Where is Summer?

Good afternoon people, How are you guys doing? Aww Gina I'm so sorry you had to through that heart in your mouth experience with your poster, but you took care of it, awesome! How is Emily's ankle doing? I hope it gets better soon. You must be missing running. Hasn't the weather been cold lately? Yesterday, I didn't get a jacket and it was freezing. I hate to feel that way in June!
Moving on, for me, I am done with the major chunk of writing and today I am doing the bibliography. I want to be done with it today. Side by side lab experiments are also going on.

Its been just 4 days since I've missed out on writing here and it already feels like such a long time. I've been reading, writing, doing experiments, tending garden, working out, watching a movie here and there and cooking.

These 4 days, Sunday I made this black lentils and kidney bean soup. I'd made it for you guys the first time you came to my house, but it got burnt during the reheating process. Does that ring a bell? Well I made it again coz I really like it, its yummy and very nutritious. Black lentils contain a high level of protein, including essential amino acids isoleucine and lysine, however they are lacking in methionine and cystine. Apart from these goodies, it is loaded with dietary fiber, folate, vitamin B1 and minerals like molybedenum, manganese, Iron, phosphorus, copper and potassium. The dish I made translates to 'Buttery lentils' It has

1 cup lentils
1 can of kidney beans- cook the lentils first and then mix the kidney beans.

For seasoning,
heat vegetable oil (2-3 tsp)
add cumin seeds (1tsp)
4 tomatoes (I chop into cubes and roast it in oil and then puree it in a blender)
1/2 tsp red chilli powder or 2 small dried red chilli
4 cloves garlic
2 tsp coriander seed powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp ketchup
1/2 cup fresh cream (I used half and half)

Roast all the seasonings upto garam masala first- heat oil, then add cumin to a light golden brown, tomatoes- when tomatoes are roasted then add coriander seed powder and garam masala, red chilli and add garlic last. I prefer not to overcook the spices, that's why I add them in the end so that they roast just for a couple of seconds.
Blend all this. Mix it with the cooked lentils, add cream and butter and give it a gentle boil. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with rice. Its very filling and tasty. But beware! It can cause gas! so Gina- Beano beforehand!





Monday, Jamie and me walked to Columbus metropolitan library to get some DVD's she'd requested (Monty pythons- the meaning of life and the life of Brian). We were starving when we got back and made this sandwich. It was absolutely delightful.

Whole grain bread
Dill dip from grocery (Kroger)
To the dip we added red and yellow bell pepper, some fine chopped cucumber, onion and we sauted some zuccini and pine nuts
Mix everything together and place this between the slices of bread.
We also had oven baked fries with this.









Tuesday, I was having a craving for these South Indian rice pancakes with potato curry and coconut chutney. I get the mix for the pancake from the Indian store. It was okay from the original standards. The homemade pancakes are golden brown in color and very crispy. I feel that most westerners do not like south Indian food as much as north Indian food. I don't know why. The coconut chutney was damn tasty.
I took a handful of frozen coconut, 1/4 cup roasted peanuts, 1 green chilli, coriander leaves, a small piece of ginger. Blend it away and season it with mustard seeds roasted in a tsp of oil. The pancake tore but I took the picture anyway.










Wednesay, Jamie created another lovely dish from orzo pasta. I always thought orzo was rice. Apparently, its pasta shaped like rice.



Cook orzo pasta
Olive oil- 3tbsp
Red bell pepper..1/2
Large onion ¼
Mushrooms…1 small can
Red beans….1/2 can
1 can diced tomatoes
Seasoning..basil, Italian seasoning, minced garlic, salt and pepper
Grated parmesan, parsley topping





It was very very good. I hadn't eaten much the whole day, so I thoroughly enjoyed this.

I saw 2 movies in these 4 days - The color purple and Monty Python's the meaning of life. The former was a great movie, but it was kinda sad to see how the black women were treated by their husbands in the early 1900's. Oprah was there in the movie too.
Monty python don't even get me started on it! it was SUCH a drag! I had higher guffaw expectations from monty pythons- but I just managed to get one big one. So one of the teachers is giving a sex lesson to this bunch of boys and is quizzing them in between. So he asks one of the students, how would he start foreplay? The student says by rubbing the clitoris. The teacher then screams 'Why do you want to stampede to the clitoris? why not just start with a kiss?' I guess this was kinda an unexpected response and caught us off guard. Both Jamie and me had a rollicking laugh at this one. The movie has 10 parts where they take you through the ages to finally arrive at a silly meaning of life- live in peace and harmony. I would've been really mad if I had to put myself through this movie doing nothing else. Thankfully, I was doing some thesis work on the side. So it was bearable.
I'll end here. Good luck with your poster tomorrrow!