November 26, 2010
December 23, 2008
Trip to China!!
We visited China in Fall this year for a conference. We were pretty excited about this trip but couldn't plan much for it in advance because of our schedule and classes. We took a direct United airlines flight from DC to Beijing. It was a 13 hour flight. We pretty much slept most of the time on the flight. The meals were not that great which was anyways expected from a US airline. We landed in Beijing in the afternoon. The airport is pretty impressive, especially the new international terminal that is a dragon-shaped building. We took a taxi to our hotel (Friendship hotel). The taxi driver couldn't speak or understand English. Luckily, we had our hotel name written in Chinese script to show to the driver. It was a 45 minute drive. The skies were pretty hazy and smoky that day, though they were much clearer on the remaining days of our stay. Later, a tour guide told us that due to the paralympics, the number of vehicles on roads were being controlled. Only even numbered vehicles were allowed on one day and only odd numbered vehicles on the next day in order to control the traffic and pollution. That was a pretty impressive way to handle the situation. On our way we got to a glimpse of the Birds Nest. The modern buildings in Beijing were absolutely amazing and beautiful. We reached the hotel and checked into our room. Thankfully, some of the staff at the reception were able to speak English. After freshening up, we took a tour of the hotel which is garden style hotel and quite spread out on a huge area. We walked around the various buildings, sports complex, shopping, centers and restaurants. This hotel is a historic and old one and is called the Friendship hotel as a mark of the friendship between Russia and China. The entire setup is architecturally very rich. I have attached a picture below. The hotel has 5-6 different buildings with a wide range of rooms starting from 5-star to 3-star levels. We stayed in the main building (Bldg. 1) and got exceptionally good service. We took it easy that night, got dinner from a shopping mall right across the road.
Friendship Hotel
On Days 1 & 2 in Beijing, we were busy all day at the conference. We had lunches at the Friendship Palace restaurant. It was a buffet lunch and had very limited vegetarian options. But we were glad to find something. In the evenings, we used to venture out to the Shopping malls around the hotel. We also managed to find an Indian restaurant close to the hotel. It was a short taxi ride. The best part about China is the inexpensive taxi rides. Of course the challenge is to communicate with the driver. The hotel staff used to write our destination name in Chinese for us to show to the driver.
On Day 3 we decided to go on a guided tour. We woke up early, had breakfast and were ready at 7:30am to meet our tour guide in the lobby. The tour guide picked a few more tourists (an Australian family, an Irish guy, and a Singaporean girl) and by around 8:30 am we started our tour in a mini-bus with about 8 of us. We first drove to Ming Tombs which was about 45 min. drive from Beijing. We got to see the statue of Chang Ling and went around the area of his tomb which was under a hill and not accessible. I am glad we were with a tour guide and at least got some idea of what we were seeing. Next we went to a Jade carving factory, where we were shown how to differentiate between a real jade and a fake one. We then spent some time in a showroom with lot of jewelery and different show pieces made of jades. Our next stop was the most awaited "Great Wall". We walked up the Great Wall to one of the watch towers and got to see some spectacular views from there. On our way down, back to the tour bus, we did some souvenir shopping. Then we had lunch at a traditional Chinese restaurant with a moving-center round table. Different type of food was placed on the table and everyone picked from the moving round table. After that we drove back to Beijing. It was almost 4pm. Our next stop was a tea house to experience a tea ceremony. We got to taste different kinds of tea and of course the main objective was marketing their products. After that we passed by the Birds Nest (Olympics stadium) and Water Cube and got some pictures there. We could not go inside as tours had not started at that time. After the long day we were pretty tired especially due to the hike on the Great Wall.
Great Wall
Bird's Nest (Olympics Stadium)
Friendship Hotel
On Days 1 & 2 in Beijing, we were busy all day at the conference. We had lunches at the Friendship Palace restaurant. It was a buffet lunch and had very limited vegetarian options. But we were glad to find something. In the evenings, we used to venture out to the Shopping malls around the hotel. We also managed to find an Indian restaurant close to the hotel. It was a short taxi ride. The best part about China is the inexpensive taxi rides. Of course the challenge is to communicate with the driver. The hotel staff used to write our destination name in Chinese for us to show to the driver.
On Day 3 we decided to go on a guided tour. We woke up early, had breakfast and were ready at 7:30am to meet our tour guide in the lobby. The tour guide picked a few more tourists (an Australian family, an Irish guy, and a Singaporean girl) and by around 8:30 am we started our tour in a mini-bus with about 8 of us. We first drove to Ming Tombs which was about 45 min. drive from Beijing. We got to see the statue of Chang Ling and went around the area of his tomb which was under a hill and not accessible. I am glad we were with a tour guide and at least got some idea of what we were seeing. Next we went to a Jade carving factory, where we were shown how to differentiate between a real jade and a fake one. We then spent some time in a showroom with lot of jewelery and different show pieces made of jades. Our next stop was the most awaited "Great Wall". We walked up the Great Wall to one of the watch towers and got to see some spectacular views from there. On our way down, back to the tour bus, we did some souvenir shopping. Then we had lunch at a traditional Chinese restaurant with a moving-center round table. Different type of food was placed on the table and everyone picked from the moving round table. After that we drove back to Beijing. It was almost 4pm. Our next stop was a tea house to experience a tea ceremony. We got to taste different kinds of tea and of course the main objective was marketing their products. After that we passed by the Birds Nest (Olympics stadium) and Water Cube and got some pictures there. We could not go inside as tours had not started at that time. After the long day we were pretty tired especially due to the hike on the Great Wall.
Great Wall
Bird's Nest (Olympics Stadium)
On day 4 we had planned for another guided tour of downtown Beijing. We again woke up early and went to have breakfast. Breakfast at Friendship hotel was our favorite activity. The breakfast buffet was extensive with a wide variety of items including soups and fried rice. That was one place where we there were numerous vegetarian items. The staff was extremely friendly and courteous. We thoroughly enjoyed having breakfast over there everyday. We liked it so much that we would assign an hour for it in the morning. Our tour guide called us when we were having breakfast to let us know that it was raining and we better get our umbrellas. We were unaware of this until she informed us. We rushed back to our room, grabbed our umbrella and met the tour guide in the lobby. Again, after picking all the tourists, our tour started at the famous "Forbidden City" which is the imperial palace of the Ming and Qing dynasties. It was a huge palace and the guide took us through the important buildings and briefed us on some of the history. This palace was called the Forbidden City as only members of the royal family were allowed inside and any one else who dared to enter the Forbidden City was killed. We entered the Forbidden City from the rear entrance and exited from the front entrance into Tiananmen Square which is supposedly the largest square in the world. There we got a pic with General Mao's picture. We walked around the square which was beautifully decorated. The guide told us a few things about the square though we didn't get into its controversial history. Next stop was a health research center, which was again one of those marketing stops to sell some herbal medicines. We got a free consultation with a Chinese doctor at the center who examined our hands and prescribed some herbal medicines for better health. Next, we visited the "Temple of Heaven". Only after seeing this temple, I realized that the picture we see most of the times on Chinese restaurant pamphlets here in US is the temple of heaven. We went around this gorgeous temple and its museum. The gardens around this temple had a number of old Chinese people exercising, playing, chatting, singing, and dancing. It was a very nice and peaceful atmosphere. We saw a few of them playing a game with something that looked like a shuttle cock but slightly bigger. They were hitting it with their legs and seemed to enjoy it. We then had lunch and drove to the Summer Palace. We had to take a boat over a man-made lake to reach the Summer Palace which was built for the lady empress during the Qing dynasty. The palace is on a hill beside the beautiful lake. We got back to the hotel in the evening and got ready for the conference banquet - a Peking Duck dinner at one of the famous restaurants in Beijing. Although we didn't eat the duck, we enjoyed the restaurant. That night after dinner, the conference organizers had our bus stop at the Birds Nest. We got a slightly closer view of it at night, still from behind the fence.
Temple of Heaven
Summer Palace
We spent day 5 at the conference. I had to make my presentation in the afternoon. That evening some friends from the conference gathered together and we decided to go shopping. A local Chinese student was with us and he took us on a local bus to a nearby electronics shopping mall. The bus ride was amazingly cheap, just 1 yen. The difficult part about shopping in China is that one has to be an expert at bargaining. We looked at electronics for a while. Then we decided to go to the famous Wangfu Jing shopping area. This place is famous for its shops and street food. We got to see all kinds of street food, including fried sea horses. We did some souvenir shopping and applied all our bargaining skills there. We lost track of time as we were shopping and were there until after 10pm. We couldn't get a taxi at that time at a normal fare. There were 8 of us. We decided to take a bus instead which would take us half the way. The bus broke down after a little bit. We had to get off and change the bus again. We finally reached our hotel around midnight and just crashed.
On day 6 we started our day with our favorite breakfast. This was our last day in Beijing. We spent quite some time at breakfast and bid farewell to all the friends we had made there. We attended the closing at the conference. The hotel arranged a taxi for us to go to the airport. We were going to Shanghai. We managed to get air tickets after a great deal of ordeal. We wanted to take a train to Shanghai, tried to buy tickets from one of the booths close to our hotel. No one could speak English there. Luckily we met a Chinese girl who could speak English and eager to help us. With her help we found that all trains were sold out. We came back to the hotel and went to the travel desk for air tickets. Again after great deal of effort, we managed to explain to them what we needed. We used a Chinese-English dictionary that we were carrying. So here we were on day 6, ready to fly to Shanghai. On our way to the airport, we made one final stop in Beijing. It was the Lama temple. We bought audio guides at the entrance of the temple and spent an hour viewing the beautiful architecture of the temple and the beautiful Buddha statues. There was one huge wooden statue made out of one tree and holds a Guinness record. We reached the airport, checked in, looked for food. We found a subway where we got a couple of sandwiches and then we boarded our plane. We looked at the dragon shaped terminal as the plane took off and we bid farewell to Beijing. We reached Shanghai and took a taxi to Renaissance Yangtze Hotel. It was a short 20 min drive through Shanghai traffic. We were awestruck at the high rises in Shanghai. We felt we were transported to NewYorkCity or an even better place than NYC. We reached the hotel and saw they were celebrating the OktoberFest. We didn't join in as both of us don't enjoy beer. We checked into our room on the 26th floor. We kept gazing out of our window at the beautiful Shanghai skyline. That night we toured the hotel and its facilities. The hotel staff suggested a Punjabi Indian restaurant close by. We went there for a spicy and hot dinner. We strolled the shops in the area after dinner.
On day 6 we started our day with our favorite breakfast. This was our last day in Beijing. We spent quite some time at breakfast and bid farewell to all the friends we had made there. We attended the closing at the conference. The hotel arranged a taxi for us to go to the airport. We were going to Shanghai. We managed to get air tickets after a great deal of ordeal. We wanted to take a train to Shanghai, tried to buy tickets from one of the booths close to our hotel. No one could speak English there. Luckily we met a Chinese girl who could speak English and eager to help us. With her help we found that all trains were sold out. We came back to the hotel and went to the travel desk for air tickets. Again after great deal of effort, we managed to explain to them what we needed. We used a Chinese-English dictionary that we were carrying. So here we were on day 6, ready to fly to Shanghai. On our way to the airport, we made one final stop in Beijing. It was the Lama temple. We bought audio guides at the entrance of the temple and spent an hour viewing the beautiful architecture of the temple and the beautiful Buddha statues. There was one huge wooden statue made out of one tree and holds a Guinness record. We reached the airport, checked in, looked for food. We found a subway where we got a couple of sandwiches and then we boarded our plane. We looked at the dragon shaped terminal as the plane took off and we bid farewell to Beijing. We reached Shanghai and took a taxi to Renaissance Yangtze Hotel. It was a short 20 min drive through Shanghai traffic. We were awestruck at the high rises in Shanghai. We felt we were transported to NewYorkCity or an even better place than NYC. We reached the hotel and saw they were celebrating the OktoberFest. We didn't join in as both of us don't enjoy beer. We checked into our room on the 26th floor. We kept gazing out of our window at the beautiful Shanghai skyline. That night we toured the hotel and its facilities. The hotel staff suggested a Punjabi Indian restaurant close by. We went there for a spicy and hot dinner. We strolled the shops in the area after dinner.
Lama Temple
Beijing International Airport
On day 7, after breakfast, we again met our tour guide in the lobby who was going to take us on a concise tour of Shanghai. We picked the remaining tourists that included an old Chilean couple, an old Spanish couple, a Malaysian girl, and an Indian guy. We started our tour with the YuYuan gardens. These gardens was a happy home built by a king to please his parents. We strolled this beautiful garden home and then the shops outside the gardens. Next, we went to the famous "Bund" which separates the new Shanghai from old Shanghai. We got to see the stunning skyline of the new Shanghai which was built from scratch in the last 10-20 years. There were people selling fake rolex watches and handbags on the Bund. After a short stroll on the Bund, we visited a Pearl factory. We were shown how to differentiate between fake and real pearls. We got to see their showrooms with beautiful jewelery and pearl creams were sold. Next we had lunch at restaurant "Ginger". After lunch we spent an hour at the Shanghai Museum at the People's Square. The People's square was beautifully decorated, had a nice fountain in the center, and was surrounded by architecturally beautiful and futuristic buildings. Next we visited the Jade buddha temple that had a Buddha statue made completely of Jade and another made completely of marble. This temple felt completely divine. They also had a tea house. We participated in the tea ceremony and tasted different kinds of tea. Our last stop was another Jade factory with a huge shopping center. They had huge jade Pishu's (Chinese dragon - supposed to bring fortune). That night we had dinner and went out shopping (saw some fake Gucci/Versace handbags).
YuYuan Gardens
Shanghai skyline from the Bund
Day 8 was the last day of our China trip. We were tired and woke up late. We had to go to Pudong International airport to catch our plane back to DC. We decided to take the Maglev instead of a taxi. Yes, a maglev - the only commercial Maglev that runs in Shanghai for a 30 mile distance to the airport. We took a taxi to the Maglev station, bought our tickets and were ready to board this most-awaited beauty. It was a 7 min. ride. During the first 3 minutes, the maglev accelerated to 430 km/hr (yes, I mean it). It maintained that speed for a minute and then spent the next 3 minutes to decelerate. I am extremely glad that we got a chance to ride the maglev. We reached Pudong airport, which is also another very nice airport. We flew back to DC via Chicago. For about 2 days, we were jetlagged. On the whole it is a memorable trip and would love to go back to China in future.
"Maglev"
"Max Speed"
December 22, 2008
Back after a looooong time!!
Wow.. more than a year has passed since I posted here and a lot has happened during this year. My last post was in October 2007 and I just cannot believe that we are already at the end of 2008. During the later part of 2007, we were busy finishing up our research in order to graduate. We defended our dissertation in November. Finally, my husband and I graduated together with Ph.D. degrees in December 2007. The university made it very special by hooding both of us together on stage. It was an absolutely joyous time with my parents and family. We also made a trip to southern California, Las Vegas and Grand Canyon with my parents who were visiting us to celebrate this occasion. Immediately after graduation, our challenging days of "the move" began. We flew to Washington, DC to finalize an apartment. We spent a couple of days looking around and were absolutely overwhelmed with the cost of living and rental prices. After intense searching, we finalized an apartment in northern Virginia, about 15 miles away from downtown DC. We flew back to Texas and started packing. We spent a week packing and shipping off everything including one of our car. After that we spent a day handing over the old apartment, bidding farewell to friends and to Dallas. We had spent 6 years there and had really enjoyed living there. Hence, it was not easy to leave. Just before leaving Dallas, we made one last trip to the Dallas Museum of Art which had been on our list of things-to-do for a very long time. We spent an afternoon there and then started our 1300 mile drive to DC.
We drove for a week stopping at different cities on our way, sightseeing and spending time exploring them. We drove through the state of Arkansas and then into Tennessee. Our first stop was in Memphis, Tennessee. We spent the night there and in the morning explored Memphis downtown. We visited the Memphis Pyramid Arena (20000 seat arena) and clicked some pictures. We strolled on the banks of the Mississippi river for some time and then continued our journey.
Memphis, Tennessee
Our next stop was at the foothill of the "Great Smoky Mountains", in the city of Sevierville. We relaxed there for the night and drove into the mountains the next day. We spent all day going around Smoky Mountain National Park. We started out by driving through the Cades Cove loop road, a 11 mile drive through a valley that is surrounded by mountains. It was an absolutely beautiful sight and we also got to see some wildlife. We then drove through Newfound gap, saw the state line between North Carolina and Tennessee on these mountains, and then drove south all the way towards Cherokee to Oconaluftee Visitor Center. We saw the barn at the mountain farm museum, spent some time strolling in the valley and viewing the historic buildings there.
Great Smoky Mountain National Park
We then drove back to Gatlinburg, the city at the northern end of the national park. We took the sky lift (rope way chair) to a man-made ski resort. We didn't have time for skiing but went around the area and the sky lift in itself was great fun. Once we reached the top of the mountain we got to see the cities of Sevierville, Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg from the top. The sun had set and it was starting to get dark. We got to see a beautiful view from there. We came back to Gatlinburg and had dinner at a Chinese restaurant. The city was nicely lit up with lot of activity as it was Christmas day. We spent an hour strolling the streets, eating ice-cream and clicking pictures. We stayed in Gatlinburg that night. We woke up late the next day, spent a few more hours in the morning in Gatlinburg and the Smoky's.
Gatlinburg, at foothills of Smoky Mountains
By afternoon, we resumed our drive. Our next stop was in Bristol, Tennessee. It was a city on the Interstate 81 to Virginia. We relaxed in Bristol and next morning continued driving. We took a small diversion and drove through the scenic "Blue Ridge Parkway" which is listed as one of "America's Byways". We drove for a couple of hours on this scenic route and thoroughly enjoyed nature. We made stops at various vista points. After sunset, we got back onto the interstate and reached Herndon, Virginia (our friend's home, where we were going to camp for a day before moving into our new apartment) that night which was our final destination. The 1300 mile drive finally came to an end. It was a memorable drive and we thoroughly enjoyed it.
Soon we were into year 2008. The month of January, we were pretty much settling down in our new apartment, new job, and in the new city. The remaining year just flew by and here we are ready to welcome another new year. We did a number of interesting and different things during the year. Hopefully I will find time to write about them soon.
We drove for a week stopping at different cities on our way, sightseeing and spending time exploring them. We drove through the state of Arkansas and then into Tennessee. Our first stop was in Memphis, Tennessee. We spent the night there and in the morning explored Memphis downtown. We visited the Memphis Pyramid Arena (20000 seat arena) and clicked some pictures. We strolled on the banks of the Mississippi river for some time and then continued our journey.
Memphis, Tennessee
Our next stop was at the foothill of the "Great Smoky Mountains", in the city of Sevierville. We relaxed there for the night and drove into the mountains the next day. We spent all day going around Smoky Mountain National Park. We started out by driving through the Cades Cove loop road, a 11 mile drive through a valley that is surrounded by mountains. It was an absolutely beautiful sight and we also got to see some wildlife. We then drove through Newfound gap, saw the state line between North Carolina and Tennessee on these mountains, and then drove south all the way towards Cherokee to Oconaluftee Visitor Center. We saw the barn at the mountain farm museum, spent some time strolling in the valley and viewing the historic buildings there.
Great Smoky Mountain National Park
We then drove back to Gatlinburg, the city at the northern end of the national park. We took the sky lift (rope way chair) to a man-made ski resort. We didn't have time for skiing but went around the area and the sky lift in itself was great fun. Once we reached the top of the mountain we got to see the cities of Sevierville, Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg from the top. The sun had set and it was starting to get dark. We got to see a beautiful view from there. We came back to Gatlinburg and had dinner at a Chinese restaurant. The city was nicely lit up with lot of activity as it was Christmas day. We spent an hour strolling the streets, eating ice-cream and clicking pictures. We stayed in Gatlinburg that night. We woke up late the next day, spent a few more hours in the morning in Gatlinburg and the Smoky's.
Gatlinburg, at foothills of Smoky Mountains
By afternoon, we resumed our drive. Our next stop was in Bristol, Tennessee. It was a city on the Interstate 81 to Virginia. We relaxed in Bristol and next morning continued driving. We took a small diversion and drove through the scenic "Blue Ridge Parkway" which is listed as one of "America's Byways". We drove for a couple of hours on this scenic route and thoroughly enjoyed nature. We made stops at various vista points. After sunset, we got back onto the interstate and reached Herndon, Virginia (our friend's home, where we were going to camp for a day before moving into our new apartment) that night which was our final destination. The 1300 mile drive finally came to an end. It was a memorable drive and we thoroughly enjoyed it.
Soon we were into year 2008. The month of January, we were pretty much settling down in our new apartment, new job, and in the new city. The remaining year just flew by and here we are ready to welcome another new year. We did a number of interesting and different things during the year. Hopefully I will find time to write about them soon.
October 03, 2007
The Fifth Generation - book!!
I finally completed reading this book titled 'The Fifth Generation' by Edward Feigenbaum and Pamela McCorduck. I have been reading this book since a long time. It is about the fifth generation project that was launched by Japan in early 1980's. The project was to come up with a new generation of computer systems which were extremely fast as well as intelligent. It was designed to be a 10 year project with lot of funds assigned to it by the government of Japan. The idea was for Japan to make a strong position for itself in the computer world. The book talks about this whole project in detail, the fifth generation conference that was held to declare to the world about this project, and how various countries reacted to it. It talks in detail about how skeptic US was and a group of people motivated by this project who felt that US needs to respond to this challenge and in turn start working on it.
Eventually at the end of the 10-year period this project failed and had to be canceled. Of course the book does not talk about that as it was written while this project was in progress. The authors give details about research in the area of Artificial Intelligence at that point of time and all the logistics involved in getting funded for various research projects. It showed the perspectives of different countries towards research. The main idea was that in US a research project was considered important enough to be funded if it had applications for the defense department. Some parts of the book gets boring, but other parts of it had interesting and useful information. Good read for one who is interested in computer science research and especially for one who wants to know the history of Artificial Intelligence research.
Eventually at the end of the 10-year period this project failed and had to be canceled. Of course the book does not talk about that as it was written while this project was in progress. The authors give details about research in the area of Artificial Intelligence at that point of time and all the logistics involved in getting funded for various research projects. It showed the perspectives of different countries towards research. The main idea was that in US a research project was considered important enough to be funded if it had applications for the defense department. Some parts of the book gets boring, but other parts of it had interesting and useful information. Good read for one who is interested in computer science research and especially for one who wants to know the history of Artificial Intelligence research.
October 02, 2007
Bread Upma and Mint Lassi !!
Today I am going to write on how to make 'Bread Upma' which is actually my husband's recipe - a quick and tasty snack or possibly even a meal. Along with it is the drink 'Mint Lassi'. I first got to taste mint lassi back in India when a neighbor of my parents offered it to me. I had never heard of it before and loved the taste. I got the recipe from her right away.
MINT LASSI
Ingredients: (for 2 glasses of Lassi)
Mint leaves (1/4 bunch)
Cilantro leaves (1/4 bunch)
Grated Ginger (1/4 teaspoon)
Green Chilli (1 small)
Yogurt (2 cups)
Water (1/2 cup or adjust according to the consistency desired)
Salt (1/2 teaspoon or as per your taste)
Preparation:
Make a fine paste of the mint leaves, cilantro leaves, ginger and chilli. Add the yogurt, water and salt and blend the mixture (Add ice cubes if you like). The lassi is ready.
BREAD UPMA
Ingredients: (serves 2-3)
Onion (1 medium size)
Tomatoes (2 medium size)
Green Chillies (3)
Grated Ginger (1/2 teaspoon)
Mustard seeds (1 teaspoon)
Jeera (1 teaspoon)
Oil (3 tablespoons)
Tomato puree (1 cup)
Bread slices (10) - wheat bread also should be fine, but tastes slightly better with white bread
Cilantro leaves (garnish)
Salt (3 teaspoons or as per your taste)
Lemon juice (2 tablespoons)
Corriander powder (1 teaspoon)
Turmeric powder (1/2 teaspoon)
Red Chilli powder (1/2 teaspoon)
Cumin powder (1/2 teaspoon)
Prepartion:
1. Toast the bread slices and cut them into small cubes (say 9 cubes per slice)
2. Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard and jeera. Once they are fried, add chillies and ginger and fry. Then add the onions and fry until golden brown. Then add the tomatoes and continue to saute.
3. After the tomatoes are cooked well, add the tomato puree and let it cook for a few mintues. Then add the turmeric powder, corriander powder, red chiili powder, and cumin powder and mix well.
4. (Optional) For enhanced taste you can add about 4 tablespoons of the mint-cilantro-ginger-chilli paste from the above (Mint Lassi) recipe.
5. Add the bread cubes and mix well so that the onion-tomato paste gets onto all of the cubes.
6. Take off from the stove, add lemon juice and garnish with cilantro leaves and your dish is ready.
MINT LASSI
Ingredients: (for 2 glasses of Lassi)
Mint leaves (1/4 bunch)
Cilantro leaves (1/4 bunch)
Grated Ginger (1/4 teaspoon)
Green Chilli (1 small)
Yogurt (2 cups)
Water (1/2 cup or adjust according to the consistency desired)
Salt (1/2 teaspoon or as per your taste)
Preparation:
Make a fine paste of the mint leaves, cilantro leaves, ginger and chilli. Add the yogurt, water and salt and blend the mixture (Add ice cubes if you like). The lassi is ready.
BREAD UPMA
Ingredients: (serves 2-3)
Onion (1 medium size)
Tomatoes (2 medium size)
Green Chillies (3)
Grated Ginger (1/2 teaspoon)
Mustard seeds (1 teaspoon)
Jeera (1 teaspoon)
Oil (3 tablespoons)
Tomato puree (1 cup)
Bread slices (10) - wheat bread also should be fine, but tastes slightly better with white bread
Cilantro leaves (garnish)
Salt (3 teaspoons or as per your taste)
Lemon juice (2 tablespoons)
Corriander powder (1 teaspoon)
Turmeric powder (1/2 teaspoon)
Red Chilli powder (1/2 teaspoon)
Cumin powder (1/2 teaspoon)
Prepartion:
1. Toast the bread slices and cut them into small cubes (say 9 cubes per slice)
2. Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard and jeera. Once they are fried, add chillies and ginger and fry. Then add the onions and fry until golden brown. Then add the tomatoes and continue to saute.
3. After the tomatoes are cooked well, add the tomato puree and let it cook for a few mintues. Then add the turmeric powder, corriander powder, red chiili powder, and cumin powder and mix well.
4. (Optional) For enhanced taste you can add about 4 tablespoons of the mint-cilantro-ginger-chilli paste from the above (Mint Lassi) recipe.
5. Add the bread cubes and mix well so that the onion-tomato paste gets onto all of the cubes.
6. Take off from the stove, add lemon juice and garnish with cilantro leaves and your dish is ready.
October 01, 2007
"Get Motivated" - Seminar!!
I attended the "Get Motivated" seminar last Tuesday in Dallas. A friend from my Toastmasters club told me about it. She had a couple of extra tickets she was giving away. I am so thankful to her for telling me about this seminar as I had an awesome experience there. The seminar had very renowned speakers like Zig Ziglar, Gen. Colin Powell, Coach Avery Johnson, and many others who spoke about various aspects of life.
The seminar started at 9:00am and went on till 5:30pm with a one hour lunch break. The seminar was held at the Reunion Arena and about 12000 people attended. We reached there about 15-20 minutes late, and when we entered the arena it was an overwhelming experience to see so many people - cheering and listening to the speaker who was on the center stage. After that we had excellent speakers one after the other all day and I came back home completely charged up. There are a number of different ways people get motivated. Listening to such speakers definitely motivates me a lot, of course I have to continuously work on it, else the effect starts fading out. At the gate we received a workbook which had articles by the 'Get Motivated' organization and the gist of what each speaker was going to talk about with space for notes. At the end of the seminar we also got a motivational DVD which had a talk by Zig Ziglar and Krish Dhanam.
We missed most part of the first speaker. Then came Brian Tracy, a leading expert on sales. He spoke all about sales and how to master it. One didn't have to be a salesman to find his talk useful. He showed how every aspect of life is actually a sale, whether it is convincing our kids to do something or putting an idea across the table at work. He spoke about the key principles/skills needed for sales negotiation. He motivated everyone to think of ourselves as the 'presidents of our lives' and hence are responsible for every aspect of our life. The next speaker was Bryan Flanagan who is a training expert. He spoke about the different stages of growth and figuring out which stage each of us are in. He also spoke about different categories or kinds of people(Bold, Expressive, Sensitive, and Technical) . Understanding these categories and behaving accordingly in our interactions with others would yield better results. The first thing he mentioned during his speech was Toastmasters clubs and how it helped him when he started out in his career. That was a great encouragement, especially as it was coming from an established speaker like him. Gen. Colin Powell, our former secretary of state spoke about core-values and sticking to them. He spoke about his life experiences, and his thoughts on immigration. It was a great pleasure listening to him speak. Phil Town, a financial expert spoke about the stock market and gave us a quick and simple tutorial on stock investment. It was a very informative session. I was never interested in the stock investments earlier, but now I have a new found interest.
Goldie Hawn, actress, oscar winner, and comedian spoke about being happy. Her speech was an entertaining and funny one. She motivated everyone on doing things that make us happy. Fame, fortune, success, or money need not make one happy. But knowing what is important for us in life and acting accordingly is what will make one happy.
Then of course there was Zig Ziglar who is known as the master of motivation. His speech was centered around living a balanced life. It is wonderful to see a person at the age of 80, so enthusiastic and energetic. His key message was that "if everything at home is fine, then life remains good!!". Then we had other speakers such as Peter Lowe, the person behind these seminars, Keith Craft who spoke on Leadership Capacity, and Bill Bartmann who is a self-made billionaire who spoke about the secrets of success.
During the break there was a small question-answer session with the Cowboys quarterack -Tony Romo and of course the audience cheered the most for him. There was short performance by this year's America's Got Talent winner - Terry Fator.
Finally the seminar ended with my most favorite speaker Avery Johnson - Mavericks team coach. He spoke about the qualities needed to win. His key point was to be excited and enthusiastic each and every day in life. If we are the enthusiastic person in a team, in the family, at work, in a club, or any organization, we automatically pass on the enthusiasm to everyone else around us. It helps us as an individual in getting where we want to be. I am out of words to express what an excellent speaker he is. He knows how to charge-up people. Now I know what it takes to coach a basketball team and motivate them each and every day.
On the whole an excellent seminar, absolutely worth going to if you get a chance. The tickets are also very reasonably priced with the group discounts.
Here's a link to their website: http://www.getmotivated.com
I hope I stay motivated!!!
The seminar started at 9:00am and went on till 5:30pm with a one hour lunch break. The seminar was held at the Reunion Arena and about 12000 people attended. We reached there about 15-20 minutes late, and when we entered the arena it was an overwhelming experience to see so many people - cheering and listening to the speaker who was on the center stage. After that we had excellent speakers one after the other all day and I came back home completely charged up. There are a number of different ways people get motivated. Listening to such speakers definitely motivates me a lot, of course I have to continuously work on it, else the effect starts fading out. At the gate we received a workbook which had articles by the 'Get Motivated' organization and the gist of what each speaker was going to talk about with space for notes. At the end of the seminar we also got a motivational DVD which had a talk by Zig Ziglar and Krish Dhanam.
We missed most part of the first speaker. Then came Brian Tracy, a leading expert on sales. He spoke all about sales and how to master it. One didn't have to be a salesman to find his talk useful. He showed how every aspect of life is actually a sale, whether it is convincing our kids to do something or putting an idea across the table at work. He spoke about the key principles/skills needed for sales negotiation. He motivated everyone to think of ourselves as the 'presidents of our lives' and hence are responsible for every aspect of our life. The next speaker was Bryan Flanagan who is a training expert. He spoke about the different stages of growth and figuring out which stage each of us are in. He also spoke about different categories or kinds of people(Bold, Expressive, Sensitive, and Technical) . Understanding these categories and behaving accordingly in our interactions with others would yield better results. The first thing he mentioned during his speech was Toastmasters clubs and how it helped him when he started out in his career. That was a great encouragement, especially as it was coming from an established speaker like him. Gen. Colin Powell, our former secretary of state spoke about core-values and sticking to them. He spoke about his life experiences, and his thoughts on immigration. It was a great pleasure listening to him speak. Phil Town, a financial expert spoke about the stock market and gave us a quick and simple tutorial on stock investment. It was a very informative session. I was never interested in the stock investments earlier, but now I have a new found interest.
Goldie Hawn, actress, oscar winner, and comedian spoke about being happy. Her speech was an entertaining and funny one. She motivated everyone on doing things that make us happy. Fame, fortune, success, or money need not make one happy. But knowing what is important for us in life and acting accordingly is what will make one happy.
Then of course there was Zig Ziglar who is known as the master of motivation. His speech was centered around living a balanced life. It is wonderful to see a person at the age of 80, so enthusiastic and energetic. His key message was that "if everything at home is fine, then life remains good!!". Then we had other speakers such as Peter Lowe, the person behind these seminars, Keith Craft who spoke on Leadership Capacity, and Bill Bartmann who is a self-made billionaire who spoke about the secrets of success.
During the break there was a small question-answer session with the Cowboys quarterack -Tony Romo and of course the audience cheered the most for him. There was short performance by this year's America's Got Talent winner - Terry Fator.
Finally the seminar ended with my most favorite speaker Avery Johnson - Mavericks team coach. He spoke about the qualities needed to win. His key point was to be excited and enthusiastic each and every day in life. If we are the enthusiastic person in a team, in the family, at work, in a club, or any organization, we automatically pass on the enthusiasm to everyone else around us. It helps us as an individual in getting where we want to be. I am out of words to express what an excellent speaker he is. He knows how to charge-up people. Now I know what it takes to coach a basketball team and motivate them each and every day.
On the whole an excellent seminar, absolutely worth going to if you get a chance. The tickets are also very reasonably priced with the group discounts.
Here's a link to their website: http://www.getmotivated.com
I hope I stay motivated!!!
September 12, 2007
Maya Ravan and Simply Sonu
Last weekend, we saw 'Maya Ravan' - a Bharatanatyam concert which was a show to support AID (Association for India's Development) Dallas. This show is directed by Padmashree Shobana. She along with 8 other dancers gave an excellent performance of Bharatanatyam. They created collages, where in through dance moves they depicted various aspects of life. The main part of the concert was the performance of different parts of Ramayana.
After an introduction by AID Dallas chapter, the concert started with the Welcome dance. It was followed by a few collages. I particularly liked the 'Vande Mataram' which was a tribute to all Indians and their professions. Through the collage Shobana and the other performers depicted all kind of professions and how Indians excel in them starting from agriculture to beauty pageants and outsourcing.
Then they performed the 'Maya Ravan' which was a dance-drama fusion with English dialogue. The voices were of Naseerudin Shah as Ravan, Jackie Shroff as Dasharatha, Suhasini as Surpanaka, Revathy as Kaikeyi, and many others. During the first half of the drama, Shobana played the role of Kaikeyi and during the second half after the break she played the role of Ravana. She displayed excellent dance and acting skills. We could see a stark difference in the two roles as she was the queen in the first half and a rakhsasa king in the second half. She totally changed the way she would walk, dance and the way she carried herself in order to accurately depict the character.
Shobana looked absolutely stunning in her various outfits and her performance was excellent. As a director, she did a a very good job and came up with a very creative and enjoyable dance fusion. The music was good, all the other performers did a great job, and on the whole a great display of talent. I particularly liked the performers who played Sita and Hanuman. Here's a short video clip on youtube which shows glimpses of this concert:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ss2f8tabH0o
Shobana looked absolutely stunning in her various outfits and her performance was excellent. As a director, she did a a very good job and came up with a very creative and enjoyable dance fusion. The music was good, all the other performers did a great job, and on the whole a great display of talent. I particularly liked the performers who played Sita and Hanuman. Here's a short video clip on youtube which shows glimpses of this concert:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ss2f8tabH0o
The organizers did a great job of starting and ending the show absolutely on time and as per the plan. Of course, the credit for punctuality also goes to the performer Shobana and her troupe. She was absolutely modest and came on to the stage without much of an introduction or fanfare. It was time absolutely well spent and relaxing and am eager to watch more of her shows.
Another concert that we attended recently is the Simply Sonu concert. That was an evening filled with fun, music, dance and dhamaka. We thoroughly enjoyed the 4 hours. Along with Sonu Nigam were singer Gunjan who sang about 4-5 songs, and his father Agam Nigam who sang a couple of old ones. Comedian Ravi Raj entertained the audience with his jokes and mimicry during half-time, when Sonu Nigam got a chance to take a break. Sonu Nigam performed all his popular numbers you can think of and was absolutely a pleasure to listen to. Towards the end he also obliged to the audiences requests and sang a few lines of each of the requests. There were about 6000 people in the audience and most them had little lights that they were flashing during the show. Once the auditorium was dark, these lights made it look like sky full of stars which looked beautiful. Probably this happens more often these days at concerts, but it was the first time for me, as I was went to concert after a long time.
One the whole an excellent show, beautiful light effects and got to listen to very good songs. The only downside was that the show started an hour late and the waiting was almost a torture. I do hope that the organizers and performers strive to be more punctual in future.
Another concert that we attended recently is the Simply Sonu concert. That was an evening filled with fun, music, dance and dhamaka. We thoroughly enjoyed the 4 hours. Along with Sonu Nigam were singer Gunjan who sang about 4-5 songs, and his father Agam Nigam who sang a couple of old ones. Comedian Ravi Raj entertained the audience with his jokes and mimicry during half-time, when Sonu Nigam got a chance to take a break. Sonu Nigam performed all his popular numbers you can think of and was absolutely a pleasure to listen to. Towards the end he also obliged to the audiences requests and sang a few lines of each of the requests. There were about 6000 people in the audience and most them had little lights that they were flashing during the show. Once the auditorium was dark, these lights made it look like sky full of stars which looked beautiful. Probably this happens more often these days at concerts, but it was the first time for me, as I was went to concert after a long time.
One the whole an excellent show, beautiful light effects and got to listen to very good songs. The only downside was that the show started an hour late and the waiting was almost a torture. I do hope that the organizers and performers strive to be more punctual in future.
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