My little summer adventure:Pea Soup Swim

[This post appeared first on my blog: http://rooparecipes.blogspot.com/]

Talking about summer activities....

I swam in the Hudson River this Sunday afternoon, and actually enjoyed it. And yes, I jumped - wasn't pushed! It started as a bit of a lark, something I thought I would back out of once I had achieved my exercise goals. The quest to qualify was initially my goal (88 lengths in our pool!) ...and then I qualified. Once that was done, I couldn't let myself down. I had to do it!Anyway, the first indication that something may be amiss was when I received an email and then a call from the organizers of the Park to Park swim that said that they'd changed the course of the race. No longer was it going to be with the direction of the current (from 144 to 166 street), but out from 166 to the center of the river, then downtown against the current and back to the starting point.

Not one of the 227 swimmers who gather that Sunday morning seems fazed by this change - some were clearly biatheletes, people who had done these swims many times before and there to win, and others were like me, just in it for fun. For me, the question was, would I actually dive in. I did (see youtube video of the start)! Not just that, I survived and valiantly battled the currents for 25 minutes, at which point I flipped on my back and tried the back stroke (from pure exhaustion) and was shocked when an NYPD motor boat passed by and one of the guys said - "you're going backwards...you all are!" I grabbed a nearby Kayak and looked around - and saw swimmers being ferried back to shore. I had put off giving up, since I didn't want to be the first one giving up, or have my kids see my give up. Now that I knew that completing the swim was a futile exercise, I was ok with being rescued! The cheery kayak'er (who struggled mightily with the currents himself) and the lovely NYPD blokes got me and a bunch of others back to the rocks and we clambered back.Apart from my family posse (dad, mom, hubby and kids), some of our friends came to cheer me on. I'm not sure what they thought - that I was demented, possibly, but maybe also kinda brave...? Either way, they proved their mettle by actually hugging and kissing me, Hudson water and all. The parents deserve special mention, since they had trekked out to umpteen rifle shooting competitions before in my avatar as rifle champ, but this was the first time they saw me in a new, and dangerous, element. Mamma slept a couple of hours that evening, as she worked out her stress and the exhaustion of the long walk through Washinton Sqare park! And of course, a special thanks (and many Hudson-smelling hugs) to the extremely supportive guy by my side!!

So, you ask, what's with the title of this post? Just 'cause I remember thinking as I dived into the river that it looked and felt a little like Pea Soup! The resemblance ends there - I drank a couple of quarts of the stuff as I swam across the current and kept getting hit in the face by the swells as I came up for air. Boy, was I happy I got all those shots (Hep A, Typhoid and Tetanus, in case you're wondering.) Still, I'm sharing a Pea Soup recipe that I've played with in the past, since a recipe or food reference is the price of entry on my recipes blog (where I first posted this!!)

Pea Soup a la Hudson!

One and a half cups of green peas (split peas soak and hence cook faster)

Four cups chicken (or veggie) broth

Half a small onion, diced

One medium carrot, diced

Quarter teaspoon lime juice

One garlic cloveHalf a stalk of celery

Salt and pepper to taste

• A pinch of turmeric and garam masala for the extra punch
• Soak the peas in the broth overnight (in the fridge, or the broth will turn)
• Cook the peas and broth till the peas start to show they are cooking, which should take around 20 minutes
• Toss in the diced garlic, onion, carrot and celery and cook with the turmeric and garam masala
• Pick out some of the vegetable pieces when they get tender, to add some character to the soup at the end
• Puree the cooked peas and vegetables to a smooth consistency (you may need to add some broth, in case it gets too thick)
• Mix in the reserved vegetables and serve, and mix in the lime juice at this stage
• Optional: Dribble some cream to decorate the soup as you serve in bowls. You can also add in cubed ham with the vegetables, which is quite conventional. You might also garnish with a sprig of mint, if you want to mix it up a bit!

Theme for June: Great Summer Experiences for the family

June is always a strange month -- the heat slows you down, but your social life tends to get rather crowded (picnics, trips out of town, camp plans for kids...) and it's sometimes easy to miss out on the pleasure of just vegging out in the summer. Tell us how you plan for summer - what do you do over the warm months (except for those in the antipodes!) to make sure you and the kids have a fun but inspiring time out of school. Do you opt for summer camps, in which case at what age do you start, and for how long do you go? If it's travel, what are the most child-friendly places you've been? etc.

In our case, we've been suffering a very hot turn of events in NYC - the kids were exhausted with the 96° F temperatures. We spent time in the park with friends, and the sprinklers and bubbles proved popular, but we're definitely planning on more days indoors!! July brings a couple of weeks in South America. I'll keep you posted on how that goes. I personally took a trip down memory lane with a visit to Oxford, and I think taking a couple of days to be with yourself in a fun, soothing environment did wonders for my spirit. The five days by myself at the reunion (where I spoke, we all hung out and chatted about life, etc.) really recharged my batteries. Try it some time -- I was lucky to have my parents visiting, so that I didn't worry about the kids at all (and hubby is great with them anyway!) I'm able to plan their summer better thanks to the breathing room I gave myself!

Share your best and worst summer experiences, lessons learned, and advice!

Roopa
http://rooparecipes.blogspot.com/

Not doing it all

I was on a rant in my blog about how packaged masalas (not the primary ones like chilli powder, but the "biriyani mix", "idli mix", etc.) never work for me. The post elicited some comments, including the following:
"Hi Roopa, How do you manage to do everything so well -a great job/two kids/a blog/work out etc.etc..just curious. Can you please write a post about that to help some folks like me an idea about your routine.Take care!!!"

I'm flattered, but I'm not sure I'd say that I do do everything. There have been choices along the way. Things I chose NOT to do, things I choose to focus on right now, things I've decided can wait a couple of years.

• Rifle shooting -- now that was something I was pretty great at. But it took three to five hours of training four to five times a week. Not the kind of training that a mother of twins, with an NYC mortgage to contribute to can keep at, I decided. Funnily, I don't miss it...especially given I'd done it for about sixteen years with a real passion.
• Poetry -- I had dreamed at one time of truly taking time to read the greats, work with other poets, understand what it took to be good and evocative. Sports became the focus, coping with a new country and cadence became another, living life became a key distraction. It is not a passion anymore.
• Consulting -- engaging around an issue, solving it and working through an issue with absolute focus. I had felt like a fish that had found its preferred body of water, but travel and the hours can conflict with the deep urge to sit down and spend a couple of hours coloring rainbows. Choosing a sane work-life balance was a real priority, and my current role has allowed for that.

Which brings us to the comment and question:
6:30 am: Wake up and stare into the fridge. Whip up a dish or two for the kids (this activity is put on hold every time a grandma is in town!)
7:00 am: In the summer, there is time for a vigorous swim before work (usually two or three times a week)
8:00 am: Off to work
6:30 pm: Try to get back from work, and hang out with the kids. Ideally eat dinner with them once or twice during the work week
8:00 pm: Start reading to the kids
8:30 pm: Three days a week or more, hubby will hang out with the kids as they fall asleep and I go down to the gym for 45 mins on the ellipse, or a crazy training session with Tracy!!
9:30 pm: Log back on and get an hour or two of work done
11:00 pm: Do a bit of blogging to keep my writing muscles alive
At least once a week, make sure to have a grown-up dinner and walk home with hubby.
Seems like a bit of a slacker life, if you ask me. Out there are are 17-year-olds writing novels, 30-year-olds millionaires , and single moms who struggle to make ends meet, give their children guidance and necessities .... I'm just a working mom, trying to make sure to be good to her family and herself; lucky in having a caring husband, fantastically supportive friends, family and colleagues, and the ability to access great schools and institutions in this metro. It's about priorities, circumstances and ambitions....

Tell me what you think about the following Boston Globe article. Initially, I felt the central assertion was questionable: that women are choosing not to pursue certain careers from aptitude, not just giving up given glass ceiling dynamics or personal circumstances. But the more I thought about it, the more it seemed to reflect a lot of my own choices. I did feel that the dynamics in India or China are quite different...
The freedom to say 'no': Why aren't there more women in science and engineering? Controversial new research suggests: They just aren't interested.

http://rooparecipes.blogspot.com/

Sibling memories: Artichokes!

My sister and brother can get away with a lot...mostly because I remember my first cooking experiment and how they took it. I must have been ten, enamoured by my mother's glossy Life-Time recipe books, and insistent that I cook myself. After a long afternoon's work cooking up an artichoke, I served it to my siblings, who dutifully ate them. Then I tried...and realized I'd really not cooked the tartar sauce properly. Yeuck!! Full points to S&D for chomping away and not complaining at all! It's amazing how siblings can surprise you. These were the same big brother and sister who would chase me around to tickle me till I cried!!

Thought I'd share a new recipe I tried out with artichokes. May be a little off the beaten track for the blog, but fun if you have a moment to try something gun. This artichoke effort came about because my son K read a Pinky Dinky Doo book that featured the interesting-looking veggie and decided he needed to try it. Poor hubby got sent out last night to find a couple (he tried three stores) and I scoured around for recipes. Serendipitously, friend Aparna mailed me an Italian recipe book that gave me a couple of ideas and the following was the result.



Ingredients:
Two medium sized artichokes
Olive oil
Lemon
One egg
Breadcrumbs


Stuffing:
Half pound minced turkey
Two tomatoes
One onion
One egg
Salt
Pepper
Pinch of turmeric,
Garam masala and chilli powder


Sauce:
Garlic
One onion
Two teaspoons diced garlic
Pasta sauce (one medium bottle)

• I prepped the stuffing as I normally would, i.e., with an Indian twist.... I started by frying diced onions till golden, mixing in the diced tomato, and when it all starts simmering, mix in the minced turkey and cook till the mix is dry
• Cool the mix, then mix in one egg so the stuffing hangs together
• Start prepping the artichoke. This means the following:- Slice the stem off, being careful not to cut into the artichoke flower- Pull off the outer bracts (the "petals" as the kids called them) till you get to the softer bracts- Chop the top of the floweret, so it has a stright edge on the top. Nip off the tips of the bracts that still have tips- Open out the flowerette, till you get to the central core. Gauge the tenderness of the central bracts, but I found that the center has to go. It's pretty sharp and hard- Having effectively created a cup for the stuffing, it's best to run water through the flowerettes, then squeeze lemon juice over them - this prevents discoloration
• Put in the stuffing into the artichoke "cups", patting it down nicely so it's packed in well (the kids loved doing this)
• Beat the extra egg, and dip the top of the stuffing and the encircling edges of the artichoke bracts in it. Then dip it in the bread crumbs (dad loved doing this!)
• In a large pan, heat oil, then put the srtichokes face-down (stuffing side down) in the oil so it fries nicely. Once the tops are brown, take them off and cool
• Start the sauce: fry the garlic and onion and pour in the pasta sauce, and bring to a simmer
• Put the two artichokes in a pot, pour the sauce around them and cook on a medium flame for about 40 minutes (that's right!!)
• This was a complex job, but tactile and hence lots of fun for the kids. The unique look and feel also made this an interesting eating experience for the kiddies. They loved the stuffing, and liked the bite and pull technique needed to get the flesh off the bracts. It reminded them of the Muringa (also called drum-sticks in India) that I use in my sambars!

Roopa
rooparecipes.blogspot.com

Idol and Democracy....

Yesterday, I got back home in time for a long drawn out dinner with the kids, and as we dawdled over dessert, we landed up chatting about politics (Don't ask! The price of having a journalist dad and a consistent discussion of news in the house ). D, my daughter, is pretty serious about Hilary Clinton. My son consistently notes that "Guliani dropped out, right? I like McCain." I suspect the elections are going to be tension-ridden at home! These short chats often lead us to questions on why there are changes in presidents, why are we in Iraq, etc.

From the sublime to the not-so-sublime, since seeing Sanjaya do his thing in American Idol last year, my kids are total American Idol fans. They were fascinated by the sight of seeing a young, brown kid standing up there as part of such a major American media spectacle. It was exhilarating for them and they were hooked. They couldn't believe that he got voted off. Last year, they just asked the question, but didn't quite engage on what the vote meant (well, they were only 3 1/2 years old!) This year, it's fascinating to see them make the connections. They insist they want us to call in as soon as the show is done to vote for their favorites. D has been crest-fallen every time someone she likes gets booted. Yesterday, as the show ended, she moaned, "Amanda Obermeyer -- how could this happen?!! I'm sad." While I wonder about all that TV time, I love that they're so in touch with the singing and dancing. also, I feel we must be doing something right because both kids say, "Jason Castro is there because he looks that way."....precocious/ precious.

The interesting thing was that yesterday, once they got over the shock of Amanda's ouster, they made a bunch of connections.
-> we call
-> other americans call (25 million?)
-> they count the number of calls
-> the bottom 3 sit on the awful 3 stools!
-> you say goodbye to the lowest one!!
AND
-> I guess that's why Rudy Giuliani dropped out....

Such fun to see them make the connections and engage in these conversations!
Roopa
(http://rooparecipes.blogspot.com/)

Two new Monthly Columns at DMC

Two of our very own members have very kindly agreed to do monthly columns for DMC.

Roopa Unnikrishnan, a very talented Mom of 4 year old twins, a Rhodes scholar currently residing in NYC, a world class rifle shooter and India's prestigious Arjuna award recipient among several other honors is going to do a column on "Modern parenting: nurturing and educating in the context of the news cycle".
In a single sentence she says "I'll most probably reflect on something in the news that makes me think of the role of mothers in the family and in their childrens life."
You can know more about Roopa at http://www.roopaonline.com/

Kiran Manral, the charismatic and glam Mom of a energetic 4 year old, lives in Mumbai and is very involved in her son's education and activities. Her column will involve the various aspects of edication, trends for kids in India. Her first column on Nursery admissions is already out at DMC
You can read more of Kiran at Karmic Kids

Please welcome these members and give your inputs to their columns.