D.E.A.R Spring Visitors

Saumya got a surprise visit, not from one but two lady bugs, right in her bedroom! Sunday morning was spent playing with them, counting their dots, talking about their color, wondering how they made inside the house when everything is closed, how come they both were in Saumya's bedroom, did they come to tell her that weather is warm, finally? We girls can talk, can't we! And then we finally bid buh-bye to them. 

And now on to D.E.A.R, today is Drop Everything And Read day!! I am ready with my stack of books and my reading buddy Saumya. Wait for our report when we reveal what all we dropped to just read, read and read!!

Reading Race

                                                 Books I checked out from the library

Books Saumya checked out from the library

Don't get emotional

Once a friend in college asked me how my mom's baigan bharta tastes so good and I proudly said "she roasts it really well" and the next day she opens hr lunch box with chapatis and some black blob, I made it by roasting very well, taste it!! Oh Kavita, God Bless you!!
The secret to make good bharta lies on roasting. First the eggplants needs to be roasted well, so well that their outer skin gets charred and comes off with a crackling sound. I do this step under the broiler. And the second roasting step is done on the stove when the mashed up eggplant is sauteed with tomatoes and onions. This takes time and patience and if you hurry through this step, the eggplant will be undercooked and you will get that raw taste. Not something to crave or praise!
So if you promise yourself to not skimp on roasting process, here the recipe you can follow. But please don't get emotional like my friend and know when to stop!
Ingredients
Eggplants - 2 big. (while buying the eggplants look for the ones on lighter side, they tend to lesser seeds)
Tomatoes - 2 big , chopped
Onions - One big, chopped
Green Chili - 2 to 3, chopped finely
Ginger - an inch, chopped finely

Turn the oven on the High Broil setting. Make a cut in the eggplants with a knife for the steam to vent out. This is very important or they will burst inside the oven making a huge mess!! Put the on a cookie sheet and leave them in the oven for about 40 minutes.


Take them out of the oven and leave on the counter to cool.



In the meantime chop the onions, tomatoes, ginger and green chilies.
Put a pan on medium flame, put one tbsp. oil and saute onions. Once they turn translucent and little pink in color, put in the tomatoes, ginger and green chili. Keep stirring in between. While this is getting cooked, peel the eggplant and scoop out the flesh, leaving out as many seeds as you can. If the peels comes off very easily, it means you broiled them good. Now mash this flesh with your hands and then toss it in the pan with tomato onion mixture. Put in salt as per your taste, tsp each of coriander powder, cumin powder, red chili powder. Keep the flame below medium and keep stirring in between. It fills the kitchen with a delicious aroma, once all liquid dries up and bharta looks brownish red, its ready. Garnish it some chopped cilantro leaves and serve hot with chapatis and your choice of raita.

Have Spinach, Will Not Puree!

Every few days I get this idea of incorporating more and more greens to our food. Dear Husband says you know most of the wine bottles are green too, why worry with all the chopping and cooking! i say we have a 4 year old, we need to set up an example and then I do want to be here to be able to see her all grown up! And then comes the grocery day when I buy the dreaded old spinach, ehh, yuck! Ma would say , you know make palak paneer, its very good for health and tastes divine. Mother in law will say Palak dal is very yummy, FIl gulps down bowls of it, try it, you will like it. I made all those famous palak dishes and when we sit down to eat, I am unusually the slowest, daughter and father keep moving their spoons in the bowl and finally 4 year old will get the smartest idea of finishing all the paneer, leaving behind palak. Can't blame her, I do not like palak when its made into a puree. It reminds me of henna/mehandi and I just can't eat it. But you got to eat your greens!! So yesterday I sauteed leftover rice with onions, tomatoes and green chillies and threw in the usual salt, red chilli powder, garam masala and when it all got mixed in with rice, I chopped two big handfuls of baby spinach and tossed in, put the lid on and let it soften a little. Just before eating sprinkled a little lime juice over rice and I was in spinach heaven. If you are like me and run away every time you see spinach, I say try it, you might like spinach too!!

Tri Color Rotini and Pizza

Busy weeknight calls for quick dinner and pasta with its funky shapes and colors can please everyone. While grocery shopping yesterday, Saumya picked the tri color rotini. She calls it Line Pasta.Cooked with green bell peppers, zuchini and onion, this was another chance for a hopeful mom to bring vegetables to the dinner table and still be in preschooler's good books. She was very happy to see rotini on the dinner table on the same night she picked it from he store and put up a request for it. "Thank you for making my line pasta right tonight Mamma"
Zucchini failed to make it beyond one bite but fortunately peppers and onions passed the test!
I have to say this is not my favourite kind of pasta though rest of the family loves it!
Tonight's dinner was pizza made with store bought fresh pizza dough. It turned out really good and no vegetable picking was done by the preschooler! She ate the pizza, vegetables and all! This is a big win for me coz everytime we eat pizza, she just spends her time avoiding all the vegetables and after sometime gives up and moves on to the dinner rolls. The veggies were cut very small and had their crunch intact and I used them as the second layer Base->sauce->veggies->cheese. Maybe that worked when they were not right in her face and I had fun making it.
What's cooking in your kitchen today?

Flower Power

Saumya took responsibility of two flowering plants. Lot's of love and water everyday brought out the much desired results.
Here's our proud little flower showcasing her flowers!

Musical Notes

Today when I said bye to my doll at the preschool, she became all teary eyed and ran to me. I didn't know what to say or do because we haven't been in this situation before. She marches into the school all chirpy and cheery and that is what exactly happened today as well but it took a new turn when I was about to depart. She said that she wants to come home with me and even after trying plenty to make my through her thought process I couldn't gather the reason that led us into this emotional fix. I left when she was sobbing while hugging her teacher. I was continually thinking and trying to solve this puzzle. My heart wasn't ready to let my mind rest, the feet were working their way down the school stairs but it seemed as if someone is asking me to turn back and go in and just grab my doll in my arms, where she really wants to be. By the time I reached the car, my vision was cloudy with tears that filled up my eyes. These little droplets never let me down, they behave like my best friend who is always there when I am in an emotional parenting dilemma. I turned the car on and along with that the music got turned on as well. "Do Naina Ek Kahani, Thoda sa Badal, Thoda sa Pani" from the 1984 hit movie masoom. a mother is putting her daughters to bed and singing this beautiful song. I love this song a lot. In my music CD this songs comes right after the famous Lakdi Ki kathi . My daughter listens to it every morning she goes to school and then we turn the music off but today sh insisted on listening to the song that their mamma sings. Through the whole song she didn't say a word, which is unusual for her chatty self! We reached school and I saw her lost in thoughts. Her eyes had that far away expression. I had to, kind of wake her up, to break her thought process and ask her to come out of the car. But I didn't make much of it at that time. On my drive back home from the school, when the song was on, it occurred to me that every time I listen to this beautiful song, I get so gullible for no reason and feel like taking her in my arms. It seemed to have the same impact on my daughter. She wanted to be with me. She understand and speaks lot of Hindi but I am still not sure if she understands the whole song. Was this the reason of the difficult drop off? I cheered myself for solving the mystery but at the same time felt guilt pangs for introducing the tender little heart to such strong emotions.
At pick up time she was her normal cheery self and the moment she stepped in the car, the request to turn the Mamma song came. Again, it made her spellbound and when we reached home, the song wasn't over yet. She asked me to not to turn the car off until the song finishes. So we sat in the garage.
I guess it's time for me to lose that CD now!

Little Pleasures

Sometimes little things in life itch so bad like that bug bite that you know for sure would go away but can't help scratching it which in turn makes it even bigger of an itch. And these little things are also the ones that bring everyday pleasures and make life worth living. This past Friday, me and my husband achieved a milestone, it's pretty personal, but we still like to share with everyone the knowledge that we have finally reached a place for which the journey was embarked more than seven years ago. I would not say this journey was all pleasant but it can't be called a sordid tale as well. It was a bumpy ride and we got lot's of bruises on the way and now it's over so we can start another one! All is well that ends well. Life goes on, bugs come and go! Friday, August 15 was India's Independence Day also and reaching a milestone that particular day made us feel even more special. Thanks to everyone for the loving wishes.
Now if you are a regular here, you must know by now that my darling husband is a cookies and cake lover. So to celebrate the occasion I baked Coconut Cookies inspired by Mansi.
















I omitted the icing part though. They came out very well, my preschooler got one after her dinner and munching a mouthful she asked "What is this mamma? There is no chocolate, I only like chocolate cookies" and all this while she just couldn't stop eating it! Dad is no different, he loves everything that is baked in the oven and more than any cookie or cake I enjoy the oooh and aaahs these two people shower me with for the food I bring to the table.

Stuff the bell

Why? So it doesn't ring? I happen to have a love hate relationship with Bell Peppers. I love them combined with paneer and also with mixed vegetables, I like their crunch in pastas and I relish them on pizzas as well but once they are stuffed, they are just stuffed. Then they do not have room for my love. They are too copious for me to jiggle my way through them. Whenever my mom made those stuffed bell peppers, to avoid the whining crazies she would make some paranthas with that same stuffing. Those were the good old days when what to make for dinner wasn't a question for me! Now while eating lunch the question for dinners just keeps nudging me. Sometimes deciding on something that would tickle every one's taste buds is much harder than actually cooking it. I often look around the web to get ideas for dinner. Last night while browsing through Mansi's blog I stumbled on theStuffed Bell Peppers, in spite of them being in my unfriendly zone, the recipe did appeal me and I decided to give these stuffed up individuals another chance. Being little I used to joke about stuffed bell peppers that once you stuff a bell it won't ring and what good is a bell that lost it's ring. Bell peppers lose all their taste once they are stuffed Ma!! And what happened last night? Could the bells ring? They did, as a matter of fact they rang loud and clear. All dinner plates were clear of any bits of dinner at the end of the meal! Thank you Mansi for sharing this wonderful recipe. We relished it with naan bread and onions sprinkled with salt and lemon juice. It was a big hit even with the nay Sayers!

Hit the market

I am a member of Librarything and also on their early reviewers group. They get a batch of advanced reader's copies of books from various publishers every month and members can make their picks on the books they would be interested in reviewing. The members are then randomly selected or at least I don't know the selection process. I have snagged two books from the July batch and actually received my first book today. Advanced reader's editions of a book are published only few in number and are given away for promotional use and also to get a sense from the reviews on how a book is going to perform when it actually hits the market. I don't know how much importance it has but I am feeling pretty special. Eh, a publisher is sharing a book with me for which only 80 copies got printed and is waiting for me to send a review so a prediction can be made about its profits as well as the popularity of the author. I can take a bow, thank you very much! By the way, I joined Librarything to catalog all the books that are in my library or my memory for that matter that I have read. Its a great place to share your love of books with other readers and make friends.

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Librarything in any way or doing any promotions for them, though I am sure they love it when people write about them. I am just a member with whom they share their bandwidth and yes, the advanced reader's editions too.