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From the monthly archives:

December 2008

2008 Reminisce

Exactly 1 year and 2 months ago we started a blog. There never was any specific plan, direction or reasons for our first blog. I just trusted my instinct, and never once regretted my decision. Though I now realize I forgot about my blog anniversary this year. Forgive me for I have sinned 😀 I love the idea of blogging on our blog anniversary end of each year.

I have made many great friends through blogosphere, and I truly honor each and every friendship 🙂 Blogging is not easy without criticism, and I greatly appreciate all the help and wonderful words of encouragement. 2008 is almost history, and we have all been through thick and thin. Many event’s have either left me in smiles, laughter, tears and sadness. For some of us, we’ve felt the hurt from catastrophes this year. Nonetheless, life has to move on with sheer determination, positive mind, and confidence for a better future. I would like to share one of my favorite quotes — Remember, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday — Dale Carnegie. I am sure we are all looking forward to a fruitful 2009.

Before we bid adieu to 2008, some of my personal 2008 highlights would be when we moved into our new home, solemnized our marriage, happy moments with my in-laws, hubby and the continuation of MBA torture inflicted upon me 😀

Our 2009 resolutions are…well, it would be revealed in 2009 of course 🙂

Over and out, 2008…. Till we meet again, in 2009 🙂

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Tag with letters K, S and 4's

Tags long over due! Sulz assigned me with letter “K”, meanwhile Vishesh added his share by assigning me with letter “S”. Who am I to complain, right? 😉

Rules that are meant to be broken as follows:

You leave a comment on this post, and I’ll assign you a letter. You write about ten things you love that begin with your assigned letter, and post it at your place. When people comment on your list, you give them a letter, and the chain continues on and on.

Note: You can leave a comment and not be assigned a letter if you want. Just let me know if you want a letter to keep this going.

Ten things I love that begins with the letter “K”

1. Knowledge : Behold! I can’t survive without knowledge. Reading is my hobby. This is also true that I am barely surviving in my MBA right now 😀

2. Karma : Warning! Don’t turn your back on this one. Running away from Karma is impossible. Try it.

3. Kismet : Destiny, faith; who am I to argue? I love my faith, I am destined to be with the ones I love. Thank you GOD 🙂

4. Kindred and Kin : Sharing the same belief, attitude and thought. Family that is..Hmm, I just love the word.

5. Keepsakes : Memories preserved over time. I love scrap booking.

6. Kiwi : I just love the vibrant color of a Kiwi’s flesh 🙂

7. Kiddo : Now, who doesn’t love kids?

8. Ketchup : on fries, burgers, aloo tikki, chicken fingers; anything and everything fried!

9. Karaoke : Soothes my soul. Therapeutic for me 😀

10. Karate : or a kick, either way I am happy to deliver it! Hey, it rhymes! 😀

Ten things I love that begins with the letter “S”

1. Sunshine and Sunset : I love nature’s beauty. It is free, after all.

2. Smile : You are on C h a t t e r SMILE B o x. Good jaw exercise, try it!

3. Sunflower : One of my favorite flowers. Planning to grow them during summer’s in 2009.

4. Saffron : is the priciest spice. I love it, in moderate measurements for sure.

5. Sari : Ah, the symbol of sultry, poise and elegance 🙂

6. Spices : Bet we can’t live without it. Go and hide, some how it haunts us. That’s our spice!

7. Success : What’s not to love it?

8. Sweet : tooth that’s me. I am a gamer, anything and everything labeled “desserts”!

9. Strawberry : the other love of my life.

10. Sage : fragrant and subtle herb.

To continue with Sulz’s meme, here are the 4’s list of:

4 places I go over and over:
(1) Grocery mart
(2) Temple for prayer offerings
(3) Shopping mall
(4) My blog is my sanctuary 😀

4 people who e-mail me regularly:
(1) My family, consisting more than 4 people 🙂
(2) University mates
(3) My childhood friends
(4) My Facebook and Blog buddies, thanks guys!

4 of my favorite places to eat:
(1) Sizzler’s Restaurant
(2) Olive Garden
(3) TGI Friday’s
(4) PF Chang’s

4 places you’d rather be NOW:
(1) Malaysia & India. We miss our family’s 🙁
(2) Out shopping with friends
(3) On a holiday, we both truly need a break!
(4) In bed for lack of sleep

4 TV shows I could watch over and over:
(1) Friends!
(2) Everybody loves Raymond
(3) Full House
(4) Mind Your Language

4 movies I could watch over and over:
(1) Happy Feet
(2) Hairspray
(3) Ice Age
(4) The Holiday

**Happy 2009 every one! Be safe and have fun!**

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Silent night, holy night

…. All is calm, all is bright
Round yon virgin mother and child
Holy infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace.. Sleep in heavenly peace…

Silent night, holy night
Shepherds quake at the sigh
Glories stream from heave afar
Heaven hosts sing Alleluia
Christ, the Savior is born…Christ, the Savior is born…

Silent night, holy night
Son of God, love’s pure light
Radiant beams from Thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth…Jesus, Lord at Thy birth…”

My all time favorite Christmas carol 🙂 While growing up, I was introduced to Christianity by dad. Daddy studied in all English school during British invasion here in Malaysia. He read the bible, and we attend caroling, cooking and choir lessons at the local church. Those were the fun days. I would anxiously wait for Sunday masses. Sigh! Childhood has come and go, but memories are as strong as before 🙂 Looking forward to a joyful, harmonious, safe and happy Christmas. May all your dreams come true, including having extra left-overs as to avoid bustling in kitchen while ushering 2009 😉 Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Happy New Year to all of C h a t t e r B o x’s fellow readers and blog buddies 🙂 Please exercise caution you guys, especially while traveling during this holiday season. Bidding adieu with some delectable snaps taken during my recent visit to one of the local shopping centers here in Florida.

Love,

Kiran Tarun Srivastava

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Bye, bye takeout's

Who doesn’t love food? Come on, you must be kidding! If you aren’t, please leave this blog immediately and return once you solemnly declare you love food as much as I do. Amen 🙂 Now, today it’s all about  food. I am talking about serious cooking. Ahem.. The ones who prefer not to cook, have left this building (blog) by now for sure 🙂

OK, how many of you find it difficult to rustle up a meal or two after a hectic and long day? I know, it’s difficult and some times frustrating! The easiest way I’d imagine is ordering a takeout. But for how long? There were days when I did not have the luxury of time to prepare a hot meal. Takeout seems the only best option available. The cycle is something like this – placing the order, drive to pick the order and drive home. Now, the whole process of takeout basically takes me around 30-40 minutes, even with delivery services. In that amount of time or lesser, I could rustle two simple and delicious Chinese dishes accompanied with rice! Forgive me, for I am born with a tinge of Chinese cuisine 🙂 I love Indian cooking, but it can be a little heavy consuming it all the time — not that I am complaining 😉 I do try to balance our diet at home with variety of dishes ranging from Chinese-Indian-Indonesian-Thai influences.

This was last night’s menu and recipes. Simple, nothing too elaborate or culinary schoolmarmish 😀 If you still insist to put on an apron and a chef cap, I salute you 😀

String bean with Chicken

Cast: oil, minced garlic & ginger, boneless chicken, salt, string bean, Lee Kum Kee‘s Original Stir-Fry sauce & chinese rice cooking wine and fresh coriander.

Method: With a wok on high heat, add 2 tsp of cooking oil and stir fry boneless chicken for 2 minutes. Add a pinch of salt and string bean. Fry till beans are seared and almost done. Add ginger, garlic paste and 2 tbsp of Lee Kum Kee’s Original Stir Fry Sauce. Fry for a minute. Add a dash of Chinese cooking wine and done! Don’t forget to turn off stove and plate the dish in a serving bowl. Garnish it with fresh coriander leaves. Serve hot with rice!

Try substituting meat with fresh mushrooms for a wholesome vegetarian dish. Yum!

Stir-fry Broccoli

Cast: oil, minced garlic, broccoli crowns, Lee Kum Kee’s Vegetarian stir fry sauce and salt.

Method: With a wok on medium low heat, add 2 tsp of cooking oil and stir in 1 tsp of garlic. Fry till garlic is fragrant and not burnt! If you’d burnt the garlic — trust me, you’ve not sinned. Just redo the whole process from scratch. You would dislike the taste of burnt garlic, for sure 😀 Add broccoli crowns and fry for 3minutes. Stir in 2 tbsp of Lee Kum Kee’s Vegetarian Stir-Fry Sauce and a dash of salt. Fry for another minute and done! Serve hot with rice!

Caution: You might have the urge of just dumping all the ingredients in one pot, fry it for a few minutes, and voila! the meal is done? Patience is virtue. You would be rewarded with flavorful meal without a stomach ache 🙂

Thanks for visiting my eKitchen and do join me again in exploring the wonder of food… *burp!* excuse me!

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Butterfly, Proximity Award & Character of the Day!

I was browsing my Google Reader subscription and saw an unread feed from a familiar blogger. Marked the feed, read the post and commented a few days ago. I am still at daze! I can’t fathom what I just read. Actually, I read the post a few days ago 😉 — I humbly apologize for the delay in this acceptance speech 😀 You can’t blame me, nor can you sue me, as I am in need to familiarize myself with “speech” audible-blogging !

I don’t think I deserve this awards since I recently made a switch from Blogger into WordPress, and truthfully, I am also fairly new in the blogosphere. Nonetheless, I wouldn’t want to break the heart of a dear friend, Nikhil, who humbly insisted that I accept these awards 🙂 Thank you so much for the honor Nikhil, greatly appreciate it!

I would go ahead and make a copy of each awards — OK, I am back! See, I won’t keep the awards all to myself 😉 The butterfly award is for the coolest blog, whereas the proximity blog award is for the effort in maintaining a quality blog in terms of blog etiquette, response and audiences — in blogosphere, that is. Not some sort of a scandal, I assure you 😀 And please don’t ask where and how did I came up with this information.

Errr.. Let’s get back to the awards please. I would like to pass on the butterfly and proximity awards to some of my favorite blogs: Anshul, Atul, Lemonade, MadMomma, Karen, PW & Su Yin. Check out this awesome blogs and judge why I insist they accept this awards 😀 Wait a sec! Where are you going? I am not done yet 😛 I am extending this honor to each and every blogger that haven’t accepted nor has been given this honor. Please, I humbly request your acceptance and can’t wait to hear read your acceptance speech 🙂

FRIENDSHIP EMBRACELET

FRIENDSHIP EMBRACELET

I have created a category here on my blog and it’s called, Character of the Day. In the spirit of Christmas, the month of giving, accepting and sharing, I would like to award today’s character of the day — FRIENDSHIP EMBRACELET as above, in honor of all my wonderful blog buddies, including my silent readers, that I have grown to know since my inception into blogosphere! Thank you so much for your support 🙂

– Kiran Tarun Srivastava

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