Disqus - Latest Comments for GoriGirl

Re: NFL Open Thread - Ta-Nehisi Coates - Personal - The Atlantic

GoriGirl — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 14:23:33 -0000

Husband insisted on getting NFL ticket when we moved, and, well, I didn't put up too much of a fight on the matter. :)

Re: NFL Open Thread - Ta-Nehisi Coates - Personal - The Atlantic

GoriGirl — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 13:56:06 -0000

Alright - what games should I be watching today, folks? Haven't had a chance to watch much the past couple of weeks...

Re: Fun with mixies

GoriGirl — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 14:47:13 -0000

We have a regular American food processor which works pretty well for our needs, but I think things need less grinding in North Indian cooking than South Indian... When the food processor can't hack it, I break out the mortar and pestle.

I've always thought it'd be great if there were libraries for loaning out household items that you need once or twice a year - fancy cake tins, post hole diggers, and so forth...

Re: Kannada Resources

GoriGirl — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 18:59:57 -0000

The So You Want To Learn a Language site lists a few more Kannada resources.

Re: Rethinking food Part 1: Curd

GoriGirl — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 13:08:04 -0000

I almost always put cucumber and onion into raita... other than that, it varies by what I have on hand and what I'm in the mood for.

Re: Kannada lessons

GoriGirl — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 21:50:53 -0000

"A little" is also a very useful word to respond with when someone asks if you know language X. It always got me a smile when I was in India.

Re: Phase 1 of Operation Wedding -- Complete

GoriGirl — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 00:53:32 -0000

Congratulations! :-D

I'm glad to hear how welcoming - and understanding - all of the parents have been.

Now, to the important stuff: have you started the green card paperwork yet? ;-)

Re: "Goris Come Clean"

GoriGirl — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 00:49:55 -0000

I found your blog though that article, and I'm glad I did! It's been fun reading through your posts - from what I can tell, it seems like you and your guy are in roughly the same place Aditya and I were when we first married four years ago - although we only had one more wedding in front of us, not two!

Re: Rethinking food Part 1: Curd

GoriGirl — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 00:45:40 -0000

I love freshly-made raita, although I don't make it all that often. If you make a chunkier version, it can also be used as a good dip with spicy chips, like Trader Joe's Spicy Soy & Flaxseed Tortilla Chips.

Re: Fair is Lovely?

GoriGirl — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 00:42:32 -0000

I think it's just a matter of status-seeking: what is "attractive" is what is difficult to obtain (outside of the apparently biological factors, like clear skin and symmetric features). Go back 150 years ago in the Western world, and poor women are tan (from working outside) and fit to thin. Therefore attractiveness is what is difficult - being pale and rich enough to have some curves. In India today, being pale is pretty much the same - plus you can throw in all the colonial and neo-colonial baggage of trying to emulate the British or the Americans.

Re:

GoriGirl — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 00:37:56 -0000

Oh my - you're really ordering it? Do spill all the fun details when you get a chance!

Re: Beagle Boy!

GoriGirl — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 00:36:30 -0000

Well, if you've read my blog at all, I'm sure you know we're both crazy about our dogs! Aditya's family always has had one or two dogs (they even showed their GSD, Kushi), so he's super comfortable with dogs. We have an Alaskan Malamute, Panda, who is a total gentle giant, and a hound/German Shepherd mix, Kajol. When we got her, we were told that she was a beagle/GSD mix, but her legs grew so long that we doubt that now. She is as stubborn as any beagle, though!

Re: This wedding...not "the" wedding

GoriGirl — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 00:20:16 -0000

Clever planning ahead to keep the same date! Aditya's and my two weddings were both in December, but I'm always confusing the two dates since they weren't the same day.

(So, should I be saying congrats on your first wedding?)

Re: http://www.bytwokaapi.com/2010/05/thoughts-on-parents-visit.html

GoriGirl — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 23:17:48 -0000

Videos... clever! Maa mostly cooked when I was at work, so despite a fair amount of visiting time, I still don't know too many dishes.

Hindi and Bengali also have difficult sounds - the r/d sound can be tough, and differentiating aspirated vs. non-aspirated constants (i.e. dh vs d) is also difficult, at least int the beginning. But other than that, the vocab and grammar aren't harder than, say, German, which is the only other language I'm fluent in. In fact, Hindi & Bengali are easier, since Hindi has only two genders and Bengali none - while German has three.

Re: http://www.bytwokaapi.com/2010/05/thoughts-on-parents-visit-part-2.html

GoriGirl — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 23:13:32 -0000

Well, when my in-laws are visiting, we have tea and maybe a biscuit (i.e. cookie) first thing in the morning - which I'm quite a fan of! Then I'm in a rush to get ready for work, so I either just scarf down a bowl of cereal while everyone else is leisurely getting ready for the day, or I eat something at work (instant oatmeal, granola and yogurt, etc).

When we're in India... I just kinda eat whatever I'm given. Normally that's paratha and some kind of curry or dal - and I've told my in-laws that I don't like to eat a lot in the morning, so I don't get a huge heaping of food. There's always cornflakes and milk available too, if I prefer - it doesn't taste the same as cornflakes and milk in the US, but it's close enough if I'm craving more of an American breakfast.

The first time I was served the traditional Indian breakfast, I was so jet-lagged that I don't think my stomach realized that it was not time for curry!

Re: http://www.bytwokaapi.com/2010/05/pani-puri.html

GoriGirl — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 23:06:59 -0000

Yes, I've had it both in India and here in the states (cooked by someone else) - but not street food pani puri, which I'm told is another level of awesome. If I were living in India, I think I'd try it, but our visits there are just too short to chance coming down with a big stomach bug.

Re: http://www.bytwokaapi.com/2010/05/pani-puri.html

GoriGirl — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 22:04:17 -0000

I love pani puri! But I don't think I'd ever make it at home, for the same reason that I don't make dumplings or sushi - too specialized of ingredients and too long a cooking process for something that I can buy at better quality than I can produce anyways. But props to you for making it!

Re: http://www.bytwokaapi.com/2010/05/ragi-mudde.html

GoriGirl — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 22:02:04 -0000

That... does not sound appetizing. It seems to me that there are plenty of other foods that are tasty & nutritious. Is ragi flour very cheap in India? Perhaps it's an economics of nutrition tradeoff that has become a cultural staple? Or maybe it's just a very acquired taste.

Re: http://www.bytwokaapi.com/2010/05/meeting-in-laws-is-unforgettable.html

GoriGirl — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 21:59:52 -0000

Ha! It sounds like you have something like my people skills. I didn't have *any* time to prepare to meet Aditya's mother, but I angsted over meeting his dad. Ended up taking the family pooch along on the visit to deflect attention from me.

I'm glad you're getting comfortable with your future in-laws and that they're being so welcoming! :-D

Re: http://www.bytwokaapi.com/2010/05/thoughts-on-parents-visit-part-2.html

GoriGirl — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 21:48:23 -0000

Yeah, I always gain at least a few pounds when my in-laws come. I'm truly not used to sitting down and having three square meals a day - and my metabolism isn't used to it either! Plus it's so delicious that it's hard to say no...

Neither one of Aditya's parents came to his graduation, which I think upset him a little. I'm not sure of the reasoning there, and I haven't really inquired further. His mom keeps urging him to get an MBA or other sort of masters degree, but I think he's gotten comfortable with telling her no - he tells me that getting more and better degrees is kinda the only conception she has of moving forward in the world/business, since she's never worked, but has earned a master's in philosophy.

Re: http://www.bytwokaapi.com/2009/12/why-cricket-is-my-new-favorite-sport.html

GoriGirl — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 21:42:24 -0000

Oh, Aditya plays plenty of cricket still (there are both regular and tennis ball leagues around here), but we've never managed to sit down and really go through the nitty gritty details. I guess I'm really not *that* interested.

Re: http://www.bytwokaapi.com/2010/05/thoughts-on-parents-visit.html

GoriGirl — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 21:27:45 -0000

You have my sympathies for trying to learn Kannada - I have no doubt it's harder than Hindi or Bengali or any of the other Northern Indian languages derived from Sanskrit. Do your in-laws speak English at all? Or is it just that, as happens with my in-laws, the native tongue starts flowing naturally?

On the food thing - yes! Nothing beats regular home-cooked meals, although they can get heavy at times (sometimes I just want a salad or some toast for a meal and to be done with it). Did you get much chance to observe you future MIL cooking?

My parents are divorced as well - but they divorced when I was quite little, so I'm not used to seeing a couple as parents at all - even my in-laws. They're just, uh, a nice couple, not really psedo-parental units for me, if that makes sense. Or maybe I just don't like authority figures...

Re: http://www.bytwokaapi.com/2009/12/why-cricket-is-my-new-favorite-sport.html

GoriGirl — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 18:49:23 -0000

I love cricket too! I'm pretty good on the basics, but I'm still missing the details - I couldn't tell a googly delivery from a top spin delivery from a slider delivery if my life depended on it!

I'm completely with you on 1 - I adore tea in all of its lovely caffeinated and non-caffeinated forms. When I visited India last time my in-laws had a beer mug all ready to serve me tea in - they've learned about the quantities I drink.

on 2 - well, is it hypocritical of me to love watching American football even though I wouldn't want my kids playing it because of the head trauma issues? I don't think the inherent violence of the game is bad, in-and-of-itself (human nature, better in a game than real life, etc etc), but I've been reading those brain scan articles too, and they're pretty worrying.

On 3 & 4 - well, I agree, but cricket is way trumped on those points by football/soccer. That's the *truest* international sport, bar none. Cricket is just commonwealth countries.

Re: http://www.bytwokaapi.com/2010/03/ugadi.html

GoriGirl — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 18:40:38 -0000

Wow - that's a lot better than I could ever do! I have shaky hands. :)

It's interesting to hear about the different cultural traditions between regions in India. My husband's family is from Calcutta, which is about the same distance from Bangalore as the distance between Paris & Copenhagen - and the difference in cultures seems to be about the same!

Re: http://www.bytwokaapi.com/2010/03/so-what-is-by-two-kaapi.html

GoriGirl — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 18:32:34 -0000

Hey - welcome to the gori blogosphere! ;-) Sorry that I didn't find your blog sooner - I was on a bit of a blogging break.

My best friend is from Bangalore, but I haven't gotten a chance to visit South India at all yet...