Methi Ghia Subzi

Turns out the scheming elves of fate read my blog and found out that I was having a record start of summer picnicking with my favorite people and decided to play games with my upcoming programs. Saturday morning I woke up super excited about a day drenching in the cool water park sipping a nice ice cold slush and had a bummer of a running nose. But we were not to be beat so easily. We picked up a new plan and spent the day at the Golden Gate Park. We rented a paddle boat for an hour and enjoyed boating on Stow Lake. And then we rented a family cycle kinda like the cycle rickshaws of previous centuries and rode the park for an hour. To see an image of our cycle rickshaw, check out the single surrey image at: http://www.wheelfunrentals.com/Content/WhatWeRent.aspx
Had a decent Italian lunch on North Beach and even managed to catch "The A-Team" in action before we headed home. The best part of the exercise was discovering how sportive Gutloo was throughout the day enjoying every bit of the day's activities and the movie. We came back to a nice cool curd rice dinner and went to bed all exhausted. I couldn't help flashing a smug smile at my cold symptoms!
And for a new recipe after a long time, here is a low carb version of the usual Aloo Methi. Its a very simple concoction, takes 10 mins to make and is very wholesome to eat with Rotis, Bread or Rice.

Ingredients

Main	Spices/Tadka	Generic
1 bunch Methi Leaves	1 tsp Jeera	Oil
1 Medium Ghia	2-3 Green Chillies	Salt
	1 pinch Turmeric	Sugar
	1 pinch Hing
	1 tbsp Lemon Juice

Method
Peel the skin and dice the Ghia into small cubes.
Finely chop the Methi leaves.
Heat 1 tbsp oil in a kadhai and splutter the Jeera until dark.
Add the slit green chillies and saute on low for 1/2 a minute.
Add the Ghia, salt to taste, turmeric and hing and saute for about 5 minutes on medium heat.
Add the methi leaves when the ghia is half cooked and continue cooking on medium until the ghia is translucent and the methi wilts and cooks.
Garnish with a dash of lemon juice, sprinkle a little sugar and serve hot.

I concocted this combination for Preeti's Green Gourmet event. Follow the link to see a wonderful compilation of some very innovative green recipes!

Summer At Last!!!

So I am back after absconding from the blogosphere for about 2 months. I cannot particularly say that I have been very busy but occupied for sure. I had a whirlwind of an India trip end of April, which I won’t quite qualify as a vacation since I was trying to keep my sanity through a toddlers tantrums, the mother of all sore throats, a never ending jetlag, a family function, the “husband not traveling with me” syndrome and still squeezing in about 8 hours of shopping and 8000 calories of junk food inside a two week window. People might call it insane, but I have chosen to call it a productivity increase workshop. The best part of my workshop was the surprise my mom had for me that she was flying back with me. That definitely spared my DH from dealing with my crankiness coz my son was determined to pull my hair apart one strand at a time…what to do! Occupational hazards of motherhood! The one thing that I should most certainly add after all this whining is the my little bundle of joy is a whole different avatar in his familiar surroundings. I just tend to forget that a 24 hour flight followed by erratic sleep cycles and dozens of new people in a place where heat and humidity are trying to one up each other must be a little overwhelming for a 2 yr old...
So after I came back, we dealt with our annual supply of the cold, cough, viral fever and flu germs. Having survived a three week blur caused by cough syrup overdose, we bid them goodbye and managed to dry about 8 loads of laundry sanitizing the house. We finally decided to take control of our lives from the rigid holds of our insane routines and resolved to use every weekend this summer enjoying the outdoors and spending some quality family time. And I am proud to say that we have sustained on our “Enjoy Life” program 3 weekends in a row!
The first weekend we went camping with my cousin and her family. We packed enough food to feed a village for a week and camped for one night. It is only fair to add that we ended up eating half the village’s food to battle the cold. Our fault for trusting that summer is here to stay! It was gorgeous the day before and after we camped and freezing on the day we were on the campsite. The kids however had a ball…one snuggled warm in a bunny suit and the other keeping warm by hiking up and down every visible slope on the campground. We did have a great time though and clicked some memorable pictures.
The next weekend, we had family over for memorial day and my husband and I spent the whole weekend glued to the delightfully soft, sweet smelling cheeks of our 7 month old niece while discussing world politics and the solution to technological clashes (Read As: school highlights and deciding between a Nintendo and an Ipod Touch) with the 9 yr old munchkin. We hiked up coyote hills with the whole gang and some friends from the neighborhood and they all had an amusing time looking at me dealing with my vertigo on the way down.
The third weekend we went cherry picking with family friends and had a super time enjoying a sunny day in the farm. Junior picked two cherries and ate one and spit half of it out. It was fun nonetheless.
And the coming weekend we plan on visiting one of the local water parks and sun bathing and maybe sneaking out to a romantic anniversary dinner to celebrate our 7th year of wedded bliss…..
I have been resolving every week to make sure I send in entries to a couple of blogosphere events I have been tracking (a clean up your pantry event by One Hot Stove and a Green Gourmet event by Write Food both of which I think I have missed the deadlines on. I did however clean up my pantry and I did whip up a very green Methi Ghia Subzi but haven’t posted the recipes with pictures yet. Will do ASAP (Notice how I am not committing to a date? Chances are it might get done by the end of summer!)
So watch out folks for more updates on my “Weekends of Summer 2010” memoir!!!!