Happy Ganesh Chaturthi

Vaina Pooja 2010

My first Vayana Pooja

Godu Pova

Wishing you all a very happy Ganesh Chaturthi. 

We also celebrate Gowri pooja or Vayana/ Vaina pooja before Ganesh Pooja (Chavati in Konkani). Gowri is also known as Ganesh's mother and Lord Shiva's wife. For the Gowri pooja we use coconuts to symbolize the goddess. The coconuts are soaked in turmeric water to purify and then all the fiber is scrapped off the coconuts to smoothen the surface. Then it is marked with chalk or wet rice powder with a circle mid way around the coconut. I decorate the coconut with haldi and kumkum but traditionally they are decorated with sindhoor on the mouth of the coconut and sandal wood paste in between the two eyes. Kajal is applied to the eyes of the coconut and they are decorated with flowers. My garden flowers came handy to decorate my Gowri's :) I got the gowri puja samagri from the Indian store. It consists of black bead magalsutra, the red colored mangalsutra thread, comb, bangles, mirror and haldi and kumkum. The diyas are placed on top of the coconut, but due to the carpets in my home, I place them in a separate plate. I chant the 108 names of Gowri as mantra and with every name chant a pinch of rice and flowers is sprinkled as offering. After the Gowri puja, Lord Ganesh is worshiped. 

I made godu pova as offering to Gowri and Ganesh. It is very similar to Panchkadayi, but a lot simpler to make. We don't make this in my home and this recipe was given to me by one of my good friends C when she made this for her son's birthday.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup jaggery or gur

1 cup grated coconut

1 teaspoon powdered cardamom

2 cups thin pova

Method:

Cut the jaggery into small pieces. Heat the jaggery in a pan with 4 teaspoon water till the jaggery melts. Cool it completely and add the cardamom and coconut. Mix well and add the pova in 2 or 3 batches. 

Mix the pova well into the jaggery so that all the pova is coated with the jaggery. 

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing you and family a very happy and wonderful Thanksgiving!


Thanksgiving special at my home:
Vegetable Pot Pie
Pumpkin and Corn Soup
Butternut Squash Soup

Happy Diwali 2009

Hope this Diwali fills your year with joy, peace and prosperity and continues to brighten the rest of your life. Wishing you all a Very Happy Diwali.

My Diwali Nivedya thali (offering during puja)
Chole, Poori, Sheera, Chooda, Nariyal Barfi

Other Diwali Treats:

Bottle Gourd Barfi
Dudhpak

Choodi Puja / Chudi Puja / Tulsi Puja

I planned and planted a tulasi early in May this year(2009) with the intention of doing tulasi puja in July. I got a plant from out local farmer's market called Thai Basil as I did not find the Indian Tulsi plant around here.

Every year in the month of Shravan Gowd Saraswat Brahmins have Tulsi puja at home. In 2010, Shravan Month begins on August 11 and ends on September 8. Married ladies perform this puja and worship both Tulsi Goddess and Sun God on Friday's and Sunday's of the Shravan month. Choodi's or specific flowers tied with dibrankolo or druva grass are offered to tulsi. Nine or more choodi's are prepared for the puja and after offering to the Tulsi Goddess. My mother uses Ratnagandhi or May flower along with Mitka Flower (it has a lovely fragrance and grows in color of yellow or white), Shanka Pushpa (which we grew in our home) and periwrinkle or sadapushpa (which means that it grows everyday). She also clean our doorstep with water and make design with white chalk on the doorstep and offer 2 choodi's to the doorstep.

7-9 Druva grass are tied with 3-5 flowers to make choodi. I did not find any druva grass near my house here in US, so I used the grass available in my lawn. I also used lily flower to make the choodi's. After doing the puja for 2 weeks, I took a photo of my tulsi plant which has grown to 4 times the size than when I had bought it. My mother saw the photo and told me that it is not the tulsi we worship nomally in India. Thai basil is called kamakasturi in India and not considered strictly to be tulsi--thats why the name Thai basil. In such cases, I always remember my Grandmom's saying-- she would always say "something is better than nothing". It is the thought of doing the puja counts rather than having correct flower, grass or plant :).

The remaining choodi's are offered with haldi and kumkum to elder women who give their blessings to younger women. I offer the remaining chudis to my home temple God's or I offer them to the Sunnyvale temple. My mom also posts the choodis and kumkum to many relatives who live in other cities.
My mother would prepare panchkadayi as prashad to Tulsi Goddess. If there is no time to prepare panchkadai, you can also offer sugar or jaggery as offering to the Goddess.

In the photo: Pova Panchkadayi

There are no mantra's or shlokas to do the puja, just show aarti to Tulsi goddess. Apply haldi kumkum to Tulsi and sprinkle rice grains around her.Then finally offer her a little prashad and water and a choodi. Distribute the remaining prashad to your family and the remaining water as "teerth". Also pray to the Sun God after performing the Tulsi puja.


Update 2010: I found Tulsi at Coconut Hil, an Indian store near my home. Here is my tulsi:

Halloween

I have always been interested in craft and art. When I heard about Halloween, I was very tempted to carve a pumpkin. As an amateur, I bought a small pumpkin and made a handmade design on it and carved it with my kitchen knife. I wanted to make a funny looking pumpkin than a more serious or scary one. Later I came to know that there are special tools available in the market to carve pumpkins. This is the pumpkin I carved in 2008. I am sending this to the event hosted at Chef In You .