How to make Puri/Swari

Ingredient

  • 2 cup of  Flour
  • 1  cup of Water
  • Ghee to deep fry

Method

  • Mix flour and water to make dough. Knead well till you get uniform dough. Dough should be soft so we can make thin puri.
  • Cover the dough with a plate and leave it for a few hours.
  • Take a small amount of dough and roll with a rolling pin to make a circle about 2 mm thick and 10 – 12 cm in diameter.
  • Roll a few of them first before heating the oil as it doesn’t take too long to cook the puri.
  • Heat the oil in a deep pan. There should be enough oil in the pan so the puri will sink. To check if the temperature of the oil is right, put a small amount of dough in the oil. If it raises immediately to the top, it is ready for the puri
  • Put the puri in the hot oil and use a basting spoon to press the puri slightly. It will help puri to puff up.
  • Once it is cooked put them on a kitchen towel to take out the excess ghee.
  • If you want hard crunchy puri, do not stack then on top of each other.
  • If you want soft Swari (a type of soft Nepali puri), then stack them on top of each other.
  • Server with with any curry or it can be enjoyed with tea.


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Lock it away

In life small things give you pleasure. But at the same time, sometimes we are so blinded by the big picture we miss small things. 

So I am writing my experience from last weekend about my own failure to notice minute things. 

Last weekend, I went for a drive to NSW south coast, one of the magnificent drives near the sea. It was with AS and our friends, DS, DR and DS’s parents who are visiting from Nepal. I just loved the drive and had passed via that road many times to go to Wollongong.  One of the best parts of the drive is to pass through the Sea cliff bridge. You will agree with me that, the view is just breath-taking and so many TV ads for cars are shot there.

While we were there, her parents mentioned that, they saw in one of the TV serials in Nepal that there is a bridge where you write your name on a padlock and lock it on the railings at the side of the bridge. Then you throw the key into the sea with all you bad luck. As they had seen that, they wanted to go there and do the same. 

But to my surprise I had never heard about that before. In my mind, I was trying very hard to think if I had seen or heard or read anything like that but nothing came to mind. Thanks to the latest phone, we have internet on the go so AS Goggled it. To our surprise it said it is in the south cost in Seacliff Bridge and luckily we were only a few kilometres away.

So we parked the car and started walking to the bridge. I have driven over that bridge so many times before but never saw the padlocks so we thought of asking a few people where on the bridge, it is. Surprisingly even the local people had no idea what we were talking about. Anyway, we walked towards the bridge and to our surprise, there they were. Lots of padlocks from the start to end of the bridge and I had never noticed them before. I guess I was so mesmerised by the view that I failed to look at the railings with their padlocks on the bridge. 

I started examining many locks there. Some of them had names of the bride and groom with their wedding dates or husband or wife with their anniversary year and wedding dates. It was so wonderful to see so many couples showing their love. Then there were some with names of the whole family or names of mates. Also I found some locks with names of people who had passed away. 

Once I came back home I had to know what that was all about so again I asked my good friend Google and found the following information from website click here   for more info.

It was started by a couple, John and Fay who lived in Helensburgh and  saw something similar in Cinque Terre,Italy when they visited Europe. In 2006 John wanted to surprised his wife on their 40 years anniversary so he engraved their names with their wedding date on a padlock and locked it on that bridge. So romantic!!! And now there are so many of them following their foot steps. 

One the way back to the car, we saw one more amazing thing, a tree with thongs (sandals) pinned to it. I am guessing that would be a one of its kind. 🙂

Here are some pics from the day

Australian Open 2012

This post is a week too late but I am still posting it. 🙂

I am a fan of Roger Federer in tennis and I love to watch him play. He is such a perfect gentleman and I like his game as it is all about precision, grace and balance. So during the Australian Open semi final game between him and Nadal, I was supporting Federer. 

The game started with Federer having a  3-0 lead. But then Nadal bounced back so they had to play a tie breaker. Finally Federer won the first set. I was really happy as I thought he needed 2 more to sets to progress to the final. 

It was a really close game with both playing under immense pressure. There were times I couldn’t bear to watch the game as there was so much pressure that I had to change the channel just to calm myself down. 

When Nadal won the second set, I was really sad but when he won the third set as well I was so upset I wanted to cry. 😦  Every time Nadal got a point, I cringed as I wanted Federer to win but unfortunately after playing 4 sets, Nadal won the game and progressed to the final while Federer was out of the Australian Open. The final score was 

When I was watching the final, I was supporting Djokovic and I really wanted him to win . It was one epic match. I can’t believe they played for almost six hours.

I have to admit Nadal is a great player but I am just so happy that Djokovic won the title (and Nadal lost ).

The final score for the game was 

Waiting for more tennis to come 🙂 and Federer in action.

Missing my parents

People who have family close to them don’t often realise how lucky they are.I have seen my friends getting annoyed by the frequent calls from their mother. I have also seen lots of the children complaining a lot when their parents want to get involved in their life. They want to make their own decisions and don’t like their parents asking any questions about their decisions.

I work with lots of mums who feel hurt when they find out some major events of their kids’ life from someone else or at the last-minute. It makes them feel that their kids don’t care much about them. So while making their decision the kids didn’t even bother to call them to share the news or events.

When I see and hear this, I want to shake the kids and ask them to appreciate what they have. They are so lucky to see their parents so frequently and have them so close to them.

I left Nepal when I was a teenager so I missed out on spending lots of time with my parents. I was not there when they needed me and they were always far when I needed them. I always talked to them at least once a week but still those few hours of talk seems so less if you think about it . And I only saw them once a year or not even that sometimes.

I love them a lot and want them to be close to me. We even talked about them coming to Australia to live here. But they didn’t want to come as they have their own life in Nepal. They are independent and do what they want when they live there. Also they work there and that keeps them busy. I tried my best to visit them often but due to work and financial constraints I couldn’t go as often as I liked.

I tried my best to be there for my parents in every way possible. I know they are proud of me and everyone around them tells me how much they miss me and how much they love me. Actually, I know that without having to hear it from anyone. They have sacrificed a lot for me and I will be forever indebted to them. I always tried my best to make them happy in whatever way I can even when I am far away from them.

Every time I go to Nepal, I take them on a holiday and we spend all the time together. That is one of the best times of my life as both my parents are close to me. During these holidays our talks have bonded us a lot closer as we talked and shared lots of thing. If we don’t go on a holiday, both of them would go to work so we wouldn’t have much time to spend with each other.

Being selfish, I miss my mum a lot every time I get sick. I can’t tell exactly what but having her around when I am sick really calmed me down. My poor husband doesn’t know what to do when I get sick as I keep on telling him I want my mum.

I also miss my parents a lot when I go to the shopping malls, or to in the city when I see people with their parents. Father’s day and mother’s days are the worst as it reminds me how far we are. I feel like I am missing big part of my life and have always thought of going to Nepal and spending a year or so with them. I tried to do that in 2009. I went home and told them I will be there for at least 6 months before I go back to Australia.

Don’t know fortunately or unfortunately, I got a job offer for a job I wanted after 4 weeks of me being there. They wanted to set up an interview but as I was in Nepal, I email them back saying I can’t come for the interview. They emailed me offering to conduct a phone interview. The phone interview went ok and the company wanted to do a 2nd interview in person. I was not mentally ready to come back for an interview for a job which I may or may not get so I was reluctant to make the decision. My parents convinced me to go and give the interview saying I can come back again and stay longer if I did not get the job. So I was back in Sydney for the interview. I got the job and I am happy about it but I feel like I missed the chance of staying with my parents.

Now I am married, so every time I go back to Nepal I need to divide my time between my parents’ home and my husband’s home and I am a bit sad about it. I like my new family but I miss my parents so much that I want to spend more time with them. I really want to be a good child for my parents and look after them but staying so far away from them, it is not always possible for me to be there for them when they need me the most.

My parents are doing well so far but slowly as they get older, they will need their children be around them more. I hope when that day comes, I can be near them to look after them.

Someone wise once said ‘Do what you can when someone is alive because after they die, you can’t do anything.’

Being far away from ones family has huge disadvantages. Recently, 3 of my friends had to deal with the loss of their mum or dad. They died all of a sudden (one in an accident) and my friends could do nothing. They didn’t even have proper a goodbye. Then, they had to travel by plane for 23 hours (including transit) before reaching home. That must be the worst 23 hours of their lives. Among those friends, one was already going to Nepal to get married and had her flight booked and everything. Just 2 days before she was supposed to leave, she got bad news of her mom’s death.

If your parents are near you, you are really lucky so do visit them often. If they are far away, at least call them often and tell them you love them. As they get older, they will cherish the time they spend with you. One day we will be parents ourselves and at that time we will want our kids to be around and visit us when possible. So we need to do our share and show our kids family values. Never forget that they had sacrificed a lot in their lives to make sure you could achieve your dreams so keep them close physically and closer in your heart.

How embarrassing!

Something really embarrassing and funny happened this morning and it made me laugh so hard. I though of sharing that with you all. 

This morning one of my colleagues who live in the same building as I do called me and wished me ‘Happy Birthday’. I thought he was joking and told him that it was not my birthday. As you know, my birthday was on 28 October so it is nowhere near that right now. Then he said, it must have been yesterday or the day before so ‘Happy belated Birthday’.  I was not sure why he was insisting that it was my birthday so I had to tell him that my birthday was 3 months ago.

There was a bit of silence on the phone as I think he was a bit embarrassed that he got it all wrong. Then I asked him what made him think that it was my birthday. He said last night when he went to the shop across our apartment and while returning, he saw the sign that said happy Birthday M in our apartment window. He assumed, the birthday must have been a few days ago as the sign was still there so thought of calling me and wishing a Happy birthday (really nice of him). When I heard that I couldn’t stop laughing but at the same time I was really embarrassed. 

The thing is when I had my birthday party, 3 months ago, my husband decided to do this big decoration on our window. It was really nice of him as I had Halloween theme party and it looked amazing. He put lots of work to execute the design and decoration. I thinking I kept the decorations for a week before taking them out. The only thing I couldn’t take out was my birthday banner as it was too high up the window. I have asked him several times to take that out but for some reason, he hasn’t.  Also it hasn’t occurred to me lately, to remove it, even though I see it every day. I guess my eyes just filter it when I am home. 

I had no idea that, people could see the banner from the street in the evening when we have our lights on. Now I am thinking how many of our neighbour has seen that banner and wondered what is going on with a birthday celebration for 3 months. How embarrassing! 

His call made my morning but I have to go home tonight and make sure that banner gets off from the window. I think 3 months is a bit too long to have the banner hanging around isn’t it?

Just a day remaining before the weekend so enjoy everyone!!!