Dream World: November 2013

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

My Favorite Books - Little House Series

This is a small review about one of my favorite book series that I ever like to read again and again. My mom is a great story-teller. I love to hear my mom talk about her parents, her grand parents and her siblings. That’s why I love family stories. Perhaps little house is one of the reasons I have always love stories.

Little house series books were written by Laura Ingalls Wilder in 1930s. The little house series books are based on old memories of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s childhood in the Midwest region of the United States during the late 19^th century.

Little house on the prairie is third book in the series. The story, very briefly is about Laura, a pioneer girl and her family as they travel by covered wagon into new territory. Once they arrive, they try to make their new home. They build house, barn, dig well, meet neighbors and explore fields etc. However, their time in Kansas isn’t without troubles as the family is plagued by wolves, native Indians, wild fire and diseases.

I was so sad when I came to the last word in the last book. The little house series covers, little house in the big woods (1932), farmer boy (1933), little house on the prairie (1935), on the banks of plum creek (1937), by the shores of silver lake (1939), the long winter (1940), little town on the prairie (1941), these happy golden years (1943), the first four years (1971).

After reading the series, I wanted to live in one room with my whole family and have a corncob doll as my own. I wanted to do chores like carry water, churn butter, play along the prairie. I say I want to do all these things though that may not have been what I truly desired. For a while I had a close imaginary friendship with Laura when reading these books. Everything in these books are narrated like a scene by scene picturisation of a movie as clear and sharp so that anyone can visualize it in their mind while reading.

I simply loved the little house books because of the charm of the language, characters and stories. I believe that the little house books contain both practical and spiritual lessons that help us thoughtfully achieve both things. These books are for readers of all ages, points a bright way down good path.

Palak Paneer

Ingredients

Paneer / cottage cheese – 250gms (cubed)

Spinach – 2 bunches

Cumin seeds – 1 tspn

Big Onion – 1 (chopped)

Tomato – 1 (chopped)

Ginger garlic paste – 1 tbspn

Kasuri methi leaves – 1 tbspn

Green chilly – 2 nos (slited)

Garam masala powder – 1 tspn

Butter – 3 tbspn

Fresh cream – 1 tbspn

Salt to taste

Method

♥ Blanch spinach in 1 cup of water in a vessel and boil it for 5 min. Let it cool and grind it into fine spinach puree.

♥ Fry the cubed paneer in 1 tbspn butter and keep it aside.

♥ In a frying pan, add butter and melt it.

♥ Add in cumin seeds and cook it for a min.

♥ Now add chopped onions and sauté till it turns golden brown.

♥ Then add ginger garlic paste, green chillies and cook for 5 mins.

♥ Add chopped tomato and sauté till oil separates.

♥ Now add spinach puree and cook it for 10 mins without covering the pan.

♥ Now add garam masala powder, kasuri methi leaves and required amount of salt to taste.

♥ Add little water to gravy to get semi thick consistency if needed.

♥ Add in the fried paneer cubes and cook for 10 mins in low flame.

♥ Add a dollop of fresh cream and mix it well before switch off the flame.

♥ Serve hot with rotis or steamed white rice.

A Bond Like No Other

This post is about brother and sister relationship. I just share this post to tell how importance is the sibling relationship in this world. Siblings are boon given by god. There exist siblings who are friends but there also exist siblings who are separated by rivalry, fights and hatred. There are people who share more affectionate relationships with friends than with their own siblings. But according to me, developing friendship among siblings is great.

Anyone who have either a brother, a sister or both will know a little bit about sibling rivalry. An ideal brothers and sisters will get along faster, even if they did have fights, they would learn to forget and forgive. Even if we want sibling relationships to be peaceful and loving, we cannot expect those friendly terms to exist always.

There are siblings who separate from each other after they grow up and busy with their own lives. But the fact that can’t be changed is “Siblings know you better than anyone”. They may not always admire you. But they will always be intensely interested in you.

From the time, we are born our brothers and sisters are our role models. They are our protectors, scolds, playmates, source of envy, objects of pride. They help us to learn how to solve problems, how to build friendships and when to walk away from them.

Nothing can change the care of a brother for his sister and vice versa. You can’t be more connected to yourself, when you are not connected to your sister or brother. It’s very true that we cannot pick and choose who is in our family. But we can learn to live together with affection and care. This not only applies to sibling relationships but to all relationships in common. Good or bad, happy or sad, there is a reason for everything and there is a reason you became family.

“A sibling may be the keeper of one's identity, the only person with the keys to one's unfettered, more fundamental self”

-Marian Sandmaier