Free Imagine Things

Take a gander at this choice blog entry about artistic book covers on the UCLA Extension Visual Arts Blog...
http://uclaextensionvisarts.blogspot.com/2009/03/last-night-i-was-reading-steve-almonds.html
I liked the selections but would also add Nersesian's The Fuck-up...

Simple, sleek and coy. Any others you can think of?

When we write our 50 word stories bursting with the ghost of Salvador Dali, our prose built with words most folk have to look up in the dictionary, who do we do it for? Are we magicians content to show our exquisite, well-planned tricks just to other magicians? Do we try to make art that excludes, that puts up a wall and says only a certain amount of educated, in-the-know peeps may enter? Or are we trying to communicate something as obliquely as possible? Are we telling a story or displaying our mental dexterity?
Can we make something stunning that most people can digest? Can we surgically separate literature and pretentiousness? Can we wrest away the eyes and minds of the masses from the likes of Dan Brown and Dean Koontz? Can we eat the writing equivalent of PB&J every once in a while?


-photo by Mookio
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mookio/

Do you have a story about broken clocks lying around and don't know what to do with it? Maybe you've written an erotic steampunk tale and no one wants it. Then I'd suggest a gander at the Duotrope Digest's Theme Calender. http://duotrope.com/themecal.aspx

It lists a staggering number of journals and their deadlines for certain theme issues. Many are not as specific and odd as the aforementioned ones. Confession, hope/fear or villains may be more palatable writing subjects. Also, these themes may inspire new writing that fits the category.

Have a look and see what you can come up with.

Hi, Its almost 3 to 4 weeks since I did my blogging without any interruptions, I had so many things to do as I had to travel to India, Lot of things to sort out!!, shopping , packing & weighing Oh!!, I was quite tired when I landed, even then its so happy to be in Bangalore, Here I am enjoying the warm weather, seeing my family & friends and also the vegetables & fruits, It has been such a fun seeing all the children in the family, They are also so excited as I am. My Parents & sisters are so happy to see me, as I am seeing them.
well, I have a lot of stock in my edit lists to posts which I had no time to do!!, So, I thought let me start to post one by one and update my blogging and I have to still go through lot of posts by our wonderful bloggers and find out what all they have been doing in their kitchen cooking!!.
I seem to have no time at all to sit and post my recipes because I seem to go short of time talking to my family and friends!!!!
Well, as Raji said nobody is going to force you to post anything take time off and post everything later!! Yes, I know it is so right but I had got a good deal of friends here when I started blogging I made some friends with whom I was interacting and it was really such a fun and I was enjoying it so much Now I miss it so much it was like a community of my own. I feel Blogging has given me so much satisfaction and a circle of my own friends who all have a lot of common likings me.
This is again a Kind of Idli which I learnt from my friend sunitha she calls this as Kadabu, I call this as Idli. This is very quick to make and taste delicious too!!

ARASI KADABU
















Ingredients:

• 1 cup finely Broken Rice (Akki Tari)
• 2 cups of water
• 1 tsp Cumin seeds
• 1 tbsp channa dal
• 1 tbsp Grated coconut or you can use chopped coconut
• 1'' Ginger
• 1 sprig of curry leaves
• salt to taste

METHOD:

1. I make my own Broken Rice or Akki Tari, I take 1 or 1 & 1/2 cup of ordinary Rice in a mixie and run the mixie in 1 & 2 speed in a fast mode then the rice breaks into a coarse powder (do not make it into a fine powder), then measure it for a cup and start the process to make these idlis.
2. Take a thick bottomed vessel pour water into it & allow it to boil, add required quantity of salt & a tsp oil.
3. Once water starts boiling put the stove back to low flame and immerse a ladle into it and add a tbsp of channa dal, a tsp of Jeera and use chopped or grated coconuts.
4. Once it starts boiling add cup of broken rice and leave it for few minutes, cover a lid over it so it cooks well.
5. This is just the same method like i had told in my earlier post about Ubbu Rotti, you have to follow the same way. Their I had used Arasi Mav (Akki Hittu/rice flour) Here I am using Akki Tari (Broken rice)
6. The Only thing is the Vessel is quite important, You need a thick bottomed vessel, Using a Vangala Paane (Brass vessel) are quite good for this kind of cooking.
7. Water starts coming up then mix them all together like you call it in kannada as Tolosodu with the help of the Ladle and allow it to cook for few more minutes.
8. Then Remove it from the fire and mix thoroughly with the help of water make it into round balls and press it into the shape of an Idli or you can make cylindrical rolls and use either the Idli stand or a broad vessel to cook them in the pressure cooker for 12 to 15 minutes without the weight on it.

This is how it looks like when it is done & is quite delicious to eat, my children love and I do not need wait for the fermentation process to go on, It might not come well for the first time but once you give it a try you would come to know how to do it.

Variation: You can powder Tuvar dal and pepper with it or you can use grated carrot or Dill leaves or Sabsige soppu finely chopped and mix with it and continue with the same process.

Hi, everybody , Wishing All my Blogger friends and visitors of my blog a very happy Tamil New year & vishu to my malayalee friends!!, I just thought I will write about better late than never. Its been such a long time I posted any recipes, some of my friends are asking me what happened? and why i am not posting anything!!!, I was so busy after coming back from India, my children had kept 2 laundry bags full of clothes to wash!, My twin daughter told they had actually planned to do it on the day arrived because they were thinking i was going to land the next day and it was not their fault as I had come earlier to what they had in their plans, well, she is good driller basically, she is such a chatter box it is better to wash than to argue with her. As the sun is shining here had to do some cleaning up the garden, and friends visiting and staying with us!, slowly i am getting back to normality and reality!!.
Its been sometime I visited other bloggers and to find out what is cooking is their kitchen, now and then i did give a glance but desperate to check out in detail and wish to cook them in my kitchen. Hope I will sit back relax and read all of my favourite blogs, as soon as possible, well, let me get back to posting my recipes.....This is an other kind of sambhar from my dad's side......My Dad is basically from Hassan District and has some dishes exclusively from that side of the family like my Ubbu Rotti which i had posted earlier...

PACCHAI KOLAMBU

• 1/4 Kg French or Dwarf Beans
• 1/4 Kg green peas (Fresh or Frozen)
• 4-3 Red chillies (Guntur-Badgi)
• 2 to 3 tbsp of grated fresh coconut
• 1 tbsp coriander seeds
• 1/4 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tbsp dry coconut or copra or dessicated coconut
• 1 & 1/2 cup Tuvar Dal
• 1tsp turmeric powder
• a pinch of asafoetida

METHOD

1. This a kolumbu or Sambhar variety in which nothing is roasted or fried and does not use Tamarind in it.
2. Using more coconut gives more flavour to the recipe and you can thicken the sambhar by adding more quantity of Tuvar dal or through the coconut or a bit of Rice when grinding the ingredients. Soak rice in a bit of water so it grinds into a smooth paste.
3. Meanwhile cut beans very small so that it gives a good combination with the peas, cook both the vegetables together.
4. Then cook the Dal in a separate vessel and mix them together
5. Grind all the ingredients without frying them into a smooth paste, mix it with vegetables and Dal and cook them until a nice aroma comes out of it.
6. Add 1 or 2 sprig leaves & season it with oil & mustard seeds
7. Serve hot with Rice, if you want when serving you can squeeze a bit of lemon juice if people like tangy smell in their food and with a nice pickle or papad.
8. my uncle Bhagavan mama was an Ace in cooking this dish he said a combination of both coconut & dry copra gave a different flavour to this dish.

Variation: you can cook this with cabbage it goes very well with it.

This is one of the Uttara kannada variety podi or pudi which goes very well with Rice and even with dosa, idli, chapati and rottis , This time when i went to India I brought it with me, I bought it on the route to Ghati Subramanya, where the farmers were selling them on the road, so I can say these are organic Ucchellu!!. I have tried my best to take a photograph of this kind of Til, I do not know if it has got any clarity in it, which shows the difference between the black til & Ucchellu. I have used this in one another of my recipe in vegetable gravies which i have cooked with Brinjal. Right lets get back to the recipe then....
UCCHELLU PUDI






















METHOD I
Ingredients:

• 1oo gms or 1 cup ucchellu (a kind of black Til)
• 15 to 20 gms or 1/4 cup Chenna Dal
• 4-4 Red chillies (Guntur-Badgi)
• 3 to 4 flakes or marble sized Tamarind
• a piece of Jaggery
• oil to roast
• 1 to 1/2 tsp of salt or salt as required

METHOD:

1. First of all clean the Til or Ucchellu seeds and dry in the sun for some time then fry them a little until they are quite warm
2. Then with little oil roast chenna dal, red chillies and Tamarind
3. when they are cool with required quantity of salt grind them in the mixer to a fine powder consistency in the last round add scrapped jaggery and give a final grind.
4. mix together and now it is finally ready to serve, put it in a air tight container for a long shelf life.

• 1 cup of Ucchellu
• 1/4 cup peanuts
• a pinch of asafoetida
• 2 tbsp of dry coconut or copra or dessicated coconut
• a marble sized tamarind
• salt to taste
• 1 tbsp Urad dal
• 4-4 Red chillies (Guntur-Badgi)
• oil to roast
• a little piece of jaggery

1. Clean the Til and roast it in as you roast the til seeds
2. With a tsp of oil roast urad dal, chillies and tamarind and keep aside
3. Dry roast the peanuts or if u get roasted peanuts u can use them or you can also use the roasted & salted peanuts too, but just be careful when adding salt as peanuts already have salt in them !!!.
4. After roasting the peanuts dehusk them and remove all the outer covering. Now it is ready to use.
5. Grind all the ingredients into a fine powder again as usual in the last round add the scrapped jaggery, mix well together and store it in a air tight container for a long shelf life.

When I was writing this Recipe I was quite feeling hungry as i had not had my breakfast and I thought what am I going to eat, Just then I remembered this song from an old Kannada film, The song was like this I do not remember the name of the film but used to remember the first two lines of it all the time I keep murmuring it now & then ! The song is - '' Raagi rotti ucchellu chutney thandiv nan magne, moogina matta jadidu malago kalnan magane.......'' it means I have brought Raagi Rotti and Ucchellu Chutney eat till u fill up to the nose and sleep well....I think that fellow was an useless idiot character, I do not think i have seen the film its a long time ago so must ask my hubby about this tonight when he is back and find out what it is !! well, I just decided I am going to eat the same thing and here is palate of Ragi Rotti and Ucchellu chutney pudi.

Hoping you would also make and enjoy this uttara karnataka dish and eat it.

I've been gathering up submissions for the Spring issue. They are of varying quality. What we need more of is book reviews, especially the fast and dirty kind. Read anything you want to talk about lately? What about an interview? We have one in the oven, but the more the better. As always, stories and poems are also desired. Take a shot, send something in.
shelflifemagazine.com

contact@shelflifemagazine.com

I had bought Mandakki puri or Kallepuri, from the Asian stores to make Bhel in that i was left with some of it I was just thinking what shall i do with it, As i was going to soak for Dosas I thought let me use this also to make Dosas as i remembered mum saying that dosa do come out very softly with kallepuri so, here i gave it a try and well it did come out very well soft and fluffy.

• easy cook or Kusabalakki or Dosa Rice 1 cup
• Ordinary Rice 1 cup
• Mandakki puri or Kallepuri 1 cup
• Thick curds 2 cups (slightly sour)
• 1tsp fenugreek seeds

METHOD:

1. Wash & Soak all the Rice & fenugreek together for 4 to 5 hours
2. Then take the kallepuri put everything in the water wash it once take it out from the water and soak it in curds for 1 or 2 hours.
3. Once everything is well soaked grind them all together into a nice smooth batter.
4. Now the Dosa batter is ready actually you can use this batter immediately as the curds would have become sour and helps the batter in fermenting in no time.
5. You can serve the Dosas with any side dish you wish

A story starter for any stuck writers out there. It's a quote from an Audioslave song...
"When I first came to this island, that I call by my own name..."

-Have fun. Feel free to share.

What does Richard Russo have to write to get some attention around here? When people talk about the big names in literature his name almost never comes up. I went through an entire MFA program and never even heard of the man. I got a hearty portion of Nabokov, Tim O'Brien and Denis Johnson but no Russo. And we're not talking about some two-bit hack, we're talking the winner of the 2002 Pulitzer Prize. He won for Empire Falls which is a gorgeous, funny and powerful book that I highly recommend. He also wrote Nobody's Fool, Straight Man and The Risk Pool. His writing has been called "a revelation of the human heart," (The Washington Post Book World)"richly evocative and beautifully wrought, delivered with deceptive ease" (The New York Times) and Salon.com said "thanks to Russo's deft satiric touch -- much of the book is laugh-out-loud funny." Plus he just looks like a nice guy. Look at it him. Well maybe that is why he isn't well-known. He should start drinking heavily, abusing women and starting fist fights. That might kick start things.

This is simple Tofu & vegetables gravy I made with chapatis, Of course I do not need to tell that Tofu is a very healthy soya product as we know soya is rich in proteins, soya milk is made into Tofu. Tofu is quite firm like paneer and absorbs the all the spices in which it is used, my children like Tofu more than paneer, Particularly my son always tries to throw paneer in his subjis, and I always keep an eye on him!!!. Here is the recipe....

TOFU-VEGETABLE GRAVY















Ingredients:

• 1 packet of Tofu(250gms)
• 1 red pepper
• 1 green pepper
• cup of green peas
• cup of cauliflower florets
• 1 tbsp Ginger - Garlic paste
• 10 to 15 cashew nuts
• 5 to 6 sprigs of coriander leaves finely chopped
• 2 to 3 tbsp of oil
• 1 tsp Garam masala powder
• 1 tsp Dhania/Coriander powder
• 1/2 tsp of Cumin powder
• 1/2 turmeric powder
• 1 to 1 & 1/2 tsp chilli powder

METHOD:

1. Open the package of Tofu and drain out the water and press them between kitchen paper & cut them into 1'' cubes.
2. Take a pan and Heat oil in it & add a little bit of turmeric powder and fry Tofu few at a time into Golden in colour and keep them aside.
3. In a pan heat remaining oil, add ginger garlic & cashew nut paste and fry for few minutes. Add turmeric powder & fry
4. Then when they are nicely fried, add chopped onions, fry until they are transparent
5. Next add the chopped peppers and fry with the peas (use frozen or fresh)
6. cook cauliflower florets in water with little salt in it and once when it is cooked drain out all the water and then add it to the dish and fry for few more minutes
7. Then add one or two cups of water just to bring it to a gravy consistency
8. Then add all the spicy powder and allow it cook with the vegetables, Increase or Decrease the quantity of chilli powder according to individual taste.
9. If the gravy hasn't thickened still you can mash a cooked potato and put that in the gravy or use a bit of cornflour into paste and pour it in the gravy,
10. Then add the fried Tofu mix it well and cook the gravy for an other 5 to 10 minutes by closing a lid
11. once it is all done you can season it with chopped curry and coriander leaves and serve it with hot chapatis or pulkas.
12. You can also add a tbsp of lime juice in the end which gives a good flavour to the dish.

This is another dish which I make now & then because I use Karamani in it, as my daughter loves it so much.....& of course katharika is my hubby's favourite. you can do any combo of vegetables which go well with Karamani like white pumpkin will go very well!!, Here is the recipe....


KATHARIKA-KAARAMANI PULIPPU KOOTU

















Ingredients:

• 1/4 kg Brinjals
• a fistful of Tuvar dal
• 1 fistful of Karamani
• salt to taste
• 2 to 3 sprigs of curry leaves
• a pinch of asafoetida
• Gooseberry size of Tamarind
• 1 Tomato

To Grind:

• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 & 1/2 tsp channa dal/Bengal gram
• 1/2 tsp urad dal/Black gram
• 3-2 Red chillies (Guntur-Badgi)
• 2 to 3 tbsp of Grated fresh coconut

Seasonings:

• 1 tsp oil
• 1/2 tsp of mustard seeds

METHOD:

1. Soak Tamarind in a small bowl of water, extract thick filtered juice from it & keep aside
2. In the Meantime Cook Tuvar dal, Karamani & tomato together in a pressure cooker with a pinch of turmeric.
3. Meanwhile in a pan fry all the ingredients except for coconut in a tsp of oil until a nice aroma comes out or they change colour into golden brown. allow it cool, once they are cool with coconut grind all the ingredients together into a powder.
4. In a pan heat oil & add the seasonings with curry leaves and fry Brinjals which are cut 2'' by four pieces in the middle, & cook them until they are soft & keep aside
5. In a vessel, Add the cooked dals and tamarind extract for some time bring it to boil until the raw smell of the tamarind is gone.
6. Add the masala powder, made it into a paste with little water or else they form lumps once they are added to the boiling sambhar.
7. Allow it boil for few minutes now add the sauted brinjals
8. Add salt & pinch of asafoetida
9. Serve it with hot rice and papads.

NOTE: When you are using White Pumpkin you can cook this with the dals in the pressure cooker itself or you can cook the vegetable separately. You can also make this kootu with Chow Chow, Plantain stem too.

Tim Davy's noir/surreal novel, Amberville at least sounds enticing. A Swedish book about drugs, gambling and stuffed-animal thugs has to get you curious, right?

Publisher's Weekly says, "Those with an appetite for the bizarre will best appreciate the pseudonymous Davys's offbeat debut."

TheLitLife.com doesn't like it as much saying, "It never really gets off the ground. Genre novels should be propulsive. Antes should be raised. This was seems too self-satisfied."


Robert Thompson of Fantasy Book Critic had this to say:
"Amberville is unusual, possesses idiosyncrasies that take some getting used to, and is hard to classify and review . . . but that’s all part of its unique charm. Because Amberville is like no other book you’ve ever read before and the experience it offers is a refreshingly different one."