Buckets of snow , and now a little rain. Still baby it's cold outside.

While all over the state which are used to snow, this year it's been a little more snow that what everyone is used to , I was pleasantly surprised since yesterday night to find the ran droplets pattering down the window panes.

I had to stay in today as my son is not well , the silver lining is I can watch the rain. At work , I have walls around me and absolutely no clue what weather holds outside except when I enter and I leave. It's a welcome change to watch out of the glass windows and NOT looking at snow :)

Now it's not that I hate snow. I mean I don't love it so it doesn't mean I hate it. I did hate the black ice when my car got totaled on account of skidding over it. Like a rotating cup on a fair ride, it circled and boom hit somewhere which fortunately stopped the ride.  I just don't like to be in it , stuck , driving on it , that I hate. Otherwise simply gazing upon the white glittery snow from the comfort of home , well now that I like too much. If only I never have to go out in it, till spring.

If only. Sigh.

Till then , I will enjoy the chancy rain droplets when they come by and when they don't and snow visits, I will try everything in my power to just stay in closed walls :-D

Why? Cause baby it's cold outside!
Yeah, my snow favorite song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MFJ7ie_yGU

Instant Rava dosa recipe saved me this morning

Yes, so today,
7 AM wake up
7.30 AM wake up son
7:31 till 8:00 AM while getting breakfast and all other packing etc
Will you have this for lunch.
No.
Okay, this then.
No,
Okay this?
Nooo!
Alright, how about this ?
Noooooo!!
8:01 AM Panic!


My son kept on saying no to every option of lunch I offered for his lunch box. I was very much done and had given up on coming with anything he would finish. Another day for him to just eat half and bring back rest.


Then I gave a try searching for an instant rava dosa recipes. I literally had 15-20 mins to get everything done and leave for office. I devoted 2-3 minutes browsing for the recipes. And I stumbled across this easiest, tastiest and TRUST ME very nicely instructed recipe.


http://udupi-recipes.com/2014/06/instant-rava-dosa-recipe-with-video.html#comment-29193

I could not find the name though. The blog is above one. Also as I had absolutely no time this morning and got these dosas done just in the nick of the time. Also my son cleaned up the lunchbox so no leftover too :)

So, I could not take my own dosa photographs but they turned out pretty much like these snaps.

It's not my picture, just borrowed from the above website courtesy and copyright both - udupi-recipe.com

She has given very good details , videos of actual process of putting the dosa on the griddle, please visit.


I made a slight variation for


- Having that super mom time race
- A little taste for sour
- Slight thickness




So here are my used ingredients along with variation and a smaller quantity. I used the same proportion though as she mentioned. Rava/Suji : Rice flour : maida as 1:1:0.5.




4 spoons Rava (regular stainless spoons which about equals 1 and half tsp)
4 spoons Rice flour
2 spoons maida
1 spoon Dahi/yogurt (I used 0% fat, you can use any)
3-4 drops of lemon
1 cup water (A little over might be needed too)
A few curry leaves crushed and
A few coriander leaves cut.


I was in a hurry so did not follow the instructions of slowly adding water and then mix, but I had small quantity so when I beat it all together with very small amount of water first, made a paste and then added more water directly and beat again, it worked out.


So if you are in hurry you can live with this faster mixing. Will try sometime with more quantities as well.


And once mixed up, I used two griddles. The gravy really thickens fast so , sooner you make dosas out of it the better. Even with this less quantity I was able to make medium sized 5 dosas. Alternate in 2-3 turns I was done.


Awesome or what! The feeling of your kiddo has wiped off his lunch box and boasting about it is just great. He tried controlling smiling and slowly brought the lunch box to me and said , check for yourself mamma without shaking the box if I finished it all.


And he did. He didn't show this much appreciation for the traditional dosas too ever.


So , That recipe blog above just made my morning and my evening.


Now off to another super mom race. Dinner!


See you again to share another experience.

Diwali Over , Halloween up Next!! BooWi Goes To Trick Or Treat

     So,
     yes, I am still reading the Adam Rubin books, (awesome 2nd person POV , what a learning) but would be sharing more on that on later posts.


This is specifically for the 4th Annual contest Susanna Leonard has on her blogs. Pure , unadulterated, torturous, excruciating  fun!!


So here comes my story of 100 words.



HAPPY HALOWEEN EVERYONE !!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOWI GOES TO TRICK OR TREAT

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

BooWi, dressed as Little Red Riding Hood sighed. “Trick or treat would be over by the time I cross these woods.”

“At least you’re going,” Pumpkin complained.

“I’ll carry you,” she promised.

“Want a ride, Little Red? Hop on my neck, little pumpkin.” 
 BooWi gasped. The headless horseman!

            “No, we’ll take you,” three witch sisters’ broomsticks creaked.

Trembling in her boots, Boowi stared.

            Ghouls floated through cobwebs.

Werewolves howled.

Goblins swarmed around.

BooWi’s heart thumped.

She froze with fear.

“BOOOOOOOO!” everybody took their masks off. “Mom? Dad? Everyone?”

“Happy Halloween!!”

They crossed the woods together and

ATE LOTS OF CANDIES!!!!!

The beautiful picture above from below link, and you can find many more.


http://www.picshunger.com/pictures/halloween-images/

Dragon Love Tacos - this was Adam Rubin week

So,
When my to read list included 'Dragon Love Tacos', and I mentioned it, my son went, "Oh I love that book, when are you getting it mama?" I was curious and googled the author and ended up with some more interesting titles. I decided to get most of those in the library to begin with. Those Darn Squirrels , the whole series of it , those are next !


And was it a fun party!


We definitely started with 'Dragon Love Tacos'. The wonderful starting line of


"Hey kid, do you know Dragons love tacos?"


was so catchy. And the idea of 'dragons can't stand spicy salsa! It makes dragons fire breathing. And what not , all disasters'. Such funny irony. This was a different narration style I have read in a picture book so far and instantly liked it.

Dragons love parties. Why do they love parties?

And then comes many funny illustrations of them liking pool parties, costume parties, dancing and singing parties, even the small charade parties!

Of course, what Dragons love more than the tacos and party .. is taco party of course! The story was so nicely built till this point that I didn't even remember the book was about taco party yet. Isn't that cool? The boy who the story was being told all this to, tries really hard to get the party going.

JUST LOOK AT THOSE TACOS :)






A great read and at the end it was a great gesture of dragons helping the boy out to rebuild his house. Bound to be a great book to keep handy for a bedtime. (My son is reciting almost the whole book as I am typing this aloud. I am not objecting as for now that's helping me remember a few lines :) )


Here is a very nice review by childrensbookguide.


http://childrensbooksguide.com/reviews/dragons-love-tacos-by-adam-rubin






Happy reading!

And we re-discovred The Bears' Vacation (The Berenstain Bears family)

There are many things I discovered after coming to the US. 
One of those was the kids' wonderful world of story books and magicians in that area such as Dr. Seuss  or Eric Carle (till recently I did not even pay attention to the author names, just the books). I did not understand enough when my son, back from pre-school one day, was sprouting all gibberish like 'one fish two fish, red fish blue fish'  (yeah , imagine my lack of awareness).  This in no way means I lacked for stories or books when I was a kid. Just the opposite. But that world was different. The world I saw thru his books was quite different.

One fine day , in the library sale, I just happened to have my hands on 'The Bears' Vacation' (not paying any attention to the author's name - again) and cracked up by each page. I just had to have it.

Not to mention, about the special emotions evoked in mothers. When they see things going wrong by the dads, they are delighted in a twisted way. (Am I alone in thinking this? I hope not). Although the book does not show that part I am sure it's meant to be understood. But yes, I had to share this with my son and his Dad.

And they cracked up too. My husband did give me a look of 'me getting the book just to tease him deliberately' but could not stop laughing.

My son had not even learned reading yet, not more than just basic words. He memorized the whole book by the pages. The lyrical text is of course genius but by no means short, the book is long for a 2-3 years old. But he loved it so much, he used to read it to us without any help by just starting on the first page and going thru all the rest of the pages, with just his memory. The mirth in between was priceless.

The way Dad teaches his son the rule of safe beach vacation - by hazarding his own safety at every turn by mistake , is just hilarious. He is the carelessness personified but still the role model for his innocent son .. as he thinks ... well .. Dad you are showing me how dangerous everything can be by actually doing it. Such great training. He is so innocent and in his eyes Dad can do no wrong. (all moms here - Wink ;) ).

We re-discovered the book after that time period around 4-5 years later , during my son's latest school projects. He had to pick up his favorite book. And when we were perusing our personal home library , the book popped out. Not only we had a laughing bed time that night, he had a fantastic time next day in the class during story reading. He found more friends relating to it who had already read it.

The rhyme is great, the pictures are 'in action'. But as always, what grabs you is the story. The best so far still I have seen even in last few years. Hope you have enjoyed it or if not , you would be at some point of time. Happy reading.

P.S. - I finally read the author's names :) Stan and Jan Berenstain. The style is reminiscent of Dr. Seuss but quite different. Although I found out he (Dr. Seuss i.e. ) did edit for them. This was quite a pleasant surprise for me. 
 Here is the authors' blog itself with an interesting story too. For those who are interested.

http://berenstainbears.wordpress.com/2012/03/05/book-5-the-bears-vacation/

 
 

So next to-do in my list , reading some more Berenstain bears family stories.

Till then.

Made a promise to yourself ? How long it took you to act on it?

It took me a long time. Really really a long time (not saying how long :) . 

Every time I hit a link with a 'B' logo of blogging, after I searched for a recipe or musical instrument reviews or even the last time I had to search 'how to create a blog', I thought (later started vowing as much) that I will also write a blog some day. Just as fun. Just cause I would like to type things in instead of using a lot of voice.
But of course as evident it was not until today. That voice of procrastination , kept speaking to me 'Ehh , big deal, what's in it anyway','someday', 'aah I could have written something about this, some other day' and so on and so on. 


Am I the only one ? Anyone who is out there, ever started blogging the minute you thought you were going to? Would love to hear about any kind of experience sharing on that.

When I was a little girl , I was eager to grow up so I could do many things , I could not do as a child. Just as I imagine must be for every child. But I discovered even if I am a grown woman, I still could not do a lot of things on my to do list.
 
I still don't have time for a lot of things in life. I am not talking about routine things such as grocery shopping or eating ice cream with family. Routine things you do with your family, at times friends, relatives, colleagues. Those are of course important. But I am talking about things you just think of doing for yourself. Silently thinking most of the times. And at the same time we also tell ourselves, we don't have enough time for it now, maybe someday.

Still you keep on making promises about those. Doing things that of course matters to you. If not in conscious day to day thoughts, in your subconscious thoughts, you have made many decisions. About starting those swim lessons, about taking that language course, about reading that specific book and so much more. 

How long it takes for every one of us to finally deliver on that promise to yourself? A day , a month, a year? Or more even. But do you stop making these small wishes come promises to yourself , because of the delay?

I am sure for many, regardless of how long it took you last time, to deliver on a promise, you would still make another. Or make a small wishlist and so on. And that's how it should be. That's the spirit of being human, being with hope for the self. Here's to the very very human nature of the process - thinking of yourself (JUST yourself), making a decision, making a promise , procrastinating and still making it one fine day! 

Wish the very best to all of you who have decided to do something for themselves , no matter how small or a big decision it is for you.  No matter how long it's going to take you to take the first step on that decision. But you will make it happen one of these days. Share if you can , just to keep the inspiration going.

Here is another wish I made for myself, going to read lots of other blogs (about blog sites too) which I always thought of , but never got enough time! Always wanted to check out Big B's blog. Good luck to me !