A walk through the old house

 This October I went home, after almost 2 years. It was a long wait. Sometimes it feels that I have lost the perception of time/date/day. Is it due to COVID or due to the February winter storm or simply due to age?? I don't know..

 The journey took more than 36 hours with long transits, but I finally reached home and I am very thankful for that. Thankful for all the people I have in my life, thankful for all the conversations that I can have with my family and friends..thankful for all the memories we make together.

It was a short trip for about 12 days. The Autumn sun and some late splashes of Monsoon made my days. And in between the Durgapuja festivities, I made couple of trip to the embassy to renew visa for Maa. As we were ferrying from North to South Kolkata, one of the days, we decided to visit Raja Ram Mohan Roy's House. 

A day at Sarat Kuthi, Samtabere

I have long harbored the desire of visiting the homes of my favorite authors. To me this is a sort of pilgrimage. To be in the house where those masters lived and to get soaked in those atmospheres is a timeless unique experience.

Till now I have visited mansions of Victor Hugo, Rabindra Nath Tagore, Ernest Hemmingway, Bibhuti Bhushan Bandopadhyay, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Last year I had the opportunity to visit Samtabere, a small quaint village in Howrah - where Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay resided in the last decade of his life.

Although Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay does not need an introduction, but I cannot resist the temptation to introduce him to my readers. Sarat Chandra is a master story teller. His novels and short stories are equally famous among young and grown ups. Many of the novels have been converted to films across different regional languages of India. Different people have their reasons for liking Sarat babu's writing. Sarat Babu lived in the time when caste system was quite predominant amongst the society - but his writings had a humane touch, they are tales of compassion and tales of valor. His canvas lacked any overt agenda, but it had subtle messages.
 Many of  the characters of Sarat Babu have a shade of his personality. Be it Ram or Srikanta or Sabyasachi or Ramesh - the characters  have always raised voice against social oppression, communal conflicts.

Sarat babu was quite sensitive to the struggles and aspiration of women. Although on a first glance the women protagonists look very simple, their lives are tied to daily household chores,  but deep inside they all exude strengths of empathy and courage. 

It was a wet winter morning. As we started our drive, mist engulfed the windscreen. Samtabere is 70 Km South East of Dumdum. Shortly after crossing Bagnan, one of the offshoots from NH 2 goes towards Samtabere. 

I was keen to explore his home. The house built in 1900s has a huge Burmese influence. Sarat babu had spent part of life in Burma ( currently Myanmar).The two storied building has all 4 sides open. 

Manna babu, a veteran ( third generation to serve at Sarat Babu's house) takes care of the house. Although Manna Babu is old, but he was very patient to show and explain the house.  The entrance of the house had encryption from the novel Mahesh. The lines read like this : 

"Allah, punish me as much as you like, but Mahesh died with thirst on his lips. Nobody left the tiniest bit of land for him to feed on. Pray never forgive those their guilt who never let him eat the grass nor drink the water you have given."

Those who have read Mahesh, they know the story still serves a mirror to the society. The love between Gofur and his Mahesh still exists and embarassingly, the hatred between man to man still exists as well.

The two storied house was originally made up of mud. A huge sprawling garden lies all around the house. As the wind caressing the stem,the bamboo shoots was carving out a music. Long back,the river Rupnarayan used to flow next to the house, but now with time, the river has drifted away. A small pond lies in front of the house. Life in Samtabere is still very simple - villagers often come down to wash their dishes or fish in the pond. Manna Babu told us that Kartik and Ganesh, the famous fishes in "Ramer Sumati" used to reside in this pond. Also the Guava tree which was mentioned in Ramer Sumati, lies at the entrance to the house ( a replica at the original position).

On side of the long verandah at the ground floor, lies Sarat babu's writing room. The desk, long arm chair are still there. A small window opens to the garden. I could conjure up a hot summer afternoon and Sarat babu at work on his desk. The living room features some of the items used by the author - his bed, book shelf, medicine cabinet, family deities. The wall clock still works faithfully.

On the back side of the house, there is a granary and a small kitchen. 

Sarat Babu used to be president of Indian National Congress, Howrah district. His house was an important meeting place for the freedom fighters.

As we thanked Manna Babu and went down the red path, I realized how much this trip meant to me. Deep down inside me, there was a sense of happiness and peace. As we passed through the dusty roads and negotiated our way past thundering trucks, the mind kept wandering back. To the world where Sabyasachi, Indranath, Ram reigned. To the house where Subhash Chandra Bose , Chittaranjan Das used to pay visit. Silently I paid my tribute to Sarat Babu.

Kitchen garden from scraps

This is perhaps going to be the last  "garden"' post for 2017.

Winter is setting in Southern Texas. My balcony garden is still growing strong. The bitter melon climber has taken almost the entire garden. Indian flat beans is also beaming healthy.

I feel happy when I look at my garden. Most of my babies are my own, they are not from nursery! Most of them are forgiving as well and each of them have an unique story!

The other day as I was wiping off the kitchen sink, I saw this!

For the uninitiated, this is a half used Garlic pod, which was left unkempt at one of the corner of sink. But, I guess, Mother Nature decided to intervene here, and hence you can see the new roots and shoots popping out of the pod! I have faithfully transferred the pod to my garden, let's see what happens!


Today I want to talk about how I use kitchen scrap to regrow my garden. As I said, I don't visit nursery often. I regrow from leftovers, I collect seeds from veggies and fruits and regrow them - in old containers, milk tins etc. Here is my previous post on how to reuse kitchen scraps.

This year I am growing Ginger in my garden and am satisfied at the moment with its growth and vigor. Select a piece a piece of Ginger which has a bud/eye in it and pot it. The area should be sunny, but not under direct sunlight.

Ginger plant re-grown from Ginger root

An easy recycling project comes from the milk powder containers. Agreed these containers are quite small hence can house only small plants , but still there is no harm in potting some annual plants! The tin containers can be given makeover with acrylic paint. And , oh yes, don't forget to make some holes at the bottom of the container!

Milk powder container to gardening pots

I often use egg cartons as seed starter. This helps me to prevent overcrowding.

 Growing Fenugreek ( Methi) here

Some veggies are just magical, you can regrow them over and over again!
What do you do with the left over spring onions? New sprigs can be easily grown from the left over pieces. Soak the white part ( root) in water for couple of days before re-potting them into soil.

Regrowing spring onions

Did you know that food tastes way better when you grow them in your own garden?!!

An ode to my garden - fusible applique project 2

The weekend crafter is back! 

Last month went through a haze. I got accepted at the UoH, M.Ed in Curriculum and Instruction ( with emphasis in Learning Design Technology) and my classes started! Houston also witnessed partial solar eclipse. The clouds kept coming, so I was not as lucky as I was in 1995!! Just as the school session started we got slammed by Harvey.It created a havoc in Houston. The hurricane stalled for three days and on the top of that, Army corps decided to release water from the Barker Cypress reservoir. Some of the communities might require years to go back to the original "normal". Fortunately we were spared, but it completely  breaks my heart to see the horror stories.

I finished this applique project in one afternoon. Yes it is as easy as it sounds!I taught myself applique long ago. One of the famous applique from India is Pipli applique work. There are lots of different way in which applique can be done, but at the moment my favorite medium is fusible applique! With little imagination, almost every project can be transferred to an applique.

I had this cotton blouse in my closet, a blouse which is very comfortable but lacks a kitsch! I loved the soft pastel color when it was brand new, but now, after almost 2 years this blouse looks quite pale/ And these are the perfect project to get a makeover. To add some zing I first color dyed it with Rit and then appliqued on it! 

And this project is an ode to my small balcony garden.

The tutorial for creating a fused on applique design can be found here. I used different pieces of fabric to create hat, ribbon, body, shoes etc. Once I had created and cut all the designs, I fused them one after another to give a complete look.

One of the nice things about applique is that you can put to use the old fabrics, reuse parts of old dress. The white watering can is made from a blouse which I used to wear in 2007! Almost 10 years is gone, but it feels nice that a part of my favorite blouse is still with me!

What do you do with your favorite dresses as you outgrow them/ they grow old? Do you reuse them in one way or other? 

Go green - summer garden bounties!

Over the past few years gardening has become my stress buster. It gives me a sense of joy and accomplishment. There is a huge sense of satisfaction to see something in my plate which has been grown by me. Although my endeavors have been mostly confined to pots,due of lack of garden space, but still with little care and thoughtfulness growing own vegetables is  very much possible.

 What are you growing this summer? Our small balcony is facing towards West. From June onwards it becomes quite challenging to keep everything in healthy green state. Here are few tips and pictures from our balcony garden:

Chrysanthemums / Chandramallika

Chrysanthemums are quite easy to grow, this plant is almost two and half years old. Each summer it goes back to dormancy but again comes back to life when the temperature drops down during Fall. My only challenge with this plant was to save it from aphids. During spring when the stems are soft it attracts bunch of aphids which can completely stun the growth of the plant. Ultimately I had to resort to Neem oil to repeal the pests.

Begonia

Hibiscus

Two years back, a friend of ours moved back to California and ever since then we adopted her Hibiscus plant along with a bunch of others. 

Marigold

Marigold is another simple stunner. And the best part is the dry petals are the "seeds"!! I have been able to give away baby Marigold saplings to my neighbors!

Kalanchoe/Patharkuchi

Kalanchoe is one of my favorite and hardy plants. This Kalanchoe is with me for the last 7 years and have survived one frost as well!

Sweet Jasmine, they are synonymous with summer

It is a lovely feeling when you wake up in the morning, step to your living area and the sweet smell of Jasmine wafts through the morning air.

Groundnut

This is the first time I have decided to experiment with Groundnut and I would report my success or failure in the coming months!! Fingers crossed!

Potato plant flowers

The greatest showstopper for this year would be potato plants!

Potato in a pot!

I planted them around March and harvested them around end of June. Potatoes are very much possible within a pot. I planted potatoes which already had an "ëye"on it, kept adding soil as it grew and covered the top soil with discarded tea leaves to retain the moisture. At the end of the season the trees delighted me with bounties and I am definitely elated!

This is the first time I am growing potatoes and I learned quite a few important lessons:

• As usual time/temp is quite important. Since Houston tends to get very hot by end of June, it is imperative that the growing window is quite short ( End February - Mid June) and one should make best use of it
• Late blight or brown blotches is quite a dreadful disease which appears as a brown patch on the leaf and unfortunately my potato plants were not spared. I had to resort to pruning the affected area to get rid of this fungal disease. 

This year I also planted microgreens in my window sill. I grew spicy Mizuana. The experiment was not very successful though. May be I will repeat the experiment again later!

Indian flat beans/ shim

Indian flat beans or Shim are a tall slim, climber variety which needs support. The plant is self pollinating which makes the job easy for a gardener!

Tomatoes

Parsley

Curry patta

Red capsicum or bell pepper

Green pepper

And here are the picture of my produce :

Produce 1

Produce2

Produce 3

Green pepper pickle! Mirchi aachar

Apart from gardening updates, in a future post I would share how I incorporate reuse and recycling in my gardening endeavors! And before I sign off, hang on , please say Hello to another friend of me as well!

Meet Mr. Bob,  am sure you will be charmed by the bright red display on his throat!

Rainy morning and my cuppa - Lemongrass-Mint Tea

It is pouring since morning. Amidst the gushing flows of water I can also hear one or two birds chirping! What a soothing sound to the ears!
While watching the raindrops trickling down, I felt the urge to make strong tea. Tea infused with Lemongrass and Mint.

Like anything else, Tea is something very subjective! My husband likes black tea with Ginger, while I make Tea with milk and other spices. And making a Tea is a fine balance - a right balance between water, milk, ginger and spices.

I first saw Lemongrass in the markets of Mumbai, which is being sold as "Nimbu Ghaans". I never paid attention to this herb, until I was introduced to Thai cuisine during the later stages of my life. Lemongrass is generously used in South East Asian cuisine. The Parsi community in Mumbai also uses Lemongrass in their Tea. One of my friends from Gujarat served me Lemongrass tea one afternoon and ever since then, I am in love with this Tea!! I was so determined to master this Lemongrass Tea, that I went to nursery to buy Lemongrass plant, so that I always have a fresh stash of Lemongrass at my disposal!

Lemongrass is easy to grow, it is drought and frost resistant. My Lemongrass plant is over a year old and nothing can beat the joy of plucking Lemongrass and Mint from my balcony garden and making strong, aromatic cup of tea!

Here comes the recipe of Lemongrass Mint Tea ( makes one cup)

• Water - one cup
• Milk - 1/2 cup
• Tea leaves  - one spoon
• Sprigs of lemongrass - roughly chopped - 1/4 th cup
• Roughly chopped mint leaves - 1/4 th cup
• Green cardamom pods - lightly crushed - 5 or 6
• Sugar ( optional)

Process:

• Heat water in a pan. Once it has started boiling, gently pour lemongrass, mint and cardamom pods. Let it boil for 3-4 minutes
• Add milk and lower the temperature slightly
• Add tea leaves and let it boil in simmering heat for another 2- 3 minutes. Let the tea get infused with aromatic and delectable herbs. Sugar is optional at this stage.
• Strain into tea cups and serve warm!

So raising a virtual cup of cheer to all of you!!

Turning kitchen leftovers into something else

It's summer time.

Am getting ready for my kitchen garden. As I sow seeds or young saplings, I also like the fun of turning kitchen scrap to something more meaningful!

Almost every summer I grow Pui Shaak ( Malabar Spinach). They are easy to propagate from stem cuttings. Cut below one of the leaf node and pot them in moist soil. Once you pot them , it might take two - three weeks for the first set of leaves to appear. While they are getting ready, I keep them in a slightly shaded area and then there is no turning back! Malabar Spinach is quite a hardy plant.
Give them ample sun, ample water and love! They will definitely make you happier!
So, next time while you are chopping the Malabar Spinach for making your veggie medley, don't put everything in the wok, you can save a part of it put back into the soil, wait for few weeks and let Nature do the job!

Young leaves have started to appear. This almost took around 3 weeks. Be gentle while watering; roots might take another couple of weeks to penetrate deep enough in the soil

As we are talking about kitchen leftovers, that reminds me to share another good idea. Save the egg shells, pulverize them to coarse powder and use it as a Calcium supplement.

Somewhat coarsely grinded egg shells

Go green and happy gardening everybody!

Saturday morning

Saturday mornings are like new promises unfolding slowly.

I can hold the cup of tea a bit longer. Can have a long gaze at my balcony garden and carry on a silent conversation with my greeny winnies.

Saturday mornings are a happy start. The kitchen seems a lot slower on Saturday and it should be!

I had not baked anything for a long time. A kind of inertia effect you may say! I was feeling a bit nervous about the proportions. But still the thought of a room filled up the smell of Carrot cake was a strong motivation to start the process of baking a cake.

While I sometimes hesitate on baking, on the other hand ,  my Maa has strong interest in baking. She bakes good cake and Nankhattai ( semolina cookies). Her cakes are simple, yet tad more delicious from the ones baked from stores. Back in 1980's when she started baking, microwave ovens had not make an appearance in the market. Maa had a simple electrical cake oven. It was probably Murphy brand. Sometimes the coil used to wear out and we had to get it fixed.
It didn't had any temperature control, but still the baked cakes were yummy.

Her ingredients were also simple - Vanilla essence and dried fruits. I have memories of helping her during the baking process. Sometimes she would ask me to whip the eggs or sometimes I would cut the butter paper in circles which would be used as a liner in the baking tray.

I looked into few Carrot cake recipes from the web and did little changes. The end results were very gratifying!

There is nothing better to me than sitting on the balcony with a huge coffee mug and savor a slice of Carrot cake!

Recipe for Carrot cake :

All purpose flour : 2 cups ( sieved)

Oil : 1.5 cups

Eggs: 4

Baking powder: 2 tea spoon

Cinnamon powder : 2 tea spoon

Ground Sugar : 2 cups

Salt : 1 tea spoon

Grated Carrot : 1.5 cups

Grated Coconut: Half cup

Sliced almonds : Half cup

Sieve the flour. Whisk the eggs thoroughly. Now mix together the flour, sugar, oil, eggs, salt and baking powder. You may do it manually or use the electrical cake beater.  Fold in the grated Carrot, Coconut, Almonds, Cinnamon powder as well.

In the meanwhile grease the pan, and dust it with flour lightly. I used a 9 by 13 inch pan. Preheat the oven at 325 degree C.
Once it is ready pour the batter and let it bake at 350 degree C. I baked for 35 mins and had to use another 15 mins of standing time.
It is not that difficult. Once you have the ingredients in your pantry, it is really easy!

Lil S trying to get his share as I try to capture an image