Engaging in positive sweet thoughts during tough times

The last two weeks have been interesting. The smoke which kept us from walking for a few days that finally cleared. The blue skies were back as were the birds and little critters..

Then there was some walks in the evening with some amazing skies.. 

an attempt to make mysore pak during lunch..

the end result was okay.. put a little too much ghee and kept it on the stove a minute longer.. so while the taste was good, it was a little hard.. it has been at least 4 years since I tried making mysore pak and the next attempt will be better..

practice makes perfect.. and the one thing I finished in the last two weeks is learning the entire Shiva Thandava Stotram.. 

Made this color coded chart based on the template for understanding the meaning of every verse using a primary theme with sub concepts (green is primary message, blue second, red third, orange and gray fourth and fifth level).. helps understand the meaning and remember (uploading this one as a large jpg that prints as a single page in hopes others can use this to learn).

and here is my attempt to recite this earlier today..having a camera in front of you makes you conscious.. can say it without any glitches off camera..

The days are going by fast. The usual work, yoga routine all from a mat in the same place is still ongoing.

There is the occasional parking lot yoga practice which makes my day! 

It is just that I have been meaning to blog for a long time and never got to it. Skipping watching a debate and writing this seemed to be a better idea! 

Learning something new, practicing things and creating some things that actually put a smile on your face are much better options for spending time!

Understanding the Besan Sugar Ghee Ternary Phase Diagram -aka Mysore Pak

Any South Indian Materials Engineer worth his salt (or sugar) will know that Mysore Pak is derived by going through many a tie line on the Besan-Sugar-Ghee ternary phase diagram, with many solid phases, liquid phases in equilibrium, non-equilibrium, etc. etc..

But you eventually get to that sweet spot after an hour or so of stirring the mix in various proportions!

For those who are not materials engineers, it might be a daunting task to get to this sweet over that one hour period.

To specially help those, the two videos below show you how to make the south Indian delicacy.

Take heart. If I can do this you can.

Couple of Notes:

1. Make sure you put some Ghee on the pan where you pour the mix finally. (My camcorder did not record that part)

2. If you are not used to touching hot objects, do not touch the pan or tong and try to lick off hot mysore pak. You will get burnt.

3. Indian stores sell pre made Ghee. Expensive, but can save you time.

Hope you have fun making and eating Mysore Pak.

Do post your experience, notes, suggestions in the comments.

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Mysore Pak - Do it Yourself Videoblog

From 9:45 to 10:54PM tonight, the Mysore Pak was made..and video'ed.

The footage is long and initial editing makes the video a good 17 odd minutes.

Have applied for a special Youtube account, but don't know if they will give me one.. you see they want to give it only if you intend to make money out of videos!

Will break it into two videos and post it tomorrow.

Whole house smells Mysore Pak and it does taste divine.

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Cooking Made Easy for Male Graduate Students

Have decided to Photo/ Videoblog 12 recipes between now and end of this year to help initiate young males (read FOB grad students and others who are not used to cooking) to some recipes that can be used to

a. get out of the boredom of sandwiches, pizza and ramen noodles
b. cure kitchenophobia
c. impress the ladies (trust me on this one)

Will show you how to make Mysore Pak by this weekend. Yes, if I could do it, you can do it.

For added effect (in the impression department) decide to make Mysore Pak on a whim at 3 AM after a group of you have stayed up late playing card games. When someone suggests "who is going to make the next round of tea?" ask "Why don't we have some hot Mysore Pak instead?" and the girls might look at you the same way they look at the Mysore Pak...as usual I digress...

Just wait for a videoblog...

ps. most of these recipes are the "desi engineering grad student's" versions and are not necessarily created by me.

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