Steve Jobs dies

Steve Jobs (photo link)

God, what a man! It makes me really sad that he is no more. An iconic visionary of our times who has touched a lot of our lives in so many ways. I cannot even begin to comprehend what his driving force was  while he was battling a pancreatic cancer for more than half a decade. His life in itself seems to be some kind of a fantastic/crazy movie. He would be one person whom I would have loved to meet in my lifetime. :-(

I will end up buying his biography. It will be my first. Watch this inspirational speech he made at Stanford's  Commencement ceremony in 2005.

Washington DC

This one was a wonderful trip with my cousins whom I was meeting after a loooooong time in Virginia (around the Memorial Day long weekend in May 2011). We spoke until the wee hours of the morning, reminiscing and sharing some of our new stories. The next day we headed to the capital of the USA, Washington DC. DC was super crowded --> good weather (bordering giving heat strokes to some people) + long weekend craze, but by downing ourselves with icy versions of all sorts of drinks, we made it through.

Taking a train ride from Virginia as we approached DC, the whole place seemed to be engulfed with regal looking buildings. The highlight of the day though was a picnic lunch we had at a random park gobbling up home made food. Here are some photos:

The US Capitol Building far far ahead

The White House: Can you spot the president? 

The Washington Monument: the pyramid like top has Egyptian architecture's influence apparently

National World War II Memorial 

Paying special tribute to the soldiers

Yeaaaaah!!! Go Feminism! 

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

And there we met some of our favorite ancestors :) 

Fatigued by all the heat, we wondered how we had actually spent majority of our lives in a tropical country. We headed back home after watching (dozing off to) the "Born to be Wild" 3D movie in the IMAX theater at the museum narrated oh! so soothingly by Morgan Freeman. 

P.S.1 - Does cold coffee mean dumping lot of ice cubes into black coffee?? I paid $3.50 for that crap in the museum. Isn't it supposed to be this blended, creamy, sugary delight? 

P.S.2 - If you are still staring at the White House picture searching for someone, I was seriously kidding. :) 

Menu Plan Mondays - September Week 4

Last week's menu's big winner was bisibelabath. It came out surprisingly well. Banana bread was a close second. I stuck to most of the menu plan except for the cutlet. Instead I mixed up a ready made bel puri mix, which was a complete flop. The sauces in it tasted like medicine..blaahh...

Cooked so elaborately for Sunday lunch ( had invited people over, thats why ofcourse), that I am sticking to some known/simple recipes for the rest of the week.


Monday - 
Breakfast: Cereals
Lunch: Left overs from a big meal on Sunday
Dinner: Rasam + Carrot/Soy Chunk combo sabzi (courtesy hubby ji, as I am feeling a bit blue)
Snack: Tortilla Chips

Tuesday - 
Breakfast: Kuzhi appam + cocunut chutney
Lunch: Veggie Burger
Dinner: Palak+ mushroom + beans sabzi
Snack: Banana + chocolate chip muffins

Wednesday - 
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs
Lunch: Palak mushroom + roti
Dinner: Chow Chow + radish sambhar + beetroot sabzi
Snack: Trying out baking bread + cheese

Thursday - 
Breakfast: Semiya upma
Lunch: Paneer fried rice + sabzi
Dinner: yellow pumpkin molagootal + stir fried mixed veggies
Snack: kutty pizza

Friday - 
Breakfast: Maggie Noodles
Lunch: Peas Pulav + Stir fried veggies
Dinner: Onion vatta kozhambu + vazhakka sabzi

Snack: Sundal (chana daal)

                                        

Thanks to  I'm an Organizing Junkie for organizing the Menu Plan Monday