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Go to the Movies !

For the last couple, maybe three weeks I have become crazy watching movies during the weekends. I just turn on the television and start watching the movie that is currently playing, usually its one of the cute ones with Steve Martin, Sanjay Dutt, Paresh Rawal or Lindsay Lohen.

Here goes my movie review for the movies that I have watched in the past few weeks.

1. Chup Chupke - Paresh Rawal (Gundya) and Rajpal Yadav (Bandya) are very funny in this movie and what makes the movie amazing is Kareena Kapoor is mute.
2. Lage Raho Munnabhai - A big hit, lot of hype, but I thought the movie was ok, I was set for a senseless comedy movie like Chup Chupke, and Sanjay Dutt and Gandhi-giri was kind of jarring, maybe he is becoming a changed man with age, future MP ? :)
3. Kabhi Alvida na Kehna - The bachans are good, actually everyone else is good in the movie, the movie is kinda long, but its good. I know a lot of people out there are going to hate this movie, but Shahrukh has done a pretty good job.
4. Citizen Kane - Supposed to be a revolutionary movie in it's time (1940's) but kinda boring in the 2000's.
5. V for Vendetta - I watched in twice, once in the night, once the day after in the morning, I really liked this movie, beautiful oratory, had to pause and rewind a bunch of times to understand what V was saying. Must watch movie.
   
6. Click - I liked this move, Adam Sandler was good and his gal, Kate Beckinsale, was a babe.
7. Cheaper by the Dozen - watched this for the 2nd/3rd time, I like it.
8. Father of the Bride 2 - Sugary movie :)
9. Summer Catch - Baseball, teenage movie, sugar, it was good.
10. Naalai - Gangster Tam movie, it was good, any movie without Vadivalu is good :) (ok now I am blabbering).
11. Gangster - This is a very well made movie, its in the Dil Chahta He league.
12. Maid in Manhattan - 2nd/3rd time .. Ramya loves it, ok ok, I like it too.
13. Snakes on a Plane - This is an amazingly crappy movie, leave your mind out and have fun, some scences with snakes are just ridiculous, but it is watchable in it own crappy way.
14. Why we Fight - it's a good movie.
15. Thiruta Payle - It starts off well with an extra marital affair, but kinda gets predictable at the end, watchable once.
16. What a girl wants - it's good, man these TV movies!
    

Some other movies that I can always watch are Vertical Limit and Parent Trap. O, how can I forget The Day of the Jackal?!

Ok, I forgot about all the bad movies I watched and I no longer remember movies like Kasturi Maan.

That is enough waste of time for now, I am going to swear off movies for a few months.

In the back of my mind, Honey, when is that harry potter movie coming?

Dal Bati Recipe

I have decided to try something new, I am going to put up the recipe for Dal bati. Let me know if you actually make it at home. I will come over to try some, just kidding, maybe on your second or third attempt.

Ingredients For Bati
1. Wheat Flour - 2 cups
2. Sooji (Semolina)
3. Ghee/Clarified butter - 4/5 Table spoon
4. Salt
5. Water

Preperation for Bati
Proportion of Wheat flour to sooji is 3:1. Mix the wheat flour, sooji, salt and ghee to make the dough, the dough should be consistent, without lumps as in the case of chapati dough or paratha dough. Make round balls out of this dough, about size of your palm. This is called bati.

Insert the batis in water and boil for a few minutes, the top layer of the bati will become a bit white. Stop boiling at this time.

Pre-heat the oven at 450F. Put the batis inside the oven for 10 minutes. Turn them upside down and let them bake for another 10 minutes. The batis are done when they become brownish. The batis will have a hard outer shell. Break the outer shell a bit my pressing them in between your palms. The batis will be hot so you might need a piece of cloth to protect your hands.


Take a soup bowl and fill about half the bowl with ghee. So much for you watching your calories or your cholesterol. :) Immerse couple of batis in the the ghee and let them soak for at least 5 minutes.




Ingredients For Dal
1. Toor Dal / Lentil - 2 cups.
2. Tomato - 2
3. Onion - 1
4. Jaggery - 4 tablespoons
5. Olive Oil (Boy, we are getting healthy here!)
6. Mustard
7. Cumin Seeds - Jeera
8. Garlic Flakes.
9. Ginger.
10. Curry Leaves.
11. Green Chilli.
12. Red Chilli
13. Lemon - 1
14. Turmeric - 1/2 table spoon
15. Red Chilli powder - 2/3/4 table spoons - according to taste
16. Salt
17. Coriander Leaves.

Preperation For Dal

Pressure cook the toor dal in water for 10 minutes. Beat the pressure cooked Toor Dal to form a consistent paste (I do not like blobs of dal) and leave aside. Finely chop the onions and tomatoes.

Splutter the mustard and cumin seeds in oil, add all the spices (8 - 12 above) to the oil. Then fry the onions in healthy olive oil till golden brown, add the jaggery and tomatoes at this time. Add the red chilli powder and turmeric powder to this mixture. Add the toor dal and 1 -1 1/2 cups of water to the mixture. Add salt and let the dal boil for 5-10 minutes. Squeeze the lemon after the dal has boiled. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Side Dishes

1. Chopped onions, with red chilli powder, salt and lemon.
2. Shredded Mango, with red chilli powder.
3. Heated oil with mustard, cumin seeds and lots of red chilli powder. This can be added on top of the dal to make it spicier.
4. Green Chutney
5. Tamarind - Date chutney
   

Any combination of the above side dishes can be used. Whatever you like.

Serving

• Crush the ghee dripping bati to form small pieces. The bati will be soft on the inside. Only the outer shell is a bit hard.
• Add more ghee to the bati, If you do not do this, just because you are are calorie conscious, your stomach is going to have some difficulty digesting. You have been warned!
• Serve the side dishes.
• Serve the Dal in a bowl.
• Take some portion of the bati, add some dal on top of it. Mix the side dishes and enjoy!

The taste you are going for here is a combination of ghee, sweet and lemony. This dish is extremely filling and sleep inducing. Usually a guy can have 2 batis and a girl can have 1 to 1.5.

Drink lots of water! especially after your meal. The wheat needs it.

Joe Bless You!

George Carlin on Religion, an extermely funny article.

Here is the audio

Retirement Accounts - Roth IRA

This is a good article for Roth IRA's

Thyagaraja Aradhana - Cleveland

This weekend RS and I went to the Thyagaraja Aradhana in Cleveland, OH. We were accompanied by two of our friends Satish and Sujan who are into Carnatic music. RS and I were looking for a relaxed weekend away from our to-do lists.

The aradhana is cleveland is a week long musical concert series showcasing works of the composer Thyagaraja.

On Saturday morning, the aradhana started with Pancharathna krithis, sung by professional and amateur musicians; these are the most famous work of Thyagaraja, I was so happy to recognize the first one :)

The highlight of Saturday was the carnatic music rendition by Padma Shri Sudha Ragunathan, she has a voice which is simply out of this world, the whole concert which lasted for about three and a half hours was just mesmerizing. We were also very lucky because we got the best seats in the house, 20 feet away from her on stage. I have never heard her sing before, but she had me hooked onto her voice from the very first song, how I wish she sang some ghazals :)





On Sunday morning we attended a recital by the sisters Gayatri and Ranjani, they ended the recital to a standing ovation on the rendition of a Marathi abhang by Sant Gyaneshwar.

I have no clue when it comes to the Ragam, Tanam and Pallavi's of Carnatic music, but the trip to Cleveland was worth it.

Gods

No, I am not going to write about what I think of God. But, I am going to talk about the gods hanging on our walls. Everyone has a calendar to give you at the beginning of the new year which has the most beautiful of god pictures on them. So, you find it cute, get it home, put it on your desk, hang it on the wall.

After a year, when it has collected dust (ok maybe yours does not, mine does!) and has faded, what do you do about it?

Now, you really cant take it off the wall and throw it in the dustbin, after all its the god you have been praying to for the whole year (even if you did not remove the date leaf everyday) - My grandfather actually removed the leaf every day. Also, you need the space to hang the new calendar that has come in the new year and if you don't remove it and hang the new calendar elsewhere at the end of 10 years you will have a god wall :)) .. Or maybe god walls.

So, I usually take the picture off, give it to my mom, who in turn gives it to the temple. I am not sure what happens after that, maybe they send it to the "store" for recycling :) .. But the temple should really know what to do with all the gods, since it is really their business :)

What do you do with your gods ?

Swami Playing the Violin

Here is swami playing the violin at 3 am. This was during our wedding reception weekend in the US. Swami ended the day with an excellent violin performance.



Link to the google video page