Spicy Tomato Rice

This is a traditional South Indian Rice Dish that is very spicy and oh so tasty! If you've never had South Indian food before, this is a great place to start! This rice punches quite some heat, so if you prefer to have your food milder cut back on some of the chillies; I can't guarantee that it will taste as good, but you could surely give it a try.

Ingredients:

4-5 tablespoons Oil
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 whole dried red pepper (broken into pieces)
1 teaspoon chana dal
1 teaspoon black gram dal
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon red chili powder
3-4 thai green chillies sliced
1/2 onion finely chopped
4-5 tomatoes finely chopped
1 cup cooked rice
2 spring onions for garnish


Preparation:

1. Heat oil in a frying pan on med-high heat
2. Add in mustard seeds and allow them to pop
3. Add chana dal and gran dal and allow to brown slightly
4. Add in the dried red pepper and sauté for a few seconds
5. Put in the onions and green chillies. Cook until the onions become translucent
6. Next, add the turmeric powder and  red chili powder and sauté for a few seconds
7. Add in the tomatoes and cook until the tomatoes soften and become slightly liquidly
8. Lastly lower the heat and fold in the cooked rice
9. Garnish with the chopped spring onions and serve hot

Please let me know if you any question. Hope you enjoy! 

LOVE

Such a simple emotion, yet it brings with it at times such confusion.

I am no expert on the matters of the heart, I just know the truths that define who I am.  For me love is unconditional! There are no rules, no directions and no judgment. . .  it just is.  Love is pure and simple. For me there is no difference in love for friends, family, or a significant other. To me the way we love all the people in our lives is the same, we just express that love in different ways.

Anyone that knows me knows this to be true. My love for people is unconditional. Most think its crazy, but it is the all encompassing truth of who I am. When I love someone I give them my heart. . . my everything and I ask for nothing in return. I do things for the people I love regardless of the state of our relationship. Some would say this will only bring me pain, but I ask what pain can love bring?

If you love people truly, unconditionally, then nothing else matters. There are no grudges for a lack of communication between friends. There is no residual pain from a bad experience. There is no sorrow of dreams left unfulfilled. There is nothing but the feeling of love and compassion for someone else, which to me is the world most humbling feeling. We all have the ability to feel this compassion for other people but we let our fears get in the way of embracing them fully. We fear the pain of getting hurt, getting rejected, being taken advantage of and so on. But if you truly love unconditionally and expect nothing in return from the people that you love who can the hurt you, reject you or take advantage of you? Living without fear has helped me embrace this part of my self more. Trust me I know how difficult it can be to just love someone and not expect anything in return, but believe me when I say that when you begin to love unconditionally your world changes. Despite how people react to your love and compassion you are at peace knowing that you have shown them that you are there for them no matter what. I strongly believe that unconditional love has the ability to melt even the most powerful hatreds in the world, but maybe that is just my dream. . .

In this ever changing year, try to make another change in your life. Love the people in your life unconditionally and see how the year goes. I'm sure that it will be better then you could have ever imagined!

With Love & Peace

The New Year

It's finally here... 2012 ...

A few years ago, when I first started hearing about the prophecies of this year I was afraid partly due to my lack of understanding on the subject. But, the more I researched the subject the less afraid I became. The more I realized that this year is the year for change! 

It's only been 10 days into the new year and there are changes taking place all around us. From the unusual weather patterns to minor changes in our personal lives everyone that I know is going through a transitional phase right now. I personally am going through a growing phase, a phase of redefining who I am. I feel like I've been in this process for a while but I am finally at the stage where I am letting go of the things that have been holding me back and grasping onto the things that are propelling me forward! With this however come a great deal of struggle as well. I am entering the last phase of my masters degree and I am still uncertain exactly what road I want to go down. There are so many different avenues that I have a passion/ interest for, yet I don't know which one is best suited for me. What if I pick the "wrong" path and end up doing something that I hate?? That's always been a fear of mine, but now that I am learning to live life without fears I realize it doesn't matter. I know that whatever path I go down will be as permanent as I want it to be. Changing the course of your life is only dependent on your energy. The minute you begin to invest your energy into another avenue your life will begin to change without you even realizing it. This is a very comforting realization for me because I have so many aspirations that I want to accomplish. It's a nice feeling to know that you don't have to pick one.

With the growth that I am seeing within my self and those around me I can already sense that this year is going to be very thrilling! I know that there are going to be many adventures that I embark upon and ones that I will hear about and even some that I won't know about, yet I have a unshakeable feeling that all of our stories will be similar. Not in the adventures we take, but the lessons that we learn form them. 

So get ready for the ride! Buckle up and enjoy what 2012 has to offer!

With Love & Peace

Reset Button

I grew up playing video games on the original Nintendo console and I loved the fact that when I was losing or the game wasn't going the way that I wanted it to I could just reset the game and start over. So what if we could implement that same practice in our lives? The moment things began to go astray or became to complicated we could just reset and start over.

Unfortunately I don't know of any technology that allows us to truly reset our lives and start over at the beginning, but I think we naturally reset throughout our lives. The people that we are right now are far away from the people that we thought we would be when we were children and the people that we will be in the future won't be the people that we in-vision in this moment. The reason why is because we constantly reset our lives. Sometimes we do this consciously but most of time it happens unconsciously.

I've been traveling down a path now for the past 7 years that has lead me on a serious of crazy adventures. Some incredibly fulfilling and others extremely devastating. After every experience I learned something that helped me move on to another crazy situation but the chaos never stopped. Towards the end there were moments of fulfillment but mostly just devastation. Then one day I woke up and realized that I was tried of the chaos. While the past 7 years of my life would be something I would never erase, I had out grown it. I had walked down the same road over and over again. I knew what was waiting for me at each intersection and I didn't desire it anymore. Every ounce of my soul yearned to be somewhere else...anywhere else but where I was and that's when it happened...I got the answers that I had been waiting for; the conformation that I no longer had to travel this road anymore, the realization that I had seen everything that I could possibly see and now it was time to explore a new one. Despite everything, a part of me is saddened to leave the path that has been my home for so long, but I believe fully that one day I will turn onto this road again and be amazed at the transformation that has taken place. Until then I look forward to the new road I will be traveling on along with the new adventures that will sweep me away.

Everyone will reset the path they walk more then once in life and it will be scary, VERY SCARY, but remember that you wouldn't reset if it wasn't absolutely necessary for you to do so. The reason why one must go down a new path is because the path they were on wasn't where they needed to be. So when that day comes and you reset take the lessons that you've learned and set out on a new adventure with faith in your heart and peace in your soul. Know that you are right where you were meant to be and everything else will flow naturally.

 Today marks my reset day. The ending of one beautiful, crazy journey and the start of another.

 With Faith, Love & Peace!

Music Therapy

I usually don't write about music because my knowledge on the subject is very lacking. Not to mention that I have grown up listening to several different types of music that I've never really had one genre that was my favorite. I have recently come to realize that at different points in my life I've used different genres of music to help me cope with the struggles of life.  Each genre presents its own unique qualities that make each particular situation a little more calm. In the unsteady path of life music has been my walking cane that has given me balance when I needed it the most.

I spent a good bit of last night driving around DC listening to Kanye. Something about the situation just clicked. Seeing DC at night light (although I've seen it many times) and blaring My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy just made me so calm. I drove all over DC until the album was done and on the way home I just felt at peace. I've never really done that before and it was shocking to me to realize how peaceful just stepping away from a situation can be. When I left my apartment I was angry and all I wanted to do was yell on the top of my lungs but instead I just blared some music and drove around the city and by the time I got home I was peaceful. I was able to have a conversation and not get worked up. It was as if all the rage just left me. I've never felt that clear in my life. Felt like there was nothing there...just peace resonating and bouncing around the walls...an unbreakable peace!

I'm sure there are better ways of finding that peace or sense of clarity then blaring Kanye and driving through DC but until I find a better way I think that is going to be on the top of my list. Sometimes we all just need a little music to just step back and look at things differently. The next time your feeling overwhelmed, struggling, or in a conflict take a step back. Leave the situation and just blare some music...I grantee that you will see things a whole lot differently.

Thanksgivng Day

Originally I wanted to write a post on Thanksgiving Day talking about the importance of friends and family in our lives and how grateful we should all be to have people to spend the holidays with since there are many people that will be spending the holidays alone...I guess that post was never meant to be. Instead I wanted to share with you two stories, both of which are true, that took place over the thanksgiving day weekend.

Thanksgiving Day was wonderful this year. I got to spend the day with my dear friend and her daughters and nice. We started the morning off each sharing what we were thankful for this holiday season and simply enjoyed our selves. Since neither one of us felt like cooking, or rather I say felt like doing dishes, we decided to partake in the festivities at Golden Corral...just wait, the story get better. So we get there around 4 and there is a line almost outside the door! Apparently Golden Corral was the place to be. We finally get seated and grabed our plates and split up to get food. I'm waiting in line at the salad bar area and in front of me is this older Indian man that I don't know. A little boy comes running up to the line and jumps right in front of me. I don't say anything cause it's the holidays and it's really not going to kill me to wait a few extra seconds to get some salad on my plate. His sister, seeing him do this, immediately comes up to him and says, "Don't you see that they are together?". The little boy looks at me and then at the Indian man in front of him and apologizes for cutting in line.... I started laughing loudly, I'm sure the people thought I was crazy. I told the kids that I wasn't with the man and that it was okay that they cut in line. They both blushed and went about their business. Apparently even in the 21st century all Indian people are related, LOL.

 The next story takes place the next day:
After being at work for most of the day on black Friday, I meet up with my friend and her family since they were also at the mall to kill some time and get a bite to eat. We went to Guess since a member of the group wanted to get something. We were all hovered over her at the register and she was showing us what she was thinking of purchasing.  As we are discussing this, the associate asks us to move out of the way because someone was trying and pass through. I turn my head around to look and see who's path we were blocking because I hadn't noticed anyone come around us... Turns out the person the associate was talking about was me. LOL. Since my skin color didn't match that of those that I was with this man assumed that we were not together and that I was trying to get through. LOL... I can't help but laugh every time I re-tell this story. The whole 20 minutes that we were in there we kept cracking jokes about it and I'm sure the man felt bad, but our jokes weren't meant to judge him. I was simply to laugh at the society that we live in (at least that was my purpose). Apparently we can only be friends with people that have the same skin color as ourselves.

My thanksgiving was seriously entertaining and really made me realize how ignorant some people still are. I just hope that those of us that know better help others that are blinded see things a little differently. You have to be the change that you want to see because only through your actions will the world really change; wanting change is simply not enough.

A Story...

It's been a while since I have written a personal entry but I jut felt like I need to share this story...

I was at work (AE) yesterday in the fitting rooms helping people and processing the go backs, when in comes this little Indian girl wanting to try on a pair of jeans. She must have been about 12 years old; she was so very sweet. Well after letting her into the room her brother, who must have been only a few years older then her, came into the fitting room wanting to know what she was trying on. She opened the door to show him the jeans that she had picked out, which I must say looked great on her, anyhow the brothers immediate reaction was, "Those look like dude's jeans". I couldn't help but to laugh. But this is not what bothered me. After arguing back and forth about if they were "dude's jeans" the brother told his sister that she was not allowed to get the jeans because he had final say in the matter and his say was NO! I stopped what I was doing and just looked at them. I can only imagine what my face looked like to them, because I was very upset. To make matters worst their mother came in and without even asking the daughter what she thought turned to the brother and said, "What do you think", he immediately voiced his dislike for the pair of jeans and stated that he did not approve of her buying them. So the mother, again without even talking with her daughter, said that they would not be getting the jeans and that she should change cause they were getting late. At this point I was furious. I went over there and talked with the mother and told her about the quality of the jeans, and popularity of the style the daughter had on and after much convincing I got her to agree to get her daughter the pair of jeans. After getting changed back into her own clothes the daughter comes up to me and says, "Thank you so much!"


The Indian culture is wonderful. It's filled with a great amount of history and is very rich in its traditions however, there are aspects to it that don't always sit well with me. I'm not saying all Indian families function this way, but coming from a family that does I could really understand where the poor girl was coming from. I don't care what religious background you are coming from, but no older sibling should have that much power over their younger siblings. It's the 21s century for crying out loud.... why are people still trying to make women inferior!?! I was so outraged that the mother didn't even care what the daughters opinion was. I was even more outraged that they daughter just stood there silently not saying anything, although I can't blame her because many many years ago I used to be that little girl. As she was leaving I wanted to tell her to stand up for her self, to not let her brother have that much control over her life and to most importantly explain to her parents that she is no different then her brother and should therefore be treated equally. Unfortunately, it was not my place to say those things to her. Who was I to her?  Just the lady that let her into a fitting room, but I feel like somewhere deep down she understood all those things without me having to say them to her. I'm not sure how it impacted her life but I know for me it was something I needed to experience. It was like watching my past unfold in front of me and it was so very humbling to know that my tiny gesture may have changed the course of this young girls path.

Always Stand up for yourself and what you believe in. Don't let anyone tell you other wise. Make the decisions that you feel are best for you, even if you fall at least you want blame anyone for the decision and you will never have to question yourself about it.

LIVE YOUR LIFE!