From the Desk of your PCA Team .....
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| Menu at Westin |
This week ended with a wonderful time that many of us had with a Kerela cooking demo at the Westin in Velachery. Chef Thangathambi, and his team taught us four different times, please see the menu pictures on the right. Sous Chef Sarvanan was the one who demonstrated. He stated we will work with three main ingredients coconut milk, coconut oil and rice. These are the three main ingredients in Kerela cooking.
First we started with two different curries, a vegetable stew and then an Allepy fish curry. Both curries' base was coconut milk. Allepy fish curry's base surprised me, whose base was coconut, with a tang that was made with tomato and raw mango! Yum!
Second, we made the Elayappam, which is a rice flour empanada made with sweet filling and steamed; A very very healthy alternative to an empanada, which is fried! What we learned was that the elayappam can be filled with almost any dry fruit filling or the coconut filling that we made. We took clarified ghee and roasted grated coconut till it turned lightly in color and then added jaggery to sweeten the dish. The sweetness of jaggery was not overpowering, but wow did the smell make us hungry.
Lastly, to eat with each of the curries, we needed to make appams. Appams are made to be the shape of the bowls that they are cooked in. The recipe is not the typical dosas batter recipe, which surprised me. The chefs allowed us each to make appams. At first, we made plain appams. Then the masalas began to enter the equation! First we did an egg appam - it is like a sunny side up egg in the appam. What a wonderful morning breakfast dish. After this, we made some appams with cheese, samba olek, and then finally with dried fish. All who tried the different appams found the flavors to be, in one word - YUM!
After the cooking demo was completed, we had signed up for a light lunch, which turned out to be a wonderful 4 course meal! From starters, to a few main courses, and then ending it with a wonderful brownie and chocolates. The chocolates were three different varieties. One was dark chocolate infused with chillies. The second was milk chocolate infused with curry leaf; this was a sink or swim, as curry leaf is an acquired taste. The last one was topped off with white chocolate infused with coconut! What a lovely afternoon we had. Hope you can join us next week at Design Hotel for a cooking demo for French food. If you would like to see the pictures of the Demo, please click on this sentence.
Apart from this week, we begin the next week a host of things occurring. there are two wonderful events happening next week. One is a local celebration of the birthday of Lord Ganesh, the elephant head god. and the second is our UN Day, which incidentally being held on International Peace Day. I would like to share some history with you all about these two events.
Ganesh Chaturthi/Vinayaka Chaturthi in India
September 17, 2015
Ganesh Chaturthi, or literally Birthday of Lord Ganesh, who is the elephant headed God in the Hindu Religion. The festival is celebrate in honour of Ganesh, as he is known as the remover of obstacles and the god of beginnings and wisdom. Ganesh Chaturti AKA Vinayaka Chaturthi is observed in the Hindu calendar monthd of Bhadrapada, starting on the shukla chaturthi (fourth day of the waxing moon period). The date usually falls between August and September. The festival is 10 days log ending on Anant Chaturdashi(fourteenth day of the waxing moon period).
Today, family and public celebrations of this festival is highly popular in Maharashtra. Each home, neighborhood, public youth groups (Mandal’s) and public associations will take a clay idol of Ganesh, and install it in a particular location to worship separately for the ten(10) day celebration. Each day, there is a puja (or worship hmys) stated to the Idol. The belief by Hindu’s is that you will call Lord Ganesha to come to bless your home so that in your home obstacles that hurt your home and life, can be removed. During this festival there are multiple cultural activities such as theater performances, orchestra and community activities. The songs will be songs of praise to Lord Ganesha and many plays on the life of the God. There are many children stories of Lord Ganesha that are told to teach morals to children. On the tenth day of the festival, Ganesh is bathed and then taken to the sea side or a water body in the town and immersed into the water. Before the idol is immersed, the water is treated with ayurvedic leaves and other medicinal plants to ward off viruses or infections. Thus, the visarjan (or the immersing of the Ganesh in the water) is a practical manner of fighting off water borne diseases.
A very popular story is of Ganesh and his brother Karthik sitting at the feet of their parents. Their parents, who are the God Shiva and Goddess Parvati, had one mango remaining. Both boys wanted the mango, but to the victor would be the spoils. Shiva, stated to the boys that the boy who went around the world three time and completed first, would win the mango. Karthik, the Sun God, got into his chariot and began his journey to go around the earth three times. Ganesh was sitting. He quietly got up and went around his parents three times. His parents gave him the mango. Karthik was quite upset at this, but the morale: Parents are the center of the world for their children, all others are false.
International Peace Day
September 18,2014
The International Day of Peace, sometimes unofficially known as World Peace Day, is observed annually on 21 September. It is dedicated to world peace, and specifically the absence of war and violence, such as might be occasioned by a temporary ceasefire in a combat zone for humanitarian aid access. The day was first celebrated in 1982, and is kept by many nations, political groups, military groups, and peoples. In 2013, for the first time, the Day was dedicated by the Secretary-General of the United Nations to peace education, the key preventive means to reduce war sustainably.
To inaugurate the day, the United Nations Peace Bell is rung at UN Headquarters (in New York City). The bell is cast from coins donated by children from all continents except Africa, and was a gift from the United Nations Association of Japan, as "a reminder of the human cost of war"; the inscription on its side reads, "Long live absolute world peace".
To inaugurate the day, the United Nations Peace Bell is rung at UN Headquarters (in New York City). The bell is cast from coins donated by children from all continents except Africa, and was a gift from the United Nations Association of Japan, as "a reminder of the human cost of war"; the inscription on its side reads, "Long live absolute world peace".
2014 – Right to Peace
The theme of the 2014 International Day of Peace is the Right of Peoples to Peace, reaffirming the United Nations commitment to the UN Declaration on the Right of Peoples to Peace, which recognizes that the promotion of peace is vital for the full enjoyment of all human rights.
Director of UNESCO to Vietnam, Katherine Müller, said in Global Education Magazine: "I personally identify with UNESCO’s values in the sense that I truly believe Education, Culture, Social and Natural Sciences, and Communication and Information are some of the most powerful drivers for sustainable development and peace, as a sustainable future cannot exist without sustainable peace. Raising awareness, capacity building, promoting understanding and respect for diversity, and fostering opportunities for interaction to find ways to ensure a culture of peace are all actions that will motivate people to become interested in setting peace as a priority for sustainable development."
9/11
September 11, 2014
This week also commemorates a sad and important day in American history. September 11th, is a sad day and shocking day in American history when the World Trade Center towers were simultaneously hit and destroyed by two hijacked airline planes. For those of us who are from America, we do feel a loss each year on this day. To my fellow Americans, do take a moment of silence for those whose lives were lost.
To my fellow world citizens, there are terrorists attacks in many of the countries that we all come from. Sadly, there is not a country that has not been affected in our Earth. We take this moment of silence for those who were killed either as bystanders or were in the armed forces protecting. Our hands reach to a salute especially for those who were protecting. Their job is the hardest to protect with less regard of their own life. My personal, salute to those who serve our armed forces around the world. You are the unsung heroes in our lives. We salute you!
Signing off for this week.....
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September 15, 2014 - French Cooking Demo at Design Hotel, Phoenix Market City
September 16, 2014 - PCA City Tour to go to Parry's corner
September 17, 2014 - Introductory Tech Training in Hall of Lights
Upcoming Events
September 15, 2014 - French Cooking Demo at Design Hotel, Phoenix Market City
September 16, 2014 - PCA City Tour to go to Parry's corner
September 17, 2014 - Introductory Tech Training in Hall of Lights
Septgmer 18, 2014 - AISC UN Day at Gym
Septbmer 21, 2014 - Greek Cooking Demo at GRT Grand, T-Nagar
Septbmer 21, 2014 - Greek Cooking Demo at GRT Grand, T-Nagar
UN Day, Friday, September 18
The preparations for UN Day are moving forward as the date approaches. The Parade Coordinator is creating a spectacular experience for the community as we celebrate our diversity. Country Coordinators are working hard to create an engaging experience for our students at the Country Pavilions.
Country Coordinators may be contacting you regarding the dress for UN Day. Wearing national dress is not mandatory, but many countries do dress up. Please see the PCA Blog for your Country Coordinator's name and contact information if you have questions.
Here is a parent schedule for that day, specifically for PCA Country Coordinators and Country Pavilion Volunteers.
Thursday, September 17
- 10:00am-8:00pm MC E & F are open for PCA Country Coordinators and Country Pavilion volunteers to store things in.
- 5:00-8:00pm The Gym is open for set up for PCA Country Coordinators and Country Pavilion volunteers. Maintenance staff will be available with flat beds to help move items.
Friday, September 18
- 8:00-8:30am Normal Drop off for students
- 8:30am Parents move to the FAC Auditorium to watch the UN Day Parade (seating is limited, and we will have spill over locations with TVs and streaming video of the parade).
- 9:00-10:00am PCA Country Coordinators can access Gym for Final Set Up of Country Pavilions
- 10:00am Parade ends
- 10:30 UN Day Country Pavilions Begin
- 3:15 UN Day Country Pavilions End
- 4:00 UN Day Country Pavilions Must Be Removed. Gym is ready for ASAs.
Elementary school and middle school students are scheduled to come to the Country Pavilions with their classroom teachers between 10:30am-3:15pm. High school students will have the option of coming during their lunch.
High school students are reminded that they will need to eat lunch before coming to the Country Pavilions in the Gym.
UN Day (MS)
On Friday, September 18 middle school students will be participating in the all school country parade and visiting Country Pavilions. Wearing national dress is not mandatory, but many countries do dress up. It will vary by country. The day has a normal start at 8:30, and then students will move with their class to the GYM to line up by country.
In the afternoon on the 18th, middle school students are scheduled to come to the UN Day Country Pavilions with their classroom teachers. There will be activities and light snacks.
UN Day (HS)
On Friday, September 18 high school students will be participating in the all school country parade and have the option of coming to the Country Pavilions. Wearing national dress is not mandatory, but many countries do dress up. It will vary by country. The day has a normal start at 8:30, and then students will move with their class to the GYM to line up by country.
High school students will have the option of coming to the UN Day Country Pavilions during their lunch on Friday, September 18. There will be activities and snacks.
High school students are reminded that they will need to eat lunch before coming to the Country Pavilions in the Gym.
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Open Positions
There are still open positions on the PCA. We are looking for energetic persons whose goal is to enrich the lives of their kids through parent sponsored activities. We have open positions for Vice President on the Executive Team.If you are interested, please do give us an email at pca@aisch.org. To see all open positions, please see the side bar link of PCA Volunteers.
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References
1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganesh_Chaturthi
2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Day_of_Peace
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