further changes

After dilly-dallying as a research associate in IITM for more than 2 years, I finally took the plunge and signed up for the PhD program in the area of Bio-Medical Engineering. I feel totally out of control right now. I have 2 graduate level courses, research for my phd area, an audit course in circuit analysis and finally helping out with my old project in the biotech department. This in addition to taking care of my almost 7 year old, cooking, cleaning (only when I feel like ;), Guitar lessons and working out if possible!

I had to do a complete body check up before joining the PhD program. I discovered to my utter horror, I have marginally high cholesterol (201), low HDL (40) and high LDL (136 against a limit of 120)! My sisters HDL is low too. So we are on the bandwagon of healthy cooking and regular workout now. Neither has actually started, but the intentions are very much there.

As a first I will present a multi-bean salad inspired by Smitten Kitchen .
My version:
Soak overnight:
1/3 cup black eyed-peas (karamani)
1/3 cup chickpeas
1/3 cup peanuts (does this belong to bean/nut family? )

Pressure cook until just done, NOT mushy. Drain the cooked beans, rinse with cold water and pour into salad bowl.

finely chop
1/2 bunch cilantro
1/2 bunch spring onions (green and white parts)
1 red onion

Add to the salad bowl above and mix

Finely grate Zest of 1 lemon and add it to the bowl

Squeeze 1 lemon into the salad, add a couple of glugs of olive oil, salt and pepper and mix thoroughly.

Salad is ready.

Here is the ingredient list:
1/3 cup black eyed-peas (karamani)
1/3 cup chickpeas
1/3 cup peanuts (does this belong to bean/nut family? )
1/2 bunch cilantro
1/2 bunch spring onions (green and white parts)
1 onion ( the Indian varieties are small)
1/2 lemon juice
1 lemon zest
2 glugs olive oil (more or less as you please)
Salt and Pepper

This could be done with all chickpeas, but my son has chickpea mania and I use chickpeas at least twice a week. This is my attempt at varying the bean composition in his meal. Also, he hates mushy chickpeas, so I ignored the smashing instruction.
I also left out the olives in a bid to reduce my eco-footprint. (We love olives though. We use it sparingly. Pizzas mainly)

This would be awesome in a sandwich with a little mint chutney. But we had it with rotis and a side of Cauliflower and Greens. She had hers with picked garlicky red peppers and tahini. Sounds awesome too.

This will also be my entry to Jihva for Chickpeas hosted by Sometime Foodie. Checkout her awesome cakes too! I am baking something from her blog, probably orange mousse one

The end of an era

It is a year since my last post. Life has changed dramatically in the last year.

My mother gave up her battle with cancer and passed away in July 2008.
One of the last serious books she read was Robert Pausch's The Last Lecture. She died 4 days before him.

She may not have had as grand a life as Dr Pausch, but she was no less admirable. Her life revolved around my dad and the three of us sisters. She always held on to only our best behaviours. She did not hold on to the irritations, anger, resentments caused by our worst behaviour. We are not very sociable and tend to limit our interactions to just the 3 of us, our spouses and our parents.  She was our gateway.  She was also our buffer against the nuttiness of our extended families. We tended to treat her like another sister; Unlike most of her generation, we never gave her unconditional obedience or deference. I hope she didn't mind that. 

But, in retrospect, that is what made her such a integral part of our lives long after we had all got married and moved away. That's what makes us miss her so much. I want her to come back for just 1 visit to let us know she is fine, she was happy here and she continues to be happy wherever she is.

I was the most difficult daughter. I would read regular internet reports on managing diabetes and would insist on trying it out on her. I never heeded any advice unless she could give my a scientific explanation for doing it. I now come to understand she was right on many things. She was magnificent about supporting me in may of my child rearing decisions. I have to admit, she was more open to my ideas than I was to hers.

I recently watched a discovery program and discovered that she was always right. You can throw away just the slice with fungus and use the rest of the loaf without any harm! Ditto for making cheese out of curdled milk.

She died on her terms. Spending the last month with my dad, cooking his favourite dishes and creating some awesome memories for him.

I cant decide which makes me more sad, my mother not being around or my father being all alone in the world now.  

I am trying to make as positive an impact on my son's life now.