Monsoon Love

Today I was planning to write some other topic, but when I woke up in the morning and saw the wonderful weather outside, I could not avoid my excitement and decided to dedicate my today post to Monsoon season in Delhi.
When I was living in Armenia I have not clearly understood what it means Monsoon season. Yeah, I have known that it's a time when rain starts, but out of it I havn't know more.
When you live in country where geographic location is totally different from the country where you were born and grow up, you will be surprised to see so much changes in one place and to adopt yourself for it.
As I live in Delhi, here weather is different if to compare it with other parts of India.
The most pleasant weather starts on February and ends first weeks of May. That time reminds me about summer in Armenia. Started from May (sometimes even end of April) we have extremely hot weather till July. The temperature can increase till 47 C, and then from July it will start to rain, but the temperature is still high. Now (end of August and September)  it still rains but temperature is low. From July till Mid-September the season called Monsoon. Here we have rain, crazy, very heavy.
I remember those rains from Indian movies in my childhood, and it has seemed to me artificial but also so romantic (specially when couple was dancing under rain).

Rain in India is magical. And such magic happened today morning with me.
I woke up from the voice of heavy rain. Decided to go to roof and enjoy. If you have been in India you will know how roofs looks like here, specially in Delhi. Those are basically like a balconies.

Here I grow plants, do yoga, meet sunrise, meditate in the mornings and enjoy my time with cup of tea during sunset.

 Today I could not do my all activities, but have enjoy it differently.
Meditation under rain , doesn't it seem extra sexy?Let it be.
Sometimes we need to do something extraordinary, unexpected and crazy. The result was my purified mind, unconditional love to my plants, my inner peace and extremely happy mood.

Human being is a very interesting creature, how we change, how we develop and how our likes and dislikes change we can never know. Now I feel happy with things which I have never taken attention before, May be I have grown up, become more mature? What makes me feel so sensitive?
India is a country which changes human from inside out. Here either you will find, or will lose yourself. This country is like inspiration, it's motivation, to induce you do something unbelievable, To make you relax even if your whole body is wet and half  of the body is under water, to smile and feel "sabai", and tell to yourself: "take it easy, it's Indian Monsoon".

Love and Peace 

My International Family

 Being a generation of late 1980's and living in post Soviet country,  english language was unachievable challenge for my generation children. Im my city where every school taught  German  only few people have known english.
 Till my 21st I havn't know even English Alphabet, and about Hindi I couldn't even dream. But life had an other plans for me and now as you see everything is different. As an Armenian girl I could never imagine myself living in India, but we can not always control our destiny.

So now I am part of big international family. Why I call my family international, because I am not the only one married with foreigner. There is also my elder sister who is married with Iranian boy. Though he has an Armenian descent, however many things are different and comes from Iranian culture.
So I will share my experience how things change, when we get foreign relative in our families.

When some foreigner becomes a member of your family, first thing which you do, collect information about that country and culture, you start to be more careful about news and anything related to that country.Everything begins with communication, which is a big challenge for the older members of family. So someone has to be in the role of translator. And here it starts, you try to explain with color, with size, with what it is related. And sometime people will understand you, sometime they will not, but always will say yes"" (just to make you relax).And it doesn't end here, you start to download different dictionaries in your smartphone or carry dictionary with you almost everywhere. And at home google translation would be always on your screen of computer.
The older members of your family will always speak with their foreign relative's, even though he will not understand, however they will do "cheers", will say toast in different languages and  enjoy Armenian cognac together. This is the most funny part of International family.

I have realized one thing, that after sometime my parents  started to say some english words, like "hello", "thank you", "good"and also "salam" or "namaste", but here  you need to be very careful because some "innocent" word can have some swearing meaning in other languages.
Just because you have foreign relatives you will start to try that country food, (even though you may not like). You will get to know different recipes and also the addresses of that country restaurants.
When you have international family you will have a lot of souvenirs from that country, also traditional clothes.
Unconsciously you will start to listen that country songs and try to remember the words.
At your home there would be always topic about politics, and relationship between our countries.
You will have few sim cards from different countries, luggages with boarding pass of different flights.

And skype would be always on in your device.
You will celebrate New Year several times,( because of time difference), and not only, there would be a lot of celebrations and day offs about which you will get to know.
Your neighbors will make excuses for coming to your home and children will make a round in the yard, just to see how he looks like.
There are lot of things which changes when you get family member from different country. And  finally people will have opinion about that nation according to your relatives behaview (even though I am not agree with this point, such as  everyone is different and in every nation there are good and bad people).

Pickled Okra

Hello everyone there. Its almost one month we are together  and I am so happy that I have around 2000 view in my blog , I am very glad that my posts are interesting for people, By the time I will develop this blog and hopefully will become more professional and will include many other topics.
But as of now lets come back to our recipes.
Today I am going to share recipe for pickled okra (or okro, or gumbo, in some English speaking countries including India,  it's called ladies' fingers).
This has been made by my sister, about whom I have told in my previous posts.
 So here we go, for half litter glass jar we need:

1.  12-13 middle size (not big) okras (which will be approximately 300 gram)
2. one normal size tomato
3. 2-3 cloves of garlic
4. 2 tea spoon vinegar 
5. 1 tea spoon of salt 
6. whole black peppercorn
7. bay leaf 

We take a glass jar with half liter capacity. First we put few whole black peppercorn, cloves of garlic, bay leaf and then we start to dispose the okras with vertical direction. We try to fit as much as its possible. On the top we put one tomato.

In metallic bowl we boil a half liter of water, when water comes to boiling point we add 1 tea spoon of salt and 2 tea spoon of vinegar, wait for 2 minutes and then fill it in glass jar with okras.

Put the lid on jar and take in to warm water for sterilization. When water starts to boil, wait for 10 minutes then take out, close the lid tight and put in upside-down and close with clothes. This process  makes vegetable to get marinate longer. You can take it after couple of hours. Your pickled okra is ready. Remember, this was for half liter capacity jar.

Mask for Hair fall

Today I am going to to make hair mask, specially for hair fall.
During this period when I live in India, hair problem has became a stress for me, because whatever shampoo or medicine I have used, I could not feel any difference. Here we have  hard water with  Mg (Magnesium) and Ca (Calcium) salts, which makes hair very dry and it becomes hard to comb it, and after sometimes hair starts to fall. For this problem I have used many products from market, but  significant changes I could not see.So I found home made remedies  more useful, than anything else.
For this mask I am going to take three components:

1. One egg
2. 3-4 cloves of garlic
3. 2 table spoon of hair oil (it can be almond, papaya or coconut oil) 

Why we use this ingredients ? First of all lets understand what is hair?Of course I will not explain whole biology here, but simply said hair is mostly made up of proteins and amino acids.
The vitamin A which is found in egg yolk stimulates sebum production which prevents drying of the scalp, while preventing also hair loss. Vitamin E protect the hair from UV rays, and here we have also Vitamin D which gives glaze and volume.
Egg yolk contains also proteins and fatty acids which are very important for hair growth. The white part of egg, has natural moisturizing effect.
Garlic can remove toxins from scalps and stimulates blood circulation and conduces hair growth. Garlic also includes Vitamin C and B6 .
Here I will use coconut oil, which has fatty acids in component, including lauric acid and capric acid, which are very important for hair growth and have a nourishing effect on scalp. Garlic extract  contains also vitamin E.
So lets start.
First we mash the garlic cloves as much as its possible, because we need more extract.

Then we add two table spoons of hair oil ( I have used coconut oil of  "Parashut" company, because I just had this on my hand, otherwise it can be any company product, or even different hair oil as I mentioned above).

Then we add a egg and start to mix it well. (Try to avoid metallic spoon or bowls, here I forgot to replace it).

 When all the components are mixed, we start to apply it on hairs (first of all on scale).

For my convenience, I use small brush, it will helps me finish the process fast.
When process is done, we  massage scale for around 5 -10 minutes and live the mask for 40-60 minutes.
We need to wash hairs with warm water. No need to be scare for garlic smell, because it feels only in wet hairs.

After this mask your hair becomes more shiny, beautiful and strong.Keep using this mask two times a week.

Stay beautiful

Friendship in 21st Century

Few weeks ago, we were celebrating a day of friendship, and as it is a very actual topic for all the time, I have decided to dedicate my this post to it.

From psychology view, friendship is a relationship of mutual affection between people, its a stronger form of interpersonal bonds.These bonds can include characteristics like mutual understanding , compassion, sympathy, honesty, trust. This is description from science, but in real life every thing seems different.
When we were child, we understood friendship with sharing a toys and enjoying time during activities together. Thoughts sharing is difficult for children, they do it only with one, whom they recognize as a friend.

As a generation of late 1980's, the scientific view of friendship is very appropriate for my childhood. I still remember how my mom was calling me from balcony, to finish the game and come home, and though she used to do it several times, it was very hard for me to leave my friends and return home, even if it was already evening.
 I am happy, that I had a childhood where friends and games were natural, that we used to share, we used to care and even fight as natural and real child. And there were real bones between us. Unfortunately now I see new generation more connected with their computers and phones than with friends. And mothers are calling them to finish their computer games and come out from virtual world. I apologize, but nowadays I don't really understand  the type of friendship  between children. The topic which they share, all about games where they keel someone or shoot to animals (oh I forgot about driving a car).

The scene is different in student years, when we become more socialized we acquire characteristics which  will develop us as a social person. In this age we get many friends, our intercourse increases and communication becomes very important between friends. We start to share our likes and dislikes, we share our secrets, get advises and it seems that friends, whom we recognize during student years will stay with us forever. Sometime its really true and we stay connected with our friends for life long (at least for me it is like this). In my opinion, the reason behind this is  that  student time is the most beautiful and sweet for many of us. The memories from that period, we always remember with beautiful smile, and of course people who are connected with those memories can not be forgotten.
 I still remember my crazy student years: easygoing and adventurous.I can not forget the time when me with my friends used to go to Grand Candy "Ponchikanoc" or "Tashir Pizza" and enjoy our time there, or prepare exams together and  truly worry for each other's marks.Those are so sweet memories and connected with so sweet friends, whom I can not forget in my whole life.Friends, with whom we have share first love stories, emotional moments, tears and smiles.
Even though we are now far from each other, we still keep  connections and when we talk sometimes, our conversations are as honest and positive as it was before.

Living in this century, unfortunately, virtual word has its effect on me as well. Friendship in Facebook and other social accounts are popular, and I also could not escape from it. From one side its good, because it gives us opportunity to know many people, to get friends from around the world, to know about their culture and traditions. But I would have prefer few minutes of spending with my friends, seating around table with coffee cups and gossiping about the world.

Love and Peace 

Face scrub with coffee and olive oil

 Today  we are going to make a face scrub with coffee and olive oil.
 This scrub is best for dry skin but also can be use for normal and combination type of skin.
Here we need a filtered coffee ground, and its better to take used coffee ground, because first its softer and easier to remove, and second it works more effective than dry one.
 Study has shown that  small quantity of coffee is good not only for drinking but also for skin and hair.Coffee removes inflammation and redness. When we apply coffee on the skin, the caffeine,  which is the basic content in coffee, constricts the blood vessels under the skin and help reduce swelling and depuff eyes. Its a exfoliator, which removes dead skin.
 From other side the health benefits of olive oil are unrivaled, and the most important is that it can prevent malignant melanoma, which is the most dangerous type of skin cancer.
Olive oil is rich with vitamin  A and E, minerals, antioxidants, natural fatty acid.It prevents skin aging, hydrates the skin, nourishes, helps skin cells to regenerate, maintains its elasticity and softness.
 So, here we take one tea spoon of used coffee ground  and two tea spoons of olive oil.

Mix it well, and then gently apply it to your face, ignoring lips and eyes. Softly massage your face with your fingers and then leave it for 5-10 minutes.

You can remove it with towel, or wash it with just a little warm water and then softly and gently clean it with tissue paper.
After this scrub you will definitely feel the difference on your skin.

Stay Beautiful

Incredible India

Yesterday we were celebrating 70th Independence Day of India. On 1947, August 15, India got Independence and came out from British colonial system.With all the respect to this country and Indian nation, I wish India prosperity, economic growth, peace and unity.
  India is the seventh largest country by area, and second-most populous country (over 1.2 billion people) and the most largest democracy in the world (at least this is what shows statistics).
  It has one of the fastest growing economy, but at the same time there are many traditions and cultural habits which are not changed for centuries. India is the most incredible country which I have seen in my life. I don't want to write about politics, which is not my field, and there are many more interesting information which I can share with you about India.

From history and Bollywood movies we heard about India a lot. I don't think that there is someone who has not seen Bollywood movies at least once in life time. Those movies are so beautiful, so magical, so colorful, that looks like a fairy tale, but the reality which we collide with is entirely different. I don't say its good or bad, just only extremely different from movies.
 Almost three years continuously I live in India, and the experience which I got during my stay here, can not be compared with somewhere else. I am so changed during this period, that sometime I can not recognize myself. and I am happy that those changes happened to me, otherwise I would have not been able to integrate myself with this community. Integration doesn't mean I have lost my tradition and culture, no, not at all. It means that barriers which were disturbing me to feel myself more comfortable in this country, now are almost overcome, and it was a long and difficult way to reach the place where I am now. Only people who have been in India at least once, will be able to understand my point.
 When first time I visit India, cultural shock was following me during my three months of stay, I lost weight around 4-5 kg.It was in 2009, I didn't know English and even not Hindi, so it was very hard for me to interact with people and almost  impossible to go somewhere alone.
  First time in my life I saw so much crowd in Metro.

 I was frustrated from extremely hot weather ( it was a summer season), and was very hard to adopt myself with  Indian spicy food.
 For those who never been in India, I want to say its a country which we can not explain with one word, if not only "incredible". Here we can see so many different things, which we can not see anywhere else in the world. Country which accepts more than four religions, country where every state has its own language, tradition, cuisine.Country of colors, ohhh  Indian colors, (now I think I am unable to wear black clothes).
  If you are planning to live in India you have to be ready to adopt yourself with noises, smells, heat, humidity, pollution, traffic, long  traffic, huge traffic.

  India has its own rules in everything, and even if you are foreigner living here, you have to follow them. For example: even if you don't want you will defiantly learn some Hindi words, such as

"Namaste", " Kyase ho?"and than following question "thik hu?". Indian people are not aggressive and you will always meet their smiles in the streets, and almost everywhere you will hear the question: 

"From where you are", and when you tell them from Armenia, most of the time you will get the next question:  "where is it??"And when you start to explain whole the geography of Armenian land, finally you will get the answer : "oh its in Russia?" (but of course there is also people knowing Armenia very well).

 By living in India you have to learn bargaining, because you will need it everywhere. You will learn to sleep under fan, and after sometime you will recognize that you don't even feel the voice of that fan, which was irritating you during first day of your stay in India. You will learn to take shower with cold water (at least sometimes).You will start to feel the difference between Indian masalas. 

 At least once you will try Indian street food.After sometimes you will recognize you have new words in your vocabulary, like "achcha", and the same time you move your head as Indians use to do. 

 You will see so many dogs everywhere, but it will be hard to see cats (I still don't know why its so, but its like this).You will need to remember all religious celebrations, even if you will not, they will remind you, because there is always someone from other religion living just next to you.

 50 kilometers will become a near distance for you and traveling 30 stations by metro can be everyday itinerary.

 From one side desert, from other side mountains, somewhere 45+ C, in some other place -10 and more.

 You will see people who are very religious but the same time they believe also superstitions. They are always hurry, but always late.

 You will see too rich and too poor people, some of the people are highly  educated but some other part is extremely uneducated, and as long you will live here you will not be able to understand how is it possible so much differences in one country. And you don't even need to understand, ether enjoy your life in India, ether go away. 

 As long you live in India, everyday you will reveal new things for yourself.

I can write a lot about India, but once you need to see and live in India,to get that life-changing experience. 

 India has became a second home for me,when I go out from this country I miss everything, and want to come back soon. May be this is the magic of this spiritual land, which amaze thousands of tourists per year. Now it changes, develops very fast, but still it stays as one of the most famous tourist destination in the world. 

Happy Independence Day India, Stay as Incredible as You are.

JAI HIND

Bun filled with curd and raisins

Today I am going to share with you  very very tasty bun recipe Since my childhood I love buns a lot, and my mom use to make buns with different recipes, and one of them I will share with you now.

Bun with this recipe comes very soft and tasty, and it's especially nice with tea. So lets start.

 For that we need:

1. 2 eggs 
2. 3 spoon of sugar
3. 50 gram butter
4. one cup of milk 
5. 15 gram dry yeast 
6. 2 table spoon of oil
7. 500 gram flour 
8. half cup of raisin
9. 200 gram curd

 First we make a milk warm and  solve inside one spoon of sugar and whole yeast, and leave it for 15 minutes.

In other bowl we mix 2 eggs with 2 spoon of sugar.

Then we mix two mixtures( milk+yeast and eggs +sugar) together in one bowl, and then add oil, and later on, the butter ( butter should be whipped beforehand).

When all ingredients are mixed we start to add flour with small proportion. Before using the flour don't forget to drizzle it, first you will be sure that there is noting inside the flour and second the process of drizzling brings air inside the flour and dough comes soft. You can add few drops of vanilla extract or vanilla powder.
When dough becomes a non stick and elastic we need to cover it and leave for 40-50 minutes.

 During this period we can make the filling mixture. Here I decided to fill the buns with curd and raisins, for that I wash half cup of raisins and then put it in to hot water for 10 minutes (it makes them large and soft). Curd I have made one day before. For the people who doesn't know how to make curd at home, I will share the process.
 First we need the boil the milk, after milk is boiled add just a little lime acid powder or even lime juice or few drops of vinegar. (the best way is lime acid powder, it does not leave any taste or smell). After this, acidification goes very fast and after 15 minutes we need to take out the curd, and squeeze it.  If we are going to use the curd for making any kind of dessert, after boiling a milk we can add sugar. Now lets come back to our dough.
After 50 minutes it becomes double size.

We take half part of the dough and open it with rolling pin, then divide the dough in to parts and on the top of every part put the mixture (curd with raisins ) and roll the dough.

Then put it on the hot pan and cook in 170 C for 30 minutes.

Don't forget to preheat the oven.
Buns are ready.

Oh sooo yummy...

 Good Appetite 

Squash Caviar

Today we are going to cook a Squash Caviar. Personally I have never cooked it, but in  Armenia, during summer season my mother used to make Caviar from different vegetables.
 Let me say, it's one of my favorite snack food, specially for winter season, because we have a long winter in Armenia and many of vegetables are not available during that time.
 This recipe I got from my sister Arpine, for which I am very thankful to her. Being a mother of two kids and living in a big family, she knows all the secrets of delicious cooking. So lets start.

For this recipe we need:

1. 3 kg squash
2. 0.5 kg onion 
3. 4 cloves of garlic
4. 330 gram  tomatoes (or tomato puree) 
5. one chili pepper
6. 4 medium size carrots
7. 150 ml oil 
8. bay leaves 
9. a bunch of parsley
10. a salt 
11. ground black pepper

First we need to peel squash and remove stones. Mince all the ingredients separately.

Add oil in cooking pot and put it on the gas, after few minutes add onion and fry it few minutes. No need to fry onion too long (maximum 5 minutes). After sometime add garlic and later on chili pepper.

 Fry the mixture around 2-3 minute and then add carrot and continue frying.

After 7-8 minutes add tomato souse then squash and in last add  parsley.

 No need to add water, because white cooking squash loose plenty of water.
When mixture start cooking,we add salt, black pepper and  bay leaves. We need to cook it till the time it will be ready.

Good Appetite