June 2009

Places to visit : Letchworth State Park

If you are ever in the Rochester, NY area and have some time to kill, I highly recommend visiting the nearby Letchworth State Park. It is less than a hours drive from Rochester and is (as the brochure states) “the grand canyon of the east”. It covers an area of ~27K acres and has a varied landscape. You can enjoy a peaceful picnic in the lush green meadows, hike in the forest or get awed by a train running ~100 feet up in the air over a waterfall. The park was not crowded and is not as “commercialized” as the nearby world famous Niagara Falls. Here are some pictures from my recent trip to the park.

The falls with the train tracks

Second Waterfall

Train crossing the bridge

Drive into the park

RECIPE : Beerakaya Royyalu

Receipe for beerakaya royyalu (Shrimp with Ridged Gourd). This dish is mainly cooked in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh. Meat and vegetables are usually not mixed in Andhra dishes..so I thought this one deserves a blog entry.

Ingredients :

  • Shrimp (uncooked, medium size)
  • Beera Kaya (Ridged Gourd.. you can get it at an Indian grocery)
  • Red Onions
  • Red Chilli Powder
  • Salt
  • Ginger Garlic Paste
  • Coconut Milk (check out the ethnic aisle in any grocery)
  • Cloves
  • Cardamoms
  • Cilantro
  • Garam Masala (ground spices..another thing you can get at an Indian grocery)
  • Vegetable Oil

Preperation :

  • Peel and cut the ridged gourd into medium sized cubes and the onions into small pieces.
  • Cook the shrimp (2lbs) in coconut milk (3 tablespoons) and ginger garlic paste (2 teaspoons) without adding any water for ~20 minutes. There is no need to add water, since the shrimp has a lot of water in it. This process helps with cooking the shrimp and elimninating the “fishy” odour.
  • Heat some vegetable oil in a skillet and fry the cloves, cardamoms. Add the onions after a couple of minutes.
  • When the onions turn golden, add the shrimp.
  • Add some more ginger garlic, red chilli powder and salt
  • Wait for a couple of minutes and add the ridge gourd
  • Let the whole disk cook for ~15 minutes (let the water evaporate).
  • Add the garam masala and cilantro
  • Serve hot with rice.

Visuals  :

Shrimp being boiled with coconut milk and ginger garlic

Chopped Onion and peeled beera kaya

Shrimp and Beera Kaya cooking together

Beerakaya Royyalu served hot with rice

Overheard : Comment about Greencard

You have to be an immigrant to the USA, to understand this :).

My friend, Hareesh, sent this posting on an online forum related to immigration matters

I am so HAPPY today. My lawyer told me that my daughter can sponsor both me and my wife once she is 18. She is only 3 now, so thats 15 years away only. It would have taken 20+ years with my EB2-based case (PD May 2008). I am so HAPPY today.

Places to visit : Cruise on Michigan Lake

Some pseudocode first πŸ™‚

  • If you live in Chicago
  • If you are looking for a place to have a small get together

{OR}

  • Take your significant other on a special date
  • Just trying to impress a girl/guy πŸ™‚

{AND}

  • It is summer

Check out the private sail charters offered on Lake Michigan. Unlike the giant cruise boats that you can get onto, at the Navy Pier, these trips offer a more intimate and unique experience. The gaint cruise boats are for the tourists :).

I got to take a trip on one of the sail boats this weekend. The Red Witch, name of the boat we sailed on, is a topsail schooner. Unfortunately, we were not able to raise the sails, since the owners were waiting on an updated “certification” for a new engine they installed this year. But we still got spend a couple of hours on the lake. We brought our own food and drinks, so it was like a picnic on the lake. You can get information on booking tickets with them at http://www.redwitch.com/.

Here are some pictures from the trip

[The Boat]

[The Crew]

[The Moon]

[The City]