“When I get you all alone, I'm gonna move in nice and close. Ain't nobody gonna interrupt my game”

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

'Cause I like the way you're making your move
I like the way you're making me wait
At the end of the night, when I make you feel mine
You'll be coming on home with me, yeah, yeah, yeah

So many changes coming my way! I’ll go more in detail in another blog entry but for now I will recap the wonderful weekend of food and fun. To celebrate all the new changes Bhatji and I had dinner at Sequoia in Georgetown this past Saturday night. The ambience was breath taking and food was exquisite! To top it all off we had complimentary wine. Following dinner we celebrated with some wine tasting at Sonoma and spent 3 hours talking. It’s the best feeling when you have non stop conversation with your best friends but it feel even better when you have similar rousing conversations with your better half over glasses of delicious wines. On Sunday, for additional celebrations, we met up with my parents at Café Deluxe in Bethesda for a long brunch, followed by catching of the sold out movie "The Namesake”. We had wonderful seat (lady luck was smiling down on us) and the movie itself was pure inspiration! The beginning dragged just a little but once it picked up it sped through the brilliant story line provided by Jhumpa Lahiri and noteworthy acting by all the actors. To me, Mira Nair is a good director but definitely not the best; I loved the movie “Monsoon wedding” but did not enjoy the slow and borderline irritating “Kamasutra”. She has validated her role as a great director through “The Namesake”. I encourage everyone from my generation and younger to go with your parents to see this movie. It gives a very honest view on how Indian American kids deal with the duality of our cultures and how it affects our parents.
Well now for the yummy part of this blog. Last Thursday I made another Indo Chinese dish: Veggie Hakka Noodles. It was a combination of my mom and my grandmothers recipe.

Ingredients:
Half a packet of wheat Spaghetti Broken in half, boiled as per the directions on the packet
2 tbsp light cooking oil
1 large onion, sliced thin and long (use a mandolin if you have one)
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
½ cup broccoli (I used frozen)
1 bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 tsp ginger paste
2 tsp garlic paste
3 tbsp soy sauce
½ tsp chili powder
¼ tsp of garam masala
1 tsp pepper
Salt, to taste

To Make:
Heat the 2 tbsp oil in a pan. Add onions, ginger and garlic paste until the onions brown a bit. Add broccoli and the bell pepper and cook for 2 mins. When the broccoli starts to cook (softens up) add in the noodles and mix well with the veggies. Finally add the Soya sauce, pepper, garam masala, chili powder and mix thoroughly.




I have a few more recipes to share...so I will be writing soon; until then be eat happy, eat healthy.