MahaShivratri

Well.. So Sunday was MahaShivratri. The festival devoted to Lord Shiva (pic above, with Parvati and Lord Ganesh, and Nandi the bull) where millions of devotees the world over conduct poojas or chant ''Dwadashjyotirling'' or something on those lines... The name itself talks about ''ratri'' í.e. night. MahaShivratri is an occasion for a lot of folks to be up all night and drink.. Or for some folks, eat ''faraal'' items. For the uninitiated, you can find lots of ''faraal'' recipes on tarladalal.com...

Anyways, I am on a doc prescribed diet so cannot follow all the high calorie ''fast'' stuff, or should be say, ''feast stuff''...

We didn't celebrate it in either of the two ways. Ess made a lovely south indian khana at home, becos we had invited a friend over. The menu was Tomato Rasam, Parupurundai Kuzhambu (We had to look up the net for this recipe, and found it ultimately on , where else, but tarladalal.com), Sabudana Kheer, Cabbage in Tam style, and of course, Steamed Rice..

All in all, twas a day well spent.. with Shiva in our hearts..

Bee-ism: Its the thought that counts, hopefully ..

Chini Chinese khana

Me and Ess happened to accidentally visit Chinatown, the chini place right in New york City... Hungry as we were, we spotted a joint with the board ''House of Vegeterian''...

If this was apna desh, I mean this would have been no surprise, but right in the midst of Chinatown in New york City, this seemed like an odd proposition... We went in to confirm if it was indeed what its name suggested, and entered into a small establishment that seemed to have waitresses tired of smiling only becos they would have worked too hard...

Anyways, we lost no time in ordering ''Brown rice with vegetables in curry sauce'', ''Spring rolls'', ''Steamed dumplings'' and ''Friend dumplings''. Back home, whatever Chinese we eat either at upmarket Chini joints like Mainland China, or in suburban joints, is all 'desi Chinese'. But this was Chini Chinese....

And to my surprise, we were more than satisfied with all the items.. Of course I kind of desified it by adding sweet n sour sauce and hot sauce at the same time.. But what the heck, it still made one tasty lunch! The biggest surprise was that the bill came to wonly 18 bucks for all these 4 items put together.. So value joint too for veggie folks like me ..

They also confirmed that they don't add MSG, the stuff that most desi Chinese cooks add to give it some kinda flavor I guess... I am so glad to have hit upon this place.. Where most food joints out here do not understand the palate or variety that can be had for vegeterian customers...

Glory be to Chini Chinese. Its waiting to be discovered!

Bee-ism: Chini Chinese Hello-hi, desi Chinese bye-bye...

Visit to ISKCON NY

Visited ISKCON in Brooklyn, it was very beautiful to attend the kirtan, and have the prasad too! Unfortunately, did not remember to carry the digicam... The Kirtan there was almost like being on a dance floor.. Loud music, folks around dancing, singing, clapping...

We hope to go some time later and capture the lovely images of Radha-govind there...

Here's their official link :

http://www.radhagovinda.net/

Bee-ism: Our body is a temple because 'Aham brahmasmi' (God resides within us).. Still its enchanting to once in a while visit some prayer places and feel the power of group prayer..

The ultimate Love

Diet challenge

Gotta be strong... its not like it could be the most difficult challenge in the world or something.. just the realization that a good diet and exercise r v v important right now... and its not as easy to follow as it sounds.

Here is doc's prescribed diet - DAILY (Way more than what I normally would have had):

• 4 servings of fruits
• 4 servings of vegetables
• 12 slices or bread / roti or rice equivalent
• 4 glasses or milk or equivalent milk products (Curds/lassi/cheese etc)
• Eggs or Lentils (Dals)

well..so am trying... hoping that i can follow at least more than 50 % of what is prescribed. And hope that the multi-vitamin I am having is magical for the rest 50% !

Bee-ism: Apple a day used to keep the doctor away... now its prunes...

Happy We-day

just some thoughts

trust.. miracle... creation... God.. faith.... life....

small yet amazingly powerful words...

pic of the day