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2018 April AtoZ Theme Reveal

Hello everyone! Welcome! 


I am a ‘veteran’of the AtoZ blogging challenge, if I may use that word, and have participated four times. 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 were amazing as I was able to focus and eventually get to theme based posts! This in turn led to me gaining immense knowledge of the Public Parks in Pune (theme for 2015) and Herbs (theme for 2016).


Hence having a theme for this year was almost a given. Let me tell you it has been a very difficult choice. After my experience with herbs in 2016, the plant kingdom was the the most obvious choice. 


However I realised that I needed to get back my spark in writing creatively so with a heavy heart, plants were put on hold. 


theme reveal #atozchallenge 2018 blogging



My search for a theme thus widened and almost literally, the sky was the limit. Then suddenly, I hit upon this idea of writing about a contemporary AtoZ , as seen from the eyes of half-a-century-old me! 


Ok… give or take a couple of years… 
😉


The earliest memories of the alphabet are A is for Apple, B is for Bat. Does C still remind one of Cat? And what about D?


Do these time-tested alphabet-object co-relations still hold? 


I hope to put together 26 posts of some anecdotes, some observations, some experiences, some suggestions … 


So folks get set for a 21st century / middle-aged / Puneri look at what the alphabets mean to me now…


Fasten your seat belts, as this roller coaster takes off on the 1st April 2018 (and thereafter Sunday is a holiday on the April AtoZ blogging challenge).


2018 A to Z blogging challenge



Do stop by daily or as often as you can. 
I look forward to your visits and comments. 
Cheers!


2018 April AtoZ Blogging Challenge: 
Category: Personal (Journal, Diary, Musings)
Theme: What the alphabets stand for me in 2018

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Its That Time Of The Year

Its that time of the year again… winter is almost forgotten as the burning sun makes its presence felt. Grass and herbs dried out from last year, crunch under the feet as one tries to keep a brisk pace on the morning walk on the tekdi. The eyes scan the usual favourites hoping to spot blooms and I am not disappointed.

Shirish beckons with its sweet fragrance and fresh foliage. Yellow rattling pods from last year still hang from the branches and the tree stands out from a distance. 

The Gardenia turgida is sprouting its first buds …

and the Neem is happy showing off its tiny flowers too…


These yellow flowers stand out on the bare plateau, amid the ashes of the burnt grass..

The small Capparis blossoms cloak the shrubby tree in a white coat!

The Ganer and Waras are still painting the tekdi golden and cream amid the fading pink of the Gliricidia. 

Waras flower

The white tufts of the Dregea volubilis line the pathways even as I wait for the Kusumb to blush red as it realises its branches are bare.

The lucky ones may even spot the Peacock!

Its March on the tekdi and the trees are beckoning…
Where are you??

Out on the streets, the trees are bedecked in their floral glory The golden blaze of the Tabebuia easily overshadows its pink cousin. This even as the Jacaranda casts a soothing blue haze over the horizon and blue carpet at your feet. New leaves of the Moha blush as its blossoms look down upon earthlings. The Mango is in full bloom … Does it foretell a sweet May? 


I wonder….

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Looking Up (ThursdayTreeLove)

Poona, Raintree, exotic, GPO



A Tree Walk is a wonderful experience especially when one is doing a recce walk to identify the species. On one such visit, we chanced to look up and were totally floored by this view… This is the canopy of a very old Rain Tree that was just bursting into leaf. The sunlight glittered on the tender shoots. This gave a glorious painting against the blue of the sky! 


Most big Rain Trees have such glorious canopies. If possible do look up whenever you happen to see one … There is much to be enjoyed when looking up from the humdrum…


I am joining Parul in her #ThursdayTreeLove35 blog hop. Head over for some amazing trees from around the world. 


PS: To complete this post, I have to add that the botanical name of the Rain Tree is Albizia saman. It is not native to India and belongs to the Mimosaceae family. In Pune it is extensively used as a roadside tree and easily identified by its massive furrowed trunk.

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Shortcut Sauce

This is my first attempt at a food post… As I have openly stated, I am a reluctant cook and I have jumped into the bloghop mainly for the food memories! And there are so many, and surprisingly the ones that stand out are the disasters


🙁


However, today I would like to share one of our projects.. one that was we had no choice but to execute and do it well.. The ladies of our unit had to put up a food stall with two items- Bhel and Pizza. For two whole days. A huge crowd was expected. Pizza delicacy was in those days.. way back in 1993… especially in the remote base in the NE where we were posted. 


The local bakery would make the base but during the trials, we faced the most unexpected difficulties. Rings of capsicum dried out and the sulfurous odour of the onions was  quite unbearable. Spending two days in its company was quite unthinkable. Plus with limited space, we could not accommodate many containers. None of us were keen to freshly chop the veggies on a need-based basis. 


Our plan was the do the entire preparation at home and just grill the pizza when ordered. 


Necessity is the mother of invention – it is said and that is what happened to us.

We came up with the idea of putting all veggies together into the tomato sauce. What we finally had was a vegetable puree that we just had to pour on the base, top with grated cheese, grill and serve.  All flavouring spices too went into this sauce. The pizza was a big hit!  We ran out of sauce by mid afternoon and had to make fresh batches many more times on those two days till we ran out of pizza bases!



To this day, I make my pizza sauce in the same manner. Any leftover is stored in the fridge is reused as pasta sauce. In fact, I add it to vegetable gravy to get an interesting taste. My daughter has continued with this method so I guess, it has its merits one of the main ones being saving the effort of finely slicing the veggies. 


😉


There is no fixed recipie – but here goes.. You can improvise according to your taste – increase or reduce the tomatoes or onions or garlic or capsicum or Ajwain


For the sauce:

  • 4 large red tomatoes
  • 1 Capsicum
  • 1 medium Onion
  • 3 cloves Garlic
  • 1 tbsp Sugar
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 tbsp Tomato sauce
  • 1 tsp Ajwain
  • Little Oregano
  • 1 tsp red chilli powder
  • 1/2 cup water
Chop the veggies, mix with other ingredients and cook on a slow flame till done. Reduce till seiredd thickness. Cool. Grind in a blender to get a smooth puree.

Pour this on a pizza base, spread grated cheese, dot with butter. Grill in a hot oven and Viola.. the tastiest pizza is ready for you! 


We had not added mushrooms but I guess those can go in too.. 


How do you make your pizza sauce at home? Do you prefer separate toppings?

I am joining Sunita and Shilpa in #flavoursometuesdays which is on the first Tuesday of every month. 


FlavoursomeTuesdays
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Central Witness (ThursdayTreeLove)

NH4, Pune, Ficus, Tree



Many a times have I seen this tree growing on the median of the NH4 from Pune towards Satara. It seems to be a very old tree considering its size despite the heavy traffic on both sides of the road. I am really happy that whoever built this road chose to retain the tree during road construction – or could it be that it grew after the road was ready?


Whatever the case may be, considering its strategic location, the plant must have seen thousands and thousands of folks pass by, possibly travelling on a holiday, for work, some happy, some not so happy… If it could communicate with us, it would have some wonderful stories to share. 


This one seems to be a Ficus species. The almost perfect dome shaped canopy must offer cooling shade but its not a place were one can stop to rest!! 


I have spotted many such trees at other spots on this highway and other highways as well— a central witness to the progress of the region…


This post is part of Parul‘s #ThursdayTreeLove34. Do head over to see some amazing trees from around the world!

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Blogging from A to Z April Challenge: 2018 Pre-Challenge Blogging from A to Z Survey #At…

Blogging from A to Z April Challenge: 2018 Pre-Challenge Blogging from A to Z Survey #At…: Jayden, our new co-host, has crafted this poll to help our 2018 challenge be a huge success.  It can’t happen without you . Please tak…

Yay! The April AtoZ Blogathon 2018 is coming and I am looking forward to participating this year… Details are being worked out… Read the above post for more information…

Best!

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