colors for me and you...

Fridays are kind of relaxing for me. Most fridays, we either go out for dinner or my hubby cooks!!! Its what I call a perfect way to ease into the weekend mood...

This friday was no exception, hubby dear offered to cook and how can I refuse??? me being so sweet do I ever say no to anyone??? (I can see the tomatoes & eggs coming my way...)

With some free time on my hands I thought I will hit the books, got to take an exam in August you see...But reading Biochemistry on a friday night, not appealing right?

With nothing interesting on tv, thought will get started with that new painting kit that I got a few days back...

Settling into a cozy corner I gave much thought on what should my delicate and petal-soft hands bring to life?(more tomatoes & eggs coming, this time rotten...)

After 90 minutes into the thinking process, (which also involved checking my yahoo, gmail,University mail,orkut,facebook,blogroll ~10 times in that timeframe), I thought I will just get started. Had seen something on HGTV 'Design on a Dime' long time back and thought will give it a try....

And here it is...

It may not be on par with Vincent Van Gogh's paintings. It may be just colorful squares, but its colorful!!!!  Sigh, I have spent the entire morning sitting in front of it admiring those crooked squares, watching the effect of sunlight on those squares. Protected my masterpiece from the nasty bee that was hell bent on sticking its nose in between those squares. Who needs sleep?who needs food and water? My soul is feasting on the colors...

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hubby: you in the mood for mexican food?

me: 5 bucks if you beat me to the car......zzzzzooooooooooooooooommmmmmmmm!!!!

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PS: This is my first ever painting project and I am more than happy to share how I did it...

1. materials: 10in x 10in canvas, acrylic paint.
2. stick scotch/masking tape/blue painter's tape horizontally and vertically on the canvas, spacing the tapes according to the size of the squares you want.
3. paint the squares created by the intersecting tapes your fav colors...
4. pull out the tapes.
5. paint the spaces in b/w and around the squares a dark color or any color you want.
6. I realized the tapes were not evenly spaced and hence some of my squares are smaller than the others.
7. I tried to do some patch-up work after I removed the tapes and end result: some of my squares= crooked( err...am not very good at this painting stuff).

My first review of a product

Me-"we will stop eating rice and start eating chapathis for dinner daily"

Him-"no"

Me- "there was no question mark in my sentence"

Him-"you are going to make the chapathis"

Me-"you are not going to help?"

Him- "there was no question mark in my sentence"

Me- Grrrrrrrrrrrr.....(scratching)...Grrrrrrrrr Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

Well I thought I can buy one of those tortilla/roti/chapathi makers and making chapathis will be as easy as...

as...mmm...

as easy as...mmm...let's just say, as easy as scratching...

So I got this...and if anyone out there are in the thinking process of getting one read what I have to say and then decide if you want to get one...

So here is my review:

1. 3 settings-low, medium,high. 4th setting-OFF
2. it has to be on high, to make chapathis, otherwise hittu(dough) will just stick and sit there forever without rising
3. 1st day I used that, they came out like tortillas. I shouldn't have been surprised, it says tortilla maker!!!
4. It says in manual the quality will improve as days go by and even some of the reviews said that. That's why I ordered it.
5. after 2-3 times of using it, they started coming out well.
6. the pressing is so easy, no strain at all...
7. but even at that high setting, I guess the heat is ~ equivalent to low setting on electric stove burner and hence it takes somewhat more time to cook each side or I felt it that way because you see nange patience kammi(=less)...
8. I thought a few drops of oil has to be added, otherwise the chapathis will be like you know rotis or tortillas...
9. I had read in review that the inside doesnt cook properly...well I found out its true for some of the chapathis, the insides were still kachka pachka...
10. so I thought I will try pressing hittu in this and cook the chapathi on stove-top...guess what?
11. that thing has to be ON and plates heated, otherwise the hittu just sticks there...
12. So I thought, maybe I can set it at low-setting, so that it doesnt consume much electricity, since I am using the electric burner too, but at low setting the heat is not enough, so even if the hittu flattens out, its difficult to separate it from that plate...
13. Which REMINDS me of MSK(Marimallappa PU chemistry teacher)...I used to attend his 6.30 am batch tuition and that fellow used to put fans so early in the morning...brrrrrrr...the switch for those two cealing fans were near the back benches where boys used to sit and as time went by, they would cm-by-cm slowly turn the knob so that that thing would still be rotating but no gaali(air) coming, hoping that MSK woudnt notice it!!! but we are talking abt MSK here, so he would shout at them "MAKLA THIRUSRO KNOB NAAAA, AAKADE CURRENT KARCHAAGBEKU EEKADE GAALI NU BARBAARDU HANGE MAADTHIRA NANGE " and they would whimper back "current bill save maadi next batch tuition feees li adjust maadkoli saaaaar, namna bittu bidi, manege hogbekaadre daarili ondu stop maadlebeku number-one ge, ashtu chali maadthira illi"
14. coming back: Hubby was saying the hittu probably had too much water thats why its sticking...hav to try making very gatti hittu(dough with less water)...
15. Inbetween I had the Idea of returning this and just getting one of those tortilla press...but I could only find those metal ones and I know it needs some pressure to be put and after sometime hands start aching...havent used the ones here(but have used those metal sandige press in India which looks similar)...
    
16. so this is what I am doing from past 2 days: set that thing to medium/high heat...press it on that and cook it on stove top...and this process is working for me and I am finding the chapathi making process effortless!!!! and chapathis coming out good!!! 
    
17. now some of the reviews said that after 10 months the heating stops working!!! hope that doesnt happen to me...

Will update this after a few months...

Also check out this review on Amazon.com and the comments!!!!

and then back to zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz......zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...scratch.............SRK singing ye ladki hai alla...hai haire alla........wake-up,  no SRK, sob.....adjust pillow...zzzzzzzzz...SRK holding my hand again -"It's alright Senorita, Bade Bade Deshon Mein, Aisi Choti Choti Baatein Hoti Rahti Hain."....zzzz:)zzzz:)zzzzz:)zzzzz:)zzzz

Update: I changed the atta/chapathi flour brand and the chapathis are coming out really good now...

And now back to hibernation mode...zzzzzz...

All talk no action = nothing achieved

Two posts back I stated that everyone has the right to talk about anything/everything...

But I again want to emphasize that whining about something without trying to solve the problem doesn't set a "GOOD" example...right?

I just want to ask one question:

"If Gandhi sat in South Africa and whined and whined to his friends about the British rule in India, and then carried on his business as usual,  what would he have achieved?"

Instead, he decided to take action !!! He participated !!! He contributed !!!

Most important of all, He tried !!!

My request to RI's and NRI's:  "TRY"

My specific request to NRI's: You don't have to take action on a Gandhi scale/level...You don't have to leave everything that you worked for in Pardes and go back to Des and start sweeping the streets...

Instead "TRY" to contribute to the system in whatever possible way you can even if it is on a minuscule scale/level...

Make use of BRAND NRI  in a constructive way !!! 

No country is perfect...People choose which country to live in based on their individual requirements/situations. 

I used to whine too, but then I realized:

"We can't afford to throw stones at others when we are living in a glass house."