Blogging 101, Day: Fifteen, create a New Posting Feature

 

 

Today’s task: develop a regular feature for your blog.

Today’s feature is : A flavor Friday: I got this recipe from YouTube. This is a samosa recipe, the girls call it sambusa. They are from Jeddah,Saudi Arabia, I guess in Arabic language it is Sambusa. As I wasn’t ready to make it myself, I decided to post the recipe from YouTube. Next week I will be ready to post my own recipe. I hope you won’t mind watching this recipe for this Friday.

All the best to you all.Here is the recipe:

 

Daily Prompt: The Perfect Game

You’re set to play poker( or Scrabble or something else…) with a group of four. Write a story set during the game, or describe the ideal match: the players, relationships,__ and the hidden rivalries.

Ideal Match– four players are:

Evelyn – my friend

Valerie- neighbor

Ranu- me

Selina – daughter

The tiles are taken by each of us.We are allowed seven tiles, they should be face down, so no one knows what the letters are. Each player should always have seven tiles, when some of the tiles are used they are allowed to get more  to  have seven at a time.

I start the game, out of the seven tiles I could only use three. Since I have used up three of my tiles, I had to pick four more tiles to make sure I always have seven tiles to work with.

I see Evelyn with a meaningful smile, oh no I thought, probably she can use all of her tiles at once. No she has used six of her tiles. It means she must pick up six more to make sure she has seven.

Valerie is deep in thought, an English prof. I bet she’d make an  unbelievable word, but she must have the right tile. She has placed five out of seven of her tiles on the board. The value of her tiles are higher than mine or Evelyn’s. Valerie has more points than us.

Next is Selina’s turn, she has a  crooked smile on her face. Wow! She used all her tiles. She picked up seven more tiles.

The first two rounds went well. The game was getting serious, I was getting tiles with less value and had the least points.

Valerie ,Selina and Evelyn were way ahead of me. The competition was among the three of them. This was the third round. Evelyn and I fell behind. Our points were way lower than Selina and Valerie’s.

After the third round, it was obvious that either Selina or Valerie had a chance to win.  Tiles with letters Q, X and Z were picked up by Valerie. She was able to make the word Quiz, she had the letters U and I. She was stuck with the letter X.

It was Selina’s turn, she was able to place her letters on the Quadruple word score. Her score was a bit higher than Valerie. Valerie was unable to use the  letter Z and ended up losing ten points from her total score. Selina was able to use all her letters on the board.

She was declared the winner!

…………………….. 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tagore Song: ay pauthay ami je, posted and translated by Ranu

এ পথে আমি-যে গেছি বার বার, ভুলি নি তো এক দিনও ।
আজ কি ঘুচিল চিহ্ন তাহার, উঠিল বনের তৃণ ।।
তবু মনে মনে জানি নাই ভয়, অনুকূল বায়ু সহসা যে বয়-
চিনিব তোমায় আসিবে সময়, তুমি যে আমায় চিন ।।
একেলা যেতাম যে প্রদীপ হাতে নিবেছে তাহার শিখা ।
তবু জানি মনে তারার ভাষাতে ঠিকানা রয়েছে লিখা ।
পথের ধারেতে ফুটিল যে ফুল জানি জানি তারা ভেঙে দেবে ভুল-

I have traveled this path again and again,

Not a day have I forgotten.

Today its sign has disappeared,

Thick grass has taken its place.

In my mind I know, there is nothing to fear,

Favorable wind,blows unexpectedly-

A time will come when I will recognize you,

Because you know me.

The lamp I carried on my lonely walks

Has lost its flame.

Still my heart tells me

the stars have its address in their language.

On the side of the path the flowers that have blossomed

Will correct my mistake,

With their secret soft aroma merged in the sign.

…………………………….  🙂

Daily Prompts: The Sincerest Form of Flattery

Publish a post in the style of a favorite author/blogger or photographer.

I have so many favorite authors I find it difficult to combine their style and make it  my own. However that being said let me try Rabindranath Tagore. Although he has written fiction and non fiction, most of his writings that I know of are poetry and song lyrics.

I have translated a number of his poems and song lyrics. I’d like to write a poem using his style.

Maple tree: standing on one leg

Taller than others

Peeping at the sky.

Heart’s desire:  pierce through the black clouds,

All at once fly away_

Where will it get the wings.

This is why:        Right on top of its head

On its flat leaves

It spreads its wish

In its mind:        It thinks the leaves are its wings,

There is no  problem flying

Leaving its home.

All day:              split split(sound of dripping water)

trembles the leaves,

It feels its flying__

Imagines:           It will roam around in the sky

Avoid the stars

As if it will go somewhere.

Afterwards:     When   the breeze stops

The leaves stop trembling,

Its mind returns ___

The moment it thinks: The earth is its mother,

Loves it again

This world’s corner.

………………………………….   🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blogging 101, Blog event: Tasty Thursday( Day Thirteen)

I am posting the photograph of my tasty dessert, Bangladeshi style:

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

1.1 1/4 cups full cream milk powder

2. 1/2 cup self raising flour

3.3/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

4. 125g  package  cream cheese

5. 1/3 cup milk, approximately extra milk

6. 375 g tub ghee(clarified butter)

7. oil for deep frying

Syrup

1. 2 litres (8cups) water

2. 4 cups (1kg) sugar

3. 1/2 teaspoon cardamom seeds (optional)

4. 1 tablespoon rosewater

1: puffs: combine milk powder , sifted flour, and soda in a bowl,rub in cheese until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

2: knead mixture in bowl,gradually adding enough milk until mixture holds its own shape and slightly sticky to touch.

3. moisten hands with extra milk, roll level tablespoons of mixture into 30 sausage shapes.

4. Melt ghee(clarified butter) with enough oil to make depth of five cm in medium saucepan. Deep fry 8 puffs at a time for about five minutes or until golden brown and cooked through , stirring occasionally; drain on absorbent paper. Prick puffs well with toothpick, place into syrup, cover refrigerate.

Syrup: combine water and sugar in large saucepan, stir over heat , without boiling, until sugar is dissolved. Stir in cardamom seeds(if you are using it), bring to boil, uncovered without stirring, for ten minutes( syrup should not change color) cool syrup slightly, strain into large bowl, add rose water, cool, serves 6.

Enjoy this  special dessert.

…………………………  🙂

Allow the gulab jamun to stand at room temperature while the syrup is absorbed.

 

The gulab jamun will plump up as syrup is absorbed. Delicious warm or cold. My daughter prefers them warm. Store in refrigerator.

Blogging 101, Day thirteen Try (Another) blogging event

Today’s task: Pick a blogging event from the Community Event Listings, and participate in the next round.

The one I picked is, Tasty Thursdays’, but couldn’t register. I hope someone can help me.

………………………:)

Blogging 101, Day Twelve: Increase your commenting confidence

Today’s task : Read six posts written in response to Monday’s prompt, ‘Brilliant Disguise’. and leave comments on at least two of them.

I was able to read two posts on Monday’s prompt.I liked all of them. I wrote my comment for both . Each one had a message which I enjoyed reading.

In Marie Griffith’s post , she quoted Judy Garland’s Quote: Always be a first rate version of yourself,instead of a second rate version of someone else.

Another post I truly agree with is the post by Crazy Canadian Saver: Why it’s pointless to keep up with Joneses.

Yesterday was a busy day for me. I had an appointment at 10:45 AM . It was a very cold day the temperature was 9 degrees Celsius and it was raining.

When I got out of my house I did not realize that on the 21st July it felt like Autumn.  I thought what happened did I sleep through the summer, it’s the only thing I could think of.

One lady looked at me and said, “Yes my darling it is July and the temperature is what you see on the billboard. You did not sleep through the summer, but you forgot it is St. John’s Newfoundland, it is famous for rain, drizzle, and fog.”

I thanked the lady for her humor. I came home three hours later, exhausted, could not concentrate on the work before me. I had to take a nap in the afternoon. My whole day was ruined, this morning I made up mind to complete day twelve assignment.

…………………………………..:)

Daily Prompts: Brilliant Disguise

Tell us about a time when someone had you completely fooled, where the wool was pulled right over your eyes and you got hoodwinked, but good. Was it a humorous experience or one you’d rather forget? What was the outcome?

Once my uncle came to visit us, he was a politician who always disguised himself so no one would recognize him. This particular day he had a long bushy beard, we never saw him with a beard. My brother did not know who he was, both were arguing, my brother was about to throw him out, when I heard him I was in the bathroom, I recognized his voice,I told my brother it is our uncle.

My brother was embarrassed, I had a  good laugh, I told my uncle, it was good  he didn’t disguise his voice, if he had my brother would have thrown him out of our house.

My mother was praying at that time, when she heard the noise she came out to see what was going on, she smiled and said,  “Dear brother, when will you stop being so silly?”

……………………………………. 🙂

Blogging 101, Day : Eleven, Personal prompt: Tunnel vision

Day Eleven: Make a Prompt Personal

Today’s assignment : Publish a post based on your own, personalized take on a blogging prompt. My favorite prompt right now is:

Tunnel Vision: these two words immediately reminds me of narrow mindedness, just like retinitis pigmentosa, it’s an incurable disease, while the latter is an eye disease that eventually causes blindness to the patient with this symptom. The former  plays with the mind and  makes it blind.

We make up our mind about things based on generalization.

In my case when they find out  I am a  ‘Bengali’  they  immediately associate it with the word ‘traitor’. How did this thought come to  their minds?

History tells us there was a certain man named ‘Mir Jafar’ was   a Bengali who jeopardized the fate of the people of his country by trading secrets. He did it because of his selfish interest. Mir Jafar was a traitor , hence all Bengalis are traitors.

It seems my being a  Bengali, is a terrible thing. They will discriminate me just because of of this.  It is becoming difficult for me to endure it.

I find  solace thinking , I can do something which makes me happy,  Blogging is one of them. Here everyone is sincere eager to help when I need it , will never ignore me because I am a Bengali.

I had the most pleasant experience a few days ago, I wrote to Michele I was unable to do Day Ten  assignment, I did not understand how it can be done. I found a detailed explanation in my reply box, how to do it. It certainly made my day.

Although in my reply I thanked blogger, Azhar Youssef, yet I felt it is not enough.

I came to the conclusion, not everyone is narrow minded, there are a lot of them who are broad minded, which makes our world pretty special.

………………………………….. 🙂

 

Daily Prompts: Finite Creatures

At what age did you realize you were not immortal? How did you react to that discovery?

I have learned man is ephemeral at the tender age of twelve. I watched my father take his last breath. I came to the sad conclusion I’d never see him again.

Bit by bit I grew up knowing , every living thing comes to this world for a certain number of days, months or years that it varies from plants, to humans, to animals and so on. It was a constant worry for me that my mom like my dad will leave us some day, when it happened I was far away from home, no one saw my tears and did not understand how painful it was for me to lose my mom too.

This I told myself is the cycle of life : we are born, grow up slowly, reach adulthood, get old our organs go through the process of deterioration, the clock of life tells us the journey is over and we must leave. The cycle is complete.

I always knew legendary status is not for me. I will never be remembered like Hitler, thank God for that. He was so brutal,who would like to be remembered as he is reminisced about  today.

But Tagore is a legend who has claimed the status of immortality by his life’s work. He was the youngest of his siblings but his name so far has not disappeared from our hearts, as long as we “The Bengalis” are alive Tagore’s name will be alive.

William Wordsworth’s poetry will always warm our hearts and we will say how great he was.

Who can forget Longfellow’s poem : “Tell me not in mournful numbers , life is but an empty dream.”

Yet another poet and Philosopher is worthy of mention in the long line of legends is Iqbal: The following is one of his many poems we love and repeat:

Two planets meeting face to face ,

One to the other cried ‘How sweet

If endlessly we might embrace,

And here forever stay! how sweet

If Heaven a little might relent,

And leave our light in one light blent!’

 

But through that longing to dissolve

In one,the parting summons sounded.

Immutably the stars revolve,

By changeless orbits each is bounded;

Eternal union is a dream,

And severance the world’s law supreme.

I’ve always known I am not immortal. It wasn’t a surprise for me. I did not have any reaction!

……………………………………….. 🙂