-08:00

Author: Kim Edwards

An extremely engrossing and well-written book - that's what it is! I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and it was always so hard putting it down!

The protagonist is referred to as "the memory keeper" in the title as he captures all his memories through photos. His wife delivers twins - a girl and a boy; but the girl is born with Down Syndrome so he asks his nurse to take away the newborn to a home, thinking that he can save his family from all the misery by being away from the daughter rather than being with her. However, pain and misery start knocking at his door in less than 24 hours of his daughter's departure. And this was just the beginning. The story revolves around how the lives of every member of his family gets a volte-face because of his one mistake!

Bottomline: Excellent read!

otConfessions of a Shopaholic

2008-11-17T19:26:00.000-08:00

Author: Sophie Kinsella

This is from the famous Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella. I'd reviewed another book from the series earlier. It was the tone of that book which prompted me to read more in this series. Sophie's writing style is lovable. Her characters are so well-defined.

In this book, Rebecca Bloomwood (the shopaholic) plunges deep into debt and to reverse that she makes several resolutions, read books and what not; but nothing seems to be helping. Instead everything seems to be helping her get more into debt. Everybody around her seems to be getting successful and striking gold; except her. This and the haunting debtors depress her. She decides to take refuge at her parents' place for sometime. On going there she realizes that her frivolous advice to her neighbors robs them a huge amount! This turns out to her advantage.

There are times when I feel like tearing my hair looking at what Rebecca is buying and the way she's going about controlling her finance. There are so many times when I just can't stop laughing out loud!

The one take away message that I got from the book - (apart from obviously that one should be in control of one's finances) success will kiss your feet if you work whole-heartedly. However hard you may work but if doesn't come from your heart, it lacks the golden touch.

Bottomline: A very good read.

"The Lion's Game" and "The Night Fall"

2008-11-10T19:13:00.001-08:00

Author: Nelson DeMille

Just so you don't mistake the title for the name of one book - these are two books. I went on a Nelson DeMille spree and ended up reading two books back-to-back by the same author even though I'd vowed not to do so. The reason I don't want to do such a thing is that I get bored of that author because each has a set pattern! However, I guess it was providence which led me to read these two.

Both these books are on the ATTF (Anti-terrorist Task Force); the hero is a part of the ATTF and the whole story is spun around his solving a terrorist attack.

"The Lion's Game" is centered around a terrorist attack which involves the life of hundreds of passengers on a trans-atlantic flight and the personal revenge of the terrorist. It was okay.

"The Night Fall" is again about a flight (which makes one wonder if flights are the only targets of terrorist attack?!) which drowned in the Atlantic. I liked this more because of the smart deductions by John (the hero).

Overall, both are not great but they're fine for a cafe-read.

Bottomline: ok read (and half a star more for Night Fall)

Peanut chikki/brittle

2008-09-24T20:37:00.000-07:00

[Sorry, these are the last three pieces that were left.]

My DH and I, both are very fond of peanut chikki. So it made perfect sense to try making it at home. Not that this was the first time; we'd made it once before but that was so long ago that I'd forgotten how I made it. So I used the recipe from Chachi's kitchen.

I used 250 gms of jaggery and around 400 gms of peanuts. We had a packet of Trader Joe's Old fashioned blister peanuts (unsalted) which we used for making this chikki. If you haven't had these peanuts and are a peanut aficionado then let me tell you these are extra long and extra crisp virginia peanuts! One of the best I've tasted! So I put the jaggery into a pan and heated it on medium heat. Added 2-3 tsp oil. Kept stirring it till it changed color. We crushed the peanuts in the food processor. Mixed it into the melted jaggery and immediately spread the mixture on a greased plate (greased with oil). Flattened it with the help of a flat bottomed bowl (katori). Grease the bottom of the bowl so that the mixture doesn't stick to it. Let it cool. For us, it took a long time. Then cut it into pieces. It makes a boxful of chikki!