Kolam design

Design - 14

When I hear the word Green - Part I

I first recognised the colour in my childhood days when my mother introduced me into the world of nature by describing things around us & developed the habit of admiring Nature and enjoy the changing ambiance around. Thus I grew up becoming a nature lover.

During my childhood days, whenever I was given an injection, she always told me to look into something green in colour which will lessen my pain. Whether it did or not, I had the habit of watching green things inside the clinic while getting injected and luckily those days, many doctors had a green curtain in their clinic.

When I happened to see a crow's nest. I was so surprised to see the green spotted eggs as I have seen only white eggs till then.

When I first saw a green flower in my uncle's place. I have never seen a flour which is green in colour till then. It is a 'kanakambaram' (tamizh language) flower. which is known in english as 'firecracker flower' and botanical name crossandra infundibuliformis.

Normally it is seen in three different colours. Orange, Dark red like orange and yellow :-

 image courtesy : google search

the green one taken during one of our trip looked like this :-

My mother said during her childhood days, the house where they stayed in had a green rose tree. It was so old and has grown big & thick like a tree. Though I have not seen one in real so far, here is the link for a green rose which one of my blog pal is growing in her garden and recently made a post on that :-

http://artandcraft-artahead.blogspot.in/2012/03/green-rose.html

I love the green grasses in the lawn. Love to lie on them & stare at the blue sky above me. I love to do night sky watching lying on the cool grass on a hot summer day.

Greenery brings freshness to our eyes and mind. That is why we love to sit in a garden or enjoy our trip to a hillstation or country side. 

With the increasing concrete jungle culture, seeing greenery  is like a oasis on a dessert. Some bring green into their house with pot garden. whether it is a normal plant or a bonsai or terrarium. Whatever be the form, they bring a life into our house. Due to lack of space, I could not go for big potted plants. Hence I bought small indoor plants to satisfy my love for plants.

Terrarium :-

they are miniature garden which grows on moss. In places where there are water shortage, these comes handy. Here is the link to the sight which talks about terrarium and how to make a terrarium "http://www.stormthecastle.com/terrarium/"

Image courtesy :- google search

Green is also considered as a symbol for prosperity. who will not love to see lush green around them!  Luckily we have big gardens in our area to satisfy that thirst of our eyes.

The sahyadri hills & western ghats get covered with lush green carpet during the monsoon season. During winter we can see blossoms of various colours blooming here & there making tiny decorative patches on the green carpet. I still remember our trip to Matheran and Mahabaleshwar during the end of monsoon season. I was not having the camera that time to share the pictures with you. But they are still fresh in my mind.

Green Colour plays such an important part in our life refreshing our mind as well as soul.

Let us go green :-)

Continued.............. part - II

An evening in the Garden - Tenali Raman Stories

Raman is very good in presenting timely wits and ease the tense of the situation.

One Evening, in the Palace Garden, the King, Tenali Raman, few courtiers, general, few important & brave soldiers were present. Some of them were boasting about their bravery in the war. They tried to portray themselves as the hero by with competing with each other in 'self praising'. Slowly they got into arguments.

Hearing this Tenali Raman got bored, raised from his seat, grinned and said "My friends, what you have done is nothing. I have done even more when I fought in the war"

Hearing this all of them were wondering "when did Tenali Raman fought in a war"?!

One man asked "Rama, when did you fight in a war? which one? what did you do?"

Raman replied "I cut the legs of an enemy soldier"

Another man asked "Why did you cut his legs? you should have cut his head. what bravery is there to boast about?"

Raman replied "What to do? Someone had already severed his head"

hearing this the garden was filled with laughter.

Lemon Pickle

Lemon has such a nice citrus flavour which is soothing for the soul. It leaves us refreshed with the flavour and when pickled makes a wonderful combination with curd rice.

We always like the home made pickles, hence every season I buy the veg that is available in the market during that season and this time, it is lemon.

The process will take 12 to 15 days for the pickle to be ready to use. Oil, salt and spices act as preservative. This pickle will stand good for 7 days at room temperature. So you can store it in fridge for longer period  [mine is still running :-) ]or mix in 3 tsp of vinegar to store for longer periods. If you are planning to make it in bulk quantity, you can store the large quantity in freezer. Transfer it to a small container whenever required for use.

Ingridients :

1. Lemon - 14 Nos.
2. Salt     - 7 tsp (heaped)
3. Red chilli powder - 5 tbsp
4. Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp
5. Methi seeds - 2 tsp
6. Sesame oil - 1 & 1/2 cup
7. mustard seeds - 1 tbsp
8. Hing powder - 1 tsp

Procedure :

• Sterilize the bottle you are going to store the pickle and dry, keep it ready.
• Wash lemon and wipe it with a clean cloth
• Chop a lemon into four. similarly keep all the lemons cut and ready.
• Sprinkle the salt over it and leave it to stand for 7 days, don't forget to mix them daily during those 7 days atleast twice a day.
• 8th day, Dry roast methi seeds, powder & keep ready.
• Heat oil, add mustard seeds, after they splutter, switch off the flame.
• Allow it to cool for a minute.
• Add hing powder (asafoetida) and allow it to cool for 5 minutes
• To the soaked (pickled) lemon pieces, add red chilli powder, Tumeric Powder and methi seeds powder, mix well. 
• Adjust the seasoning as per your taste (salt & red chilli powder)
• Add the oil with mustard seeds to it, mix well and store it in the clean container for another 7 days.
• Yummy flavourful lemon pickle is ready to accompany your dish to enhance the flavour & taste of the dish.