Banana pancakes

Good morning! I'm so glad its sunny outside today. I might go for a workout in a little while. Actually, I wanted to leave right away ( 9:45 am) for a spin but I was really hungry and wanted some fuel for my workout. So I made these banana, blueberry walnut pancakes. They were so delicious I had to tell you about it.

I don't see any reason to buy pancakes mixes from grocery when you can make really healthy tasty pancake batter at home using much healthy flour than nutritionally minimal white flour. I used wheat germ, mushed a banana into it, chopped walnuts and threw in some blueberries and had it with maple syrup. I think the syrup is a tad high but I like syrupy sweetness!

Here's how the garden looks like now. Look at it grow! Look at the saplings..

ouch! the kitty thinks I'm a tree. He's biting me!

I really haven't done anything fun lately. I want to do some cool fun clothes shopping too. I'm tired of my current clothes. I think I'm leaning towards colored stockings to wear with skirts. They're so funky..:)

Anyways, I'll end my rambling here, work out and write the discussion part of my thesis.

Have a great weekend!

Smita

Good Luck to Emily!

Hello people! How are you all doing? First of all Emily good luck with your defense tomorrow. I can totally understand when you say you get sick of seeing your thesis. You look at it so many times and then it starts getting on your nerves, isn't it? But I am pretty sure you are gonna do fine.
Gina, the watermelon salsa looks absolutely delish! I'd never heard of it before and I concur with how you feel about veterens. There was a short clip on ABC about a wall where the names of the dead were engraved and survivors talking about how it was, whether they feel guilty to survive- it actually brought tears to my eyes.
Memorial day weekend was good. Jamie really wants a mattress bad and I have been contemplating getting a new one too. So we went mattress shopping on sunday. We haven't found our perfect mattress yet. On the way back, we stopped at Whole foods and got this Izze drink( actually we really wanted salad spinach but ended up buying other stuff..aargh). This is flavored sparkling water. Rather tart I must say. I wonder what makes it that way. Nice to sip on while studying.


This is the spinach salad that we made. It was damn tasty. Using toasted sesame makes such a difference to the taste. You can actually taste them! We had strawberries, blueberries, celery, grapefruit and spinach in the salad. Dressing: Olive oil, balsamic vinegar, toasted sesame seeds, toasted almonds, pine nuts honey salt and pepper.

Jamie really knows how to kill time. She makes jewellary, bracelets- with thread- making knots of all kind, walking, and last but not the least she enjoys cooking. She made hummus. This was superb! I am sure you guys have heard of Wasa http://us.wasa.com/products.aspx. This is very crisp, whole grain bread. I really like it because of the umpteen toppings you can eat it with.

The recipe for hummus asks for

1 tbsp canola oil, 1/2 cup minced red onion, 2 cloves garlic, 1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, 1 tbsp minced fresh basil/1/2 tsp dried basil, same with oregano, 1/4 tsp ground coriander, 1/4 tsp ground pepper, 1/4 tsp cumin powder, 1 can garbanzo beans, 3 tbsp fresh lemon juice, 2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds, salt to taste. The onion and the garlic need to be toasted a little. Blend it all together and voila!

I will talk to you folks later. Have a great day tomorrow.

Until then, over and out!

Smita

I love Summer!!!

Hey People! looks like everybody is having a nice time. Yay!!! me too! I have been reading, writing, cooking and playing.
Yesterday, Jamie wanted to use RPAC. So she bought a guest pass and we worked out. One thing that was new for me though was I used the swimming pools in RPAC for the first time. It was so much fun! Since we'd already worked out before we headed towards the pool-I just did a lap in the lanes. Even though I had the energy for more laps- I did not want to tire myself out as I had to get back to writing. It had been at least 3 years since I stepped in a pool and boy was I glad that I was able to swim ??yes!!! though I still am not very comfortable with my face in water- on my back its heaven! then there are the shallow play areas with a shower of water and finally the warm jacuzzi!!! Both of us rode our bikes home. On the way, we saw turtles/tortoises (I don't know how to distinguish between them) on the bike path! Iwas quite pleasantly surprised since I did not expect them there. Damn cute- they immediately slid their head in the shell when they saw us approaching.

This is how our garden looks like now- with all the saplings planted. The white tabs seen are a reminder to us about what we planted. We will have to wait for a month or two before we savor anything. But meanwhile, regular irrigation goes on. If you look carefully, there's a strawberry plant on the top left. It has small green berries at this time. I hope we get them.


Foodwise, its been great too. We had Indian bread, spiced green beans and boiled mung beans. The good thing about this Indian bread (called roti/chappati) is that you can knead the dough and keep it in the fridge. It stays for a week at least and you can make fresh bread everytime you eat.
Everything is quite easy to make took me 40 minutes to make the whole meal.
For green beans- Take 2 tbsp oil in a pan, add a tsp of mustard seeds, 1 green chilli, a dash of lentils ( roasted lentils add crunch to the dish), then add frozen green beans. Let it cook. Finally add salt and fresh coconut (I get a frozen bag from the Indian grocery store).
Mung beans were super easy too. I boiled it in a pressure cooker ( a pressure cooker is a must have in an Indian kitchen- you won't find many Indian households without one). Seasoning was heat 2 tsp oil, add a tsp of cumin seeds, grate some ginger, 1 green chilli. Pour this on boiled mung beans, add the juice of 1 lemon and mix. Salt to taste. Very yummy and filling.

Since its been a while since I wrote, I guess I've taking pics but not posting it. This is stir fried rice- one of Jamie's creations. Oil, carrots, peas, onion, salt, pepper soy sauce and rice.

Remember the spinach, sprouts and beets salad I told you about, well we made it again and this is how it looks like. I wish I had a better pic for the last two. But bad picture aside, ain't this colorful?

Today was one good day. A guy in a truck was handing out free samples of Glaceau Vitamin water. This new one is orange flavored and touts itself to be just 10 calories. But it has quite a variety of natural sweetners- 1) Crystalline fructose, 2) Erythritol ( never heard of this one) and 3) Rebiana (extracted from stevia) and 4) 3 gm sugar. Tastes like, well, Vitamin water. Can make out that it has sweetners.The moment I saw 10 calories- I knew it was going to be there.

So long folks.

Take care and have fun

Smita

My Family

Hello people! How are you guys doing? I have been thinking of my family these days and how they have shaped me. I grew up in a large family. I am the youngest in a family of six- eldest sister, my second sister and brother are twins and then there's me. Since the age gap between the rest of my siblings and me is quite large, they were more influential on me than my parents. My parents were bored when I came around. I was pampered as the baby of the family- my sisters used to entice me to share their bed with them- my eldest sister with stories and my second sister I don't remember what. The story involved a boy , a bear, a plane and a forest. It got created as the night went on and I was permitted to make additions- I vaguely remember one of them was a mobile sink. My second sister, when I was in kindergarten, always took me with her during recess. With my brother, it was hard initially coz he resented me because of all the attention I got as a kid, but later he was okay with me. I grew up in very lush North India in a beautiful large government owned house with a nice kitchen garden- we took organic food for granted and didn't realize how expensive it was outside.
Being the baby of the family has its good and bad sides. The good- Since my dad was the only earning member of the family, money was for more important things like education, clothes were secondary. But all of us girls love clothes and it was hard for my sisters. They made sure that I had enough when they started earning. I look upto my siblings quite a lot. My eldest sister, she really showed us what we could achieve. Coming to America was an impossible dream until she showed it could be done. She was so motivated on her career and she is doing very well today- she works at Intel as a hardware engineer and is pursuing an MBA and she went through some really hard times while getting an education- having to live with relatives and a cousin who hated her- I really admire her for getting through all that. My second sister has always been my playmate. I adore her. She is accepting of me, does not put any pressure on me, lets me figure my way out and is there for me when I need her. My brother was spiritually inclined since adulthood and eventually went on to become a monk. My siblings exposed me to good literature, good music, and always set very high standards for me. So I learnt to appreciate a lot of good quality stuff through them.
The bad of being the youngest- Since they were such towering figures in my life, they could do no wrong - I really sought their approval quite a lot, especially my eldest sister and my brother. So to break free from them, know of my own likes and dislikes and trust my own instincts has taken me some time. Even among my extended family, I was ignored as the youngest one- so to value my own opinions and judgements has been another break free from my siblings experience. I am a sensitive person, I used to call them up at the slightest hurt I felt which to them was no biggie. I am glad it was made known to me how hard it was for them when I was hurting and even tiresome at times- ever since then I am superconscious of the fact that I am not draining on anyone. I don't want to complain. But some old habits take time to fade. As far as possible, I try to deal with them on my own, but sometimes, the self gets too much to bear and I need an outlet.
Another thing I have realized is that they are not these perfect creatures who know how to deal with everything. My eldest sister, since while growing up she had to encounter those hard environments, she had to to toughen herself. She is beautiful and has had a lot of attention but she just pushes people who try to get too close to her. She may deny the fact, but this is what I feel. That does not remove the desire to have someone however. She also has this perfectionist tendencies where nothing is good enough. She is hard on herself as well as us and that makes it hard to be with her at times. Don't get me wrong- she has a great sense of humor, is funny and always has helped out the family financially. But it took me a while to realize that I could actually be there for her emotionally. Same goes for my other siblings. My brother was a software engineer before he joined the monastry. Their's is a modern monastry. He's their tech support guy. He sends an occasional e-mail
I am sorry if I have poured out complaints when I am frustrated. I try hard to be responsible for my emotions and keep myself happy and believe in myself that I can actually do good quality work, make more money. Its not easy especially when you are prone to bring yourself down, but the more I read blogs and see people around me, its the same for everybody and all we can do is give the self a chance, keep trying and never ever give up on ourselves..

Gourmet food!

Namaste everyone! ( this is the Indian hello) How's everybody doing? Hope Emily had a great B'day. I thought of you on your B'day and I can't wait for the day when I can relax from writing pressure and focus on more pleasant stuff like the menu for your party. How goes sample
collection for Gina?
I am doing okay. I have this writing pressure on me. But I try not to stress myself too much because I cannot read/think right under too much pressure. But that being said, I actually enjoyed reading two papers which were very relevant to my study. One paper happened in a pig farm where they inoculated pigs with very virulent, moderately virulent and avirulent virus and measured how much of it came out in aerosols. The avirulent virus was not detected in aerosols at all. So I think I using avirulent virus (the one I have been working with) will not work for what we are trying to accomplish. Another paper used flow cytometry to count bacteria in aerosols and they went on to measure how much of it was there, how much was viable and how much was culturable. Technology is so cool these days...hello hello! are you there! wake up wake up! there's more interesting stuff! promise!
Okay now for the good stuff. Remember I told you about the 'Vegetarian sandwiches' book I got from the library. Well Jamie has really gotten inspired and she wants to eat and make some gourmet food and I totally support her in this endevor! Today her appetizer was 'Red and yellow pepper bruschetta'. This was soooo good. She got a nice baguette and toasted it. Then roasted some pine nuts. In olive oil, fry fine chopped red onion, red and yellow peppers. Pile it on the toasted bread and top it with grated parmesan cheese and roasted pine nuts. This was so so good! The sugars in the red and yellow peppers and onions caramelize a bit with roasting giving it a hint of sweetness and the parmesan adds just the right amount of a slight pungent flavor and good bread makes such a difference to the taste. Highly recommend this one!!



The main course was 'Zuccini pasta'. Make ribbons of zuccini using a scraper just like below. Heat olive oil, add 3 cloves of fine chopped garlic, then add zuccini, cook for 5-7 minutes, add 1 red chilli, juice of 1 lemon, 5 tbsp of half and half, 5 tbsp of grated parmesan cheese salt and crushed black pepper. Toss this on cooked linguini pasta and mix.


This is what the final dish looks like. We had it with garlic bread. It was awesome! Very lemony flavor and we had a very filling dinner today.



I'm sorry I haven't been as regular with posting as much as I want to. Its this writing stuff which takes precedence in my list. I have done the reading for most of what I want to write and I really spend a lot of time cracking my head over how do I say it best and convey it effectively.

Moreover, having to look at this creature down below, lolling, stretching and yawning in front of me, on my bed, does not help either. Just look at him!!



But if he's not in front of me, I'm wondering what he's upto. Darn these overcute pets!
(FYI- This is Jamie's cat)
Until we meet again,

Adios amigos pals!

Love from Smita

Some of my Favorite things

Hello people, how is everyone doing? I am doing great. There are certain things I absolutely love.
1) I love working out. I think I am addicted to the endorphins post workout. Isn't that what makes people keep going back to exercise?
2) Another of my loves is Freddie Mercury!!!!! I absolutely adore him. When I listen to his music, he puts so much soul into each and everyone of his song and you can feel that in his songs. When I listen to the lyrics of Queen songs, they are so wholesome, experiences you can relate to, songs that will comfort you when you feel sad, songs with a sense of humor ( one of the lyrics of their songs....Here we are, born to be kings, we're the princes of the Universe..such a cheeky funny song..apparently it was created for the movie flash) and what guitar and drums and bass. OOH I LOVE QUEEN. THERE IS NOBODY LIKE HIM ANYMORE! He was such a genius. They made all kinds of songs- rock, pop, rock n roll. He connected so well with his audience. At the time when Queen came around, the trend was punk rock, but he stuck to what he wanted to do - opera rock and created masterpieces. I think creating good music is one of purest things you can do. It brings joy to so many people. And his voice, it fills me with awe!! He was known to be very generous too.Here's a song or two if you are interested.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDTwWoVNltE&feature=related...

this is New York

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5qOTaJ0j4s

This is Las Palabras de amor..the words of love in Spanish

3) Beverages like tea and coffee. I bow my head to whoever discovered these. I love chai tea. The way I make it is not as milky as the one in Starbucks. I boil water first, add my flavorings like ginger or cinnamon, then add black tea leaves and finally milk. Then I give the whole thing a gentle boil. Africans make very yummy tea too. Theirs is more creamy than mine and very flavorful.
I love coffee too. I don't think I've reached coffee nirvana yet where I can distinguish between French roast or Columbian....



These are okay on my list. But these are cookies from the Indian store- the round ones are coconut cream, the long ones are chocolate cream and the rectangular ones next to the wheel like cookies go very well with tea



4) Filling, healthy tasty food. This is a lentils and Lima bean dish. I pressure cook both of them together. Lima beans have such a creamy texture when cooked! Seasoning is : roast some fine chopped onions in oil with cumin seeds, add a dash of chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric, a pinch of asafoetida and the juice of 1 small lemon or half a large lemon...( I know, I know I need to explain about this, but later- I need to get back to my writing)





And now ding ding ding ding ding!!!!! time for tip of the day!
If you want good quality bread and crackers at cheap rates buy it directly from the Pepperidge farm store on Kenny road ( same complex where Staples, Penzey spices is located).

Ok, I'll end now. I'd love to hear about your favorite things/ favorite music too.

Take care

Cheers!!
Smita

Dinner in pictures

Hi everyone. How is everyone doing. I can sense the urgency in everybody's blogs and I am so with you guys. Phew! I would do anything that would make me sit for hours on end in one spot and get loads of thesis writing accomplished. Anyways, I am really enjoying Gina's camera. Here are some pics of what's been happening after I came home today.





Jamie made a really delicious salad consisting of spinach, grapes, celery and cucumbers with cheese toast on the side. The dressing was made with olive oil, yoghurt, a splash of honey, a clove of garlic. Very tasty and low fat too.




Update on our garden- we got plants from the plant sale in OSU. We got tomatoes, peppers, watermelon, pok choi, cabbage, basil and a sort of bush which apparently attracts butterflies. We deweeded our patch over the weekend and we should be ready for planting soon.

Dessert! I guess I told you about this dessert. I absolutely love this. It has angel food cake, vanilla pudding, whipped cream and strawberries. For an extra dash of sweetness, you can soak the cake in the juice of canned fruit. I really am a dessert addict. Today, I was really scrounging for a piece of chocolate after lunch at school. Luckily, I found Brach's caramels in my bag.

Huff puff, onwards and forwards! back to writing!!!!!

Love

Smita

Wizard of Oz - a political satire?

Hello everyone! How is everyone doing today? I am alright I guess. I have been working hard trying to write up my thesis. But last week, I forgot to tell you, I saw Wizard of Oz. I'd been wanting to see this American classic. I totally enjoyed it. I didn't know 'Somewhere over the rainbow' was a song from this movie. It seemed like a nice children's story until my sister told me that it was a political satire. I looked it up and there two stories- one when the book was written and one when the movie was made. But I found it weird that when the book was written, the wizard represents a manipulative politician, but when the movie was made he was supposed to be this kindly FDR who leads America out of the Great depression of the 1930's.

So there's some food for thought.

Food wise, I haven't really tried anything fancy. I made this flattened rice dish that is a breakfast thing in India. Its chief attraction to me is that it can be made fast.

Recipe

Fine chopped onion 3/4 of a large one

green chilli -1-2

cumin seeds

vegetable oil

flattened rice 2 cups

Frozen mixed vegetables

2-3 tbsp vegetable oil

Turmeric a pinch

Lemon juice and salt to taste

Take a pan and add some oil to it. Add cumin seeds when oil is hot. Let it splutter and then add onions, turmeric, green chillies and about a cup of frozen mixed vegetables. Let it cook such that onions are golden brown and vegetables are cooked. Wash the flattened rice with water. Add it to the onions and vegetables. Add salt and a dash of sugar. Mix well and finally add lemon juice. Here's how it looks

Another thing I made for dinner last night was Yoghurt curry. This too is a fast dinner.

You will need

1 cup chick pea flower

2 cups yoghurt
5 cups water

2 tsp oil

3-4 dried red chilli

fenugreek seeds 1/2 tsp

Frozen spinach

turmeric

mustard seeds

Make a slurry of the chick pea flour, yoghurt and water.

Heat the oil. Add mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, dried red chillies and roast them for a few seconds. Then add spinach and give it a toss in the oil . Finally add the slurry and let it thicken. Add salt to taste. If you don't want it as spicy, add less chilli

Serve over cooked rice.

I'm tellin ya, the dish is much tastier than it looks. Honest! I did not have the time to make a proper presentation.

I am a dessert addict. I need something for dessert after dinner. Yesterday it was angel food cake, topped with vanilla pudding strawberries and whipped cream..mmmm...borrowing word from Emily - it was absolutely delish!!

Gtg now

Talk to you later.

Smita

The tofu story

Good evening people! Hope everyone is doing alright. I am doing good too. Of late, I've been reading blogs and it really is influencing my eating habits. Like soy- I love vanilla soymilk and tofu is growing on me ( I think I'm partial to an Indian cottage cheese called paneer which has quite a similar texture to tofu). I remembered having seen the making of tofu on National geographic a long time back and for some reason I thought Plaster of Paris ( Calcium sulfate hemihydrate- stuff used to make statues and molds) was involved in the process. Just to confirm my hunch, I youtubed and found a nice video. Here it is

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSQ06e78hbY

Apparently its magnesium chloride and water that curdles soymilk.

My friend in Calif is hypothyroid and she told me that she avoids soy products because it inhibits the absorption of synthetic thyroids which she has to take for life. So I looked for an article and this is what I found

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16571087

Well, I admit I just read the abstract and soy does reduce the absorption. So folks with hypothyroid problems need not avoid it but may need to take more hormone. It also says that people with reduced iodine intake and consume soy run the risk of developing clinical hypothyroidism.

And finally here's an end to my story with a recipe and a picture. Ta daa!!!

Today for dinner we had strawberry mango tofu smoothie. I had my lunch at 5 pm and Jamie has her teacher appreciation week going on at work so she had some really rich food. Both of us were not in the mood for a proper dinner.

Recipe

1 cup silken tofu

1/2 cup soy milk

strawberries

canned mango pulp from Indian store

Blend it all together and sheer joy with a dollop of whipped cream on top!

I have to confess I've never owned a digital camera before and I've never formatted pics on computer before. I promise better quality pics as time goes by

So long and see you later!

Smita

Quick fixes

Its 1:31 am and I've been thinking of ideas of how to write my study. Its been hard because so many of my experiments failed. Finally I have decided to report a negative study- things that did not work for me. Viruses are hard. I spoke to a professor yesterday and he told me that his student has been working on this virus for an year now and still hasn't got the results- which is its infectivity. So that made me feel a little better. I think there are only so many things that can go wrong. My cells are fine before I do the assay. So I'm guessing I have to either check the pH of what I'm putting on the cells or lower the amount of virus I put on cells. There are so many things I can tweak and check. Let's see.

Since I'm so preoccupied with writing up and doing experiments, I want quick filling meals. I've been wanting to make good sandwiches. Yesterday, when we went to Columbus metropolitan library to return stuff, I found just the book I was looking for- 'Vegetarian Sandwiches'. I made a sandwich with tahini poppy seed spread because I happened to have almost all the ingredients

Spread
1 tbsp tahini
1 tbsp yoghurt
2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp honey
1/4 tsp poppy seeds

Vegetables
Boiled potato
cucumber
onion
broccoli sprouts
sliced tomato
grated cheddar cheese
( the original sandwich asked for sweet potato instead of regular potato and avocados too)

Whole grain bread.

Put the spread on the bread, stack the veggies, cover with another slice of bread with spread and it is delicious!

Today was another quick fix.
I had a boiled potato from yesterday, I decided to make a potato omelette

Slice the boiled potato
Beat two eggs and season with salt, pepper and crushed oregano
Chop some spinach and shred some cheese (I used moz)

Take some olive oil in a skillet and place the potatoes as a base for the omelette and let them browm a little. I seasoned the potatoes and eggs with salt and pepper. Then add eggs, spinach and cheese. Cook it on medium heat and that's it. It's awesome and very filling too.

I have a feeling that Gina is gonna be mad at me for not posting pics. Gina has been so nice and generous in lending me her camera so that I can post pics on my blog. Ain't that super nice of her? I'm sorry but it just slipped my mind that I had a camera with me today. I will definitely post pics of all my good eats!

Back to writing now. Have a grand day tomorrow and good nite for now!

Smita

Pet peeve # 1

Salaam Ale Kum from Smita! (Muslim hello) How are you all doing today? I am doing great. I was working out in the morning at the gym. Showbiz tonight was on, when I saw something, which led me to my current pet peeve. Do you folks know about Susan Boyle? Well, she was this frumpy woman at whom the audience jeered, and Simon was smirking on the show called 'Britain's got talent'. Nobody believed in her. She astounded everyone with her vocal ability. Anyways, I was very happy when I saw it for the first time. But the media is all over her now. For God's sake leave her alone and let her sing. We got it! She rocks! Now let her move on and produce an album.
Then they go on to bombard us with other instances of unsung heroes with talent. Like the truck driver who could sing. They zoom in on teary eyed judge or Simon's jaw dropping- all so cheesy..aaaaargh!!
Moving on, I have loads of work on my plate but I can handle everything ( this is a positive autosuggestion for myself :) ) . I have to write my thesis, get this darned plaque assay working. I won't bore you, but plaque assay is a method to quantify infective virus. I need to perfect this so that it can be used routinely later for aerosol experiments- to measure the amount of infective flu virus in the air. Working with viruses is hard. Especially, when you have to work with attenuated ones, in the interest of safety for everyone. Also you don't get permission to use virulent viruses that easy. Then I have to get another procedure called TCID50 working- this is an alternate to plaque assay.

And now Recipe of the day ta daa!!!

Yesterday we had Fried rice. This is another way to use up leftover rice. In fact it goes better when you are making this.

Shredded cabbage ( 1/2 to 1/4)
Chopped mushrooms ( a couple)
Eggs (2, fried separately)
peas
Fine chopped onion ( handful- depends on the quantity you making, we had approx 2 cups rice)
1 Green chilli
cumin powder 1/4 tsp
Garam masala 1/4 tsp
a dash of turmeric

Jamie made this. She is getting brave with using Indian spices without me being around..clap clap clap !! Saute onions, then add cabbage, peas. When half done, add spices and let it simmer. I don't like to overcook cabbage. I like it crisp. Finally add rice and eggs ( which were cooked separately), mix, add salt and pepper to taste.
We ate it with a mixed green salad. The dressing was simple.
Olive oil
Worcestershire sauce a couple of dashes
Honey
sesame seeds.
Beat this and pour over your greens.

Oops, I was supposed to take those soy pretzels from Amber today. Totally forgot with the prof in my lab.

I am going home now. Take care

Smita

Chipotle inspired Chappati Burrito and banana pancakes

Good morning everyone! How are you guys doing this Sunday morning? I, for one am feeling very good because I had really nice deep sleep after a long time last night and am feeling very fresh. I apologize, I haven't been as regular as I want to, but, my lab work takes up a lot of my time and I get exhausted at the end of it. I need to improve my stamina!
But, even though its been busy, me and Jamie have been having some good stuff. I love living with Jamie. We cook together, she's as conscious of healthy eating, she's a huge supporter of all things new and creative and last but not the least we clean the kitchen at the end of our cooking so there's no dreaded pile of dishes later. I can really appreciate this, because with my ex boyfriend- the pattern was I cook and he cleans. He waited to clean till the pile got on his nerves and finally did it. It used to bother me initially, but I learned to tolerate it- coz there's no way I'm doing everything..:)
Anyways, for dinner last night we had chappati Burrito. Chappati is a versatile Indian flat bread. You can eat it with vegetables on the side, stuff it with vegetables and what not. Making it is easy. Take wheat flour, add a dash of salt and knead the dough with water. The quality of the bread depends on good quality wheat flour and good kneading. Jamie really really likes it. I taught her how to knead the dough and she really makes an elastic soft dough now. And now she wants to do funky stuff with it. Last time, we kneaded the dough with crushed avocado, water, cilantro, salt and garlic. It was okay by itself, but way more tastier in burrito form. Another good thing about this dough is you can knead it and keep it tightly sealed ( otherwise the dough dries) in the fridge for a week at least.
Yesterday night I wanted something filling. So I thought of making burritos with chappati. We had a little bit of leftover rice too. Here's how we made it.

Salad spinach leaves
Sauted corn and sliced onions
carrots cut in strips
Cucumber cut in strips with the soft insides taken out
Leftover rice ( we had about quarter cup remaining). Season with fine chopped cilantro, salt and lemon juice.
Tomato salsa ( one tomato, one green chilli, fine chopped cilantro, a little bit of fine chopped onion, lemon juice and salt and pepper)
Kidney beans seasoned with lemon juice ( canned, Black beans will work perfectly as well, in fact preferred)
Sour cream
Cheddar cheese
Indian wheat bread.

Using a rolling pin, flat out some avocado dough and cook it on the griddle. Then take the bread, spread some sour cream on it, place sauted corn and onion in the middle, pile it on with rice, cucumber, kidney beans, carrots, cheese tomato salsa, spinach leaves and wrap it like a burrito ( okay , at least try to wrap it like the professionals- for one our bread was not as huge as the tortilla in chipotle). Keep some salsa on the side if you want some and enjoy! We really liked it a lot, it is very filling and a good way to use up leftover rice.

Today morning we had banana pancakes with chocolate chips and maple syrup. We made the pancakes the regular way- but instead of all purpose flour we used wheat flour- way more healthier. Very yummy- almost like dessert.

Okay I gotta get back to writing my thesis. Sigh! I wish my thesis flowed as readily as this post! Have a great day everyone, be outrageous, be creative, or just relax by trying not to be anything and have fun! love from Smita.

P. S. We went to see Emily in concert on Friday! She rocks!