tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66649661533272699742024-03-07T20:59:10.005-08:00A wildflower's thoughts...This blog could end up complex just like me!Too many random thoughts and only a few get into the page..whatever is top-most in my head when I am sitting down to pen...
Also, I love to try new stuff..be a jack of all trades if possible and so you will find me delving in cooking, painting, organization, sewing, decorating, baking, designing, creating stuff. Not everything turns out great, but you will have my honest judgement on every trial!
Wildflowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17047740342726967877noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6664966153327269974.post-71520149047738376472014-06-23T13:54:00.000-07:002014-06-23T13:55:32.251-07:00Microwave KhandviI have been eyeing a lot of snack recipes that I want to try as I am a snacker. A while back I had found a microwave snack - Khandvi <a href="http://www.tarladalal.com/Microwave-Khandvi-11233r" target="_blank">here</a>. I had wanted to try this out as I had a lot of besan which I mostly use for bajis only lying around. I recently read an article somewhere on the internet which had the present PM of India list his favorite foods and there it was this Khandvi, again! Well as I do not "really" ;) believe in coincidences I thought let me give this a shot and did it. First off, it is a little tricky and the amount I did made me end up with a lot of these. My DH who has only two taste buds intact - sweet, and spice did not favor this much as it was bland for him. This was after my tweaking to add spice to it. I guess, sometimes if you are not used to eating it from childhood it takes a while to get accustomed to it. However, I liked it and so did my neighbor who is from North. She said that for a beginner it was absolutely awesome! So there you have it. A true native vouching for the microwave recipe. What else do we need, except, of course the recipe!<br />
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<b>Ingredients:</b><br />
For the batter-<br />
<ul>
<li>Besan/Chick pea flour - 1 cup</li>
<li>Well beaten yogurt/curd- 1 cup/buttermilk - 3 cups</li>
<li>Water -2 cups (only if using yogurt)</li>
<li>turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp</li>
<li>Ginger - 2 tspn- finely grated (optional)</li>
<li>Green chillies - 2 finely chopped (optional)</li>
<li>Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp</li>
<li>salt - to taste</li>
</ul>
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For tempering-<br />
<ul>
<li>Mustard seeds</li>
<li>Split urad dal </li>
<li>Green chillies - 1 finely chopped</li>
<li>Curry leaves - 6-8 ripped</li>
</ul>
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For garnish-</div>
<ul>
<li>Coconut - 2 tspn</li>
<li>Above tempered ingredients</li>
<li>Coriander leaves - 1 tbspn - finely chopped.</li>
</ul>
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<b>Method:</b></div>
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1. Beat yogurt/curd with 2 cups of water. Else take 3 cups of buttermilk, add turmeric, ginger, green chillies, and asafoetida. Those who do not take a lot of spice or if doing for children, omit the ginger and green chillies in this step. Slowly mix the besan/chick pea flour to it and mix well with an egg beater. Season with salt<br />
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2. Microwave on high for five minutes. Half way through, take the batter, stir well and continue cooking<br />
3. Microwave another five minutes taking it out every two minutes to give a stir. If the raw smell is gone, it is done. You can also test it by applying a small amount to the back of a stainless steel plate and letting it cool for a minute. If you are able to roll, you got it!</div>
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4. Once the batter is ready, keep plates or the back of your baking trays or some flat surface free. Using a ladle place batter on plate/and spread thinly.<br />
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5.Allow it to cool completely and then start cutting them into straight strips about an inch apart. Pickup each of the strips and roll them into a tight bundle. Arrange them on the serving dish.<br />
6. Heat a tsp of oil, temper all the temper ingredients and pour over the khandvi. Add the garnish and serve.</div>
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Note:<br />
1. I did not spread them thinly, so they were a little heavier rolls. Next try, will do it thinner.<br />
2. Do not grease the plates where you are going to spread the besan. You will not be able to spread the batter evenly.<br />
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Wildflowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17047740342726967877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6664966153327269974.post-33311338124494753882014-06-12T14:26:00.002-07:002014-06-12T14:26:49.047-07:00South Indian recipes with WHAT? Yes, a slow cooker! - Sambar<span style="font-family: inherit;">Dh had for a long time been harping on how slow cooker was the best friend of a working woman and how his friend's spouse was really enjoying cooking with it and how they saved time too...I was thinking more along the lines of: one more unused kitchen gadget that I don't need, a waste of money, and precious kitchen space (A few rows of pantry hold two different blenders- each with 2-4 different jars, toaster, two choppers, one food processor - all of which I use medium to rare) and garage space (which holds even more gadgets that are <strike>never</strike> very rarely used! Then one day we were out at a thrift store and browsing through the kitchen section we saw this and DH was like..why don't you try one..if it is not used we can trash it without worrying over the price spent. I liked that idea and we ended up with one. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"> My first try was a channa masala as I knew that it I did not have to worry about pre-soaking the daal. However, I missed out on s</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">autéing</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">the onions before and I did not like the taste of my channa in the end. </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Lesson #1 on </span>slow-cooking</b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>:</b> Do not put the onions raw when making curries/sabjis. Always </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">sauté </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">first.</span></div>
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The next I tried was a south indian quick sambar which came out way better!<br />
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Masoor dal (Whole and dehulled) Sambar:<br />
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<b>Ingredients: </b><br />
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<ul>
<li>Small Onions - 10 - peeled and whole</li>
<li>Carrot - 1, medium sized, chopped</li>
<li>Radish - 1, chopped</li>
<li>Tomatoes -2, chopped</li>
<li>Whole Masoor dal - 1/2 cup</li>
<li>Dehulled masoor dal - 1/2 cup</li>
<li>Turmeric - 1/4 tsp</li>
<li>Chilli powder - to taste (I used 1 tsp)</li>
<li>Sambar powder/Curry Powder - 2 tbsp</li>
<li>Salt, to taste</li>
<li>Oil - 1 tbsp</li>
</ul>
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<b>Method:</b></div>
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1<b>. </b>Add the dhals to the crockpot and fill with water to be just above the dals. Add the turmeric powder.</div>
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2. Add 1 tbsp oil to a sauce pan, wait till it warms, add mustard and once it crackles, add the onions and saute them till they are lightly browned. Then add one by one all other vegetables and saute nicely (2-3 minutes)</div>
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3. Add chilli powder, sambar/curry powder and mix nicely. </div>
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4. Add enough water, 1 tsp tamarind paste, mix well and transfer to the crock pot. Set timer for 6 hrs as desired in low cooking temperature. Close with lid and make sure there is at least an inch or two space empty. Do not fill until the brim as it may overflow to the heating element and cause a mess. (Believe me, I have done it and suffered! Not easy to clean up all the cooked up blackish soot on the heating element)<br />
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5. After 6 hrs, mix well and serve with cooked rice/idly/dosa.<br />
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<b>Note:</b><br />
1. With slow cooker, the dal is cooked, but remains in whole. For those who do not like the dals this way, use a hand blender (immersion) to slowly blend the sambar. Make sure you take some vegetables out so you do not end up with a soup!<br />
2. In case of overflow to heating element, do not use water. Use a tooth brush, or dish scrubber and slowly try to take the soot off. I did have to use a heavy steel scrubber to take it off but I did not buy a $$$$ slow cooker and was fine with repairing it in the process ;)<br />
3. The flavors are a little different from what happens when you cook via pressure cooking the dal. So be prepared for it.<br />
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Wildflowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17047740342726967877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6664966153327269974.post-2274018336733550902013-09-18T13:22:00.000-07:002014-06-11T13:31:58.297-07:00Bullying? Is there a solution to all the despicable stuff that is happening in schools?For the life of me I do not understand this concept of bullying in USA. I was born and raised in India, in the southern most state of Tamil Nadu. We have had this issue of bullying in colleges once upon a time, and when matters got worse people have taken their lives- freshers who just moved from school to college with totally different surroundings around 17-19 years of age. And then there was a highly publicized case of a life tragically lost, Sarika Shah, when some strangers tried to tease her and her friends, with one even triggering another until a life was lost. (<a href="http://www.hindu.com/2008/03/15/stories/2008031553880400.htm">http://www.hindu.com/2008/03/15/stories/2008031553880400.htm</a>) I do not want to go into all facts of the case, or what happened in the court case that followed. However, with that one case came a heavy handed court and police declaration that all women be left alone in colleges and a term called "eve-teasing" became prevalent. Any female student who felt harassed by her seniors/any other college members could just write a petition against the person(s) who was harassing and put it in a dropbox that became mandatory in every women's college. The college authorities would have to take strict action - most often leading to suspension/dismissal of the perpetrator(s). Teasing of all forms was banned in colleges. To some extent this lowered the incidents and the fear for all freshers joining college.<br />
Now, the above case mentioned college. But, how about school? As far as I can remember, there is no teasing/bullying in schools. In fact, in our system, the class students do not move from one class to another every hour. It is the teachers who move. If you are in the 8th grade, you are all in the class where other 8th graders are. Every hour, the teachers - maths, physics, language, social science - come to the class. Only during physical education class does the entire class move out to the ground. Even then we would not have dozens of other classes outside. If during this hour 8th had the Physical education, the next hour it would be some other grade having PE a class far away from your class. You are supposed to walk to the PE in line and walk back to your class in line. There was no concept of walking in groups, or your cliques at any point of time except during break hours. During class you have no time to talk, much less bully one another. Before a teacher is due to leave the classroom, the next teacher is out waiting by the door most of the time. We have a system where we do not talk back to our teachers. If a teacher were to say something, we "obeyed" it. Irrespective of whether we liked it or not. We "respect" our teachers. We have a saying - "Mata, pita, guru, deivam" - Mother, Father, Teacher, God. Just the four words meaning the order in which we need to respect. Starting from the mother who brings you in to this world, the mother who introduces the father to you who is one of your first teachers, then they who take you to the (school) teacher who teaches you about values, about life, about God, and then God which can also be thought about us our conscience or self-awareness. What I want is for others to understand that we obeyed all four and we were duty bound to listen to all four. So if something did happen in school, someone did say something hateful, you could either go to your teacher or your parents and get a solution for this problem. They put an E N D to the problem and the problem-maker by either warning/punishing or figuring out a way to bring things under control. We probably were afraid of teachers and punishments for not completing homework than what someone else taught about us or how we looked.<br />
Then I read in the paper/internet news article that bullying happens everyday in the USA. The teachers do not say anything to bullies or bullied, they do not interfere unless there is some form of physical abuse and only then they get taken to the principal/higher authorities and also that sometimes a bullied victim who is fed up of being taunted who hits or strikes is the victim in the school as physical abuse is dealt strictly. Really? do not people know- us as adults - don't we know that abuse - be it physical, emotional, verbal, sexual are all abuses? That most of the time a verbal abuse is much worse than physical? We have a famous two line poem written by Thiruvalluvar - a great Tamil Poet - who said<br />
"Theeyinal sutta pun ullarum aradhae<br />
Naavinal Sutta vadu"<br />
-Roughly translates to "<b>The scar left by fire will heal but a scar left by words doesn't."</b><br />
Which I feel is true. We still remember hateful comments/remarks made by people around us while a fist fight or a wound caused by that subsides in time. So who should be punished in this case? I think a lot of people need in the capacity to make changes have to think how can we intervene and how can we stop this? How can we make sure that another innocent life is not lost on what is being told about them or to them?<br />
I cannot imagine how my life as a not really beautiful, overweight, short, teenager would have been or how I could have survived a system like what is here in the US. Maybe there is a reason why the children move from class to class. Maybe it is because of the various options they have to chose from to study unlike the same curriculum that all kids used from the 1st to their 10th grade and there is again very less difference in the 11th and 12th grade -just say a science (physics, chemistry, biology) or a non-science (accounting, commerce, economics) class. So, when you have you students from different classes all meeting in corridors, you need to come up with a system where they do not get abused, wherein every class just moves from one class to another; no bullying happens in corridors. May be there should be a teacher walking the corridors every now and then to see if the students are just walking to classes or making idle talk or causing trouble. The teachers should not be locked in their own rooms oblivious to what is happening outside their door or outside on the corridor. If a teacher cannot do it, then you should employ staff who can monitor the kids. Everyone needs to be accountable. A teacher can ensure that every child comes to her class or doesn't make a roundabout way to the class. This can be done when all students of a grade meet at the same place the first hour and a class appointed teacher can take the attendance of the entire grade. The students who are absent can be notified to all other teachers who have classes with that grade. So if 'x' students were supposed to show up to a class at 11am, but only 'x-3' showed up and the remainder three are late for some reason, the teacher must ask them why they were late, should make them stand if they have just been hanging around doing nothing, make sure that they are not part of a clique and have not caused any trouble in the class or are being bullied. These are things that a teacher needs to do. He/she can definitely hang near the door and make sure nothing bothersome is happening out when one class leaves and another is going to come in.<br />
Another point I would like to make is how 'social media' has made us boundary less. Anything that happened at my home, in my school, in my street, in my city, in my state, in my country stayed there unless there was a BBC/CNN in my days of school and college. But now, I sniffle and I put on one of the 'social media' sites I am part of; I do this, we do that and it is all on the site. So the impact is also that much when something happens negatively. A slant, a crude joke, a remark travels the world thanks to these sites and the mass video jungle where again the whole world can see you. Somehow, in making everything public, we have lost our privacy. Our kids are the ones who suffer the most. Also, we cannot ban this on our kids alone if everyone else is on it. Then comes another problem with peers as to whether you 'belong' or not. I think that kids these days have to grow up more quickly; they have to mature more quickly; whether they like it or not and that is in some ways very sad.<br />
I have a toddler and I have started to worry already - is my son going to have a good childhood? Does he look okay? Do I have to keep him on a diet so he doesn't get any weight issues? Is he going to grow tall or is he going to be teased for his height? Is his name(of foreign origin) going to be a reason people will tease him? Is he going to have an accent different from the rest of the kids that will put him in a spotlight? Should I just do home schooling for him? I do not think I should be worrying about all this. I do not think that parents should be thinking of all this when their DS/DD is just born. A non-working system should be fixed. The numbers may not be great, but they are not mere numbers. They are someone's most beloved and cherished son/daughter. I do not have a right to take away that life; you do not have the right to do so either. Neither should a bully be allowed to terrorize nor allowed to take the life of some dearest son/daughter. Someone who talks and behaves hatefully should be punished - whatever the age is, in whatever way that is appropriate so that it stops, so that in future kids can go safely to school, happily to school and mothers and fathers can rest in peace and be content that their little one is getting close to being the adult they choose to become in a career they want to shine in.<br />
Wildflowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17047740342726967877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6664966153327269974.post-47483496086499698132013-04-12T07:02:00.001-07:002014-06-11T13:26:05.236-07:00Grilled veggie sandwich and bell pepper eggs.Feeding my 18 mo is not a challenge. He simply is a good eater. However, I like to experiment and do different stuffs so my little one can have a variety. Being from India, the staples are always Idly(rice pancakes), dosai (rice flour savory crepes), thayir sadham (yogurt rice), and paruppu sadham(lentil rice.) Apart from these I make pasta dishes, bread sandwiches, cutlets, etc for him. That being said, I do not cook meat at home although I make eggs. He doesn't seem to like the taste of eggs and when I give him a boiled egg, he just loves to squish the yellow part and throw it down so I can go ahead and clean up the rugs for the next one hour! Phew!! Still, I try to boil, scramble, fry or do something or the other for him to eat to get him used to the flavor. Recently I kept seeing pictures of capsicum/bell pepper eggs and wanted to try them. They were yum and we all enjoyed eating eggs that looked very appealing. So here are the pictures without much ado.<br />
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I did not want raw bell pepper rings and so I did char them a bit on all
sides first. Then I broke one egg inside one of the rings. What I found
was that the eggs just did not hold inside the rings as I originally
thought it would but just ran all over. So I added a couple of other
rings and thought I would try to get half and half in them. So I ended
up having just the white in one more of the rings and the remainder of
eggs with yolk on another ring. They simply ran out even then. I
realized that may be I just needed to cut them out to shape in the end.<br />
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I
like my eggs fried and done well on both sides and so I flipped them
over and then while serving cut of some large chunks that were dangling
outside. <br />
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Next, I had left over bell pepper rings from top and bottom and some zucchini slices and so I seared them on the tava and added them to a grilled cheese sandwich to finish off dinner for my DS.<br />
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One easy 15 minute meal ready! My LO just devoured the sandwich and egg. I should say that he loves just a hint of spice as of now and so he loved the red pepper which has a slightly sweet taste to it. <br />
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<br />Wildflowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17047740342726967877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6664966153327269974.post-2199670324040706902013-03-20T07:38:00.000-07:002014-06-11T13:26:05.229-07:00My favorite wraps!!!I somehow like the idea of food wrapped around all snug and ready to eat. It is one of my favorite diet concepts (I usually eat half a wrap and store the other half for another meal). However now-a-days, I have this feeling that store-bought wraps are not that healthy and, I am not getting enough vitamins from vegetables because you cannot put a lot of items if you want the wrap to stay intact. So, wraps have become more of a splurge for me rather than my go to food because of the carbs vs vegetables war that I am recently engaged in. I have a goal to get 10 lbs off me, that I have gained in the past three years due to lots of reasons and I am not going to give them as excuses. Just a goal that I want to achieve in say over the next couple of months - slowly, steadily, and surely!<br />
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Onto the recipe: I had some button mushrooms and was not in the mood to make a sabji so I decided on wrap for dinner! <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Button mushroom</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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Mushrooms and vidalia onions getting deglazed with lemon juice. You can deglaze with wine or any choice of yours.<br />
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The wrap cut down through the middle and to be stored for another meal. Not a lot of vegetables, still the store bought wrap is huge and I don't like to pack with calories. I did add a side of salad for me instead. I need to start making my own tortillas as I am sure they would be healthier and better tasting!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mushroom avocado wrap</td></tr>
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Mushroom-Avocado Wrap Recipe:<br />
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Ingredients:<br />
Vidalia sweet onion-1 <br />
Button mushroom - 20-chooped lengthwise<br />
salt- to taste<br />
Any salad/spinach mix <br />
Tomato diced -1<br />
Avocado - 1 -cut in lengthy strips<br />
Hummus/baba ghanoush/- 1 tbsp <br />
Lemon-1<br />
Oil - 2tsp<br />
Wraps -4-5<br />
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Method:<br />
<ol>
<li>In a pan, add the oil and when hot, add chopped vidalia onion. Saute in a high flame for 2 minutes or till the onion turns translucent.</li>
<li>Add the button mushrooms (or any other mushroom you prefer) in the pan and continue to saute. After a minute, add salt as per taste. </li>
<li>Add pepper/paprika depending on your taste. I did not add either.</li>
<li>After a couple of minutes, add lemon juice to deglaze. </li>
<li>Saute on high, till the mushrooms turn soft. Keep stirring to avoid burned mushroom.</li>
<li>Once the mushroom turns soft, turn off the stove and cool completely. Transfer the contents to a different bowl/plate to cool quickly. If not in hurry, let it cool on the pan itself.</li>
<li>Now prep the other ingredients as the mushroom cools down. Dice the tomato, and cut the avocado into lengthy strips.</li>
<li>Heat a griddle or tava, and put the wrap when the griddle is hot. Do not heat for more than a minute. Turn the wrap over and heat it, for around 30 seconds.</li>
<li>Turn of the griddle and place the wrap on a plate. Spread a tbsp of hummus/any other spread over it. Add salad mix of your choice in the middle along a straight line, leaving around an inch around the edges to be able to fold the wrap.</li>
<li>Top with tomato, mushroom, avocado, and and drizzle some lemon juice over. </li>
<li>You can add some salad dressing if necessary</li>
<li>Wrap the tortilla as you would a burrito and serve.</li>
</ol>
Makes: 4-5 wraps. <br />
Wildflowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17047740342726967877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6664966153327269974.post-70203963213714782912013-03-13T12:40:00.002-07:002014-06-11T13:31:09.144-07:00Fabric Markers Fun! I wanted to personalize a pillowcase to send to my son's daycare. Due to regulations and standards, all nap items for our tots are to be sent in a pillowcase and I hated the plain pillowcase that I have been using for almost a year now! I had meant to go shopping for a nice pillowcase for him but never finished that task! So here I had a bunch of colorful markers with which I had colored my key holder and I thought, why not create my very own special pillowcase for DS. Of course, I took a lot of inspirations from fellow pillowcase painters and came up with a design I liked. The end result is not fab, but hey, my 18mo is too young to notice the flaws and he just absolutely loves the "star" and "truck" and he just is able to say those words like a million times for the amount of them in the design!! Win-winner!<br />
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<br />Wildflowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17047740342726967877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6664966153327269974.post-6796064759566191612013-02-22T12:55:00.001-08:002014-06-11T13:26:05.250-07:00Tofu Tikka!Paneer is one of my favorite dishes although eating all the paneer butter masala from USA has made me hate it so much! Every potluck, every restaurant, every dinner always has one paneer dish as it is very easy to prepare and is always a winner as most people love it. Probably because of the fact that I was having more and more of it, that I started to stay more and more away from it. I buy Tofu, instead, which looks similar but god forbid! doesn't taste similar and also coz it's healthier. So I wanted to try to make a tikka out of the tofu this time and so went ahead with the experiment. I cleaned and pressed extra firm tofu to remove all water and cut them into big chunks. I sliced half way down the tofu and put some coriander thovayal(Cilantro quarter of a bunch cut and slightly sauteed in about 1/4 tsp oil pureed with 2-3 dried red chillies also sauteed and salt to taste.) in it. Then I added in a separate plate some turmeric powder, chilly powder, amchur powder, ginger garlic paste, garam masala and oil and mixed well. I then carefully put the tofu one by one in this mixture and coated it as good as possible and refrigerated for around 2 hours. Then back from refrigerator, into a hot tava with a few teaspoons of oil. I made sure they were well cooked on all four sides from the tava till they all got a nice brown coat on them. A pack of extra firm tofu yielded around 10 cubes of tofu and me and DH had five each. I forgot to take the picture and it was finished too soon! Was very filling as I was unable to finish my dinner after eating the 5 pieces. Next time, should marinate with some yogurt/lemon and also add vegetables - onions, tomatoes, peppers to make it much more interesting in presentation and also take pictures. So here are just the pictures from my prep.<br />
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As you can see, the tofu is a bit more crumbly than a paneer would be, but in the end, it did hold well on the tava as I waited till they were done on each side before turning over so that gave a little bit of firmness to tofu as it got done on the tava.Sorry that there are no pictures of the final result, but I am going to do them once again just for the sake of the pictures!<br />
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<b>Verdict: </b>A fulfilling snack - protein rich - add along with vegetables and it is great food! Kids can have this itself as a lunch in their boxes along with vegetables. But remember, don't expect paneer tikka - tofu tastes different!<br />
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<br />Wildflowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17047740342726967877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6664966153327269974.post-85127567900637056572013-02-22T10:44:00.001-08:002014-06-11T13:26:05.253-07:00Hummus No Ways!!!Don't get me wrong. I absolutely love hummus and I am not sure whether it is with tahini or not as these are from hummus that I have ate at food courts and restaurants. Well, I know what the basic ingredients are, how to mash it up in a food processor and of course, I had all ingredients plus a bunch of carrots and celery that DH bought to use. So, I mused, I'm making up hummus to eat these vegetables...And because I did not have tahini in stock, borrowed a recipe from online - <a href="http://www.carlasconfections.com/2012/09/garlic-hummus-without-tahini.html" target="_blank">here</a>!<br />
No big deal, just rinse well your can of chick peas, add some salt (remember canned peas already has enough!), two garlic pods as mentioned in the recipe, 1/4 cup olive oil, and chilly flakes (My own addition for heat!) Blended it all to a super cool mushy hummus and here it is!<br />
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<b>Verdict: </b>Loved the textured, but I did not like this hummus at all. Zilch. For me the 2 pods of garlic was very overpowering that it caught in my throat. It has been a week and I gave it to DH for lunch but am not eating it. I guess it will go to trash in another few days :(Wildflowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17047740342726967877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6664966153327269974.post-67113190358479294812013-02-22T10:30:00.001-08:002014-06-11T13:26:05.247-07:00Mista PastaPasta, is a comfort food for me to cook for my 1yo when I am out of options. This is because I always will have some vegetable in fridge/freezer, pasta is always in stock, as also milk, tomatoes, and some italian seasonings. This is one of my favorite dinner meals for my lil one. I do not like the marinara as I come from South India and if it is not hot - hot enough for you to sniffle and have a few tears down your cheeks, then the food is not really worthwhile ;) However, cheese is an acquired taste for us desis who grew up without it in India and so can eat it bland. This is why I would easily make a white sauce instead of marinara for my ds. Here is my usual routine for him for pasta.<br />
<ol>
<li>Cook pasta, al dente. Strain and keep aside.</li>
<li> Microwave, steam, stir-fry, or grill vegetables</li>
<li>Make white sauce, and stir everything in it.</li>
</ol>
This takes utmost 8-10 minutes especially when you can do each in different stoves. <br />
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For white sauce, I don't follow any particular recipe. I just put a pat of butter on a pan in medium high and once the butter melts add about a teaspoon of flour and just fry the flour for a minute or two and before it browns, add milk to it. I usually add the whole milk as that is what I give my 1yo. I probably would add around 1/4 or 1/3 cup of milk and then simmer till the sauce thickens. Once it is to my desired consistency, I add salt, a few dashes of pepper, mix well and then put the strained pasta as well as the veggies and voila I have a one dish wonder for my 1yo. Of course, I make enough so me and my DH can eat a few teaspoons! Non-guilty pleasures :)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pasta with bechamel sauce<b><br /></b></td></tr>
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<b>Verdict: </b>My 1 yo absolutely loves this pasta and so does DH! <br />
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<br />Wildflowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17047740342726967877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6664966153327269974.post-36039349467864260722013-02-22T07:47:00.001-08:002014-06-11T13:26:05.233-07:00Valentine's Day Special - chocolate cake and cupcakeI was to have the company of my nephew and niece on V-day but it turned out they couldn't make it until Saturday and I had already thought of making them yummy cakes/cupcakes to enjoy their time with their aunt and I also wanted to do some pastry puffs for savory. As you already know, I am no baker and so bought the "Betty Crocker super-moist chocolate cake" mix and set up to work on it. I just followed the instructions down to the 't' and the cake couldn't have been better. The recipe called for a 9X13 pan. All I had was a 7X11 pan so added some in it and made 6 extra cup-cakes also for the little ones aged 9,7,and 1. And, what is a cupcake without icing?? I actually checked the internet to get a chocolate icing recipe and whisked it to finish as I do not have any of the electric beaters. Not a bad deal, is what I think. I took the recipe for chocolate icing from <a href="http://savorysweetlife.com/2011/04/chocolate-buttercream-frosting/" target="_blank">here</a>. The recipe is as follows:<br />
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<h3>
Chocolate buttercream frosting</h3>
<h4>
<b>Ingredients</b></h4>
<ul>
<li class="ingredient">1 cup butter (2 sticks or 1/2 pound), softened ( Do not melt in microwave. Keep it outside the refrigerator and smash it down with your beater once it is soft ;))</li>
<li class="ingredient">3 cups powdered sugar </li>
<li class="ingredient">1/2 cup cocoa powder</li>
<li class="ingredient">1/2 teaspoon salt</li>
<li class="ingredient">2 teaspoons vanilla extract(optional)</li>
<li class="ingredient">4 tablespoons milk or cream </li>
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<b>Method</b></h4>
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<li>Prepare the dry and wet ingredients separately until ready to mix.</li>
<li>Sift together the sugar, cocoa powder. Add salt and keep it separate. </li>
<li>In a separate big bowl, add the butter and mash till it is creamy. I use a whisk and so mashed it up to a softer butter. If using electric mixer, probably use a low to medium setting to mash it up. </li>
<li>Add all the dry ingredients to the bowl. If using a stand mixer, I will assume that you have the mixer off, unless you want your dry ingredients all over you and all around ;) If using an electric mixer, turn to lowest setting and slowly incorporate the dry ingredients with butter. With a whisk I had to do slowly to first mix and then start mixing up vigorously to incorporate the two. It will look a lot like crumbs but that is right.</li>
<li>Add the vanilla extract, and the milk/cream and incorporate. Now as you mix, you will begin to see that you get the proper frosting. Once whisked well and you take the whisk, you will find the icing sticking out. For a stickier icing, add more sugar. For a thinner icing, add more milk. Do this till you are satisfied with the icing consistency. </li>
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<b>Verdict: </b>The icing I did not realize then, was thin and so you can see how the cupcake icing kind of sagged, fell, and did not hold shape while I was able to clearly write well with it on my cake . This was my first time at making a cake, and icing so I am not unhappy. It was a successful effort and who cares about the decor when the cake, cupcake and frosting was yummelicious ;) The kids and adults all had a good treat!<br />
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Wildflowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17047740342726967877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6664966153327269974.post-61137467478995437172013-02-07T09:33:00.001-08:002014-06-11T13:26:05.243-07:00Banana Blueberry muffin trial attempt!Okay here I had a DS - 18 months old-who just loves bananas, two beyond recognizable over-ripened bananas with almost a black skin exterior dangling on their hooks and him wailing for them. My immediate reaction was to toss them out in the trashcan as I always used to do but somehow in the past one week saw too many people mushing up bananas into bread and muffins that i thought, hmmm, time for me to start baking as well! So i search online for some recipes as I have never baked myself (of course, i tried my hand at an easy brownie some 2 years ago and my DH made me promise that I will quit baking!) and after an extensive search found this <a href="http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,184,146187-224201,00.html" target="_blank">one link</a> from cooks.com that will just use 2 bananas, exactly two as that is all I have.<br />
I wanted to make chocolate cupcake for Valentine's day and so had armed myself with a big mixing bowl, two big packages of baking and icing essentials boxes that I had got from a discount store (mind you, I was not planning to shell out hard earned $$$ at state of the art equipment to bake, when I wasn't sure I would love it and continue doing it.) and left it safely in the garage to bring it when and if I baked. I had also got the usual baking powder, baking soda, all purpose flour from a grocery store so that I can bake when I need to. I ended by though, having to go back to the grocery store as I had ended up buying not the usual baking soda but something you keep in the fridge and throw away and I was not planning to puncture holes in <a href="http://www.armandhammer.com/deodorization/baking-soda/Products/arm-and-hammer-baking-soda-fridge-n-freezer.aspx" target="_blank">this one</a> to use the soda.So went and got myself the baking soda, and some buttermilk in case the recipes called for something of that sort.<br />
The recipe made 12 muffins and I thought I could live with that. I could eat it, if it came out good, and would trash it if it was horrible. So went ahead and took one 7-cup round pyrex and started mashing up my bananas and when trying to add sugar found that I had only a 1/4" less of sugar than the desired amount. The recipe called for brown sugar and since I had only white sugar substituted that but had only about 3/4th cup and so used that as I reasoned with myself that white sugar was more sugary and hence a 3/4 cup is enough. Then on to butter and I find myself staring at one 1/4 stick of butter and around 2T of butter. I told myself that I dint want to experiment with half butter when I already had done enough with the sugar and decided to take another trip to the grocery store. Did so and came back with confectioners sugar, regular sugar, 2 butter blocks, and another big bag of flour.<br />
So mashed up the 2 bananas, 2 eggs, 3/4th cup of sugar and got a nice gooey stuff that I was scared to lick. I was supposed to add melted butter. I had left one stick of butter out as I went to grocery store to get it at room temperature but ended up adding that another stick onto the microwave for 30secs to melt. Adding that to the gooey mixture got me into some not-so-good-looking mess(I was sure of that!)as the butter did not blend well and looked like curdled milk that stands out on top of the milk. I just closed my eyes at this point and added some vanilla and very little fresh blueberries - around 10 of them as I dint want to end up wasting blueberries in case the muffin turned out bad. I then found out that the recipe called for a bigger bowl to mix all dry ingredients and realized I had taken the big 7-cup round pyrex for the bananas when according to the recipe it called only for a medium bowl to mix them. Hating myself, I took another 7-cup round pyrex(We need to thank God, don't we for he had foreseen this day and made me get two 7-cup rounds?) bowl and whisked the baking powder, flour and salt (I had no cinnamon powder and so just left it.) Now added the banana mixture onto the baking powder mixture and realized that the contents filled up and I wasn't able to whisk. At this time, I was ready to dump the whole mixture out so just left it around and went ahead and fed my DS with his dinner and played with him and made dinner for all of us and then I had this lightbulb moment when I remembered that not just the icing and baking essentials but I had also bought a big bowl for mixing and there out in a flash I was to the garage with the most prized possession of the day- a VERY large bowl indeed. I transferred all the contents onto this bowl (after I washed it with hot soapy water and towel dried it as it was new.) and whisked them away. Now they all seemed to blend well and I got courageous enough to take a bit and lick it! Yum. Yum it was and I was so happy, and thrilled. Thanked God, that I did not pour the mixture down the drain and so took the muffin tray and lined them up with cupcake liners and added a scoop onto each of the liners using a ice cream scoop. Of course, I wasted one liner and scoop when the scoop managed to fall down a little on the liner and more on the tray! Trashed them both!<br />
So off went the tray to the preheated oven and I turned on the light and set the timer for 25 minutes. At the 25th minute mark, I put a wooden skewer and found that it came out clean, but the top wasn't browned and I kept it another 5 minutes to brown the top. Also, I dumped the remainder of the mixture onto a small loaf pan because I did not want to waste the oven's heat for another 25 minutes by doing more muffins as I had only that one six-muffin tray. I saw the muffins and the loaf split a bit, but that was okay I re-assured. And after 5 more minutes of browning after the 30 min mark took them out.<br />
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<b>Verdict:</b> First the pictures, then the verdict.<br />
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As you can see that I did get the brown effect, though, along with it a taste as if it was a biscuit not a muffin. Although, I am not sure how muffins taste, as I have not tasted that many in my life. My foray into baking is also only because I started eating eggs which is around three years back but the muffin was sweet and good on the inside. Not much sweet perhaps because I ended up with 1/4 cup less sugar than the recipe, but all in all was pleased by the result. Nothing was sticking on the pan or the liner or causing trouble when we ate and neither were there any repercussions in the morning! So i can say it was a successful attempt.<br />
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However, on an ending note, I would like to add this: Do not, let me underline to emphasize. <u>Do not</u> take up this task of using up old bananas unless you have ever hungry kids, or you love to bake, or you have all the time in the world! It took me another half an hour to hand-wash(yes! the labels said do not dish wash the pans) the trays and the bowls as my dishwasher was already too full to accommodate another 3 bowls. In the end, it got me into thinking how nice it would have been if I had just tossed them in the trash before another thought had killed that thought as I stretched myself and went to bed!<br />
P.S. Me, DH, and DS all three had a banana muffin/bread breakfast this morning and I am happy I baked. Guess I will continue to bake, after all :)<br />
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Wildflowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17047740342726967877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6664966153327269974.post-80716559363624310492013-01-31T09:34:00.002-08:002014-06-11T13:31:58.563-07:00Rising and shining True to my own words, I have decided to rise and shine myself! To start off, I have always loved the artistic people who seem to do so much with their hands and have always envied them and wondered how I have never been given that one talent (as if I have every other talent in the world :o) by God! I loved how a close relative painted her own dresses, decorated her home with her hand made stuffs, a friend of mine decorated her son's nursery with her own paintings, how another decorated her different rooms in themes and how there seemed to be a big gap or a hole in artistic skills where I was concerned. I had even got myself a set of fabric paints to paint my son's tee to
celebrate his first birthday but never got around to doing it at all!!!<br />
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Then I remembered that I had always begged and cajoled my mom into finishing my school art projects - drawing, sewing, cutting, trimming, gluing and all the rest. Wondered if it was because I was incapable of doing any of it or if I did not care enough about it, or whether I did not have enough patience for it, or was too bored about it. I still am not able to figure out what it was exactly. But I keep wondering how all of a sudden I have this huge urge to do something artistic. I want to sew, to paint, to cut, to glue, to make something out of my hands that for some reason or other have never done so far. <br />
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So I go on a trip to Walmart- our find it all store- and try to go to the art and supplies section and load my cart with all things I want to do. I took some fashion jewellery making supplies, took some paint supplies, and some DIY projects that were half completed and half left to us to complete and marched home. And then, they sat at our home for a long time, being the procrastinator(Oh my God! did i just declare it online to the whole world!) that I am! I decided at one point this year that enough was enough and scheduled the best time I could squeeze between my work, and my other commitments to commit to doing something with all the projects that I had ended up buying. I must say that looking back, in the one month since the new year, I have accomplished something..No, no coming from the person I am, I have accomplished a lot. So here goes, I am going to first show a couple of the initial projects that I started with and then go ahead and add more along the way. BTW, did I let you in on another secret? I am an Aquarian and being the Jack of all trades --look at the spread of stuff that I started on! From painting, to sewing, to jewellery making, to baking! Here are some of it. I feel good, I feel great and I cannot believe January is not yet over and I have tried them all.. I am going to keep doing all of this until I can say that I have fallen in love with one particular line that I want to continue. Or, who knows? I may be doing them all!!!<br />
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<b>Keys:</b> I got a wooden unpainted block of key hanger and using 'Painter's' markers, just added color to the wooden block. Just something to see how the paint turned out to be. <br />
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<b>Earrings:</b> These again I got the beads and all from a DIY kit and got myself busy doing it. As you can see from the shape and quality of the hooks, these are my first ones!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My Second earring pair</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My first pair</td></tr>
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<br />Wildflowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17047740342726967877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6664966153327269974.post-33610878300311024412013-01-03T13:18:00.000-08:002014-06-11T13:31:58.315-07:00Another new yearThis past year had a lot of good things but a bunch of bad times for me from the end of the year...Yes! things I wished to change had not changed and I realize that things don't change on their own...I have to be the instrument of change...Hoping that this new year I can be the change I wish to see. So happy new year everybody! Rise and shine!!!Wildflowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17047740342726967877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6664966153327269974.post-50341060827403755512011-05-09T20:11:00.000-07:002014-06-11T13:31:58.424-07:00Gardening 101<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rVWLUVhzABI/Tcim3irMgAI/AAAAAAAAACk/v8-8YNgklmA/s1600/IMG_0026.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rVWLUVhzABI/Tcim3irMgAI/AAAAAAAAACk/v8-8YNgklmA/s320/IMG_0026.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> Bush rose..waiting for it to grow..Grows all summer, so grow up, buddy!!!<br />
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This one is a bunch of varied colours... I love the yellow in particular :) Daisies!<br />
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Tulips and others... <br />
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Geraniums <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sZ9V4hNSyRU/Tcim6Ged_7I/AAAAAAAAAC0/6Qurbkiuy3s/s1600/IMG_0029.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sZ9V4hNSyRU/Tcim6Ged_7I/AAAAAAAAAC0/6Qurbkiuy3s/s320/IMG_0029.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MIm868PjqkA/Tcim6UVAxoI/AAAAAAAAAC4/xwt-i9gUrF4/s1600/IMG_0028.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MIm868PjqkA/Tcim6UVAxoI/AAAAAAAAAC4/xwt-i9gUrF4/s320/IMG_0028.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>A beautiful set of blue hyacinths!<br />
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All these we bought at the start of spring this year and my DH helped me plant all of it while I sat on a chair sipping a cup of hot coffee on a lazy Saturday evening! Of course, I was the handy-man getting rid of some mulch, removing soil from one area to another, cleaning up the pathways as they got messy, and all other menial chores! All said, a very happy and contented evening after an hour of hard work!Wildflowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17047740342726967877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6664966153327269974.post-88295654722834961032011-05-01T19:12:00.000-07:002014-06-11T13:31:58.573-07:00What to expect from Atlantic City!<!--[if !mso]> <style>
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<div class="Style1">It has been quite some time when we went out to gamble! Oh what fun it is to gamble just a bit! I am the finance guru whenever we go to gamble simply because I somehow can restrict myself without getting too greedy or without wanting to try to win whatever we lost over and over again. So I decide to hold the purse strings which my DH reluctantly agrees <span style="font-family: Wingdings;"><span>J</span></span> We start off with a budget for what he gets per day, and what I get for the entire trip (I love to have some fun but not too much coz I know how much I do sweat to earn that li’l paltry that I do earn!). Sometimes if the DH did end up losing it all very soon in the day and I have some winnings or if I haven’t spent it all I do share it with him. He is a poker dude as I would like to introduce…he not only loves poker but he is also good at it! I do watch poker stars on TV with him sometimes and jokingly ask when he is going to join that group! Well, all is well until of course he decides to do it for life! Keeping my fingers crossed that he doesn’t come up with such a decision….Not that I would want to restrict his interest or his way but it is just that as an Indian, we are more focused on providing for family and our extended families consisting of both our parents and our siblings and their families. Also, according to our whims and fancies somehow we Indians cannot simply go on with the flow like a river does..Neither would most Indian men raised in India. My DH though, has an ultimatum, to spend up to his 50<sup>th</sup> year with us and I have told him if he is good until then, he can then go on to be a poker player for the rest of his life, provided his kids would let him lead that life as well! </div><div class="Style1"><span> </span>Usually I know the drill – we’ve been to Atlantic city a couple of times and to Las Vegas once; my DH ended up losing all his quota and also lost a bit borrowed from me – so I am bracing myself for a whole weekend, in fact two entire days and two half days of arguments, and fights and what not about how much to lose and when to call it quits at the casinos. DH had a very long, tiresome, and taxing week so I decide to let him have fun. I agree to be the designated driver throughout the trip and promise not to bother him while he is at play. Also, I do not have the holidays that he has and with my office working on Good Friday I do a remote login from the hotel on Friday as hubby ends up at the casino! Somehow, I do not envy him; I am happy he got some comp time on Thursday afternoon so he can drive up to my work place early and we start off on Thursday early afternoon, end up in AC around 7.30pm and head off to the casinos. I call it quits around 9.30pm, come back to the hotel with hubby and he leaves me at the lobby and goes back…..I try to spend some time watching TV but decide to get to bed early, wake up early, finish off work early so can start having fun at the casino…Somehow, kept tossing and turning and then ended up sleeping…Tick, tock, tick, tock….Around five’ish in the morning hubby returns with a biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig smile saying he won a huge pot at the end and is so thrilled to start the next day…I am half asleep and half awake, but still end up pocketing the majority of his winnings (I know for certain that I have to hold on to some of it ‘coz he is bound to lose it all the next day!) Friday at the poker table he ends up losing so we go out for lunch at a famous Chinese cuisine near one of the casinos, take a small walk on boardwalk and then I head back to hotel to continue my work and he heads back to the casino…I finish work early and pack up our bags..I want to leave on Saturday as one of my friends has invited me over for lunch on Easter. Not sure how hubby is gonna react to starting for home the next day…I meet my DH at the casino, walk for a while again on boardwalk, and then I gamble a while. My usual play areas are slots and roulette and in both I end up losing around a total of 95 bucks. I tell myself this is more than what I should have lost and want to save the next five bucks that is also part of my budget. I go to check on my DH who is winning and doesn’t want to get up from the table. I sit with him for a while and then request that he drops me back at the hotel as I do not want to loiter alone in AC in the night. The same drill as yesterday and hubby leaves me at the lobby…returns back around 5:00am the next day and tells me that he lost whatever he had but that he is happy as he now knows that you cannot win every hand, every day at a poker table. I tell him about our friends invite and we decide to head back the next day.</div><div class="Style1"><span style="height: 13px; margin-left: 625px; margin-top: 3px; position: absolute; width: 28px; z-index: 251658240;"></span><span> </span>Overall, our daily budgets + our expenses for car, food, lodging = DH’s winning on Thursday night <span> which means- </span>a totally happy me! One of us had the luck this time and our costs or expenses = our winnings.</div><div class="Style1">This indeed ended up as one of our best gambling trips ever! So what do you expect from AC? Nothing. You may end up emptying your pockets or end up winning a little. In the end, what matters is your ability to call it quits when it is time to and when you haven't burned a large hole in your pocket!</div>Wildflowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17047740342726967877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6664966153327269974.post-58925946291924116852011-04-17T19:14:00.000-07:002014-06-11T13:31:58.548-07:00Of Nightmares, Habits, Movements et al.This was one bad weekend! Not something that I wished for but something I had anticipated quite a while ago...We all know the feeling/instinct that comes to some of us regarding something....a foreboding, like a deja vu, that this isn't going to be good...I had that for quite sometime and so wasn't keen on doing some stuff over the weekend! However, the DH was hell-bent on having to do the same stuff that I wasn't keen on doing. So long story short, the stuff ended the way I had anticipated - badly - and in ways that I had not even dreamed of - horribly!!!<br />
After the eventful day and evening, the night was full of bizarre nightmares, making the lovely ritual of snuggling under covers, and waking up all fresh and ready for the next day - sour grape! Woke up more miserable than the night, but thanking heavens for keeping us all safe through the ordeal and heaping praises on God who somehow knows when exactly that we need him and being there for us...I am reminded of the "footprints on the sands of time" and how God carries us in times of trouble and doesn't even let us walk beside him. Somehow, we all go through that phase sometime or the other during the course of our lives...I, and am sure my entire family, feel blessed for being here alive, whole, and ready for all the course of events that are going to follow from now onwards....<br />
Of Habits - Sometimes, we do not want to listen to others. We feel that we as adults know what to do and what not to do and refuse to heed to what others have to say. We refuse to listen to even our dear ones. All this, when deep down we may either know the other person in right, or may really be ignorant of how the habit is affecting the family, or refuse to even think about the habit...However, there comes a time when we have to decide what is most important in our lives, what our priorities in life are, what are the things that are more important to us than following some habits and leading a lifestyle that best suits us. And when we come to the point when we have to make the decision, I hope and pray that we make the right decision as these determine our lives, the lives of those we love who are around us.<br />
Of Movements- To add to the misery of the weekend, my lil one refused to move- just the little flutters now and then that I was starting to feel- making me dread our next appointment and also at the same time, wondering if I need to call it an emergency and get to the hospital immediately! Well, after giving us - me and my DH a mighty scare- my li'l one is now moving- or rather making me feel his little movements..the flutters inside..Oh what joy it is to be a mom! Oh what joy! The unhappiness, the pain, the anxiety, the distrust, the disturbances, and all that is negative gets packed away with one tiny lil flutter. Again, we are truly blessed to have a wonderful God, who has granted to us women this heavenly duty of caring for the bit of ours - our tot- until he/she is ready to face the world!<br />
I haven't said it enough so here I go once more...THANK YOU GOD!Wildflowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17047740342726967877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6664966153327269974.post-47146944551928836162011-04-14T19:14:00.000-07:002014-06-11T13:31:58.349-07:00தமிழுக்கு அமுதென்று பேர்...<div style="color: #7a7a7a;">
<span style="font-size: small;">தமிழர் அனைவருக்கும் என் இனிய தமிழ் புத்தாண்டு நல்வாழ்த்துக்கள். பதிவுகள் செய்ய ஆரம்பித்து சில நாட்களே அகியுள்ளமையால் என்ன எழுதுவதென்று யோசனையில் உள்ளேன். இந்நாளில் தமிழில் பதிவு செய்ய வேண்டும் என்ற ஆசையும் ஆர்வமும் உள்ளமையால் இதோ இந்த சிறிய முயற்சி. தமிழில் எழுதி பல ஆண்டுகள் ஆகிவிட்டன. பள்ளி நாட்களில் எழுதியது, படித்தது. எழுத்து பிழைகளின்றி எழுதும் சில மாணவிகளில் நானும் ஒருத்தி என்பதினால் எழுத தயங்குகிறேன். நக்கீரர் பரம்பரையோ என சிலர் கேலி செய்யும் அளவிற்கு இருந்த நான் இப்படி ஆனதுக்கு மிக முக்கிய காரணம் பள்ளிப்பருவம் முடிந்ததும் தமிழ் புத்தகங்களை படிக்காததுதான். வல்லினமா, இடையினமா என்ற வினா ஒவ்வொரு வாக்கியத்திலும் எழுகிறது. சந்திப்பிழைகள் உள்ளனவா என்ற அச்சம் உள்ளது. எதையோ பதிவு செய்ய தொடங்கி என் தயக்கத்தையும், அச்சத்தையும் பதிவு செய்கிறேன். இது எனக்கு ஒரு நல்ல பாடம். "சித்திரமும் கைபழக்கம் செந்தமிழும் நாப்பழக்கம்" என்பதுப்போல காலம் சிலவற்றை நாம் மறக்க காரணமாக இருக்கலாம். எனினும் அதை மறக்காமல் இருக்க நாம் முயற்சித்ததாக வேண்டும் என்ற ஒரு உணர்வை தந்துள்ளது. இது எனக்கு ஆரம்பமே..இனி தொடர்ந்து தமிழில் பதிவு செய்யப் போகிறேன் என்ற உறுதியுடன் என் பயணத்தை இன்று இங்கு முடிக்கிறேன்....மீண்டும் தொடரும்...</span></div>Wildflowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17047740342726967877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6664966153327269974.post-52028129314976972302011-04-13T17:18:00.000-07:002014-06-11T13:31:58.532-07:00Beauty in everything...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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There is beauty in everything. Just look around! With spring here, there is so much beauty that my eyes cannot stop seeing. A couple of days ago, me and my friends, found a neat little pond with a fountain that had started and birds happily swimming across...Trees blooming everywhere with flowers - white, pink, red, and many more...Taking a minute to look at these, to stop and stare, to stop and admire, a minute is all we need. The above picture is actually the view from my room. I open my eyes to these beautiful flowers and cannot but help smile! "What a wonderful world ...." is the tune with which I am starting my day, everyday...thanks to nature's beauty and bounty! <br />
So all you folks out there, take a minute to stop, admire, and smile at the beauty that nature has bestowed upon us in the name of spring...and feel the energy that these bring on to you!!!Wildflowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17047740342726967877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6664966153327269974.post-8332303855892428722011-04-07T19:09:00.000-07:002014-06-11T13:31:58.568-07:00Who am I?<div style="color: #7a7aa7a; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
It has been quite sometime that I wrote on this. And, I am starting to get a panic attack :) Am I going back to forgetting to blog, am I going to do something else, and all that. But, it is just that I had got a ton of other stuff to do and I do not want to blah blah on the blog that I have not done it. I was just thinking that I need a blog on myself! Who am I? What am I going to achieve? What is important in a person's/my life? So let me go ahead with documenting a few things, without having to go on a blah blah blah of questions!</div>
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I am a woman getting close to the thirties, getting close to accepting, loving, and understanding this stranger with whom I started sharing my life close to a year and a half ago, and getting closer to being a mom of our first child, among other things. I am a working woman but would rather give that up in helping to raise a healthy, lovable, well-behaved, good son! Yup that's going to be my first-born - a son! I am reading and have in the past read so many books, and articles on how to raise children or be a good parent which put one seed onto my head. Teach your child by deeds rather than words; kids learn by watching rather than by listening. So here I am: with the start of a new career, a new wife, a newer mom, trying to get rid of all or at the very least most of my vices and trying to be a good role-model for my son as he is starting to grow inside me. I can see the difference, a difference, that never happened before in me as well. I am growing along with him, into a better, more responsible person. Well I tell myself if anyone can be a mom, I can! I am not perfect, cannot be perfect, but can make changes, accommodate new life styles to suit another tiny li'l one who is going to be taking up the largest part of our hearts....</div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">...I cannot believe that I chose to write about my thoughts, ambitions, my life, and ended up writing about this lil guy ;) Anywyz now our life is going to revolve around this bud, so be it!</span></div>
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<br /></div>Wildflowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17047740342726967877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6664966153327269974.post-57536347629787440832011-03-22T17:23:00.000-07:002014-06-11T13:31:58.544-07:00Million Things....There are a million unrelated stuff that I want to write about...and dedicating a post for each is not what I want to do..so here are some of the million things - those that I know, those that I want to learn, those that I want to do and so on ...<br />
<ul><li type="square"> To do lists were not in my list of to do things every day ;) until I realized what a boon it can be, sometimes. I suddenly seem to have got a streak of forgetfulness for no apparent reason other than the fact that I am not using my gray cells the way they needed to be used! And, that made me forget so many small things that needed to be done. Well, if I am around fifty I could say I am getting old, but I am not and so I decided that I for one shouldn't be forgetting these small things, and until I get cured of this I needed to find a solution for my problem. That is when, a bunch of sticky notes of varying sizes at my desk caught my attention! I haven't been using them except when I needed to pass some information to another person or jot down a phone number quickly... I decided then and there to pick up the largest sticky note and add a list of things that I could remember, the list of things that needed to be done. The first weekend I took it home, I dint even so much so as glance into it. But, I still kept at it. I decided the next week, that I will try it first at work, then at home! So I made a list of things that needed to be done at work and scratched them off as I completed each task! How effortless it seemed when I first finished going through my entire sticky note stuff! After a couple of days, I gained some confidence and took a note home...Well, I dint get around to complete the entire list, but I did manage to do more than I would have otherwise...So I am going to stick on to the sticky note - to do list as long as I have to..until my gray cells repair themselves and get my memory back!</li>
<li type="square">It is said that old habits die hard and so I want to convert a few new habits to old. This is the most important of the lot - I used to exercise five times a week and allz usually well in summer but when winter comes, I want some fat added up to make myself warm ;) and so I do not exercise. But then, other factors made me start to exercise in February, this year and I cannot be happier than now. All I want to do, though, is to make this an unbreakable habit!</li>
<li type="square">Shouldn't relive the past...Good old days, yeah right! In all the thoughts of the past, I sometimes miss out on my present and the planning for the future..In the words of Hubert Humphrey: "The good old days were never that good, believe me. The good new days are today, and better days are coming tomorrow. Our greatest songs are still unsung." I also remember another sentence: "Keep the fork, for the best is yet to come!" So I am going to hold on to my fork from now onwards!</li>
<li type="square">"It is easy to dodge our responsibilities, but we cannot dodge the consequences of dodging our responsibilities" - Sir Josiah Stamp. Two things rob people of their peace of mind: Work unfinished, and work not yet begun. And I have plenty along those very two! Unable to prioritize or inability to stick to the goals is what keeps me drifting away. I need to gather all my stuff and be ready to complete, toss, and get rid of some of the burden I am carrying!</li>
</ul>My million things aren't over yet, but my day is going to....so let me finish off with these four for now...Later, I will do a part two to see my progress and also to add more things :) Ciao!Wildflowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17047740342726967877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6664966153327269974.post-78740775213495678652011-03-21T19:17:00.000-07:002014-06-11T13:31:58.553-07:00My first post for the x-th time!I have been starting new blogs and writing them...but never keeping it consistent..never continuing it..and not ready to spend some time dedicating to writing something. Also, I have been an avid reader all my life but not really penned anything....so I always had the doubts if what I write is going to be worthwhile. Next comes the issue of am I going to show myself-my strengths, my weaknesses, who I am- to the entire world? The www is not going to be easy on me; how can I withhold my identity and/or discuss issues without creating trouble for me and everyone around me? These are questions and doubts that I always had and thus kept starting and deleting blogs very soon. So this time, I decided not to tell who I am..but with all the rantings everyone is going to know that this sure is a woman! So what is obvious I have added; whatever I consider otherwise, I am going to try to avoid. So no names, no other people's names...nothing to complicate my life and those around me; just a few rantings here and some musings there to make myself better. Sometimes, if we keep a record of our thoughts, our deeds, we will be more accountable. Or, that is what I always have felt...So here I am finishing my first post for the x-th time and hoping that I do not go through the ordeal of deleting this profile too and going on a sabbatical until another one starts!Wildflowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17047740342726967877noreply@blogger.com0