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

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