TT stories-4

It’s been a long time since I posted about some recipes which have been tried and tested/tasted in our kitchen. As usual, I have no snaps to show coz I make food just enough for us to gobble it down. My recent photo workshop with Sala has encouraged me to try clicking food but till Mr.LB behaves well, the chances of photographs appearing in this blog is bleak. Nevertheless, here’s hoping for some luck in near future.

Facebook seems to be the new blog announcement arena and every other blog has a fb page. I chanced upon eCurry’s blog thro FB. As usual, eCurry’s photos grabbed my attention. When she posted about Masala Chana Dal, I just had to make it that night. Instead of slivered ginger + chilly garlic paste, i used ginger garlic paste and red chilly powder. I usually skip the garnish with cilantro + lemon juice. My dad cannot eat cilantro and i hate lemony flavored food. Needless to say, the dal was yummy when we had it with roti.

We had a tiny slab of butter rotting away in the fridge and we were bored with elaborate dishes one evening. It was perfect day to try out Akila’s Butter dal fry. My mom complimented me on tasting it. That’s something to be proud of, right? simple yet deadly.

It all started with Nandita’s zucchini’s snap in her blog. Though I had seen so many people write about this vegetable, i did not know what it looked like until I saw it in Nandita’s blog. That day evening, during grocery shopping, I saw some zucchini and picked it up on a whim. Though I wanted to try her curry, we wanted some kootu for lunch the next day. Thus the singing chef’s recipe came handy. I am guessing that even Malabar Cucumber can be made this way. Will try it out after this year’s Vishu Kanni. That day evening, i made capsicum rice again from the singing chef. it was easy to make with less spices but great on taste. We had it with yummy boondi raita.

How can i not talk about my favourite blogger when i write about recipes-Its Sharmi of sharmis passion. Her recipes are simple, easy to make and taste great. These days, I hang out at her blog often. When cauliflower was in season, we had cauliflower every 2 days. I tried her cauliflower peas curry and it was yummy. I had wanted to make her C-P kurma too but missed it out.She also has a variation of capsicum rice but the masala is slightly heavy.

Whenever I make Jeera rice, I always refer to Aayi’s recipes blog. some how I have never been in a position to try out more recipes from her place. must correct this soon.

That’s all for now.

LB’s movie theatre experience

For a long time after LB’s birth, we never went out for movies. He usually makes life hell for the person taking care of him when we go even for a short while. He does not even allow us to watch movies in peace when they are telecasted in TV. Band Baaja Baarat- we saw the ending first, then the middle part a few months later and recently, i saw the start of the movie. We decided to have ‘saturday night movie time’ specially to get LB accustomed to 3 hours of non disturbance. we realised that he sat silently for animated movies(his movies) and adult movies-he managed to stay quiet only for 1 hour. Poof went our plan.

When Ra.one was nearing release, my excitement started peaking. We were used to watching SRK movies in the first week of release itself. During one of our telephone calls, Timepass mentioned about her movie going experience and I was inspired even more to try it out.LB loved Chammak Chalo song and Dildara song when I played it on my mobile.(I played it quite often now he knows both songs by heart:)On a whim, we asked him whether he liked to watch it in theatre. He said a yes. (He understood the concept of theatre some months back from a cartoon called the Humf-bless the creator!)My parents were out of town one weekend and we booked tickets online. The venue was Escape at EA mall. I have not visited that mall and so it was a plus point for me. We booked afternoon tickets hoping that if nothing works out, at least he might fall asleep considering his regular nap times. We got honeymooners seat so LB was able to watch the movie lying on my lap(showoff:)

Cut long story short, LB behaved, was scared in some places(I asked him to close his eyes like Mr.Bean) and allowed us to watch in (relative) peace. Next opportunity presented itself very soon. Don 2 played in the next door theatre, we got tickets thanks to Thane cyclone. LB was ok, but started fidgeting easily. I think we stretched our luck too far when we booked tickets for Nanban at the same next door theatre. One-it was a long movie, two-no kids in the movie and three LB was put off with the crowd. During interval, he begged us to take him home( we could have done that leisurely and come back-bad us). In short, we never got a chance to enjoy it thanks to constant whining from lil one. Next time, we decided, we will drop him at mom’s place and proceed alone. We did that for Kahaani. LB protested by not eating at all. I think it is time to join a rental DVD library. what say?

Restaurant Hopping

We finally made it to one restaurant mentioned in the resolutions post. Mansukh’s- The thali, though was priced higher, was heavy, filling and tasty. Giving Rasna as juice was a downer.No ambience can be expected as it had dhaba kind of setup. I think ala carte menu is served downstairs but we did not have time to check it out. Bought yummy khakras from the counter. Menu is changed every week. Similar to Saravana Bhavan’s Gujarati restaurant Rangoli in TNagar (but only in terms of menu:)

Two more reviews of this place are here and here.

La Shaakahari has become our favourite haunt. Tasty Tasty food-one drawback, its very crowded on weekends. So better book a table in advance and arrive on time.Last time we went, we had Peshawari Naan and my son gobbled it down. The side dish portions were very less compared to the costs but for that taste, one can afford to indulge once in a while.

Cafe Tapas-Long time ago when ArtNavy came to chennai, we visited her at this cafe. Bhelpuri was good, a small cafe like setup ensured cozy setting. Menu was limited though.

Zha Cafe-Again, when Monika Manchanda visited chennai, we met her at this cafe. Interesting decor-small separate rooms and the one which blew me away was the theatre room. We can bring cds and screen a movie for our friends. Did not eat much but shall visit again with family. one gripe-small room like setting made it difficult for us to call the waiter often. One’s shouting prowess were tested here:)

Bikaneri Bhojanalya-Small dhaba like hotel, tasty food but sick decor. Can eat there once in a while when you do not want to spend much on food.

Pasta Bar Veneto- I kept seeing ads for this place and finally we visited it on my birthday’s eve. Pizzas were served within 15mins. Pastas were not that tasty when compared to La Shaakahari.Serving needed some fine tuning. College goers will find it nice and secluded. we are planning to visit it again for the yummy hand tossed pizzas.

Hearing so much about Sandy’s, Cream centre and Crimson Chakra. These are in my radar now.

Edited to add: We wanted to go to Matsya either in Tnagar or in Egmore but we have been twice unlucky. While hunting around, we found this small dhaba like hotel called Curries ‘N’ Chutneys opposite Ethiraj College. One cannot see this from the main road. Its teeny weeny but north indian thali is yummy and extremely pocket friendly. We 4 adults+1 kid hogged one afternoon and the bill was less than Rs.300/- Evenings might be crowded with college goers but once in a while, it is worthy waiting for yummy clean hotel food whose taste borders on home made food.

LB and food stories

Shruti of MindfulMeanderings has started this fabulous series called Yummy Tummy Wednesdays, to share some easy peasy recipes which appeal a lot to kids. This series will also act as a resource centre for all moms who struggle to feed their little ones healthy food. I had to had to share some of my recipe sources here. Please note that though I write about these dishes here, I have not created them hence the rights remain with the owner(for recipe and for photos) whose links are provided.

Pasta story-Whenever I ordered pasta while ordering Pizza, LB used to ask for few bites. Inspired by this, I went ahead and bought plain pasta from super market and prepared elaborate pasta dishes with lots of vegetables only for it to be spitted out by our great sir. I also saw him preferring tomato sauce based pastas to white sauce.So with renewed vigor, I blanched tomatoes and blended them well to make a tasty sauce. Again, it was not palatable for my son. After many failed attempts, I chucked away the plain pasta packet and felt contended enough when he devoured few bites from my pasta plate during pizza nights. When we had been to Bangalore, at ArtNavy’s place, Crazy mum had prepared some plain white sauce pasta which was delicious. LB ate it without any grumbles. This gave me a flicker of hope. I searched internet for some easy recipes which can be made at stove top. That’s how I landed at Rak’s kitchen. Her easy cheesy pasta was eaten within 10 minutes of it being made. On days when we have upma for dinner, LB gets to eat this yummy pasta.

Bread Story-One day in a week is bread day at LB’s school. After using 6 slices from a bread pack, I am usually left with the remaining slices. On some days, we make bread upma and on some days, we toast it and eat it with milk. (‘we’ here refers to me and hubby, LB never ventures beyond his weekly school bread outing:)While going thro Rak’s kitchen’s recipe index,I chanced upon this easy eggless french toast and i made it at home the same night. The smell of vanilla and custard was enough to pull LB into eating his 4 bread slices at night for dinner. One mistake which I made was doing this in normal iron tava. Hence i had difficulty in removing the toasted bread slices from the pan. As instructed, if one does the toast in non stick tava, turning over would be easier and also crispiness can be achieved easily.

Sending both my stories to Shruti’s YTW. Do share your feedback about the recipes with Rak’s kitchen. She would be delighted to hear from you.

LB’s school craft work

The cow looks so easy to do. Must try it out at home during summer hols. Rockets are in the agenda too.

These tiny birds

 

became part of our home yesterday. Thanks Art.

Nonsense

Most of the times, we watch the same movies again and again. They are more entertaining than nonsense programs on live TV. We pass comments and speak out dialogues along with the characters. Its more fun that way. Repeated viewing brings out certain scenes into our focus; back ground actors expressions, unrealistic settings and actions get vivid. They provide some unexpected fun.

Take this song for example-Jugni from the movie Tanu weds Manu. Deepak Dobriyal plays Pappi(Madhavan’s friend) in this movie.He enters this song at 2.17.He dances completely different from all others dancing around him. This is what called as dancing like no one cares. I am guessing that the choreographer let him use his own steps:) Watching him in this song always cracks me up. Do not miss how he exits.

(I liked this movie, specially the way they handled the climax. I watch this movie only for Kangana’s clothes. I had already written about it here.)

Santosh subramanian is another movie which we are watching currently every day. Again, for Genelia’s acting and her clothes.Her jokes crack me up so much. She should have won many awards for this movie. IMHO, its easy to act dark shades of a character but very difficult to make others laugh.Tough luck Genelia. There are two scenes in this movie, both involving automobiles. See the preview below.

Where in Chennai do they have trains like these? Another scene involves a double decker bus with top open. Even if a child makes a toy bus, it would look better than what they had shown in the movie.

Have you seen the below song? Obviously, you would have. Now watch it again but concentrate only on actors Jayaram and Yugisedu. I am sure you will ROFL.

Why am i posting this? I was reminded of the tamil movie “Snegithiye” starring Jyotika and Sharbani. During one of the post sunday lunch ‘vetti’ discussions many years back in college hostel, we ripped this movie apart scene by scene. One scene shows how actress Lakshmi meets this character called Ramesh. Her books falls down and he rushes to help her. Ramesh’s face is not shown and camera pans down to show just his legs. If you catch that scene on TV, watch it carefully and you’ll know how funnily it has been shot. Enjoy!

Finger Sucking & weaning

It has been more than a year and a half since LB weaned off his finger sucking habit. It is about time I wrote about this major milestone achievement.

LB’s first 6 months were very tough on us. He constantly cried, never slept well, feeding was a struggle every single time. As new parents, we were overwhelmed at not finding a solution for his incessant cries. Doctor ruled out colicky nature and each visitor gave his/her own advice which added to our confusion. My father tried inserting the thumb into LB’s mouth the moment he started crying but in vain. Pacifiers never worked too. One fine day, LB learnt the magic of sucking his middle and ring fingers. His cries eventually came down. He started sleeping better and we heaved a sigh of relief.

After one year, a new problem cropped up. How to remove those fingers from his mouth? When you bring the spoon to feed him, the fingers are there. You give him something to play, he uses only his left hand or does not play at all because his fingers are busy getting sucked away to glory. As a concerned mother, i put my doubts to pediatrician and he warned us to not force him to quit. Digression: Have you noticed how Paeds always ask you to toilet train your kid at an early age but delay quitting any sucking habit? Me and the Paed differed only on these two topics:)

Good thing which resulted out of this habit was that LB learnt to sleep by himself. I used to put him in bed and lie next to him and he would be asleep in 5-10 minutes. No rocking/singing songs/reading stories. Afternoon naps and bed time at nights were a breeze. Even if he gets up in the middle of the night, he would suck his fingers and go back to sleep in no time. I finally started getting my 8 hour sleep quota.

I was confident that by 2 yrs,LB will stop sucking. I started getting worried when he did not stop. We tried being stern, saying no constantly, removing the fingers without any reaction. Nothing worked.His middle and ring fingers started showing signs of teeth marks. My mom suggested the age old therapy of applying neem oil. I think we must have tried it for 3-4 days. It was a deterrent but LB started hiding from us to start sucking. Then he fell ill. That’s when the doctor told us the fact that neem oil is known to cause epileptic fits in kids and should not be used. We stopped our efforts there.

I searched blog world for solution and only Poppy had written about them. And the posts on Indus ladies site terrorized me. I wrote to Poppy and she gave me the invaluable suggestion of using “Femite”. It is a bitter transparent liquid which does not have any side effects. It is easily available in medical stores and has a long shelf life!One fine day, I applied a little bit of it in LB’s fingers when he was fast asleep. I did not want him to know that I was applying something. When he woke up, he started putting his fingers in his mouth. The bitter taste made him vomit. I told him that God has decided that he must stop sucking fingers as he has become a big boy now. He was restless and cranky for 2 days. His food intake also lessened but I was forewarned by Poppy, hence no worries. The first application of femite itself was enough for those two days. A bit of solution had touched my fingers when I had applied it on LB and that itself made me sick at mouth.Poor guy had to endure the full taste-my heart tore into pieces. But that’s the thing with motherhood, you got to suffer for your kid to excel/succeed. And we cannot even display our feeling/thoughts openly.

Day 3,4,5 were relatively easy. I applied tiniest of femite and kept reminding him about bitter taste whenever he took his fingers near his mouth. By one week, 99% of the habit was cured. On some occasions, he needed reminding but no further application was required. By 2 weeks, he was completely off the habit and eating was back to normal. I retained that bottle for 6 months incase there was a recurrence but nothing of that sort happened. His sleeping pattern did not vary except he started hugging me or holding my hands to fall asleep.

Hope this post helps all those who are seeking answer to this habit.

PS: My son was cured of this habit before he was 2 and half years old. Any time later than that would make it difficult for parents as the child becomes more aware of his surroundings.The earlier the better. Good luck.

New Year Resolutions 2012

I have always been a person who never makes any resolution. Never felt the need for them. So why am I starting this year? I felt that something interesting should be done to make my journey into 30s fruitful. One thing which I have learnt about goals or resolutions is that they should be achievable within a reasonable time frame. It should have a fun factor too. Here are my NY resolutions for 2012.

• Eat at all places listed here (1/2/3/4/5/6)I think I will finish Madras darshan if I finish visiting all these places listed:)
• Visit Cotton street and buy from there. I have been a madrasi all my life yet have not visited this landmark area. Must correct it this year.
• Visit Boutiques and try out new pattern/styled dresses. I am utterly bored with my dressing style. Some shops which I have shortlisted will get featured soon in my blog.
• Take good care of my hair. I had neglected it completely last year. If possible, must try out a new hair style but of course if the current hair fall trend does not stop, a prominent style will emerge eventually. Bald!
• In cooking, must venture into oven cooking and sweets. Oven cooking is need based thanks to my finicky eater son. Sweets-looks easy but actually that’s where the challenge lies in cooking. Certain dishes call for precise timing and methodology. Target is 6 sweet dishes. Easy peasy, right?If ICC challenges are done, my goal would be achieved.
• Learn a skill or two.Driving and swimming are on my mind. 
• As a mom, my target is to make my son eat his own food. Toughest goal of all. Hope luck favours me.
• Do craft work with son. Enough ideas are listed here and here.
• Get Mehendi done at Panagal Park, T Nagar. Long time wish. Must do it this year:)

Will do a mid year review to see how it goes. And yes reduce weight. Doesn’t this feature in everyone’s resolution list?

Benny Dayal is the new

Mohit Chauhan in my life. Earlier, all my favourite songs were sung by Mohit and now all my favourites are by Benny. In the silence of the night, when you wear headphones or listen to Benny’s songs with your ears open and your mind devoid of unwanted thoughts, you would hear him touching your soul with his voice. Here are my favourite Benny numbers and what a way to start posts for this new year.

1. Tarkeebein from Band Baaja Baarat

2. Pocket main Rocket hain from Rocket Singh-Sales man of the year

3. Love Love Love from Love Breakups Zindagi

4.Adat se Majboor from Ladies vs Ricky Bahl

5.Ek main aur ek tu from Ek main aur Ek tu

6. Choomantar from Mere brother ki dulhan

PS: Vishal Dadlani’s songs for other music directors also feature in my current play list. This music director/cameo actor/singer has powerful vocals which can bring its own unique feel to a film song. Enjoy them too.

1. Thug le from Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl Music by Salim Sulaiman

2. Zaara dil ko tham lo from Don2 Music by Shankar Ehsaan Loy

3. Kar Chalna shuru from Ek main aur ek tu Music by Amit Trivedi (Video yet to be released)

4. Raftaarein from Ra.one Music Vishal Sekhar

Black Tongue

In tamil, the phrase “Kari naku karan” (a person with black tongue) denotes a person whose utterances more often come true. I have a big spot of black patch in my tongue and most of my innocuous observations have come true. My mom forbids me from speaking anything after some good event is confirmed. She fears my tongue so much!!

Proof: I said here that I do not know how long LB gets to be with his best friend. Dang, his BFF leaves for America tomorrow. No farewells coz I will not be able to control LB once he meets his BFF. Why does this happen to me?

School craft of LB

LB at 3yrs 6 months

• He sings really well, can remember most of the nuances of a film song. His all time favourite songs are Dum Dum from Band Baaja Baraat and Ennamo from Ko. He also has this rule that only girls can sing female portions of a song and vice versa. I irritate him a lot by singing all the male lines:)
• Like most of the kids of his age, he talks a lot in his sleep. They mostly pertain to his school friends and on weekends talking is less. Though he understands dreams, he cannot distinguish it from real life(like most kids of his age). One fine school day morning, he woke up with a cry saying that I left him alone and went away for shopping!!We struggled for more than 30 minutes to calm him. Even today, he thinks it is real and not a figment of his imagination.(This happens when I drag him along wherever i go).
• His main activity after reaching home from school is to drive his ‘auto’ aka tricycle around the house.He has a unique sound for it -“Tho Tho”. He does not pedal and pushes the tricycle with his feet. He can beautifully negotiate curves and objects. I already know how he is going to drive when he grows up.
• LB worships his BFF Av. If Av tells him to go hit somebody, he would do it without a second thought. They have become mini goons at his school. Av’s father is my hubby’s colleague hence we often meet at his house. It is very difficult to separate the boys then. Once LB cried when Av left him alone and went for a leak. To pacify LB, we took them both once again. Such is their love. Av's father calls them “sholay pair”. I fear the day when Av moves into a different school/city, do not know how I will handle LB’s emotions then.
• On days when my maid is on leave, LB watches me sweep and mop the house. During that time, he addresses me by my maid’s name. Strangely, when I wash vessels, he does not say anything.
• Seeing my wedding reception snaps, many people have commented how my hubby looks Chinese, thanks to small eyelids. LB inherited this gene. When he closes them tightly, I cannot stop giggling (for some strange reason). He uses this to his advantage and whenever I get angry, he tightly shuts his eyes and waits for me to start giggling!!
• There are days when he gives me random hugs, squeezes and shower of kisses. And there are days, when he gets totally pissed off by my ‘no’s. I can safely say that we have reached a stage where I absolutely love being his mother. Touch wood.
• He loves cars and can recognize a car by its make and model most of the time(make that 99%). During our car outings, I get nonstop commentary about various cars that fall in his sight.
• Anything and everything is “mine” nowadays. When my mom plays with him and refers me as “my daughter”, LB immediately jumps up and says “she is my daughter” (referring to me). The same logic is repeated for all people in our household.
• Earlier, if we ask him who is the bad boy in this house, he would proudly declare that it is him. Now he has understood the game and answers with all names other than his.
• He is still frightened by front loading washing machine at my mom’s place. We have a top loading machine and he is not frightened even when the machine goes into spin mode. May be, seeing Mr.Bean stuck in the washing machine in one of the episodes, have had a deep impact on him.
• His memory power is quite visible these days. Incidents which happened 3-4 months back are recalled with maximum clarity and at appropriate times.It is becoming exceedingly difficult to fool him!
• LB used to be this ever helping guy in the house. Sadly, this quality is vanishing. Now for everything that needs to be done from his end requires rewards in the form of chocolate and gems.
• One day, during our car journey to drop LB at his school, a car came too close to our vehicle. Hubby pulled down his window glass and called the other driver “Joker”. From then on, if any car/vehicle comes too close our vehicle, LB screams joker(loudly and clearly). There have been times when I have yelled at him in the middle of the road to calm him down.Even at home, when he is playing ‘auto’, if we come too close to him, he yells ‘joker at us. I do not know how to make him unlearn this part. Thankfully, he has not picked up any more of such words. That reminds me to start practicing “shoot” instead of sh^t.
• LB is “5mins” guy. Sample this-Me: LB, lets have lunch. LB: in 5 mins mom. Me: LB, put your shorts LB: in 5 mins mom. You get the drift, right?
• LB is also known as “idea mani” at home. Suddenly he will scream “idea” and talk some nonsense. I ask him to chew his food, he screams “idea”. It is obvious that he does not know the word’s meaning. But it is extremely funny when he does loads of silly things and associate them with this word.

Celebrations Galore

My blog turned 5 years old this November.

I won the giveaway at Colours Dekor and got these items free from Shopo. I am in love with Kala Koyree products. Though the bangle bag looks extremely small in real life, its a steal nevertheless.

   

Finally I met Poppin’s mom in person. I planned a trip to meet her and Artnavy in Bangalore. Artnavy’s post about this is here. More about this trip in another post.

We attended a Tulika book launch and met the famous Sandhya Rao and Craig Jenkins. More than LB, I enjoyed the event:)

 

We saw Ra.one in theatre along with LB. It was LB’s first theatre experience. We were watching a movie in theatre for the first time since LB was born. The last movie that we saw was Taare Zameen Par in Dec 2007. This is a new milestone in our lives. Hope LB warms up to movie watching from now on. (PS: LB behaved so well that I am tempted to take him pretty often, of course, for movies appropriate for his age) At home, LB calls himself G.one, hubby is Ra.one and I am Lavan. Want more PJs from LB?

We took LB to visit his BFF at his home and what a blast the two kids had. They even wanted to pee together!! Ended the party at Pizza hut. I am sure that we would be banned next time around for all the noise that 2 kids and 3 adults made.

 

Seahorse colouring done by LB at Art’s place in Bangalore. Finished it ahead of all kids. Star hanging is stuff which he made in school while learning about shapes.