This easy and extremely delicious recipe was given to me by Sameer’s mom, our beloved Ammi, may God rest her soul in peace. She was and remains in our hearts and memories as a strong and amazing woman, and of course one of the best cooks. I am so thankful to have written this delicious recipe and have this opportunity to share it with you all. I cook this recipe almost every month and eat it with khichri (rice + lentils) like Sameer’s family always does. Khichri? You ask. Yes, khichri, an unexpected, but exquisite combination!

Sammy’s Kitchen is a new cooking show privately produced by Sameer and Samreen Saadi (s2elements.com) where we try a variety of recipes given to us by our family, friends, found on the net or simply created by ourselves.

Music by: sifr (Thanks Sameer Saadi!)
Video Production, Camera Angulations, & Editing by Sameer

http://www.mirillis.com/splash.html

If you own an HD Video Camera – you must have run into issues playing those files on your PC.  I have a Sony and it comes with its own software. Although it is nice for organizing and sorting your videos, it doesn’t have a very friendly video player.  I found it really hard to use its video player to use as a stand alone player.

Some people claim that VLC Player will play those files, and VLC does but it freezes after playing two seconds of the video (at least for me).

So anyways, I searched online and came across this player…

Its called ‘Splash’ and it played my HD files without any issues.  Here is the link to download it:  http://www.mirillis.com/splash.html

Their lite version is out for free and they will be soon coming out with their PRO and other versions.

So, I hope this helps anyone looking for a small and fast m2ts file player!

Anyway,

this is how I ran into this error:

Scheduling a SSIS (SQL Integration Services) job with SQL Server Agent which involves connecting to Siebel backend (Oracle), I first had to change from SSIS job to CmdExec to use 32 bit version of DTExec (also required of you are using 32 bit Oracle Drivers – or any other 32 bit libraries in your SSIS).  (Dont forget to add SERVICE_NAME(s) etc to tnsnames.ora file and point to it in system environment variable – TNS_ADMIN etc..).  Everything looked good and ran it and got this error:

ORA-06413: Connection not open.

what does this error mean:

After searching online I found out that Oracle Provider cannot handle parenthesis in the file path for the apps connecting to the provider.

how did i solve the issue:

Originally my 32bit dtexec statement was:

“D:\Program Files\MICROSOFT SQL SERVER (x86)\90\DTS\Binn\DTExec.exe” /SQL “\BITS\[PackageName]” /SERVER [ServerName] /MAXCONCURRENT ” -1 ” /CHECKPOINTING OFF /REPORTING E

Then I changed it to:

“D:\Program Files\MICROS~1\90\DTS\Binn\DTExec.exe” /SQL “\BITS\[PackageName]” /SERVER [ServerName] /MAXCONCURRENT ” -1 ” /CHECKPOINTING OFF /REPORTING E

This resolved the issue but is just a temporary workaround.  I didnt come up with the solution, I found had to search google, thanks to the following links:

More info:

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/sqlintegrationservices/thread/ab662d63-6385-4f73-b27f-d526048f601f/

http://phil-austin.blogspot.com/2008/08/ssis-and-oracle-providers-another.html

Hope this was useful!

So last Sunday, I really wanted to watch the game (MN Vikings vs GB Packers) but I didn’t wanna go out, so instead of ordering cable and starting an HD plan for $50 or $70 per month or singing up with NFL or ESPN to watch online… I thought I’ll try an Over-The-Air HDTV Antenna.

The whole ordeal turned out to be time saving and money saving.  The antenna was $35 but I got it for $19 which made the deal even sweeter.

This is how it happened:

After reading all the review I wanted to buy this antenna:

RCA ANT1251 @ Best Buy

So I picked it up and was going to checkout and I thought… wait… I have ShopSavvy app on my Sprint HTC Hero Android phone.. let me scan the bar code…

You can scan a bar code with this app and it will show you how much it is selling for locally (cheapest first), what it’s going for online and even some reviews.

So I scanned the bar code on the box and it showed me that within 5 miles there is a Walmart thats selling it for $19!!  I went to the Customer Service at Best Buy and told them this is selling for $19 at Walmart… Best Buy price-matched and I got a killer deal.

Came home, hooked it up to my LCD HDTV, did a channel scan with both Cable and Antenna options.  Within a few minutes I was watching Fox HD with 5.1 surround sound.  It was amazing.

Moral(s):

1. When buying something – always check how much it is selling for locally and ask for price-matching. (Get ShopSavvy App on your phone!)

2. If you want to watch NCB, ABC, FOX in HD – don’t go for cable.. just get this antenna for $19 and you will get these channels for free for life!*

* Some channels might not be available depnding on your location!

shawarma vs gyro

First of all, I think it is necessary to clear out the difference between gyro and shawarma.  Here is my quick rundown of the difference in the two:  (from: Chow.com and Wikipedia and personal experience)

Both are delicious but in Minnesota you hardly find shawarma’s and I recently found a place – Yes, thats why Im blogging about it.

mim’s cafe

Mim’s cafe is located near the University of Minnesota Campus (more on how to get there under location).  So I had this craving for shawarma one day and I asked around if anyone knew where I can find a good shawarma – a friend of mine told me about Mim’s Cafe and saved my life.  First of all if you search for Mim’s Cafe you will get Mimi’s cafe (which is obviously not the same) so anyway we get to this place and its late and I don’t see the meat on the spit – at that moment I thought all hope is lost.  But then the guy running the place (Majid) asked me if I wanted shawarma.  They usually take it down to store it for the next day.  It turns out that they prepare their own meat for the shawarma.  The guy was nice and instantly recognized my friend who referred me to his place.  I suggested the place to a couple of friends and they love it.  If you get a chance try this place, its good.

food 9/10

The best shawarma (so far) and the best falafel ever!  Falafels are fresh and crunchy.  Also the hummus was awesome, but I think the one at Holy Land is just a little better.  The shawarma is like $5 something.. so its not that expensive either.  Haven’t tried anything else there.  So awesome falafel and shawarma, great hummus, moderate to cheap prices.  Anyone ever tried anything else there? (write in comments section)

service 7/10

Service was fast and good.  People are nice and friendly.  You have to get drinks and napkins by yourself but that is expected at a fast food place.  I really liked how the host didn’t bother us and let us be until we were almost done.  I hate when people keep asking you, ‘How is the food?’ while you are in the middle of chewing your first bite.  But if you raise your head and look towards him he would come running.  It might be different during different times of the day as well.  We went at night around 8 or 9, maybe its different when the place is crowded.

location

Street parking only as it is right on campus.  Easy to find but don’t follow the directions from Google.  Google will send you to this address: 1435 Cleveland Ave S, St Paul, MN.  Thats the wrong address!  This is the correct address: 1435 Cleveland Ave N, St Paul, MN 55108

Go there, try it out, tell your friends and leave comments.

Oh yes, and when you go there tell them you heard about this place from ‘Sameer’!

Chal chal Bulleya…
Chal othay challye…
Jithay saray annay (blind)…
Na koyee sadee zaat pochaay…
Tay na koyee sanu manay…
Chal othay challye…

Bulleh Shah

Once in a while you hear a song and you just have to tell someone about it.  This is one of those songs, “Chal Bulleya” from Mekaal Hassan Band.  There was not only one but many things that made me realize that this is a completely awesome song.

//Lyrics//  Personally, I think the three hundred some year old lyrics of Bulleh Shah can still resonate with this generations spiritual vibes.  But the thing I like about the lyrics is that its about the world and the philosophy of life instead of the same old how my lover betrayed me or how much I love him/her but I cant say it.. and all that crap.  I think it is the experimental ability, relatability and interpretability of these centuries old lyrics that make them beautiful even today.  You feel like Bulleh is talking to you about religion, life, love and all the important philosophies that matter to you.

//Vocals/Melody//  I love the deep airy vocal track that MHB used under the main vox (you can notice it in the start).  At some points these two tracks are combined with one or two more higher pitched backing vocals which makes the overall vocals sound soothing and relaxing in some way I cant explain..  This soothing affect combined with the sweet melody makes the whole “Chal chal bulleya” (first verse and at 4:00 in the video below) sound like a clam wave or slowly flowing wind (I told you I cant explain).  I am not worthy of even talking about Javed Bashir’s vocal expertise.

//Music//  There are no hard core guitars and overcrowded and loud drums.  The choice of sounds used for the underlying beat are very simple.  What makes the music come alive are actually the flute, two or three rhythm guitars and bass (which is not deep enough to just disappear in the abyss and you don’t notice it at all).  The fills and accents are simple and usually involve the same tune played by a combination of instruments.  There is no ‘solo’ per say (which is good) but there is a point where you are taken aback by the flute played by Ahsan Papu.

//Video//  There couldn’t have been a better video for this song.  I was amazed at the production quality, colors, lighting and lens use (cinematography) and the philosophy behind the video.  It talks about the seven sins.  I love the lighting in the video (I cant stop repeating that).  you have to be a very creative photographer to create such scenes.  Apart from lighting, I love how the director used the dark for giving scenes this amazing depth and detail.  The expressions on the girls face at the end of the video will leave you with a weird feeling.  I will be watching out for Bilal Lashari.

Enough of reading lets enjoy the song now:

Eid Gift from Samreen

I always wanted one of these but never got around getting them.  I used to have similar ones with a checked pattern on them – I think i still have ‘em laying around somewhere.  So anyways it was Eid and traditionally we are supposed to exchange gifts, but i haven’t gotten anything for Samreen yet – or have I?