Odisha Mo Odisha

 Since the last few days, I have been binge watching YouTube videos of some Odiya Vloggers in the US. There are some really entertaining folks who sing & dance & go about their lives while sharing ups & downs with us (their subscribers). Sometimes they get too personal but it's the age of Social Media so I guess that is perfectly fine if the creator is OK with that. These folks that I watch are mostly girls ..Actually they are all girls.. hmm.. time for me to expand the scope a bit?? may be !!.  Anyways, one of the girls, lives in the eastern part of US & has a HUGE Odiya friends circle who meet almost every week for a party or picnic or potluck and she makes these yummy (almost) contemporary style Odiya food recipes that it makes me want to go back to the east coast & make her my sister. Yes, I used to live there & the first chance I got I left because of the harsh winters. I just could not bear the mere thought of getting up at 7am in the morning ...

 Some days I remember home very very much. The smell of fresh air back home is so different. Even if I had my eyes shut, I'd still know it.  Those are the days, when all I do is dream with my open eyes of the day when I will be with my mom, in her kitchen, making snacks & other foos items for everyone while everyone else watched TV or enjoyed the amazing Odisha weather on the roof top garden.  Since COVID started, we have all been cooped up at home. No parties to go to. No parks to ride our bikes in. No library. No mall. No going to friends house for tea. No potluck dinners. No hanging out with our loved ones. No take out off especially Pizza. Sitting at home & just watching Netflix is definitely not a good pass time but we do it anyways.  So I decided to make something which will take time (so that I keep busy) and taste good for the kids (meaning not spicy at all) and may be have some flavors that we usually don't make at home. Pizza flavors came to mind si...

 The last few weeks we have not been able to go out of our houses at all. Not because of COVID but because of the wildfires in California. The skies are grey, the atmosphere is full of ashes & even the trampoline is covered with a thick layer of ash. It used to smell bad & it used to look back.  But since the last two days, the sky has cleared up & thanks to the firefighters of Bay Area the fire has been contained more than 90% now. With fall starting & summer going away the evenings are starting to become darker & cooler sooner that I'd like. So lately we have been finding time in the evenings (like 4pm or so) and spending time outside in the yard with the kids playing & we sitting on a picnic mat & having some lip smacking Indian snacks. Most of the Indian snacks are deep fried & like it or not. There's something with the deep fried smell & lazy evenings that makes the combination amazing. Plus, I am sure there's some scientific explana...