Pohe

Rice flakes are used for quick breakfast in every household in India. Every region has a different cuisine and Pohe is the Maharashtrian specialty. I’m not a great cook and I keep hunting simple breakfast recipes and every time I land up preparing Pohe. It’s very easy to prepare and is time saving.

  

Ingredients
2 cups thick Beaten rice/Avalakki/Pohe
1 medium sized onion - Chopped
2 finely chopped Green chilies
10-12 curry leaves
2 tbsp Peanuts (Optional)
1 tsp Mustard seeds
1 tsp Cumin seeds
1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
1/2 cup finely chopped Coriander Leaves
1 Lemon
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Wash and soak the rice flakes in water. Drain all the water, splash some salt over it and keep it aside for 15-20 minutes. Make sure to select the thick rice flakes. Do not use the thin/paper soft rice flakes as it’ll dissolve while you wash the rice flakes.  
2. Heat oil in a kadai, add peanuts and fry them until brown. Remove the peanuts and keep aside.
3. In the same oil, add the mustard seeds. 
4. Wait until the seeds sputter, then add curry leaves, Cumin seeds, Green chilies and Turmeric powder. 
5. Add finely chopped Onion and sauté for some time.
6. Now, add soaked rice flakes and stir gently. 
7. Add salt for taste.
8. Garnish the cooked Pohe with finely chopped Coriander leaves, fried Peanuts, and Lemon.

Snippet on Imagery – just a try!

Watching out through the window on a rainy day…
Oh… the monsoon rains!

As I watch the muddy water flowing through the stream,
The smell of the mud that quivers my senses.
Array of paper boats that flows through the gushing water,
Smiles and Giggles, watching them flow and doom.

The cool breeze of the trees from the woods; wet and dark,
Soft and lush green foliage of this grass, all bowed down.
The vivid hues of wild flowers dancing in the rain,
And the chirping  birds overflow with music.

Oh… the monsoon rains make me feel euphoric and at peace,
My dwelling, this is the place where I belong, where I’m myself.

Transit of Venus - June 06, 2012

Image credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Venus_transit_2012_Minneapolis_TLR1.jpg

For the past few days, I've been hearing that there would be a transit of Venus on the Sun. As I woke up this morning, all news channels were telecasting this news and we thought we'll get into the Nehru Planetarium to get a better view and they would have made arrangements like telescopes and glasses to view the Sun.

We reached Nehru Planetarium at around 9:30 in the morning, there were quite a few astronomy enthusiasts crowded near the Telescopes set by the Planetarium. Few of them had bought the Solar Glasses to view the Sun. Few were watching through the Welder's Glass. There were few volunteers too, who were helping set-up the telescope positioning every now and then. Bangalore was a little cloudy this morning so, ofttimes the clouds would cover the Sun.

When I viewed through the telescope, I could see a black spot on the Sun. By then, the spot was moving towards the end of the Sun's arc. I saw through the Welder's glass as well. All I could see is the Sun directly. But I couldn't trace the Venus spot within. Later at 10:00 AM, once again I watched through the Welder's Glass, the person who handed me the glass said, you can see the spot one the left hand side at the 11 o'clock position near to the arc. I could then spot a little mark on the Sun. But it was clearly visible through the telescope.

We then, entered the Planetarium gallery. Apart from the Astronomy information, there was a Projector displaying the Venus Transit and the NASA live telecast of the transit. On another side, there were couple of Volunteers, exhibiting the transit models and explaining the transit process. It was really educative. The guy explained the process in a very simpler way.

It goes this way, as per my understanding: "The Earth and all other planets orbit around the Sun which is the universal truth. It takes 365 days (365.25 days to be precise) for the Earth to orbit round the Sun. Venus too orbits round the Sun. However, Earth orbits the Sun slower than Venus. Which means the Sun, Earth and Venus come in conjunction once in 1 years 6 months. So, why do we not see the Transit or Conjunction from Earth every 1.6 years? It's visible only when Venus, with an orbit inclined by 3.4° relative to the Earth's, usually appears to pass under or over the Sun. This specific conjunction taken place at a peculiar intervals of 8 years (Which was on 8th June 2004), 121 years (to be precise 121.5 years - the current transit), 8 years (Next transit is on December 2117) and 105 years (105.5 which will be on December 2125).

We had a question, when the orbit is divided by two: one segment of the orbit takes 105.5 years and the other segment takes 121.5 years to orbit round the Sun. Since the shape of the Sun is elliptical, the time-frame varies from one segment to the other.

So, the last transit and current transit was important for us, as none of us are sure to make it to 100+ years of life from now. ;)"

Thanks to the volunteer at the Nehru Planetarium for providing us with the above information.

Good Morning wonderful friends!!!

Remember? every morning my friends used to receive a mail with the subject “Good Morning”. There was a time when I used to send Good Morning e-mails every day at 08:00 AM, there was consistency. Gradually, over a period of time, my e-mails came in irregular intervals. And then, I totally stopped sending good morning messages.

Of late, I realized I’ve lost touch with many of my friends. We used to at least exchange a good morning and a smile every day. :) Since I used to blog frequently, I thought I’ll restart this habit in a unique way. So, here I'm back! Henceforth, you can find a good morning message every morning at: http://cutemorningalways.blogspot.in/.