Dil rice, Fenugreek leaves rice and mint leaves rice recipes

I been cooking rice more frequently than the healthier chapatis these days as I feel too lazy to roll chapatis in this cold weather.

I discovered the recipe for Methi i.e. Fenugreek leaves Pulav on the internet and followed the same recipe for Pudeena /Mint leaves  and Sabsige soppu/Dill leaves and all three tasted great! 
It takes less than an hour to make.

Ingredients:
Rice: One cup of rice with two cups of water in rice cooker. Any rice will do but I use Basmathi. Keep the cooked rice aside. Less than 8 minutes to cook rice in cooker and about 5 minutes for the cooker to cool down...don't open cooker lid as soon as you take it off the stove!

For the mix: 

• Cooking oil :Four table spoons

For taste: (Hot, sour and salty)

• Lemon juice :half of one lemon
• Salt:half to 3/4 tea spoon.
• 3 Green chillis: chopped (I was using hot Thai chillis in the past; due to stomach issues now switched to large green mild chillis)

For the flavours:

• One Bay leaf:whole
• Half inch of cinnamon stick: whole
• One table spoon of black pepper: whole
• 4 cloves : whole
• Cummin/Jeera : one tea spoon
• Mace:one strand: whole
• Dry or fresh grated coconut: one to two table spoons.
• Fresh ginger: half inch, grated
• Garlic: one large clove, grated.
• The reason I say whole is that the taste is different if the spices are crushed. For this recipe, I want a gentle flavour and so I do not crush the spices but use them whole.

For the body:

• Peas: one cup or less
• Onion : one medium size, chopped
• One bunch of Methi leaves(100gms) chopped fine or Pudeena leaves(50gms) ground in blender or Dill leaves chopped fine (50gms) 

To be added after taking off the heat:

• Coriander leaves :chopped, about 25 grams.
• Juice of half of one large lemon

Steps: 

Heat cooking oil

Add whole Bay leaf, whole cinnamon stick, whole black pepper, Cummin, whole cloves whole mace, whole cloves. Saute for one to two minutes

Then add onion, green chillis and peas. Saute for three minutes

Then add salt.

Then add the grated garlic and ginger(if you add these earlier, they stick to bottom)

Then add whichever of the three leaves you are using today : Methi or Pudeena or Sabsige. Saute for about 4-5 minutes

Then add grated coconut.

Take it off the stove. When it cools slightly, add lemon juice and coriander leaves and stir.

Mix as much of this mix as needed with rice to eat. Tastes better hot than cold.

You can add a tea spoon of butter or ghee to this hot pulav, and it tastes great!
It would be really comfortable for the eater, if you took the trouble of removing the whole spices before serving the rice, so that one does not bite on them. It's a bit annoying to pick out the whole spices (pepper, cloves, cinnamon, mace and bay leaf) from the mix. If you remove these whole spices, then you don't have to eat 'carefully'.

I do not use an entire bunch of Dill leaves as I find the Dill flavour overwhelming. For some reason I do not find the Pudeena flavour overwhelming. Maybe the Pudeena in Canada has lost it's strong flavour after all the hybridization?

My tongue is so burnt out after years of eating hot spicy stuff that I cannot really taste the fenugreek flavour. Fenugreek leaves are bitter and so, for those of you, who cannot stand bitter taste, add more lemon juice.

MORT WALKER , creator of BEETLE BAILEY died January 27th 2018

Beetle Bailey, one of my favorite comics strips, came in full color in the Illustrated Weekly of India during my childhood in the 70s and 80s (If my recollection is right).

I  waited eagerly by the gate for the newspaperwallah on Monday mornings for the Illustrated Weekly. It was such a pleasure if the magazine came on the Monday and not delayed. My sister and I would rush out to grab the magazine and dive into the comic section. I loved all 4 comics which were printed in two pages i.e. Beetle Bailey, Phantom, Hubert and Beau Peep. I think when Beau Peer started it became my favorite but Beetle Bailey and Phantom were definitely  long time favorites.

It is sad that Mort Walker is dead. I do know his son is continuing the strip. I was lucky enough to find Beetle Bailey comic books on sale (25 cents each!) at the Toronto Reference Library book sale in the summer of 2004 when I had just come to Canada and still looking for jobs. Toronto and Canada were still a mystery which I was slowly figuring out at the time. I happened to see a flyer about the sale and my husband and I, being unemployed and free, went on the day. I was one of the first in line and I spotted these books as soon as I entered and I could not believe my eyes! I grabbed all the Beetle Bailey books and was prepared to pay a dollar each and then saw they were 25 cents each!  

One difficult experience as a new comer to any country is trying to understand the 'value' of that country's currency. At that time, I was not sure how much goods or services I could expect for a dollar(I am still unsure!). I have still not figured out how a cup of coffee in Canada can cost more than a litre of petrol. These sort of values sort of throw me off balance!

I subsequently acquired a few hardcover Beetle Baileys (Titan publications) from Amazon. But they were not in colour like the strips in the Illustrated weekly of India which I loved. The colours were vibrant and poured life into that page. I loved all the characters and Mort's drawings were excellent and his lines drew the expressions and emotions of the characters. Many of the strips were almost silent but the lines did all the talking that was needed. 

Beetle Bailey was a part of my growing up. I am so thankful that the Weekly could afford to buy and did buy this strip from USA. 
I had torn the Beetley Bailey pages and bound them into a book. Like a fool I loaned this book to a kid who never did return it. So now I have these black and white comic books which are funny but not colourful.

Thank you Mort Walker. For bringing joy to your readers. 

Cosy Mystery series

Today I discovered a new genre of  crime fiction i.e. Cosy Mystery series.

I came across this term as I was surfing on the net, trying to see if any of my favorite mystery writers had recently published books ...  then got to following up on Shamini Flint who is the author of the Inspector Singh series which I enjoy...  then came across this article about cosy Mystery series by Sarah Nicolas (25 of the absolute best cosy mystery series).

I simply can't understand the meanings of certain phrases  I come across. For example, 'hard-boiled' ...I am not sure if I have understood what a hard-boiled mystery is or  what kind of a person a 'hard-boiled' detective is! I mean I have looked up the meaning but it still does not make much sense...
 I am not sure if my understanding of hard-boiled is right or different from what it is.

But I definitely get the meaning of cosy mystery series! I have booked three of the cosy mystery books and look forward to reading them...hope I enjoy them. 
Aunty Lee's delights by Ovida Yu
Blanche on the lam by Barbara Neeley
Through the grinder by Cleo Coyle

How to spend a cold rainy Saturday 27th Jan 2018 in Toronto?

In bed 

In front of TV 

Watching Death in Paradise on Netflix 

when lunching on 

Hot Chapatis

Extra spicy Chicken curry

Kadale kalu huli

with 

Rum and tender water of coconut

Thus a grey day, dull enough 

to deaden my spirits

turned to 

a quiet day of bearable good humour.

The Pathology of not knowing your own mind

I work as a psychotherapist. Over the years I have observed patterns of behaviour in my clients & their families and see the same patterns reflected among the 'non-clinical' population such as my own friends, families, relatives.
I am writing the current piece about one such behaviour. To me this behaviour is definitely 'not healthy'. I would like to label it pathological as I find it so disturbing.
 I have not tried to search for this behaviour in the  psychology journals or books. I am  noting my observations and my own theories about this behaviour.
For the time being, let me call this behaviour as 'not knowing your own mind'. Hopefully, I will think of a better term some time soon.
First let me give samples of behaviour, which come under this label.
1) A is a young lady, suffering from  psychosis & OCD. She is on medication. She has dropped out of university, staying with parents, has no fixed routine in her life. Her parents are upper-middleclass and finance is not an issue. 
'Not knowing her own mind' behaviour of A: A does not answer the simplest question in a straight-forward manner. When asked what she would like to eat, she does not make a choice. She will say, 'my dad wants me to eat this as it's healthy' or 'my mum wants me to eat this as she wants me to lose weight'. When asked what movie she would like to see or what she would like to buy, she simply cannot tell what she wants. She always prefaces her choices by stating what someone else wants her to do. I have tried to give her plenty of time and repeatedly told her, 'Don't choose what you think your mum wants; dont choose what your dad wants; choose what you want, Take your time'. Yet she simply does not say what she wants. After interacting with her for years, I now have this gut feeling that she has reached a stage where she really does not know what she wants. She has no idea what she likes to eat, to wear, to see, to read. It is such a tragedy to be in this state. Not getting what is you want is one sad state many of us face...lack of money or lack of time or lack of accessibility and so not getting what we want. But this poor lady's tragedy is worse...she doesn't even know what she wants.

2)I have seen a few parents of psychiatrically ill off-spring who are unable to make any independent decision. They seem to have forgotten or seem to not know the simplest things. They ask for directions for the most simple decisions. It's like they have lost their self-confidence completely and need to be guided by someone else. Some parents have simply stopped relying on their own common-sense; have stopped thinking and problem solving independently for the simplest decisions and ask for suggestions or guidance from others. It's like they were born without instincts when it comes to doing things by instinct. 

 The causes of 'not knowing your own mind' according to me:
In the case of the first lady, I have observed that her parents rush to give her instructions, suggestions, 'tell her what to do' despite her being of average to above average intelligence and despite her being an adult now. They do not give her even a second! For example, someone comes home. The very moment, they have stepped in, the parents tell her, "Say hello''. I can give multiple examples of such behaviours of the parents. I believe that this constant barrage is instructions and suggestions has rendered this young lady, completely passive. She must have sort of switched off her brain and her thinking and simply waits for the instructions and does what she's told. I have tried to explain this to the parents and tell them to back off from giving her instructions.But jumping in to instruct her seems to be so deeply ingrained in the parents' behaviour that they seem unable to refrain. 
Secondly, one of the parents is always second-guessing what she likes and doing those things she likes or buying those things. She never seems to ask her daughter directly, 'what do you want? What do you like?' Whether this is because her daughter does not give a direct answer when asked or because this mother has this annoyingly firm belief that she knows her daughter's mind very well and needn't ask her...I am not sure. It must be both these reasons and maybe other reasons too.
Thirdly, I believe the lady in question, for some reason, wants to do what she thinks her parents want her to do. She has a lot of anger against her parents for many reasons. Some of her anger is a part of her illness. But I also believe that anyone who lived with parents who behaved like her parents do, would be much angrier than her. Her parents are loving and caring. But their interaction skills with her are terrible. Whether their interaction with her deteriorated after the onset of her illness or whether their interaction with her was 'not good' from before her illness, I do not know.

*******************

on sale DANDELION LEAVES ! At Food Basics Jan 19th 2018

Weeds in my backyard...but food on someone's table!

For the first time I saw Dandelion being sold in a grocery store (Food Basics). I have read online that it is used to make tea, it had medicinal value, etc but never seen it being sold until now.

DEPENDENCE ON GOOGLE AND LOSING OUR SPONTANEITY IN DOING THINGS

I wonder  if checking Google (or any other search engine on the internet) frequently is normal or pathological. 

I suppose pathological-or-normal is determined by 1.how often one checks Google before doing something, 2. the reasons why one checks Google, 3.whether one checks Google for very simple things which one should know and be doing without Google verification.

Reasons why I and a lot of people check Google: 
The main reason  for checking on Google-accessibility: I am in front of a computer with internet connection and great speed at least 8- 12 hours a day! It's as simple as that.  If I  did not have such easy access to Google, I would be doing things independently, without checking "the best way of doing it" on Google, 'where is the best place to buy this product' 'best way to make this thing', etc. 
People now have phones and can check even when they are on the go. And NOW, with Siri, they can Google-check, even when they are bathing!

I also think that modern man, wants to do things 'perfectly' and for that he needs to 'research' and for that the best tool is 'Google'. 

I do believe that making an effort to do things perfectly is good. But I also believe that this dependence on Google is leading to loss of many good skills in us. I will outline these losses below. But please remember, I have NOT DONE RESEARCH and this is simply, my thoughts. 
1) Loss of self-confidence: I mean this in a very narrow sense of the phrase. I don't mean people lose self-confidence because they  Google search before doing something. What I mean is that people who were relying on what is inside their head to do something now don't seem to trust that what is inside their head is enough to start their task. They want to check on Google first. What they know is not enough to do the job. 
2)Loss of spontaneity: Again I do not mean people's personality changes and they loose spontaneity. I mean that the first step to do something is not the first step of planning or organizing or doing. The first step is checking how others are doing it and finding the best way to do it...on Google. 
3.)Some of us feel we are not good enough when we see the amazing things others have put on the internet; it may lead some of us to stop doing things. Some of us make the mistake of thinking that others are doing such a great job. Why should I even bother to do it. It's not going to be good anyway. Giving up doing because 'so many others are way better than me' is one sad effect of doing Google searches when we undertake to do something.
4)I believe that having information at our fingertips is great. It's useful in so many ways. But this dependency on Google, also leads to some concerns. I believe that I don't even try to remember anything now as I know I can get it from Google. This vast storage system is possibly affecting our memories. Secondly, people would discuss and debate and enjoy it in coffeeshops and so on. Now, any disagreement leads to whipping out our phones and searching on Google to find out who's right. This immediate checking and finding out who's right is taking away so much of the pleasures of the debate! Thirdly, all the information available to us has lead to vast stores of information floating around in our heads without really making us happier or wiser. I will admit search on Google has opened so many doors to so much new worlds to me and I am immensely grateful for that. I may even be quite a bit wiser and happier with all this information. But this has come at a price. A price I am somewhat unwilling to pay. The mystery is missing when I am pre-armed with knowledge from Google when I try something new such as visit a new place. In the past, when it was difficult to get something, the joy was so much sweeter when you got it. Now, you can find literally ANYTHING on Google or amazon or ebay or whatever. The thrill of the chase is gone. Now I feel like those rich kids who can afford anything and so everything is boring for them. I am now cherishing the pleasures I had in the past of finding things when accessibility was poor. 
I am NOT complaining about accessibility. I am so glad there is accessibility for the information deprived masses in countries like India. In fact I wish ewvery 'poor' person in India had functional knowledge of English, functional literacy and access to internet, google, etc. This would help them come out of poverty as knowledge is power. 
5) I don't know how to measure this or analyze this but I believe that access to this huge amount of information on internet  both helps creativity/innovation and also has negative effects. What I mean by negative effects is :
a) One cannot escape the influence of ideas from the world around us and people around us. This world has become infinitely bigger with the internet access. One artist friend of mine sometimes avoids attending exhibitions of others art works as she is worried about their influence, either conscious or unconscious, on her works. 
b) I cannot be sure if the idea I generated was 'mine and mine only' or influenced by what I saw and heard and read on the internet. Of course, there were influences even before the internet but the extent was miniscule compared to the amount of stimulation on the internet. It's difficult to be original now as it's difficult to escape influences today even if we lock ourselves indoors as the world is within our home through the internet. 


I spoke of the not-so-positive effect of the internet on memory and creativity. Now lets talk briefly about it's impact on attention. I feel that people who are already 'easily-distractible' can become even more easily distracted when surfing on the internet as they move from one topic to another which captures their attention/interest. I am not saying that internet worsens the attention of an ADHD person. But I do say that it does not help them much either by offering so much of stimulation. 

Why do we google? I google mostly for information or pleasure. I google for dog and cat videos, jokes, news, pictures of so many things,, etc. The hours people spend on surfing is the hours taken away from physical exercises, spending time with family, friends, children, etc; time taken away from tasks to be completed.  

Surfing is giving us new information, knowledge and opens new doors to us. To the extent that we pause to process the new information and ruminate on it, we are getting some depth. But if we quickly scan, absorb and move on to new information, we are in danger of having shallow information about a whole lot of things.  People who surf the internet rapidly, stop thinking and processing information but just file it away in their memories. They may not spend time to understand the information in it's depth, check it's veracity, see if they can improve upon it and so on. 

One major lacuna of surfing is that the information is theory. People may know but most do not accquire the practical skills of achieving what they know in theory. Let me give an example. My husband, for the last few weeks has been sitting in bed watching Utube videos of 'northmen'. These are videos of woodcutting, welding, making knives, etc. But, I am laughing as I write this, he has not touched a single axe or chopped a piece of wood or welded or whatever. yet, he can talk quite well about it, thanks to watching them! But, to me, "What is the point?" 
To be continued

LUCK SMILED DOWN ON ME TODAY...TWICE!

I had to travel a long distance on the public transport system(TTC i.e. Toronto Transit Commission) today. I hopped off at the wrong stop(Kingston and Eglinton instead of Kingston and Highland Creek overpass) and I did not have a transfer(a ticket) to get back on another bus without paying again.
I considered walking the rest of the way, despite the cold. When I asked a kind passerby for directions, she told me  it was too far to walk and I should take a bus. 
I walked back to the bus-stop. I got on the next bus and  explained to the driver that I had got off  the bus at the wrong stop and that I did not have a transfer. Luckily, the driver let me on the bus and did not ask me to pay again! I am so grateful to him and I hope he has a really blessed life!
The next bit of good luck today : 
 I got off  at my stop...the right one this time. Feeling the cold wind, I searched for my gloves and found only one. I realized that I had lost the other one somewhere on the way and felt a bit sad. It was an expensive leather pair. I continued toward my destination and  after a two hour long meeting, I walked back to the bus-stand. On a hunch, I decided to check out the stop I had got off, in case I find my glove. And I did! It was lying on the  pavement exactly where I had got off!   I felt so thrilled to see it lying there un-trodden on by  feet, un-blown by the wind, un-taken by anyone!

These two pieces of good luck today has made me a happier and less grumpy person today! 
 I always liked and respected the TTC staff and now I appreciate their kindness even more. 

Pakistani lorry-toy

This reminds me of the toy-autos sold in Bangalore, the school-buses, double-deckers sold in many cities and village fairs in the world. Though it's so kitschy, I love it!
The above will not survive a child playing with it for 2 minutes but it can sit on a window shelf and wait to be joined by an Indian auto or an Asian Tuk-tuk!

I did not get the toy autorickshaw in India as it looked soo.. kitschy...what made me fall in love with this thing...?

Mini Colored Corn

Took a friend from India to  Niagara Falls and Niagara on the Lake last Sunday(sept 18th 2016) . Bought 3 bunches (of 3 per bunch) lovely looking Mini Coloured Corn from a ?grocery store in Niagara on the Lake. Here are a few arrangements I made of them.
There are also a few photos of normal sized coloured corn. I have not seen coloured corn in India. I saw them for the first time in Canada.
Often people don't eat the coloured corn but hang tham in the kitchen or dining area around Thanksgiving time as Harvest decorations. Som families in Canada hang coloured corn, plaited garlic, chillis, etc in the kitchen and dining area all year round as decorations. 

 Above is normal size corn...NOT mini corn

 This photo above and below is normal size corn hanging as decor in a shop

Old Town San Diego

A tourist spot  and  of great historic importance, Old Town San Diego, is located  in the centre of San Diego, California. 

You could happily spend 3-6 hours here. There's a lot of artsy stuff from Mexico in shops here. Also lots of crafts and decorative items. Lots of restaurants.  There is an old west feel to it when you see some of the things on display, the fort, the old buildings and the many museums. There is definitely  a Mexican feel too.  

You could eat. You could shop for crafts from Mexico. Browse. Enjoy the weather! Or take photos like me.

Below are some paintings with rustic charm  I saw in some shop

 I think the above is the photo of a single jail cell...but I am not sure. I have forgotton. But this too is there in Old town San Diego.

 Above is a sample of decorative tiles made in Mexico

SOME FURNITURE SCATTERED AROUND THE SHOPS OF THIS OLD TOWN

THIS CHAIR ABOVE WAS MADE OF LEATHER

BELOW ARE A FEW OF THE MANY PLANTS AND CACTUS IN THIS TOURIST AREA WHICH CAUGHT MY EYE.
The variety and beauty of the cactus, flowers and plants in San Diego and maybe all of California is simply amazing! The weather is wonderful all year round. The plants, trees are wonderful. People were friendly and relaxed atmosphere in this entire place. I think this is as close to heaven as it could get! My sister said that the houses were not expensive to buy like in the Bay area of California. So dear reader, if you have money, and can get a job in this place, you should check this place out.