I made a new video today. Here it is:

Onion Vada is a yummy south Indian snack that we have sometimes in the afternoons. I love Onion Vada at room temperature. I have heard it is best when it is hot, but I haven’t tried it like that. It is a delicious! This is my mother-in-laws recipe (she doesn’t do exact measurements that’s why there is no measurements on the recipe).

-Onions
-Chickpea flour (you can buy this at an Indian store)
-Salt
-1/2 spoon Sugar
-Water
-Oil (for frying)

• Start heating the oil in a pan.
• Slice onions so there are little strips (Maybe cut the circle slice into fourths)
• In a bowl mix all of the ingredients, expect the oil and the onions. The mixture should not be runny. It should be thick.
• Add the onions to the mixture. The mixture should be enough to coat the onions.
• Once the oil is hot add a dollop of the onion mixture into the oil. Once the Onion Vada is golden brown remove from oil and place on paper or paper towel to soak up oil.
• Enjoy!

On my blogroll you will find a link to S. Krishna’s Books. This is a blog that I love. Her blog is dedicated to book reviews. She is a mad reader. I really don’t know how she reads so many books each week. I love reading and I love books so I love visiting her site.

S. Krishna has put out a book challenge for 2010. She is challenging people to, 1. read books by south Asian authors and 2. the book has to in someway be related to south Asia. You can challenge yourself to read 3, 5, 7, or 10 south Asian books throughout the year. I am joining and so should you. You can visit the South Asian Author Challenge-Intro & FAQ post to get more information.

Here is the list of books that I have chosen to read for the challenge:
1. The Sari Shop Widow-Shobhan Bantwal (fiction)
2. The Girl from Foreign- Sadie Shepard (Memoir non-fiction)
3. In the Convent of Little Flowers: Stories- Indu Sundaresan (fiction)
4. The Elephant, the Tiger, and the Cell Phone: Reflections on India in the 21st Century- Shashi Tharoor (non-fiction)
5. Trash!: On Ragpicker Children and Recycling- Gita Wolf and Anushka Ravishankar (fact and fiction children’s)

I read The White Tiger (fiction) by Aravind Adiga this year. I highly recommend that book to anyone who is looking for a great read for the challenge.

I would love to add more books to this list. I prefer non-fiction if you have any great recommendations please leave a comment.

(For those of you not familiar with twitter, this is read from the bottom up.)

To watch the next live TweetSoap follow @missy07 and @karmadude on twitter!

Everyday for the past three months I have been trying to figure out what it is about India that my husband loves so much and everyday I hate it more and more. Today I have decided to write a little bit about my hate for India since my experience today has been especially negative.

Today we went to the Indian Naval Base in Fort Kochi to see the ships. On a regular day you are not allowed onto to base, but this weekend they are having Navy Fest and inviting the public in to view the ships. We thought this would be a great opportunity to see some of these amazing ships. As we pulled into the gate, one of the navy personnel came up to our car and said “Foreigners not allowed.” My husband tried to explain to him that I have a government issued PIO (Person of Indian Origin) card. He said to us that there was no chance of me getting in since it is a foreign defense area. I thought this was a great reason, however, they were not checking any ID. They looked at my skin and assumed I was a foreigner. There assumption was correct, I am not a citizen of India, but why didn’t they ask to see my ID before assuming. Even more important why are they letting everyone in that LOOKS Indian. What if someone looks Indian, but is a citizen of another country.

This is not the first time I have been shown some sort of racism. It happens all the time. One other such time that comes to mind was during a visit to HSBC. We were waiting in the waiting room for our number to be called and the chai wallah came around to offer people chai. She offered me chai, but totally snubbed my husband. Why are these sort of things happening in 2009?

Society is either really really nice to me because of my white skin or really really rude to me because of my white skin. The issue that I have with this country stands with the massive amounts of racism that happen everyday whether it be towards me or towards an Indian. It seems that this country is so obsessed with what shade of skin you have or what caste you come from or what job you hold.   There are statues of Sri Narayana Guru Swami all through Kerala. He was an amazing social reformer who changed this place a bit, but if he saw it today he would again be appalled at what there is to see.  He has many famous teachings, but the one that I think says it best is, “Devoid of dividing walls Of caste or race Or hatred of rival faith We all live here in Brotherhood”.