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Monday, July 16, 2007

My First MeMe & A Summer Cooler

When Richa of 'As Dear As Salt' tagged me to share 7 random facts about myself, I started thinking of what I would write. Talking about oneself is something that we are all taught, as kids, as something bad. At first, nothing came to my mind, but slowly as I kept thinking, I thought of a few things, and so here I am...Thanks Richa ! After all its not often that I get a chance to speak about myself. ;)

  1. Before getting married, I was teaching French for almost a year in India. Yes, along with my masters degree in Commerce, I also have an advanced diploma in French and am pretty fluent in spoken & written French which is considered a very romantic language.:)
  2. I did not own any cookbooks until very recently, and even then I do not have any on Indian cooking. The two books I got, I found at a public library book sale which feature American cuisine. All the recipes that I know are either my mom's or my MIL's.
  3. I am almost a neat-freak! Why 'almost'? Well, though I do like things neat and organized, there are days when I can overlook everything, and then get up one morning and start cleaning like crazy. I like my kitchen to be clutter-free when I am cooking...cannot cook with a hundred things on the kitchen platform. I also like things well planned...groceries, dinners, outings. I cannot do things well at the last minute. My husband has almost gotten used to this craziness, and I really torture him with this habit of mine :))
  4. I love watching 'Gilmore Girls'! Just love the 'mother-daughter' relationship and their girlie chatter.
  5. I absolutely love to talk on the phone....can talk for hours together and will still be fresh for another conversation. My dad always tells me how his phone bills have gone down tremendously after I got married an sympathizes with my hubby ;)
  6. As a kid, I dreamed of becoming a Teacher, and would play 'teacher-teacher', all by myself, for hours together. I also had co-ordinated my wardrobe with my class teacher's wardrobe. Since I was in a convent school, most of my teachers were Christians and would wear skirts and dresses. So I would come back from school, slip into a dress I thought was close to my teacher's dress that day, wear my sandals and live my dream...of course, somewhere in between my mom used to make me take off my sandals, as it was a big no-no to wear them in the house.
  7. Lastly, no one in my family knows that I have a food blog. My husband is the only one who knows about it...so everytime I have to come up with some real good excuse to ask more details about a particular recipe, as my mom and MIL are always wondering why I am asking so many questions. It feels good to be a little mysterious ;)
Thats all...i have unveiled a few facts about myself and for a little fun, I am going to ask you guys to guess my sunsign...I am a true ......... can you guess ? :)

I would also like to know more about Swapna, Manasi, Priyanka, Deepa, Suganya and Laavanya. Play along only if you wish to...no compulsion at all :)

I now leave you with a simple yet perfect summer cooler--- Jal Jeera. We just love this drink and so a few days back when my hubby suggested that we buy some ready made jal jeera powder, I was not keen on the idea. Basically, I think its very uneconomical to buy ready made masalas as they all taste the same and by the time you use up the entire packet, the masala has already lost its flavor and aroma. So I prefer making them in small batches at home, whenever possible. I found this recipe for Jal Jeera online and made just a few additions...Enjoy!

Ingredients: (makes 3 glasses)
Jeere (Cumin seeds) dry roasted and powdered 2 tbsp
Mint leaves 4 tbsp (I added more because I like it, but you can stick to 2 tbsp)
Cilantro leaves 1/2 tsp
Amchur powder 1 tbsp
Black Salt 1/2 tsp
Lemon Juice 2 tbsps
Cayenne pepper 1 tsp
Salt according to taste
Water
Boondi to garnish

Method:
In a mixer, make a paste from Cumin, Mint leaves, cilantro, amchur powder. Then add the remaining ingredients except water and boondi.

Before serving add about 2 tbsp paste to each glass, add chilled water and stir. Check for taste and if required add more jal jeera masala. Finally, sprinkle with some boondi and cool off with this great summer drink.


27 comments:

Suganya said...

Thank you Tee for tagging me. And Why do you keep yr food blog a secret from yr family? Am intrigued :)

Manasi said...

Thank u for tagging me!!!
are u a....Cancerian?

Priyanka said...

Thanks for tagging me Tee. I am with you on the 2nd one. I only own 1 cookbook so far and i got that as a wedding gift.

bee said...

even though you are 'mysterious', i know something about you that you didn't mention here. lol.

you love the colour red (i do too).

Richa said...

good to know more @ you. the mom in GG sure does hv a dry sense of humor :)
jal jeera is such a summer must have, looks yum :)
j'aime vous recette. merci beacoup.

Laavanya said...

It was really good to read your meme. I also like Gilmore Girls and though my husband would not like to admit it, he does too :) I tease him about it.
Thanks for tagging me.

archana said...

Nice meme Tee :) I liked the teacher teacher game and how you dressed up like her,I found it very cute.
You are a virgo I think :)
The jal jeera recipe is nice.Fresh jal jeera is certainly better than made from a powder :)

Sharmi said...

nice and cute meme.
I make Jal jeera with the readymade MDH powder. your version looks real nice.

Sharmi said...

nice and cute meme.
I make Jal jeera with the readymade MDH powder. your version looks real nice.

Coffee said...

It was nice knowing about you Tee! :) I love talking on phone as well! Can go on and on and on....

Jaljeera is bookmarked! :)

sra said...

Tee, I too learnt French and can talk for hours on the phone. Nice meme.

Viji said...

As you said there are many similarities between us, especially kitchen. I need a clutter free kitchen too. A cool drink which is quite new for me. Love this post. Have a good day. Viji

Santhi said...

really sweet little meme..:-)

Roopa said...

lovely meme, jal jeera... love it.

bha said...

Jal jeera looks nice, and same with me, no one in my family is aware that I have a food blog except my husband :)...nice read

Srivalli said...

nice meme Tee...you sound like either a cancerian or Taurus...

Srivalli
www.cooking4allseasons.blogspot.com

J said...

Cute meme. Nice to know you Tee.

TNL said...

Nice to know about you....and wow, you speak French too, c'est magnifique!

Jaljeera's color is beautiful...a perfect drink for me!

-trupti

FH said...

I do not like French ppl,they are very rude but French language does sound romantic.That's a great gift to speak other language fluently,good for you!:))
Great to read your MeMe,you should spill the beans about this blog to the family soon!:D
Jal Jeera looks yummy,got to try.

Tee said...

You are welcome Suganya! good to know that i intrigue people :)

Manasi, you are quite close...but I'll wait for some more time before i reveal my sun sign,probably in my next post.

Would love to know more about you Priyanka.

Good one bee! now i could have written that but it did not occur to me at all...i guess i really don't know much about myself after all ;))

Richa, you will love the jal jeera.
btw, combien de langues tu parles? :) you speak marathi, gujrati, english, hindi, and now French too!!!

Laavanya, my husband is also like that...claims that it is a silly serial and yet is always curious to know whats happening;)

Thanks Archana! do try out the recipe...you will not be disappointed.
I am not a Virgo...more about my sun sign in my next post.

Thanks Sharmi!
Thanks Coffee! hope you like the jal jeera.

Thanks Sra!

Thanks Viji, Santhi, Roopa, Bhags, Jyothsna & Trupti!

Srivalli, you are close...:)

Thanks Asha! I will not vouch for french people but the language sure is not that bad ;)

Sia said...

what??? ur family dont know abt ur blog??? it was same with me for initial 6 months:)
and girl i am just like u when it comes to clutter free kitchen counter and home:)

Swapna said...

It was good to know more abt u, Tee! I think u r a Leo..Even I used to play teacher-teacher with my lil bro:)
Thanks for the tag! I love writing memes.
Jaljeera looks super-cool. Thanks for sharing!

Rekha said...

Tee,

This is the first time to ur blog... This is really good.

Good to know abt u... I too know little French since I went for Frech classes during my 10th class holidays... But now I forgot everything ;) I dont know that French is a romantic language, otherwise i would have learnt more and talk to my hubby in Romantic French :D

Btw, ur Samosas are really mouth watering... I need to do sometime... Coz we both just love them but never tried to do ;)

Thanks for sharing dear!

Cheers,
-rekha.

Neelam said...

Hi Tee, it was fun reading your MeMe. Nice to know abt you! I too used to play Teacher-Teacher when I was a child. And I still do with my little one! Nice recipe of Jaljeera. Thanks For sharing.I made the moong dal cheelas for an evening last weekend and they came out lovely! Thanks again.

Anonymous said...

Like your Meme and jal jeera too.

Suma Gandlur said...

Good to learn about you. Initially I too did not tell my people about my blog.

Sig said...

Tee, Nice me-me... I know I am late, but I love reading memes... and how can I not leave a comment for a fellow Gilmore girls fan... :) I was addicted to it for a while, but the last two seasons went downhill, but i was still sooo sad when it got over :(