Camp Hoover

I had done hike to Camp Hoover on 12th December 2015. It is located in Virginia State in Shenandoah National Park on Skyline Drive. Hike Location Name: Camp Hoover Distance: 100 miles from Richmond(approx) Total hiking distance: 7.6 miles. Altitude: 3200 ft. Hike Team: Gnaneshwar, Rajesh, Shubham, Sujay, Thiruppathi and me Hiking Experience: Started around 7:20 am from Honey Tree in two cars(Sujay's and Gnaneshwar's). Halted at Mc Donalds around...

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Red Velvet Cake

Ingredients 1) All Purpose Flour - 2 cups 2) Cocoa Powder - 2 table spoons 3) Condensed Milk - 1 can 4) Baking Powder - 1 tea spoon 5) Baking Soda - 1 tea spoon 6) Unsalted butter - 8 tea spoons or 1 slice 7) Buttermilk - 3 cups 8) Whipped Cream - 1 cup 9) Sweetened Sugar - 1 table spoon 10) Red Food colour - 2 medium spoons 11) Vanilla Extract - 2 tea spoons 12) Corn Starch - 1/4 cup 13) Green Icing Gel - 1 small tube Procedure 1. Take butter...

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Chocolate Cake

Ingredients 1) All Purpose Flour - 1 1/2 cups 2) Cocoa Powder - 1 1/2 cups 3) Condensed Milk - 1 can 4) Baking Powder - 1 tea spoon 5) Baking Soda - 1 tea spoon 6) Unsalted butter - 8 tea spoons or 1 slice 7) Chocolate Fudge - 1/2 cup 8) Whipped Cream - 1/4 cup 9) Sweetened Sugar - 1/2 cup 10) Soda(coke) - 150 ml 11) Vanilla Extract - 2 tea spoons 12) Corn Starch - 1/4 cup Procedure 1. Take butter in small pan and heat it until it becomes liquid. 2....

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Rajma Masala

Ingredients 1) Rajma(red Kidney beans) - 1 cup 2) Tomato - 4 3) Onion - 1 large 4) Green Chillies - 4 5) Ginger - 10 gms 6) Garlic - 3 cloves 7) Garam Masala - 1 table spoon 8) Coriander powder - 2 tea spoons 9) Cumin seeds - 3 gms 10) Coriander leaves - 10 gms 11) Butter - 1 small chunk 12) Oil - 1 table spoon 13)Turmeric powder - 1 tea spoon 14) Salt - as per taste Procedure 1. Soak Rajma beans overnight in water. 2. Drain the water and then...

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Mt. Washington

I had done Mt. Washington Summit on 6th Sep 2015 . It is located in New Hampshire. Hike Location Name: Mt. Washington Total hiking distance: 9.5 miles(approx). Altitude: 6288 ft. States Crossed : Virginia, Delaware, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts. Hiking Experience: I started around 7:30 pm on 4th Sep from Richmond. Reached New York penn station around 2:30 am. Picked up one friend and went to Edison,...

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Poha Kachori

Ingredients 1) Poha - 2 cups 2) Bread - 8 Loafs 3) Potatoes - 3 4) Green Chillies - 1 5) Peanuts - 15gms 6) Curry Leaves- 6 7) Red Chilli Powder - 1/2 spoon 8) Lemon water - 1 spoon 9) Salt - as per taste 10) oil - as needed for deep fry Procedure 1. Boil the potatoes(peel off the skin) and smash them. 2. Soak Poha in water for 2 mins and then drain the water and keep it aside. 3. Roast peanuts and keep them aside. 4. Cut the bread into small...

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Mysore Bonda

Ingredients 1) All Purpose Flour - 2 cups 2) Rice Flour - 1/2 cup 3) Baking soda - 1/2 tea spoon 4) Buttermilk - 3/4 glass 5) Green Chillies - 1 6) Ginger - 5gms 7) Cummin Seeds - 3 gms 8) Salt - as per taste 9) oil - as needed for deep fry Procedure 1. Take All purpose flour in a bowl. Add Rice flour, baking soda and salt to it and mix the ingredients thoroughly. 2. Add buttermilk to the above mixture. Not all of it once, add in small  portions...

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Jones Run/Doyles River

I had done hike on Jones Run/Doyles River on 25th July 2015 . It is located in Virginia State near Shenandoah National Park on Skyline Drive. Hike Location Name: Jones Run/Doyles River Distance: 104 miles from Richmond(approx) Total hiking distance: 6.6 miles(approx). Altitude: 2800 ft. Hike Team: Gnaneshwar, Rajtilak, Shubhendu, Sujay, Vaibhav and me. Hiking Experience: We (Gnaneshwar, Vaibhav and me) started from our place around 6:15 am....

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Lake George

We went to Lake George from 3rd July to 6th Julylocated at North of New York Brief Summary Place : Lake George Location : New York Distance : 250 miles from Jersey City and 600 miles from Richmond approx Group: 4 members. Transport : BMW (black) Duration: 3 days. Set Off We have planned to go to New Jersey for the long weekend but have not finalized where to go from there. We took BMW rental Car from Enterprise around 2:30 pm on 3rd July. It...

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Dum Aloo

Ingredients 1) Potato(Small size) - 6 2) Coriander Pwder -  1 full spoon 3) Fennel Powder - 1 full spoon 4) Curd - 1/2 cup 5) Ginger Powder - 1/4 tea spon 6) Red Chilli Powder - 3/4 tea spoon 7) Gharam Masala Whole - 10 gms 8) Garlic - 2 cloves 9) Cummin seeds(Jeera) - 10 gms 10) Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tea spoon 11) Oil - 3 spoons 12) Salt - as per taste 13) Coriander leaves for garnish Procedure 1. Peel off the skin of the potatoes...

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Riprap Hollow

I had done hike on Riprap Hollow on 6th June 2015 . It is located in Virginia State near Shenandoah National Park on Skyline Drive. Hike Location Name: Riprap Hollow Distance: 105 miles from Richmond (approx) Total hiking distance: 9.5 miles (approx). Altitude: 3020 ft. Hike Team: Amol and me. Hiking Experience: We started around 6:30 am from our place. It was little bright by that time. Bought water bottles from Kroger near to our place and...

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Cheswick-BBQ

We went to Cheswick park near Henrico Hospital, henrico VA for Barbecue on 25th May 2015. Brief Summary Place : Cheswick Park Location : Henrico, VA Distance : 0.5 miles from Henrico Hospital. Group: 15 members. Duration : 1day Experience: On 24th evening we have decided to meet and discuss regarding plan for having a barbecue. We discussed couple of options for place like pool in our society, cheswick park and deep run park(little far...

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Buck Hollow

I had done hike on Buck Hollow on 16th May 2015 . It is located in Virginia State near Shenandoah National Park. Hike Location Name: Buck Hollow Distance: 105 miles from Richmond(approx) Total hiking distance: 9.0 miles(approx). Altitude: 3400 ft. Hike Team: Ravi, Sujay and me. Hiking Experience: Started around 6:10 am from our place and picked up Sujay from his place around 6:34 am and left for our destination (Buck Hollow Parking). We took...

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Turk Mountain

I had done hike on Turk Mountain on 2nd May March 2015 . It is located in Virginia State near Shenandoah National Park. Hike Location Name: Turk Mountain Distance: 95 miles from Richmond(approx) Total hiking distance: 10.3 miles(approx). Altitude: 5440 ft. Hike Team: Rajtilak, Rohit, Sujay, Vaibhav and me. Hiking Experience: Started around 7:00 am from our place and picked up Sujay from his place around 7:18 am and left for our destination(Jarman...

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Miami-KeyWest

We went to Miami Beach and KeyWest from 2nd April to 6th April located in Florida. Brief Summary Place : Miami Beach and KeyWest Location : Florida Distance : 983 miles from Richmond Group: 4 members. Transport : Kia Sportage(Silver) Duration: 4 days. Team : Ajit, Amit, Deepak and me Set Off we have taken the rental car (KIA Sportage) from Budget at Richmond aiport on 2nd April around 6:30 pm. It is a mid size suv and was just driven 406 miles....

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Chester Gap

I had done hike from Chester Gap on 21st March 2015 . It is located in Virginia State near Shenandoah National Park. Hike Location Name: Chester Gap Distance: 113 miles from Richmond(approx) Total hiking distance: 7 miles(approx). Altitude: 2000 ft. Hike Team: Gnaneshwar, Krishna, Rajtilak, Sandeep, Shubhendu, Thiruapathi and me. Hiking Experience: Started around 6:40 am in two cars and picked few from different location and left to destination...

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National Air and Space Museum

We went to Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum(also known as Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center) on 14th February located in Chantilly, Virginia near Dulles Airport(IAD). Brief Summary Place : Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Location : Chantilly, VA Distance : 100 miles(approx.) from Richmond, VA Group: 4 members. Transport : Audi A4 2015(black) Duration: 1 day Journey We took the Audi rental around 10:30 am on 14th. Started to the...

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kanda poha (onion poha)

kanda poha (onion poha) Ingredients 1) poha - 2 cups. 2) oninon (kanda) - 1 large. 3) potato (aloo) - 1. 4) green chillies - 4. 5) curry leaves - 3. 6) tomatoes - 1/4  of large one. 7) ginger - 5gms. 8) turmeric powder - 2 spoons. 9) mustard seeds - 4gms. 10) cummin seeds - 4gms. 11) chana dal - 8gms. 12) urad dal - 5gms. 13) groundnuts - 25gms. 14) oil - 2 spoons. 15) salt - as per taste. 16) lemon - 1. 17) coriander leaves - as per garnish. Procedure 1....

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jeera rice

jeera rice Ingredients 1) rice - 3 cups. 2) cummin(Jeera) seeds- 10gms 3) cloves - 3. 4) bay leaves - 1. 5) cinnamon stick - 1. 6) coriander seeds - 2gms. 7) fennel clove - 1 8) ghee - 2 spoons. 9) salt - as per taste. Procedure 1. Take rice in a bowl, clean and rinse it with water and then soak it for 20 mins. 2. Drain the water and keep the rice aside. 3. Take ghee in a pan and heat it. 4. Then add cummin seeds to it and let them splutter. 5....

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