Mango Chutney

This is a recipe for mango chutney by Chandaneśwar Prabhu. I wrote it down to share with a friend, and realized that we hadn't posted recipes in a while. In this recipe: T = tablespoon, t = teaspoon, c = cup, and < = less than.

One large mango will yield 4 chutney servings.
1. Peel and slice the mango into thin slices.
2. Sprinkle with a pinch of turmeric  and salt, set it aside for a couple minutes.
3. Boil two cups of water in a small sauce pan.
4. Blanch the mango for one to two minutes in the boiling water.
5. Strain the mango and discard the water.
6. Gather 2 red chiles, 1 t cayenne pepper, 1/4 t mustard seeds, 1-2 T sugar, 1 t oil
7. Heat your oil in the sauce pan, fry the red chilies and mustard seed until the pop. Reduce the heat to low.
8.  Add in the sugar, cayenne pepper, and mango.
9. Stir, add 1/4 t salt and < 1/2 c water.
10. Cook until the mango is soft and remove from heat.

Offer your chutney on the side of savory snacks, Krishna Chandra suggests samosas. Chandaneśwar prabhu suggests pappadam or chips.

Taxing Tasks

Today we had the elaborate task of installing a television wall mount to free up space on our desk-table. Unfortunately, it involved having to locate the studs, and for that we needed specialized equipment. As it turned out, drilling and hammering the entire wall did nothing as we had no god damn clue what the hell we were doing. We ventured down to the hardware store to purchase an electronic stud finder, which would make the task simple and efficient. I consider myself a stud-finder, but not the kind we were looking for. After messing around with the gadget, and re-drilling all over the damn wall, we came up with jack. I hope we can get our money back. We were supposed to mount a full-length mirror as well, so I could start practicing violin, and work on my bowing. We didn't accomplish that either. I still have a couple more tasks, in fact, I have to post something on my blog too. Blah. Organize my wardrobe, crafts, and fabric bins. Also I have the intention of repainting my Gaura-Nitai deities, sewing Deity outfits, sewing new apparel, and installing a clothes hanger for all the saris I already gave away. Oh yes, I gave away most of my nice cotton saris and skirts. Wonderful.

Two More Rounds...

Devotees always have "two more rounds left" when you ask them for help with some seva.
If you're curious and ask them, "How many rounds do you chant?" they'll say,
"Oh, I chant so many rounds every day."
Oh, really, that many rounds? That's very nice.
Next day if I ask, "Can you help me with this service?"
 "Not now, prabhu, a little later. I still have to finish my rounds."
"Okay, no problem. I'll come back in the evening."
Later in the day I will ask him, "Can you come help now, prabhu?"
"Oh, prabhu, I still have two more rounds left." and this is the same reply you'll get each hour, on the hour, when you ask again. 

Grape Juice Wonder

Funny story today. When Chandaneswar prabhu woke up this afternoon, he received a phone call from a friend; groggy and disoriented he answered the call and the many questions that ensued. He couldn't make heads or tails out of it, so many weird questions.... It nagged at him, "What was that all about? Why did he ask me that? What's he up to?" Our friend simply answered that he was asking around for another mutual friend of ours, lets just call him J--, who was in the market for a house near the temple. J--'s mother-in-law is very attached to the temple so he wants to buy her a house nearby. Case closed. Kind of.

Something didn't make sense to Chandaneswar prabhu but he couldn't piece it together, yet, because his sugar was so low, he'd only just woken up and had a terrible headache. It bothered him but he suffered in silence and rushed to the kitchen to whip up some fresh grape juice and took some BC powder. Five minutes later, smiling and laughing, he begins telling me, "I know exactly what he's up to now. He's really sneaky. He wants to sell J-- on that junk house so he can buy this one out from under him. Why wouldn't he tell J-- that this house is also for sale, same asking price and in much better condition? Ha ha, I couldn't figure it out but as soon as I drank that grape juice, my sugar shot up and my brain started to work! Hahahah." 

So the grape juice worked miracles for Chandaneswar prabhu; it was delicious but super sweet for my taste so I watered it down a bit. Got the ol' brain ticking.

So, this guy is kind of a sneak so we keep our distance him and the likes of him. Its good advice to heed, don't disclose too much information to others, especially personal matters, even if you think they're friends. Others don't have your best interest in mind and will often give you bad advice or misguide you whenever it benefits them. True words to live by, pick your friends very carefully. :)

Deity Jewelry and more

My wife likes ankle bells, she wants a pair for Radharani, pure silver ones. I just bought a new pair for her (in the pic) and she loved them so much, she told me to buy a set for Sri Radhe. I called my jeweler friend in India, he's a really nice guy, so I ordered some silver ankle bells for Her for Radhaashtami. I explained to him what size it's supposed to be and how they should look. I think he might purchase ready-made ones and ship them. Or maybe he can send it with my friend Sudhir Krishna prabhu since he is coming back from Mayapur in July and that way we can save on shipping. I have to buy something else too but I'm not sure if I can afford it or not. Some devotee called me a couple weeks ago saying, "Please I've been robbed and I need some money. Can you help me?" after we sent the money he didn't call. My wife called him and left a voice-mail but he didn't call back. It has been weeks. That money was reserved for the Deities but we sent it anyway and now he is not responding. Why? Why, after getting help nobody wants to talk to me? This happens all the time with every devotee. Why? That's my question. And that money, actually, I was going to order all the Deities Janmastami's dress from Vrindavan.
Now, tell me please, what am I supposed to do in this situation? Is this supposed to be the character of a devotee? I took so much trouble to help him, I didn't sleep that morning, I went straight from work (night-shift) to the office to send the money. And for me, that amount is quite a lot of money... you take trouble to help someone and then you have more trouble in return.

Sri Sri Gopal's Bhog

Kochu Shak, Daliya , Laur Chal, Green beans Alu Subji, Rasa Malai and Rasa Gulla was on Sri Gopal's lunch menu.
I have attached the photos below so you can take darshan of our home Deities, Sri Madan Gopal, Sri Ladhu Gopal
Sri Sri Jagannath Baladev Subhadra, Sri Sri Nitai Gauranga and Sri Sri Lakshmi Narasimha
This is the first time I have made Bengali sweets in a very long time.. I only made for my friend, promise. I don't eat any sweets anyway.

Special thanks to Parul for sponsoring the organically grown kochu shak which she grows from her own garden.

Rats and Cats

For several months we had a rat problem (they're actually mice but prabhu calls them rats) and tried several methods to rid them. We even trapped them in little cages and released them into the wild (the nearby lake where Prabhupada took his morning walks) thinking that we had rid of those pests forever but there were always more rats in the house, eating bhoga or trying to catch falling pieces of vegetable scraps etc while we cook. During the winter, they became very active and they were scratching up the walls, making holes in the drywall etc., we thought it was weird that the noises would get more intense at night around bedtime up until 12 midnight(it was loud fighting, shrieking and wailing in the walls like someone was putting up a chase). Sometimes we'd bang on the walls to scare them off but the past couple of weeks we noticed that the noise diminished, there have been no more late-night disturbances or screaming coming from the walls at all for the past two weeks or so. Today, I was coming home and I realised why there were no more noises from the attic and walls. I saw three cats living under the house, they came out from under my porch (its actually a deck) and were hanging around the yard.
Several months back, we noticed that someone was coming and eating the maha-prasadam from our backyard, usually we keep those things for the birds, worms and other scavengers hoping to keep raccoons and possums out of the trash bin or porch. One day, Madri saw the neighbors cats were waiting outside for her to throw out vegetable scraps and maha-prasad, sometimes even dogs would come to honor the remnants and they would all eat together without fighting each other, it was as if they had been watching Madri and knew exactly what time Madri comes to throw out the leftovers. This kept happening for several months, meanwhile the cats were getting really fat. During the winter we noticed that the scraps were piling up for two or three days at a time, so I wondered, "Where are the cats?" even though I don't usually like cats or dogs loitering around the area.
Now I realise that we made friends with the cats, we fed them maha-prasadam several months and in return the cats offered a valuable service and got rid of the rats for us. Our solution was staring us in the face the whole time, jivo jivasya jivanam. The question is, "Why the cats didn't eat the rats in the first place instead of the maha-prasadam?" maybe those cats wanted to honor the Lords maha-prasadam and offer some service to us in return.