Cooking rice in Pressure Cooker

Rice is a staple food in all South Indian houses. Before wedding i was not even aware of cooking rice properly. Overtime i learnt that and sharing my knowledge with you. 

1. Take one cup of rice in a vessel
2. Rinse the rice to be cooked in a vessel thoroughly and drain the water from the vessel. Continue this step till the water in the vessel is clear. 
3. Pour water in the vessel till the water level covers the rice and let it soak for sometime.
This step is to make sure that the rice comes smooth.
4. For 1 cup of rice, pour 2 cups of water in pressure cooker and let the water boil and turn the stove on.
5. When water in the cooker starts boiling, drain the water from the vessel and empty the rice containing vessel into pressure cooker. Check that the water level covers the rice.
6. Close the lid of the pressure cooker firmly and place the weight on top of the vent in a way that it sits firmly in place.
7. The cooker will begin to 'whistle' when steam escapes from the vent covered by the weight.
8. Let this happen till whistles 3 times.
9. Switch off the stove and let it set for 10-15 minutes.
10. Remove the weight and open the pressure cooker lid carefully. Your rice is ready.

Nombu !!

Last Wednesday was the festival of Karadaiyan nombu. On this day, all the South Indian women tie yellow threads around their neck. It is a ritual where the women pray to Goddess Devi for the health and prosperity of their life partner. Traditionally, women are supposed to pray for their husband on empty stomach and then have food at the end of the prayer.

This being my first nombu after wedding, it is the "Thalai Nombu". My in-laws came to visit us last week especially to celebrate this festival with us. 

On that day, I had to get up early and get ready for the prayer on an empty stomach. We had to wear a 9-yard sari and perform the rituals at the specific time. Since it was a working day, I had to wind up with the celebration and rush back to work. My mother-in-law took care of preparing the nombu adai's which was really helpful for me. The ritual started around 9am where mother-in-law performed the pooja and gave the yellow thread to tie. At the end of the prayer, we had a taste of the nombu adai's which tasted really yummy.

Ora-Ovations !!

Last week we had an exciting weekend attending Ora-Ovation. This is a cultural gathering event at my husband's work which happens every two years. 

I had heard a lot about this from my husband. So this year I was all excited for it. Husband was among list of photographers for the event. So he had to be at the venue much before the event started. So I came along with Manisha, Randhir and Meenu to the venue directly.

As we made our way inside, there were lots of people already seated. I got to meet my husband's team and his managers along with their family. It was fun to see so many employees and their families and catch-up with them. Meenu's husband Srini was to be participating in many dance shows. So we went in and occupied a table in the third row as we were eager to see his performance. Also singer Shreya Ghosal was going to be coming for some performances. So we were really excited for the event to begin.

As the guests were settling down, my husband just found us and informed that starters were open. So we could start with some tid-bits and catch-up with friends. When I went to pick a few starters, I was surprised to see so many varieties. Also they had organised the place very nicely and many volunteers were around coordinating with people and making smooth flow.

We just got back to our table with the starters when the show started. First performance itself was a dance by Srini and his team on fusion remixes. Then there were many more music and dance performances. I was really enjoying the dance performances. My husband was busy clicking a lot of pictures. It was then time to have main course dinner. So we went to get our dinner and were just announced that Shreya's performances would start in sometime. 

As she came in, audience were very excited. She started off with her latest music and then went on nonstop to other hit Bollywood numbers. The crowd were very ecstatic with her music. Then there was lot of request from audience for her to sing few hit Bollywood songs. She then sang lot of hit Bollywood songs as requested by the audience and left. We were very happy and excited with her performance. Then it was time for DJ music. The dance floor was open for employees to dance to music. Lot of them went with their friends and danced. I was forcing my husband to join me in the DJ dance. But as the crowd got more on the dance floor, we changed our plan and enjoyed it from our table. 

All in all, it was a well spent weekend and enjoyable event !!

Day 3 | Best friend apart from spouse

Question : Who is your best friend but not your spouse?

Apart from my spouse my best friend was my college friend Swapna. Amongst our group of friends, she was mature and understanding which were some of her qualities which I admire.

Hubby's Birthday !!

Last Thursday was my hubby's birthday. I had a surprise cake cutting planned for that day. Since he loves dark forest cakes, i ordered a dark forest cake from work a day before and got it on my way back. Since i normally reach home before him, i had a good chance to keep it in a secret place.

When clock striked 12, i wished him happy birthday and removed the cake from my secret place. He was completely taken back by this. He then cut the cake and we had a piece of it. My parents also called him then to wish for his birthday and were happy to hear about the cake cutting that happened. We then planned to have a treat today over the weekend.

So today, we ordered schezwan noodles and biryani take away from Bawarchi and had a quiet treat at home watching some good movies.

Day 2 | New Talent

Question : If you could have a new talent what would you want?

If i wanted to have a new talent that would be to run. I have never attempted to run.But have many friends who do. So would want to break my comfort zone and run maybe a 10k or a half marathon some day.

Day 1 | Funniest thing heard

Question : The funniest thing you heard today.

The funniest thing I heard today was when someone called up my mom and asked her for my alliance. My mom was so shocked hearing this that she slammed the phone and called me next checking if i were up to some prank :)