Daily Prompt : Inheritance

In response to prompt : Inheritance

Some people inherit their parents looks,

Others get the habit of reading books.

There are kids who get mom’s  gift of cooking,

Worst of all are those who end up getting nothing!

……………………………….. 🙂

 

 

 

 

Friday Food Feature

Today’s post has some photographs of food I cooked  to post on my blog:

The first one is photos of flat fried bread we call pooris.  I took some pictures of them before frying.

The recipe for this is:

1. cream of wheat–3/4 cup
2. wheat flour- 1 cup
3. yoghurt-8 tbsp.
4. clarified butter (or salt free butter) 6 tbsp.
5. salt- 1tsp.
6. Method:
7. Mix all these ingredients to make a dough.
8. Cover and leave it for one hour.
9. Roll out the dough and cut into small round pooris.( you can also divide the dough into small balls and use the rolling pin to make individual pooris.
10. Deep fry until golden brown.
11. 
12. the above are the fried pooris
13. You can serve pooris with mixed spicy vegetables
14. 
15. Recipe:
16. Frozen peas and carrot vegetables- 1 cup
17. 2 small potatoes , slice them into small pieces.
18. 1 small onion diced
19. two tablespoon oil
20. salt – 3/4 tsp.
21. curry powder- 2 tsp.
22. cayenne powder- 1/2 tsp.
23. ground garlic powder- 1/2 tsp..
24. put the oil in a wok and heat it, add diced onion in the hot oil, stir until the onion pieces  are transparent.add salt, curry powder, cayenne and garlic powder stir for one minute, then add the potatoes, when the are soft enough not mushy add the cup of frozen mixed peas and carrots, stir and leave them for about seven minutes.
25. You can also serve poori with halwa, which is sweet.
26. 
27. recipe for halwa:
28. cream of wheat – 1/2 cup
29. butter – 2 tablespoons
30. sugar – 1/2 cup
31. water- 3/4 cup.
32. Method:
33. toast the cream of wheat, in a saucepan over the heat on the stove at medium heat, let it turn light brown, add butter, stir when it mixes with the cream of wheat, add water slowly when it doesn’t look grainy, it means the cream of wheat is cooked and it’s time to add sugar. Stir thoroughly,until the sugar dissolves with the cream of wheat. Halwa is ready to serve in a serving bowl, garnish with sliced pistachios and almonds.
34. some more pictures of poois, vegetables:
35. 
36. 
37. I hope you will like it when you try it.

Blogging 101,Day one: Introduce yourself to the world

Today’s assignment: Write and publish a “who am I and why I’m here” post on your blog.

My name is Ranu, I am a Bengali from Bangladesh. My Father was Abdus Sabeth and my mother was Tahira Khatun. I am my parents seventh child.

In my country we all have two names, one is used at home and among relatives and the other is used outside home i.e school , certificates. It’s considered a formal name.

Like others in my homeland I too have two names, Ranu is my nick name and Chaman is my name which is used in my certificates and other documents.

When I started blogging I felt comfortable using Ranu as my user name.It’s short and easy to pronounce.

I studied in schools where the medium of instruction was English. I was able to take my mother tongue  Bengali as one of the subjects .

I am blogging publicly because it motivates me to write. Before becoming a blogger, I did not write a personal journal, I did not think about it and was not interested.

My blog’s focus is mainly on writing fiction, sometimes I like writing recipes, I also like translating poems and song lyrics of Rabindranath Tagore. He was a famous Bengali poet. I enjoy reading his poems listening to his songs and translating them, my aim is to let other bloggers enjoy Tagore’s poetry and songs, which is why I like translating them.

There are a few sports, I am interested to watch, one of them is Tennis and other is Ice Hockey, especially when my favorite team  or my favorite player is playing.

In Tennis my favorite players are  Roger Federer among men and Maria Sharapova among women. If they lose early in tournaments, I’m disappointed and lose my interest.

I love cooking spicy food, and have posted some recipes on my blog.

I’m also participating in online courses since 2011, it is the study of Allama Iqbal one of Pakistan’s most favorite and well-known poet and Philosopher. It is offered by Khurram Ali Shafique, he has devoted a long time studying about Iqbal and is the perfect facilitator for all of us.

Lastly I’d like to write about  my blog name  Sabethville, I  used my father’s last name Sabeth and added ville to it.

I hope to meet a lot of other bloggers and also read their posts.

…………………………………….. 🙂

365 Writing Prompt: A mystery wrapped in enigma

Tell us something most people probably don’t know about you.

There is nothing mysterious about me,I am no different from anyone out there. As a child growing up I was only interested in playing with my siblings. Studying hard was not in my repertoire. As long as I could get through I was happy. Who got more marks than me was never my fear.

I did notice my teachers and one of my siblings thought I could do much better in my school work if I put in a little more work.

I used to finish three hour exams in an hour. I remember the principal in my college once said, ” You know what your problem is you finish your your exams too quickly.”

This little advice to me went in one ear and came out the other, it made no impact on me.

Once my first cousin’s husband told me I’d never be as good as my sister. He was one of those people I disliked, I always ignored him.

I was sailing along the journey of life, never caring who said what, until I was in post graduate class. I woke up from my long slumber and realized I’d have to do well in this, which meant I must work hard, the moment this realization hit me I was a different person, I went to the library daily, I studied, I wasted no time playing or in idle talk.

I surprised everyone including my siblings.

I had very few friends, I was never interested to have many friends.The ones I had were my friends forever.

I loved reading novels I still do.

I love blogging, it gives me an opportunity to read the post of other bloggers. Besides blogging, I enjoy  cooking a variety of foods.

In my spare time I watch TV it helps me relax. These days the Wimbledon tennis championships are shown on TV, I’m having a great time watching them.

This is all I can think of writing about me. 🙂

…………………………………………. 🙂

Daily Prompt: On the Edge

We all have things we need to do to keep an even keel–blogging, exercising,reading, cooking. What’s yours?

I need to do all of the above ,plus I have to feed the felines two to three times a day to keep them happy. If I’m slightly late they go after my books, climb the piano to mess up the pictures on the wall, if all these things do not work i.e the food is still delayed, they knock the lamps down, and in their language would look at me with wide eyes and say, “What is wrong with you, did you not get the message yet?

On Tuesdays I collect the garbage to get ready to be picked up on Wednesday. I go for grocery shopping at least once a week, which becomes a headache, the produce look like they’ve waited long enough to be bought, if I’m unable to buy them within two days of their arrival, all I can hope for is half rotten fruits and vegetables.

Their excuse is , because of the distance covered to come to Newfoundland by truck , the produce is not fresh, so we grin and bear it.

There are some local farmers who grow some vegetables that are climate friendly. If one wants to eat vegetables grown in warmer countries they’ll have to be contented with half rotten vegetables.

I’m probably not painting a rosy picture, we’ve grown used to it, we also buy frozen vegetables which look better than the so called fresh ones.

……………………………….:)

365 Writing Prompt: Critical Eye

Write about the subject you usually blog about as if you were a music critic.

I do write blog posts on a variety of topics. Somehow I find the prompts given are directed towards my skills or my favorites. Sometimes it’s about Music, where I grew up , my family, cooking, my likes and dislikes.

One of the recent ones was where I lived at age twelve. I enjoyed writing it , it brought back so many pleasant memories.

The part about my taste in music thrilled me I had the opportunity of writing who my favorite singers are was marvellous.

Sometimes we were told to write poetry and were assured we’d get extra points for it, although poetry is not my thing, I did give it a try, Whether those extra points were given to me I’m not aware, maybe it’s a way of tempting us.

The subject of cooking and eating does come up once in a while as a prompt, I love writing about my favorite food.

When I think of Art, I imagine drawing, I’m not good at it, of course if I think I’m not good at something, I refuse to spend time on it.

…………………………………..

365 Writing Prompts: Million-dollar-question

Why do you blog?

First of all, it gives me something to do, or my brain will start to rust. I get the opportunity to read other bloggers’ posts. It makes me think, when I see the prompts   and write my post,  I enjoy reading the feedback left by bloggers who read it.

The most important thing I feel is the interaction with different bloggers. I’ve discovered some bloggers who are very good photographers, some write poetry, others excel in describing their environment.

In the few years I’m blogging I’ve realized I have learned a lot about cooking, some share their recipes, so we can try and see if we like the food.

…………………….

365 Writing prompts: Sink or Swim

Tell us about a time when you were left on your own, to fend for yourself in an overwhelming  situation— on the job, at home, at school. What was the outcome?

I remember once my mom went to see her sister-in-law out of town. My younger siblings and I were left to fend for ourselves, it would be fine if it was just us.

One fine morning my aunt and uncle arrived with their kids, mom was not at home, we had a servant who took care of getting groceries and cleaning the house.

I was barely fifteen, had no experience in cooking , I could do the simple stuff, but wasn’t good enough for company. My aunt was one of those people who was not fond of any kind of housework like cooking or cleaning, it was always done by her four daughters, they were younger than me.

My mom had no idea she had her house full of guests, she was having a grand time with her sister-in-law in the village.

I did the cooking, I’m not sure how good or bad it was , my aunt and her brood were satisfied as long as they didn’t have to cook.

My mom came back after a week, my aunt told my mother, ‘Ranu is a good cook!’

My mother and I knew it wasn’t true, but she  was happy I was able to look after my aunt, uncle and their children.

I was nervous in the beginning but as days went by I became somewhat confident that no one will be sick eating what I served!

k: https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/12/03/365-writing-pr…s-sink-or-swim

 

 

365 Writing Prompts: Fear no more

What is the thing you’re most scared to do? What would it take to get you to do it?

There are quite a few things I am afraid to do, one of them is cooking for a large number of people, I fear if the food is not tasty, there’ll be criticism coming from the invitees, this is one thing I fear the most. I do not take criticism lightly, it bothers me for a long time.

I have invited a large number of people for dinner a few times, it is the feeling whether they’ll like my cooking or not is one I find difficult to deal with.

: https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/11/18/365-writing-pr…s-fear-no-more

 

365 Writing Prompts: FAQ

Interview someone- a friend, another blogger, your mother, the mailman-and write a post based on their responses.

I wasn’t able to interview  anyone from the above people, I’m going to write an imaginary interview with my mom. Based on  her possible answers, I’m writing this post.

I grew up in a large family, my mother was always busy in the kitchen, she was the best cook in our family, of course my Dad was busy with his work at the office, I did not know whether he had any culinary skills, it’s okay if he was lacking in this particular area because  he was brilliant in his work,he didn’t need anything else.

when I was not in school I’d be in the kitchen watching my mom cook, I remember she was preparing to bake a pound cake, we had that old fashioned weighing scale my mother would patiently weigh butter, flour and milk and mix them, she did not weigh the eggs, she knew how many she needed.I was so fascinated with the preparation,I asked my mom if I could also bake a little cake.

The right kind of utensil was a problem to bake a tiny cake,my mom came up with the idea of using the empty Quaker Oats tin, mom helped me to remove the cover  I was excited I will bake a cake too, most of the work of greasing the pan, how much ingredients I’d need my mom helped with that too, the thought that I baked a cake made me very proud.

My Dad who was used to eating my mom’s cooking was happy to taste my little specimen.

There were times I’d ask my mom about our grandparents, she told me my grand father was easy going full of enthusiasm about everything,he depended on my mother for everything. My grandmother she said, had a bit of a temper if grandpa annoyed her she would refuse to feed him. My mom would quietly take the food and give it to him.

My mom had three sisters, one of them was eight years older than her,but she never helped granny with cooking,it was always my mom who was ready to help.

My mom had two brothers, both were younger than her, my mom’s siblings and her parents always depended on her, with cooking ,cleaning,sewing you name it mom did it all.

One day I came home from school, I saw mom crying, I asked my brother what happened, he showed me a letter, from Bangladesh, I took the letter and read it, there was news that grandpa passed away. I felt sad for  mom but had no idea how to console her. Six months later  mom got another bad news this time her mother passed away.

Mom was quiet for a while I know she wished she was there with her parents, when they died.

The sad news of the passing of both our grandparents in such a short time was painful for our mom, she was so amazing in spite of this she continued to cook for us.

The only regret I have is I wasn’t there when she passed away, fate is so cruel sometimes!

https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/11/15/365-writing-prompts-faq/