Govardhana Puja Puppet Show

Ooooh…stuff is getting busy around here. Parties. Stuff going at my kids’ school. Fun. Headaches, etc. Lots of stuff to blog about but not much time. Why can’t life be evenly paced?

I am just now getting ready to do a puppet show at my son’s class in celebration of Govardhana Puja (which was yesterday). Above is a pic of my puppets, made a few years back. Painted Perrier boxes on wooden dowels. Much love of the glue gun going on with them.

Here are my notes for my little presentation. I am trying to make it not very “religious” because it is supposed to be “cultural.” Sho’thang. There are quite a few Injun kids in my son’s class so I will be looking at them to act like I’m not speaking French the whole time.

Basically my puppet show will consist of me singing M. Yamini songs and reciting some modified (OH HOW OFFENSIVE!!!) passages from Krishna Book.

Okay…going to give the Yamini cd one last listen while I boil dal and clean my kitchen.

Oh! And the best part is that I will be passing out dried fruit ladu afterwards. The prasadam was offered to Babhru’s Krishna Balarama Silas! Wow. This post really makes me sound like a believer…gotta keep you guessing

MY OFFENSIVE NOTES:

Govardhana festival—vaisnavas (hindu group), commemorate the annual harvest/village life

Importance of cow:
–oxen work field
–milk diet/business
–fertilizer/fuel
–gentle animal

traditional culture: many gods, all with own job.
Vishnu is in charge of them…comes as Krishna, a magical blue boy.

Story of govardhana puja—magical
May be words you don’t know. One part sing song about all the foods…yummy Indian foods.

Give synopsis (mention importance of hill to cowherders!)

These cowherd men in Vrndavana have neglected my authority on the advice of this talkative boy who is known as Krsna. He is nothing but a child, and by believing this child, they have enraged me.” Thus he ordered the Samvartaka cloud to go and destroy the prosperity of Vrndavana. “The men of Vrndavana have become too puffed up over their material opulence and are overconfident due to the presence of their tiny friend, Krsna. He is simply talkative, childish and unaware of the complete cosmic situation, although He is thinking Himself very smart. Because they have taken Krsna so seriously, they must be punished. They should be destroyed along with their cows!

Ordered by King Indra, all the dangerous clouds appeared above Vrndavana and began to pour water incessantly, with all their strength and power. There was constant lightning and thunder, blowing of severe wind, and incessant falling of rain. The rain seemed to fall like piercing sharp arrows. By pouring water as thick as pillars, without cessation, the clouds gradually filled all the lands in Vrndavana with water, and there was no visible distinction between higher and lower land. The situation was very dangerous, especially for the animals. The rainfall was accompanied by great winds, and every living creature in Vrndavana began to tremble from the severe cold. Unable to find any other source of deliverance, they all approached Krishna, the magic boy.The cows especially, became worried by the heavy rain, bowed down their heads, and taking their calves underneath their bodies, they approached the magic blue boy, Krishna. At that time all the inhabitants of Vrndavana began to beg Krishna for help. “Dear Krsna, You are all-powerful, and You are very affectionate to the villagers. Now please protect us, we who have been much harassed by angry Indra.”

Little Boy Krsna immediately picked up Govardhana Hill with one hand, exactly as a child picks up a mushroom from the ground and said: “My dear brothers, My dear father, My dear inhabitants of Vrndavana, you can now safely enter under the umbrella of Govardhana Hill, which I have just lifted. Do not be afraid of the hill and think that it will fall from My hand. You have been too much afflicted from the heavy rain and strong wind; therefore I have lifted this hill, which will protect you exactly like a huge umbrella. I think this is a proper arrangement to relieve you of your immediate distress. Be happy along with your animals underneath this great umbrella.” Being assured by the magical boy, all the inhabitants of Vrndavana entered beneath the great hill along with their property and animals, and they all appeared to be safe.

The inhabitants of Vrndavana and their animals remained there for one week without being disturbed by hunger, thirst or any other discomforts. They were simply astonished to see how Krsna was holding up the mountain with the little finger of His left hand. Seeing the extraordinary mystic power of Krsna, Indra, the King of heaven, was thunderstruck and baffled in his determination. He immediately called for all the clouds and asked them to stop their storms. When the sky became completely cleared of all clouds and there was sunrise again, the strong wind stopped. At that time Krsna, known now as the lifter of Govardhana Hill, said, “My dear cowherd men, now you can leave and take your wives, children, cows and valuables, because everything is ended. The storm has gone down, along with the swelling waters of the river.”

Slowly everyone left the cover of the hill and Krishna gently put govardhana back down upon the ground of vrindavan. One o the villagers said:
“My dear friends, considering His wonderful activities, how is it possible that such an uncommon boy would come and live with us in Vrndavana? It is really not possible. Just imagine! He is now only seven years old! How is it possible for Him to lift Govardhana Hill in one hand and hold it up just as the king of elephants holds a lotus flower? To lift a lotus flower is a most insignificant thing for an elephant, and similarly Krsna lifted Govardhana Hill without exertion.
All the residents of Vrindavan were very grateful to little Krishna and love or him swelled in their hearts.

Indra, humbled by the events, approached the child and said:
“Dear Krishna being puffed up by my false prestige, I thought that You had offended me by not allowing the cowherd men to worship me, and I thought that You wanted to enjoy the offerings that were arranged for the sacrifice. I thought that in the name of Govardhana worship, You were taking my share of profit, and therefore I mistook Your position. Now Your I understand that although you appear to be a little boy, you are much more powerful than me. Please forgive me.

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I Want To Murder My Blog

Why my blog deserves to die:

Since switching the url over from sabjimatajam.blogspot.com to sabjimata.blogspot.com, not only did some weird pottery freak steal my old url within seconds, but the search box at the top of my blog’s page has been rendered totally dumb, unable to complete a single search. So, if you are looking for a recipe or cooking tip, look elsewhere on the internet, because this stupid blog will be no use to you.

I’m sorry.

In an effort to rectify this frustrating situation, I will tag past posts as I revisit them for whatever pathetic reason I end up sitting alone, reading my own blog with too much time on my hands. Like this morning. I ate a big bowl of oatmeal and then felt all sleepy. So I tried to sleep. But the phone kept ringing. And one of the calls was from a friend who wanted the link to my cheesecake recipe. But couldn’t find it. This made me sad for myself for not being able to take a nap. I mean, what is the point of having 2 kids in school, a husband at work and absolutely no job or hobby if I can’t take a nap?

So, being the absolute biggest waste of a day that I am, I went way way back to 2008 in my blog archives and began sifting through posts, tagging recipes and cookies along the way. Well, unfortunately for me it didn’t take much time to come across the cheesecake recipe. I even had time leftover to write this new post before the H-VAC man arrives to fleece me of my knipple. Oy.

This post should clear up the curiosities of anyone left wondering what I have been doing with myself lately, as well as provide you with a link to a really bitchin’ eggless New York style cheesecake recipe.

Lucky you.

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Unsustainable Living

I’ve been suffering a mild case of Gita Nagari Life nostalgia. Longing for the soft grass, rolling hills. Morning smells of dew and earth. Afternoon sun. Rising dawn. Low over the mountain and through the maple and beech trees. Light. Shadows. Barns. Buggies. Everything fresh and lovely. Barefoot everywhere. I always said our house our land our life there would make a great vacation spot. And I meant it.

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Sabji & Puri

Here I am gearing up for my next gig. I always carry my own instruments cause trnad api, suckas!!!!

Anyone who knows me knows I lurve kirtan I mean lurve it guys. Sri Balaram Mrdanga and me are like Richie Cunningham and his basketball, except I never watched Happy Days because I was locked up in the ashram so that refrence gone way overhead. So it should be no surprise to anyone who’s everyone that Earache Records is putting out a Myspace page for me no joke. Other bands with a spiritual message that Earache produces includes Cathedral and Godflesh so this is a really big deal and I feel so honored but really it is them who should feel honored to be on a label with me. Leo Smee and Benny Green are teaching me so much about spiritual bass playing so keep an eye out in the near future for how I’ll by strummin it along with my soon to be available full line of Sabji & Puri guitar logo picks screened on American Apparel plastic cause I hate sweatshops but, like the Mormans, love porn oh yeah. All over people are getting turned on to my positive message of my chanting, and that fact that my stomach is so flat after pushing out two babies definitely gives me cred with all those yoga folks. Who’s needing sex when you’ve got the Holy Name sweeter than honey. Don’t be a dummy. Stay in scool stay off the streets keep the gurlies dressed and make sure you get paid. Hare Krishna Radhe Syama get ready because soon I’ll be chanting for Krishna Balarama!

Warming up…sound check check check.

Once I start chanting I just get so crazy…the Holy Name is like that, yo…like crack cocaine for your soul that’s all I smoke I swear.

I’m fly like that.

My tambourine playing gets me so high don’t think I’ll ever come down.

Kartals keeping me young.

just me myself and Maya chillin’ after the photo shoot.

Classic Sabji  & Puri meditative moment caught by the super talented semi-non-professional Madhava Pandit das (he’s initiated).

GU-HA!

Behind the Scenes: Check out the newest press on Sabji & Puri coming this fall on VH1.

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Pretty On The Outside

“I love those cupcakes,” says my son. “I hate them,” says my daughter.

I think these cupcakes looked soooo pretty. Like, classy pretty. Like, expensive. Premium chocolate pulsed in the food processor with pecans (not sure how premium they were…I got them at Sam’s Club). Frosting very very very good (how very!). Three sticks of butter and one block of neufchatel to keep things low fat

Despite the smiles and the above quote by my son, my biggest admirer (kiss off, Freud), these cupcakes were big losers. Dry. Crumbly. Bad taste. That was a little sad for me. But only a little. They’re just cupcakes, after all.

Letting the days go by…

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Free At Last Free At Last!!!

Why Are All Math Teachers Perverts?

Today I made some pies. Cherry pie (gotta love that bumper crop). Blueberry apple pecan pie. Two pie. Plural pie. Pies. Today I made a couple of pies.

Crust. Crust is an issue when it comes to pies. Anyone can make a pie, despite the rumors that it’s difficult. Making a good dough, however, is a whole other story.

First I went for the cherry pie. I used this recipe. And this recipe. Did I ever tell you how badly I baked? Everything I learned about baking I learned from my mother. Who never baked. Capiche? Every once in a while I find a recipe that works and I hang onto it. This recipe worked for my friends. Two of them. Plural friend. A couple of friends. But did it work for me?

Of course not.

And the answer, without a doubt, is because all math teachers are perverts. Or at least the male ones who taught in my hometown when I was growing up. Mr. Worles…plenty of issues, I’m sure some of them had to be sexual. Mr. D’gatano…obsessed with apples and oranges. The man could not get enough apples and oranges. He had no preference. Oh, loved all the fruit. According to him, you just couldn’t compare apples and oranges. Both were to be savored for on their own merits. And then there was Mr. Beam, who was a science teacher and not a math teacher but math is very important for science. Total perv.

But the worst of them all, according to me, was the guy I had for 9th grade geometry. What the hell was his name? He was obsessed with calling students to the board to “work out” proofs. Uh-huh. I think the problems he was working out were his own. Did he call me to the board? Did he? Did he?! A few times, and a few times only. I wasn’t much to look at in my size XL t-shirt and 36 inch jeans (despite weighing 105 lbs), so I didn’t get much board time.

And I failed geometry. Boy was my mom pissed. I had to go to summer school. For geometry. In the summer. And you know what? I passed summer school without learning squat about geometry. But my teacher was a woman. Case closed.

Sure, some may say that in order to pass geometry one should memorize all the…you know…stuff you were required to memorize as well as know when to apply it to solve some totally irrelevant to your life geometry problem. Whatever. But let me tell you, there was a girl in my class (let’s just call her Jen with a Polish last name that starts with ‘K’) who also did poorly at geometry yet passed at the end of the year. And let’s just say, that girl was stacked.

You see, I don’t think much about geometry these days. But this day I did. Geometry is very important to pie presentation. Symmetry. Symmetry! That’s a geometry term and also a point of reference for locating beauty in the world of pies.

I had a really tough time rolling out my crust. I broke all the rules. In geometry there are rules. Rules! And I don’t think you can break them. That is, of course, unless you are stacked. And after nursing two kids, I am even less stacked than I was in 9th grade, if you can imagine that. Wait. Don’t imagine that. My husband wouldn’t like that.

So back to the crust. While rolling them out and then assembling them I had to relive the failure of the end of 9th grade when I received that ‘F’ on my report card. ‘F.” There was a lot of ‘F’ that night when I had to tell my parents. ‘F.’

And although my pies deserve at least an ‘F’ for effort, I am not afraid to show them to my husband tonite when he comes home from work to a dinner of french fries and salad and pies. I mean, what does he care about symmetry? He won’t care if the pie is cut from point A to point B to point C in perfectly straight line segments! Heck, he probably would want me to cut him a bisecting line and just serve him half a pie on a plate. And I know he wouldn’t even care about the diameter of the plate. My husband is the kind of man who doesn’t mind a little pie falling on the table.

No. Because he is not some pervy math teacher who makes young girls stand in the front of the room at the chalkboard doing two column proofs. He’s not! My husband is a nurse! He’s sees people naked all the time. Constantly. That’s his job.

And my job is staying home and making pie. And I’m not even good at it. Did I mention that the edges are a bit burnt looking? Well, I’m mentioning it now. Now! Sometimes the convection oven is a liability. I could have baked them without all that hot air blowing around them but no. No I didn’t. But don’t get me started on my home ec. teacher. What was her name?

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How to Make Paneer

Guest blogger Padi Sutherland contributes the following text and pictorial instructions for making fresh milk curd, or paneer. Thanks, Padi!

To make paneer you can use a variety of curdling agents: buttermilk, yoghurt, citric acid…

I decided to use lemon juice. Cheap, effective, juicy.

You will need: 1 gallon of milk, lemon juice.

You will need: Pot, flat bottomed spoon for stirring

Heat on med/high

(flat spoon is my preference as I find it easiest for scraping the bottom of the pot when stirring to stop the milk from burning)

I poured some of the lemon juice into a jug, for fast easy pouring

I placed a colander over a large stainless steel bowl. I then lined it with a cheesecloth.

Frequently stir the milk to prevent burning.

When the milk is about to boil it gets this frothy look to it. Be ready with your curdling agent because milk can boil over very quickly.

This is after pouring the lemon juice in.

Yum.

I had some left in the jug.

Notice the clear colour of the whey.

Pour the curd/whey into the colander.

I used a smaller bowl with some of the whey in it to press the curd.

This is it after pressing it.

My humble curd.

Can you believe that this is all that comes from one gallon of milk? It’s worth it in the end though…

My curd

Cubed and ready to fry.

Frying.

Ready for my sabji. I made mattar paneer.

The leftover whey can be kept and used in soups or drinks…or whatever else you may fancy.

Padi Sutherland lives in Alachua, Florida where she mothers five children and lets me swim in her pool occasionally. She is also a NICU nurse and damn good Facebooker. She is married to one of the masterminds behind the hit office supply website, The Office Dealer.

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Srila Gour Govinda Swami Vyasa Puja

Yesterday we celebrated the Vyasa Puja of my husband’s spiritual master, Srila Gour Govinda Swami. Normally we have a program for Maharaja’s disappearance day; we are usually in the process of packing and moving around the time of VP. But we are feeling more and more settled these days so we decided to go for it.

The program was small and casual. The menu was “French Colonial Middle Eastern” and consisted of tarragon/thyme lentil soup (Veganomicon recipe…ginger subbed in for garlic and some spinach added for good measure), chickpea pate, tossed green salad, fresh from the oven croissants, strawberry and saffron cardamom peach jam with Tahitian vanilla bean rice pudding for dessert. Simple yet filling.

My husband near his new pomegranate tree. This pic has nothing to do with Vyasa Puja. Yet.

VEnumadhava having a fresh baked croissant for breakfast.

The day after: I had some leftover dough in the fridge which I rolled and baked for my fam’s breakfast. The croissants were not very flaky…made in a bit of a rush and with half the butter per batch but they were so light and delicious! For the program I quadrupled the recipe. They all went (around 48 croissants baked) despite the small crowd.

Sri Sri Gaura Nitai dressed for VP. Pic taken at end of day…flowers droopy.

The Birthday Swami

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OM again, OM again

This morning when I went to check my email I had a message from a Facebook friend who I unfriended in an attempt to have less Facebook friends. That effort at friends list simplification was a losing battle since the world is an ever expanding dimension of friendship. One unfriended friend finally noticed and called me out on it, along with adding a good question about eggless/vegan cookie baking.

Since the unfriended friend and I were on the same OM team (Olympics of the Mind) back in middle school, where we totally took first place at the world competition and were big L7 dorks together (no, not the punk band…I mean total square-heads), I felt all bad for being such an ungrateful Facebook friend and reapplied to be her Facebook friend. Will she take me back? Who knows. But regardless of our turbulent Facebook friendship, I happily rattled off a little natural foods baking primer for her. Here is our correspondence….for all to see!!!

NOT! our first place OM world championship team. This is a pic from our high school OM team…as they would say in our high school….DORK!!! DORK!!! DORK!!!

hey Deva–

I was wondering why i hadn’t seen your updates in a while.. I now see that you disconnected me. Hope I didn’t do something to warrant that, and you were just filtering out folks you don’t talk to. Bummer– I often enjoyed your comments and article links. apologies, however, if something i said indirectly offended you.. definitely not my intention to do that to anybody, but hey… it’s not like it’s not possible. I tend to be a little rough around the edges.

at any rate.. I had a few questions about the vegan lifestyle. I’m not sure if that is what you would classify your diet/lifestyle choices in regards to food, or if there is another term for it? I seem to recall that you use ingredients that are natural to the earth? Is that correct?

SO I have this business I started, and I was making a cookie for a child who was egg and dairy allergic, and I ended up using a vegan recipe for the cookie… which worked out great.. but I’m curious that if I were to think about making a cookie that would truly appeal to someone who’s vegan.. would I need to use special flour? Also.. the frosting I use has a meringue powder mixed in, which I know is bad for egg allergies… also assuming that would not be acceptable for a vegan what with the egg and all… so i found that i could use powdered sugar, lemon juice and water to make a ‘royal icing’ of sorts. is powdered sugar ok for a vegan, or because it’s processed that would be against the grain?

not sure if you would even know these answers, but you were the first person i thought of with all the cooking you do. any feedback would be appreciated!

I hope the summer has treated you well, and you didn’t get hit too hard with all that florida rain.

sincerely,
(wouldn’t you like to know!)

hey (wouldn’t you like to know!)–

first of all, please don’t take it personally the unfriending thing. i tried, at one point, to whittle my friends list way way down but it seemed that no matter how hard i tried, the reality is at 34 i know a lot of people and it is fun to be fb friends with them. please forgive my experiment in fb reduction. but i took no offense on anything you posted and hope you are not offended by me.

awesome for you to do a baking biz. i saw you were headed in that direction.

we are vegetarians who don’t eat eggs. but we do do dairy and honey. still, i am familiar with vegan treats.

flour is not an issue for vegans, although some may prefer a non-bromated flour such as king arthur or perhaps organic flour. but to be truthful, the majority of vegans eat really crap processed stuff.

sugar can be an issue. powdered sugar and white cane sugar are bleached with cow bones. this is an issue for some people and not an issue for others. organic powdered sugar and natural or organic evaporated cane juice (which is available at walmart and a finer grain than turbinado) are processed without cow bones. same thing for organic brown sugar. if you are doing a website maybe you could list prices for organic cookies and baked goods as well as non-organic…since pricing will probably be a big deal to you and the customer.

if you are going to get into organic flours and sweeteners, i would recommend buying in bulk because buying off the shelf can be costly. you should be able to buy 25 lb bags from your local health food store and receive a 10% discount to boot. prices vary by region but a 25lb of evap cane may be between $30=45 and a 25lb bag of white organic flour probably in the low twenties.

a really good source for vegan recipes is the post punk kitchen website. also, those girls have a couple of good cookbooks out there. i have found the flax egg recipe they recommend works very well, especially in healthier stuff like ginger cookies and banana breads.

recently i made a vegan mayonnaise chocolate cake recipe which i got off the web (i used grapeseed oil vegennaise) and it turned out very moist (gross word, i know) and delish.

also, i heard adding silken tofu to cakes works wonders, although i am not knowledgeable of the amount/ratio…but that would be in line with the vegan mayonnaise thing.

thanks for writing and good luck with your baking. there is a wealth of resources online and can’t wait to see your business develop.

and thankfully the tropical storm stayed south…just our usual daily rain

OM-forever deva

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