nisha manoj

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Monday, September 23, 2013

tasty sweet laddus

Hi lets cook something sweet and fast.

Ingredients:
Condensed milk
Grated coconut - 1 cup
Roasted and crushed cashews nuts -1cup
Roasted sesame seeds - 2tbsp
Khoya peda/barfi -1 piece

Dry roast the coconut , add roasted crushed cashewnuts, then the sesame seeds.
Keep stirring for some time till coconut turns dry.
Next crumble the peda or barfi [you mat khoya itself too]
Add condensed milk and stir till laddu consistency is achieved.
With little water wet your fingers and palm to make the laddus immediately.
Cool and serve.

This is an extremely fast dish to serve guests who give you surprise visits. Surprise them :)

Sweater/Cardigan by a beginner - knitting and crochet

I am now breaking my finger bones knitting a sweater/cardigan ...it calls for a lot of patience ..trust me ...i keep measuring the length every 5 mins of work and it hardly seems to increase much though.

The project is a cardigan without sleeves (am not very confident about the sleeves ...just a beginner).

Allow me to tell you some important tips when you proceed with your adventurous cardigan knitting project (not that i am an expert at it).

I decided to make a very comfortable (not figure hugging) cardigan with a length of 26 inches which includes the length from sleeve hole to neck being 7 1/2 inches) and using a needle size 10 mm.


The process is as follows:

BACK - cast 150
Row 1 = 2Knit [K] then 2Purl [P] till the end
Continue this row till 4 inches width
Next Row = K increasing 5 stitches each on both ends so the total number of stitches by the en of the row is 160
Next Row = P
Continue knitting and purling the alternate rows till 18 1/2 inches length

To achieve the sleeves we shall reduce the stitches at the ends of the rows in the of 5, 4 , 3, 2 and 1 every row.

Then continue to knit and purl as usual for 7 1/2 inches.
When the length is 26 inches cast off.

FRONT - The front is similar to the back but in two pieces
So cast 75 and increase to 80
Continue knitting and purling
Make sleeves only on one end of the 5 rows
After sleeves the row 6 can start with reducing 1 stitch each on the opposite end to form a "V" shape neck .

It would be interesting to note the edgees of the sleeves and the neck has been double crochet in 2-3 rows as required.

Hope you like this beginner's piece of work. :)


Gardening bitter gourd in a pot

Hi all ..i have a story to tell about hope ...i had just moved into my new home and had no plants in my balcony. My mom loves gardening but i never had the time.

Well the story goes like this ...i purchased few bitter gourds from my local vegetable vendor and forgot them in my refrigerator [i guess thats how the fruit is treated by most :)] . As destiny of my plant would have it during my routine cleaning round  i discovered a plastic bag with two yellow , drenched bitter gourds with the juices seeping through the bag. yuck!!

When i tried to throw the gourds along with the bag few seeds glared at me through the bag ..bright red real beauties ...i was so mesmerised that they went straight to the pot with a little soil and water. I really didn't expect frozen seeds to sprout anyway but didn't feel like throwing them away. So thats where they went ...into the pot with one last chance to life.

Few days and life burst into full view in the form of a small sapling - green , beautiful and happy. One seed was pushed out of the soil bed and the tiny leaves still had a seed crown protecting from all the harsh worldly elements. It brought with it hope and joy. I tied a string so that it could support the growth. Before i knew i had to use a tree branch to support and rush of life.This fellow was quite enthusiastic about knowing the world.

This sapling has a beautiful survival story of its own too ...it begins like this ..few weeks into the world my dear little plant made friends with the crows ..the pot which was mounted on the balcony ledge became the neighbouring crows chatting spot. I shouldn't forget to mention that the crows come to quench their thirst from a plastic icecream cup that is filled with water everyday in my balcony.These crows rule my life every morning if the water is not filled. They create a ruckus near the window of any room i may be working in till their demand is met. Trust me - crows are turning humans.

One fine windy day my pot of hope does a crash landing from 2 storeys high shattering the pot into pieces ending the plant in a state of coma ...the vines were broken .. roots in bits. With a heavy heart i transplanted whatever was left of the plant into a plastic bag and kept in the corner of the floor. For 5 full days my plant was in an emergency unit with me praying for its well being. The plant was in a coma - neither dying nor reviving - then slowly the rays of light ...new vines started growing and within 2 weeks time it was decorated with small buds and 1 large lovely yellow flower.
;0
The plant had a lot of yellow flowers but none resulted in fruits. They bloom one day and fall the next day. I would like share few tips that i dug out google [my best friend] ...if the plant is only flowering and not yielding any fruit it is because all those flowers are male flowers ..for a plant to bear fruit it needs to be shocked into thinking that it needs to procreate else this is the end of its kind [that is stunt growth] ..the best method that worked for me was [1] cut the alternate vines that grow [2] cut the main vine from the tip [3]  water alternate days [4] keep it in a little shade

I got 3 female flowers within a week. Another week there were lots of small saplings i the bag. All the other dormant seeds started rushing forth into my life. My joy knew no bounds and my heart has still not stopped leaping.

Now i know why gardening can heal. [ don't miss my pics :)]