Delicious Masala Milk

I have had masala milk in hotels in Chennai. It is a mixture of milk, aromatic spices and nuts! Priya of priyaeasyntastyrecipes posted this recipe sometime back and I was sure about trying it. As Priya said, this drink helps to get a good night's sleep.

Ingredients:
Milk(I used 1%fat)-2 cups
Sugar-2.5 tsp(or as per taste)
Cinnamon-1 inch stick
Cloves-3
Cardamom-2
Turmeric powder-a pinch
Powdered Pistachios-2 tsp
Saffron-a few strands

Method:
Combine milk, cardamon, cinnamon and cloves together(or you can grind them coarsely and add it to milk) and boil in a vessel. Switch off the stove.
Discard the spices by filtering the milk.
Add rest of the ingredients and serve hot after dinner.
I can guarantee that you will sleep well:)

Note: You can also powder almonds and mix with hot milk. But I personally like pistachio powder and milk combination.

I am sending this to Sunshinemom's FIC-Yellow event.
Also sending this to Trupti's winter treat event.

The Kitchen Sisters Interview

Poet C. D. Wright

For those of you in the Bay Area, poet C.D. Wright is speaking at City Arts & Lecture series at the Herbst Theatre, in San Francisco, Wednesday evening January 7, 2009 at 8PM.

We'll be interviewing Wright as part of a story we're producing about photographer Deborah Luster for our series about the secret lives of girls.

Luster and Wright collaborated on One Big Self: Prisoners of Louisiana, a book featuring a collection of haunting, sepia tinted photographs taken by Luster of Louisiana's incarcerated men and women. Wright's poems accompany the self-posed portraits to "ward off forgetting."

This photo was taken
by Luster at a women's
prison in Louisiana.

Here's one of Wright's poems from One Big Self.

Dear Prisoner,

I too love. Faces. Hands. The circumference

Of the oaks. I confess. To nothing

You could use. In a court of law. I found.

That sickly sweet ambrosia of hope. Unmendable

Seine of sadness. Experience taken away.

From you. I would open. The mystery

Of your birth. To you. I know. We can

Change. Knowing. Full well. Knowing.

It is not enough.

Poetry Time Space Death

I thought. I could write. An exculpatory note.

I cannot. Yes it is bitter. Every bit of it, bitter.

The course taken by blood. All thinking

Deceives us. Lead (kindly) light.

Notwithstanding this grave. Your garden.

This cell. Your dwelling. Who is unaccountably free.

Photographer Deborah Luster describes her her collection of inmate photographs in video by Doug MacCash, Times Picayune Art Critic.

television; ikea anga; backsplash

I’ll start off with a non-kitchen picture.  Finally. 

What’s new here? 

-We decided to paint the fireplace white.  We stripped the layers of old paint and varnish, picked, scraped, sanded, primed and painted.  The inside of the fireplace was also painted black. 

-We mounted the television.  The wire situation is yet to be addressed.  There are a few issues.  One, we need longer cables so that everything can comfortably run from the TV to the shelf with the components.  Also, cord management is yet to be resolved.  It’s looking like running everything through flat, paintable tracks is going to be our option.  We considered cutting a channel through the drywall and plaster deep enough to completely submerge the tracks, then re-refinishing the wall.  This just seems like a big job for a minor detail.  (Side Note: Wii Tennis is even more fun.  yeah - I'm pro.)

-The shelf is Ikea’s Anga series.  It fit the space, offered lots of storage and the glass shelves keep the brick in view.

-The base moulding is going in. 

Now something about the kitchen.  We decided on the Marrakesh tile blend from Modwalls – these pictures are from their site.