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Blissfully happy

sapthasagaradache — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 03:47:29 +0000

I hear people talk so much about true love and feeling it brings and so on…but i think no one really know what love feels like until you look into the eyes of your child. I am not sure if dads feel the same kind of emotional attachment to their kids as moms do. I know dads love their kids as much as moms do. But when it comes to the attachment part, its more likely the moms who feel overwhelmingly tuned into their kids’ needs than the dads.

Well, my dear daughter is nearly 3 years old, and she still is a mommy’s girl. She still asks for me to take care of all her needs and doesn’t like it when her dad tries to help. I am thinking it has more to do with the fact that i know what she needs and when she needs and how she likes it..than with loving me more than her dad. But, of course, i say otherwise to my hubby, just to make him jealous

This must be cutest age of all. She is such a chatter box, always manages to make us laugh or at least smile. I smile in sleep too. There are times when she gets on my nerves, but the happy moments over compensates for those tantrums. We talk together, we walk together, we play school together and we do all sorts of art work and craft work together. Its like reliving my childhood with my bestest friend all over again. For the first time in my life i feel like i am blissfully happy and i give all the credit to my loving daughter. Thank you darling and I love you.

Why do i have to defend everything i do as a mom?

sapthasagaradache — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 19:41:48 +0000

Has any other mom felt this way? I always find myself in a situation explaining to a total stranger or to a best friend for that matter, about my actions towards my kid. People can be really mean at times. They do not realize the power of words that comes out of their mouth.

My dear daughter is 2 1/2 years old and she is a very active one. Some even call her hyper energetic. I love and love to spend time with her and i act like a goofy toddler at times just to hear her giggles. But there are times when she needs to be disciplined. Since i love her more i think its my responsibility to teach her the difference between good and bad, appropriate and inappropriate. Her dad is not around most of the times as he is swamped with his work. So majority of the times its me who has to discipline her. And i use time outs to do that and sometimes i ignore her when she throws tantrum for no apparent reason. But whatever i do i am very much consistent with that. I am also consistent with her nap and bed times. I do not put her to bed at exact time..its usually +\ – half hour. So some of friends (who have kids) call me a “strict mom”. It makes me sad every time i hear that. Because they judged me based on only observing half part of me as a parent. The other half where i skip, dance, sing till my throat is dry and all the nights i spend on the floor next to her crib to make her sleep well….no one knows about any of these. Wonder what they would call me if they saw me playing dress up with my kiddo.

When a stranger makes a judgmental comment i try to ignore thinking that they do not know me well enough. But when a person whom i have known for some time says things like this, i find the need to defend myself and i hate to do that. I think all moms do their best while raising kids. In my opinion, there is no right or wrong way in disciplining kids. We simply have to choose whichever WORKS with our kids. This is what i tell other moms who asks me any advice. I tell them what i know and i also tell them that what works for one may not work for the other, because they are all unique in their own way!

Nothing useful

sapthasagaradache — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 15:35:16 +0000

If you live in US, whether or not you are Christian you will begin to love the month of December. It is the holiday season, you hear a whole lot about Christmas, gifts, food , wine and most importantly Santa. I always loved December because hubby spends more time at home and its the time when we have too many social gatherings. Also, it looks so festive when you drive around the neighborhood in dark. I love those lights, the smell of home made cookies and the feeling you get..which i can’t seem to put in right words at the moment. You know they say that this is the season for miracles, i do believe in miracles as i think i have got mine when i least expected it.

But this year, i am not able to enjoy the month as much as i want to. I loved winter in December. Not this year. It feels so long and boring already. I think its because my toddler gets so bored of playing at home all the time and she starts troubling me. I would love to take her out, not in this weather though. She seems to be understanding about the seasonal changes as well, because these days she has stopped begging me to take her to the playground. She says its too cold outside. She has holiday party coming up in her school. I can’t wait to bake some cookies and make a gingerbread house with her. She loves to help me. Cutest thing is, while we are mixing cookie\cake\muffin batter..she gets so tempted to eat it up, but she actually controls herself and says, we have to bake it first hahaha. She is doing great for her age

Well, we don’t have Christmas tree and we don’t buy Christmas presents to each other. But it will be nice if Santa can drop by and leave a surprising present for me at my bed side

Wheat and Ragi cookie

sapthasagaradache — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 01:46:37 +0000

Its evident that i love to cook and blog about my recipes. But, my love for baking is more than my love for cooking. I have tried the banana bread, muffins, pasta casseroles, cakes, cookies and so on. Most of the time it turns out real great but there are few times when i miss the perfect time to take the dish out of the oven. Oh well, who cares about the texture as long as it satisfies the taste buds, right?

I had been meaning to bake some oatmeal cookies for my daughter’s sake, but din’t really had the time for it. Yesterday my hubby took my daughter out for couple of hours. He thought i could use some rest. I had thought so too. But, when i had the house (well make it kitchen) all to myself, i had the urge to bake something. So i opened my recipe book in search of something interesting. There i found this cookie recipe which i had not tried before. It is simply simple and tasty, made with whole grain flour and brown sugar. Hardly takes 30 minutes to make them, including the bake time. So give it a try.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup ragi\millet flour

1/2 cup wheat flour

1/2 cup brown sugar OR jaggery

3/4 to 1 stick butter softened ( i used the promise butter sticks as opposed to regular butter)

1 tbsp milled flax seeds (optional)

1/4 cup sunflower seeds (optional – i skipped this one)

1/2 tsp cardamom powder

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degree C. Grease a baking dish or line it with parchment paper.

Mix thoroughly butter and sugar\jaggery, until sugar dissolves. Then add rest of the ingredients and knead it well using your hands. Divide it into equal parts, make small balls and press gently in your hands and place it on the baking dish.

Bake for 20 mins, remove from oven and keep them on the wrack for cooling. When its cool enough to eat, just let them melt in your mouth

Tips: Adjust temperature and baking time according to your oven. Since ours is old one, i bake at 325 for about 18 mins and they were perfect.

We are loving Fall season

sapthasagaradache — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 14:40:10 +0000

All those years i spent growing up in India, i was able to read and understand the concept of seasonal changes in trees and plants. But it is after coming to this country i was able to see the beauty of mother nature. Now that i have a daughter, i take her out for a walk in spring and fall and we talk about all the different colors of the leaves and how beautiful they look. Sometimes, we simply sit on couch and gaze through the window and appreciate the natural beauty. I am so proud to say that my daughter is a nature lover too.

With fall begins the Hindu festival season too. We enjoyed Navaratri and Dasera celebrations. We had the ceremony to begin our daughter’s education in a formal way on the day of Dasera, which is called Aksharabhyasa. Next weekend we have community event called Sangamam. It is a cultural program presented by south Indians. Every year this program is held around this time of the year and this year i can’t wait to take my daughter to watch the ethnic diversity in India. I am sure she is gonna love the music and dance.

End of this month, is Halloween and i can;t wait to dress my daughter as a fairy. I am eagerly waiting to take her out for trick or treat, but at the same time i am concerned that she is gonna freak out looking at all those people dressed as ghosts and freaks . Then comes the Deepavali, the festival of lights. What not to love about this right? The sweets, the lights, the dress and the fireworks (or just sparklers ).

Great thing about living in this country is that we get to celebrate American culture along with our own Hindu culture making it festive all year round. In summary, its been a beautiful season so far and i hope it continues to stay so even after all the leaves of the trees are gone.

Have a Freaky Halloween everyone!

Hage Summane

sapthasagaradache — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 02:04:43 +0000

Its been three long months since i wrote my last post on my own blog. Its not like i did not had anything to write about. I was just being busy ( and lazy) to write. I had my first semester MBA exams in May. SO at first i got busy with that. Then dd’s summer vacation started from June and boy oh boy, is she keeping me busy entire day!! I am her full time playmate. She turned two this June and its getting harder everyday to discipline her. Everyday is like a new challenge for us to take on. At the same time, her vocabulary is exploding and its really cute to hear her talk and imitate us. Most days i simply cannot stop hugging and kissing her and other days i call my parents and ask them to take her away from me as i didn’t need her anymore! They just laugh it off, as they know i can’t live without her for more than couple hours at a stretch

Month of June was socially active month for us. Every weekend we had one or the other kind of get together, parties and stuff. Month of July feels a little boring but still feels like it passing away pretty soon. One more month to go, and then dd goes back to school, this time for 3 days a week. It means i will 6 hours a week for studying, writing assignments and of course to keep up with my blog.

Other than that, too much LIFE is happening. Not all good but not all bad either. Nothing seems to be going as planned . At first i was disappointed but then again it is what we call LIFE right. I am doing perfectly OK now. Just can’t wait for Sept to be here already.

Butter Chicken

sapthasagaradache — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 01:20:09 +0000

aahhh smells good…hmmm…yum yum… too. This is the expression I get everytime i cook this dish and I cook this every chance i get. Sometimes with paneer, sometimes with tofu and sometimes with chicken. I browsed the net and tried quite a few variations and finally settled with this one. If you want the best result, do not miss anything under the ingredients list. Optional ones are well..optional.

Ingredients:

1 lb Chicken
1 Onion
3 -4 ripe tomatoes pureed
3 tbsp crushed kasoori methi
2 bay leaves
1 tsp cumin powder
2 cloves
4 cardamom crushed
3 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp garam masala
2 tbsp butter
1/2 fresh cream(half and half better than heavy cream)
1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
oil
salt to taste

Optional Ingredients:

1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp tomato sauce\ketchup ( vah chef adds this, but i don’t recommend)

Method:

Marinade chicken in 1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste, 1 tsp chilli powder and salt to taste. Let stand for couple of hours.
For better results, fry sliced onion in a tsp of oil and then make it into a paste.
In a pan heat oil and shallow fry chicken until golden brown or tender. Alternatively, you can broil chicken in oven
Drain the chicken and keep aside. To the same oil, add cloves, bay leaves and toast. Then add onion paste, ginger-garlic paste if using it and fry until raw smell is gone. Now add pureed tomatoes, chilli powder, garam masala powder, cardamom, sugar and salt. Cover and cook on low flame until oil separates.
Finally add fresh cream\half and half , butter, chicken and cook for about 5 minutes. Serve hot with roti\chapati\naan.

Tips:

You can substitute fried paneer or tofu for chicken.

I used puree of 1 can i.e 14 oz hunts diced tomatoes. It worked great.

For more hot\spicy add couple of green chilli to the gravy.

Will update soon with the picture.

A reason to have fun

sapthasagaradache — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 01:31:12 +0000

You know when you are away from home, you crave for something familiar, something nostalgic. To me that something is having lots of friends and people to chat and laugh with. Now that i think of it, seems like my daughter is like me wen it comes to being social. She is a people’s person. She enjoys when there are lots of people around her. In this country, its not very often we gather at a huge party. Even if we did, chances are we won’t meet the same group of people(familiar faces i mean).

Last Sunday, we had this huge seemantha (baby shower) for one of our pregnant friend. Her mom was surprised to see how much interest we all took in being a part of it. Each one us cooked food and brought gifts to the parents to be. She said, in India its carried on just like a tradition. Here we made it more like celebration along with the tradition. She was really impressed. I think we all look forward for a reason to get together and celebrate. My daughter had a blast playing with other kids and she loved all the attention she got from room full of people. I had fun and by the end of day my jaw was aching because i laughed so much at the party. Oh, and getting dressed is part of the deal too. Who doesn’t love to wear sari and beautiful hand made Indian jewelery? These are the occasions we can wear them, show off and look good

Though the usual routine life kicks in again the very next day, the hang over remains until we go the next party. We are eagerly looking forward to our Ugadi celebration with members of Kannada Koota end of this month.

Avalakki Bisibele Bath

sapthasagaradache — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 18:19:42 +0000

I called my cousin on the day of Ugadi to wish her and while chatting i asked what special dish she prepared for the festival. She named a few along with avalakki bisibele bath(3B). I had no idea that 3B could be prepared using poha. It was interesting and took her advice\tips and made this on the same day. It was really different and awesome. I was glad to make use of never ending poha supply in our house!! I like to less dal in 3B and here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:

1 cup mixed vegetable of your choice (typically carrot, beans, peas, potato)
1/4 cup toor dal
1 tomato
1/2 cup avalakki\poha
1 onion
2-3 tbsp bisibele bath powder

for tempering:

1/2 tsp mustard seeds
2-3 cloves garlic crushed
1 strand curry leaves
2 tbsp tamarind juice
2 tbsp fried peanuts(optional)

Method:

Dice the vegetables, tomato and onion
In a pan\pressure cooker mix all the vegetables and dal. Add 2 1/2 cups water, bisibele bath powder and cook until 1 whistle or until everything is cooked well.
Wash and drain poha. Mix it to the above cooked mixture.
In a small pan, heat about a tbsp of oil. Add mustard seeds. when they start popping, add curry leaves and garlic cloves. When the cloves are golden brown add tamrind juice and cook until nice aroma comes(about a min or 2). Pour these contents to the poha mixture and mix well.

Ugadi special

sapthasagaradache — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 18:11:31 +0000

Ugadi marks the beginning of New Year in Hindu calendar. Traditionally obbattu\olige\puran poli is prepared on this day. Preparation of this dish takes a lot of patience and time. I always loved to prepare bele obbattu on this day. But this time, dd is sick and she is very clingy and wants to be held most of the time. So i decided to make something easy and less time consuming. At first i remembered rave unde (sooji ladoo), but then remembered that it had been a very long time since i tried kalakand, a sweet dish which my friend taught me. This dish can be made from scratch and again it takes a little more time and effort. But the microwave version of this is too easy and can be made in no time at all. So here i am writing the recipe in my blog after devouring it . I had forgot the recipe and i looked up on internet and found similar one in varehvah.com . I skipped the nuts for my dd’s sake.

Ingredients:

1 can\15 oz Ricotta cheese (i used part skim)
1 can\14 oz sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp cardamom powder
nuts to garnish
ghee\butter to grease the microwave safe dish

Method:

Grease a rectangular(8×8 inch) microwave sage dish, preferably glass one. Pour Ricotta cheese, condensed milk, cardamom powder and mix well. Place it in microwave and cook on for five minutes. Keep an eye to avoid any spills. Stir well, and cook again for 5-15 min stirring every min or so. When the mixture looks grainy a little but not too dry, take it out. Spread it evenly inside the dish using the back of the spoon. Garnish with nuts and let it cool for couple of minutes. Cut into pieces ( as you can see i made laddu )and let cool completely before savoring

Tips: I mentioned the time as 5 – 15 minutes, as it depends on the power of your microwave oven, the type of dish you use and also the choice of milk and cheese(whole or reduced fat). For me it took about 17 minutes total.