Onam Aashamsagal

From: Tina

Sent: Thursday, September 11, 2008 1:10 PM

Subject: Onam Aashamsagal
There are very few festivals which are celebrated by all…. As in it is not confined to a particular religion or area…
Generally any festival is marked by a particular religion and hence people of that religion practice or celebrate it with religious fervor and all other communities partake or join them in the celebrations.

But some very few festivals transcend religious boundaries…

Ganesh Chaturthi being one of them …Atleast that’s what Bal Gangadhar Tilak expected before commercialization kicked in.

In Kerala , among a couple of festivals, Onam has a prime spot in terms of celebrations.
For any person of any religion, Onam holds a key spot of celebration.

So you will find a cultural harmony in Onam celebration where Hindu’s Muslim’s and Christian’s partake in the joy and festivity of Onam.

ONAM AASHAMSAGAL ( literally translated : Onam best wishes…) …

Here’s wishing all of you a hearty Onam best wishes or phonetically O-nam Aa –sham- sa- gal.

For more details about the origin of Onam and additional details do refer to this piece in wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onam.

“
Onam ഓണം, the foremost festival among the cultural repertoire of Malayalees, falls in the harvest season of August- September. The festival is primarily celebrated in Kerala, a state in India, by people across all caste and religions. Chingam or Bhadrapada, the first month of the calendar ushers in Onam, the national festival of Kerala. After the rain drenched Karkidakam with its privations, Chingam is a welcome month of plenty. Additional Details here and here
”

Also check out how Kerala gears up for Onam at here and here. I especially found this statement pretty true

“
During the Onam season, domestic tourists outnumber foreign tourists simply because a large number of Malayalis settled outside the state
make it a point to come back to celebrate the festival,
”

Although Onam has its origins in mythology, as a festival it is really removed from religious leanings.

In Kerala, Onam marks a start of festivity period, or a period where the festivals just start to kick in…
Onam – Ramzan - Dusshera – Diwali – X’mas. And finally the new year.

In Kerala, most houses still celebrate Onam with the traditional Onapookkalam.


Onapookkalam (translated means Pictures from Flowers) is a flower decoration more like Rangoli with flowers.








Thiruvathira kali



This is an extremely popular folk dance performed by maidens of Kerala wearing traditional set sari..
It is a group dance and mainly performed on the occasion of Onam.
Then watching thiruvathira kali also formed another Onam specialty though now I guess it is just in gatherings, Malayalam Samajam get-together and movies .

Vallamkali (Vallam meaning Boat)

Another occurrence synonymous with Onam is Vallamkali (the snake boat race).
For Vallamkali, there are many tournaments and people gear up to see snake boats gliding over water.

But the main highlight of Onam being the Ona Sadya… Sadya meaning feast. More info or at least for visual treat check Sadya@wiki

Though if you are more enterprising then I would suggest this food blog link detailing the Ona Sadya and ways to get to eating it..
There is a saying that “ On Onam, no man should go hungry even if you are hungry or not in good financial position the rest of the year.

As tomorrow is Onam, here’s wishing all of you a wonderful and food laden Onam.. Happy Onam or rather Onam Aashamsagal.

Thinking about tiffins

From: Tina

Sent: Friday, August 22, 2008 5:04 PM

Subject: Thinking about tiffins

My latest past time is to read blogs (as you must have come to know by the mails I sent)… and notable among them being Food blogs :)

It generally helps to whip up an appetite for the cafeteria lunch..:)

Of course the downside is that it makes me feel the dishes shown there are easy to whip up.
So in order to surprise V, plan some different stuff to cook so that at least it is different from my usual routine khana.

Unfortunately, V ends up being shocked.

So after a few days of disasters, I mentioned that maybe over the weekend , I lost my special cooking skills.
As a result we were having disasters for the past week.

I knew the level of my skills, when V replied “Oh is it, were they not disasters before last weekend” :)

Just today when one of my colleagues was miffed about his mom not packing his lunch right, we all ended up discussing about Moms/Dads packing out tiffins.
I was thinking our moms(could be parents too ) were generally a class apart.

Dunno when they found time to whip up all the good stuff.
Not just breakfast but include a lunch and snack also for the evening apart from morning milk/tea.

Generally all I have time to whip up a safe breakfast of bread and omelets in the mornings.

But when we were in school, our mums used to send us to school with a tiffin bag. Tiffin bag containing a water bottle, short break tiffin , lunch break tiffin and Napkin.

And we people had enough nakharas like…

Short break tiffin will have something different from long break tiffin.
Short break tiffin will have something exceptional so that friends in the group share and say “WoW”.
Lunch break tiffin should have roti’s, Rice in rare scenarios permissible.
If Rice present then spoon also should be present.
If Rice present , curry should not drip out.
If Papad there then that should be in separate polythene.

Dunno how my mom found the time to give us such tiffin bags for all siblings, with rules directly proportional to number of siblings.

But I guess it is true that you start appreciating all this when you are trying to achieve one-tenth of what they used to do..:)

So long see ya.
Tina :)

Weekend Thrills :)

From: Tina

Sent: Friday, August 22, 2008 4:31 PM

Subject: Weekend Thrills :)

It has been quite a few days since I rambled :) or weeks rather…

After a well deserved though unexpected break home, it is back to the old grind..
Last weekend(Independence weekend) we were at home .
Though it was a long weekend it was not exactly planned with V struggling to book us tickets to get back and finally getting something via Tatkal.
Remembered one of my friends comments saying that before even before we embark on a journey, we worry about the tickets to get back.

:) Yup with no extended holidays ..I guess that’s how it is …
Regrets though in not being able to meet any of you.

Gud to see amche P after quite a while …With the temperatures dipped and rains around the corner.

It is nice to romanticize the weather when you are visiting only for the weekend, as compared to living it out there.
Especially since rains had disrupted the general routine in P just the weekend prior to this one.

For us it was a different ball game as both our Sasar(in-laws place) and Maher(parents place) is the same.
So whatever time we had seemed real short.

I miss P mornings with the slight chill and dip in temperature irrespective of the season it is…

I guess for both of us it was gud to eat food not cooked by me :).. Some authentic variants cooked up in the traditional style.
Attended a couple of functions including an impromptu birthday celebrations. For once V and I managed to be home for at least someone’s birthday…
Generally we used to end up wishing via phone.

And before we knew it , it was time to come back.
The train reached early morning and going back to office was seriously a pain …especially with me feeling extra sleep deprived.

Why is it when you want to leave office early especially after a journey, that you end up staying in office for long?
Neways it took a couple of days for us to orient back to Hyd tehzeeb.

And for V it was back to my short cut cooking after a few days of authentic stuff..

It seemed like over the weekend I lost touch of how to cook. So it was getting myself reacquainted with the vessels. :)

Ciao,
Tina :)

Everyday Hurdles !!!!

From: Tina_Thomas
Sent: Friday, July 11, 2008 5:42 PM
Subject: Everyday Hurdles !!!!

It seems like Mr Murphy law is coming true for us the past few days… It is not that my bread is falling on the buttered side but still it is holding true for me.

Murphy's law is an adage in Western culture that broadly states "if anything can go wrong, it will." It is also cited as: "If there's more than one possible outcome of a job or task, and one of those outcomes will result in disaster or an undesirable consequence, then somebody will do it that way"; "Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong"; or, "Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, and at the worst possible time, in the worst possible way".

Why is it that whenever one is late from office that all things go wrong.. I mean not wrong or a disaster in the strict sense of the word.
Instead of beating round the bush let me get straight to the point or rather Murphy point :)

For the past few days, we never the train on time :) . I mean we leave office in order to catch the right train but somehow in order to send some update or mail back, we generally leave at the last minute.

That’s when generally all things do not work out as per general scheme of things.

For starters till we reach the bus stop or the junction (chowk) there will be no sign of “share auto”

“Share Auto” will put our Chennai auto rides to shame. It is the same three-seater rickshaw but in front at least 4(inclusive of driver) male members somehow squeeze in…
And behind at least three to four females. I guess diesel prices are having their effect.


If it is the bigger variant of the three seater(mind you not the six seater). i.e same as the pix above but the back side is not enclosed. So in the back also has open space to carry luggage etc, if the hatch is opened. So the more enterprising sit behind with legs dangling..
For some reasons I have not garnered enough courage and hence I have never sat that way.
But I have seen people enjoying that kind of seating, of course with the company id card in prominent display :)
So if it is that kind of rickshaw then at least three people are expected there too.


For some reason when I used to say “rickshaw” friends here used to wonder what am I speaking about as that was what we used back in Pune.
So here if I am referring to the three seater above , I have to say “auto” :) . So much for trivia.

So let me come back to my story…

In case if at all we do get the “Share auto” , either it will be too empty or too filled. Murphy’s Law starting to work..

Drawbacks of

· Too empty means only 2-3 ppl, so the driver will look and turn the auto at every individual remotely waiting.. maybe for bus, friend or just standing.
In the effort to get the desired no of candidates, there will frequent slowing asking them to enter the auto to go to destination.
· Too full means he will have his auto full but driver will drive slow and frequent stops.

Yesterday’s fellow for some reason was going so slow that I felt if we get down and push the auto probably we would reach faster.

By the time we come to the chowk, there will be 10 mins till train timing.
And then in his own sweet time with multiple stops he will drive to the station.

Luckily he will reach the station, roughly 2 mins before the train timing. Yesterday was better as he at least left us near the station entrance as opposed to the road entrance.
If dropped at road entrance it would mean another minute gone sprinting down till station entrance.

So if all is fine then we will reach the station entrance which opens to Platform 1 at the nick of time and train will be coming at luckily Platform 1.

But Mr Murphy has been having few different ideas since past few days, hence as soon as we reach Platform No 1 there will be an announcement if we are lucky or we see the local come to Platform No 6.

So with absolutely no time to spare and the next local being there after an hour, we have nothing best to do but sprint towards the train at the other end of the station at Platform 6.
Now don’t get me wrong, sprint not towards the over bridge… No time for that…
That’s what I mean by hurdles J Run across directly from Platform 1 to Platform 6. Fortunately the platforms are not barred and separated.

But the height of the platform is amazing… So down – jump – climb – run scenario goes on till we reach the 6th platform ….and finally run towards the train.
By the time we manage to get into the same, we are totally out of breath and heave a huge sigh of relief that at least we have not missed the train.
Seriously should get a bit fit as portly me looks real funny with this hurdles race.

But if you feel that I should in fact, try to go early then Bhaiyoon aur beheno have tried that too….
Then it is opposite.. Few days back we reached the station early with 10 mins to spare but guess what the train was about 40 mins late…

That’s why I said Mr Murphy having some problem with me :)

Njoiiiing everyday hurdles…

Cya,

Tina :)

Barbecuing experience :)

From: Tina
Sent: Friday, June 27, 2008 5:38 PM
Subject: Barbecuing experience :)

Last weekend a few friends met up impromptu for dinner. We were meeting after a long spell of time. V suggested a new place called ‘Barbeque Nation’ …
Thought why not, as had heard good reviews about the place.. Considering Hyderabad traffic, we took almost half an hour to reach the place. Lucky for us that traffic was moving and not jammed.
For most part I felt that we were destined to go thereJ..It had been in the pipeline for a long time :)
As usual the place was full and we gave our names for the next seating which would be available only about half an hour later…
Forgot to make reservations earlier..Neways by then friends arrived and as if on cue, seating was available in next 5 mins…
Considering that how restaurants are usually late in providing seating this was a welcome change..

Barbeque or Barbecue ‘s wiki reference is here.
“Barbecue or barbeque[1] (abbreviated BBQ, Bar-B-Q or Bar-B-Que or diminuted, chiefly in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom to barbie, and Braai in South Africa) is a method and apparatus for cooking food, often meat, with the heat and hot gases of a fire, smoking wood, or hot coals of charcoal and may include application of a marinade, spice rub, or basting sauce to the meat. The term as a noun can refer to foods cooked by this method, to the cooker itself, or to a party that includes such food. The term is also used as a verb for the act of cooking food in this manner. Barbecue is usually cooked in an outdoor environment heated by the smoke of wood or charcoal. Restaurant barbecue may be cooked in large brick or metal ovens specially designed for that purpose.”
Barbeque-Nation is a part of a chain of restaurants specializing in live barbeque as mentioned on their site here.

“

”
Though barbequing is generally thought of in terms of being non-vegetarian i.e. generally consisting of meat, this place provides a variety in vegetarian selection also.
Based on the restaurant description, the barbeque technique there is influenced by Turkish cuisine.
But I guess, the application of marinade and different spices to flavor the meat while cooking has more Mediterranean influence or Indian cuisine which in itself is notable for the “dum” style cooking.
The US style of barbecuing has barbecuing with a lot of sauces but they impart a slightly sweetish touch and we are used to Meat with spicy flavors. So much for extra info :)

On each table is a mobile barbeque. When you are seated then a fresh charcoal barbeque is placed and they get 5 different types of veggie options and 5 servings of non- veggie options to try out as appetizers. These could be kebabs like hara bhara kebab (Veg) , Mushroom kebabs or shammi kabab (Non Veg). Chicken or Fish fried in simplistic sauces or marinades with pepper.

This unlimited serving also includes live barbeque of either veggie options or non veggie options placed on skewers (picture below) and then placed on the table barbeque to give you a feel of actually barbequing.

Non veggie options being typical like most-safe-bet chicken and prawns. Also includes veggie options like paneer or mixed veg grilled on skewer.

Along with these are placed various sauces like lemon, ginger which can be brushed upon the subject as a spice rub and allow to barbeque on your table barbeque.

These in turn could be had with 3 other sauces…

With these we were all on “Mission Toot Pado” especially me..Initially exploring and then asking for more of the specified starters one liked.

By the time we had starters, I guess we were full. But main course and dessert still await us ..

Main course was laid in typical buffet fashion. But it did have good balance of veggie and non veggie foods and Desserts though I guess Starters is what they and we concentrate on. Main course included Dum biryani, Pasta in tomato sauce, Curd rice (default in AP) :) , simple dal makhani, crab preparation, Salads and soups.

Of course of all the stuff above we could do justice to hardly few. No capacity you see after all those starters :) and I was keeping place for desserts.

Desserts also had a few but typical options like pastry, gulab jamuns, vanilla ice cream.
But the main star of the evening were the barbeques starters :)

Barbeque – Nation restaurant was good in terms of service, food and cuisine uniqueness.
The servers being with a usual mix of good service and attentive customer care …which is very difficult to see in Hyderabadi restaurants.. Though the price in itself could be a bit steep in terms of rising inflation and all, but if you can do justice to their buffet system then there is nothing like it. (We could only manage a few servings and then jumped directly to the dessert)

Usually restaurants associated with kebabs or barbeques are mostly non vegetarian specific. Of course they are not wholly centric around non- veggies but the vegetarians’ are thought of almost as an afterthought from food perspective. This is especially noticeable in certain restaurants famous for non-vegetarian dishes where vegetarian dishes are kept only for name sake, the main forte being non-vegetarian dishes.

But good to see a welcome change in this restaurant where we non veggies were curious to try out vegetarian options too :)

So in case your locations also have their outlets…I would definitely recommend you to try it and especially so if you are a non vegetarian … Check whether you location is there in Barbeque Nation locations. Though on the site, Pune as a location was not to be seen. Their pamphlet at the restaurant had reference to their outlet being present Pune.

Additional review : http://mumbai.burrp.com/establishment/view/1753989

Gud luck trying and do let me know in case you do.
C you all till next time.

Warm Regards,
Tina :)