Halloween

Since morning the kids were excited about going trick or treating. Arnav had to wear a Doctor's costume to school since all Kindergartners were supposed to dress up as what they want to be when they grow up.

At work, it was a fun day too. I just took the Afro wig and dressed as a hippy since I already had the costume. We had all kinds of costumes from pirates to witches to scary masks. I won the coolest costume since nobody expected me to wear an Afro wig. Overall it was a lot of fun. The punch with coconut, pineapple juice and fresca was unbelievable.

In the evening as always all our neighbors got together at a house and we all went with the kids from house to house. Soryan dressed up as Darth Vader and Arnav as Avatar(TV show character). For a while Soryan was very excited and was wearing the complete costume with black gloves, but this did not last more than half an hour and I ended up carrying his mask and light saber.

I was worried that it would pour and the kids would not be able to go out at all. But the clouds cleared up between 6 PM to 8 PM and we got a good two hours. As soon as we got home it started pouring.

You know it was a successful evening when the kids are too tired and they still gather up energy to tell you that this was the best Halloween ever :)

Halloween Party

It's that time of the year again when kids get very excited about becoming their cool characters. Arnav this year is planning to be Avatar and Soryan wants to be Obiwan Kenobi.

Like last year we had to go to an adults only Big Brothers Big Sisters event at Bahia Mar in Fort Lauderdale where the theme was 60s to 80s. So both of us decided to be hippies. There was so much food and drinks and of course who can forget the yummy chocolate fountain. The sad part was that I could not eat anything since it was my last day of the Master Cleanse.

Halloween is one of the occasions when the whole block in my neighborhood gets together and has fun. We went to the pumpkin patch a couple of weeks back with some of my neighbors and got 2 huge pumpkins. Arnav and Soryan picked some designs from a pumpkin carving book and wanted me to do it for them. Now these designs are complicated, and I have never carved a pumpkin before. I tried to convince them to pick easy designs but they wanted their Dracula and some scary face on it. Finally I gave it a shot yesterday. I will take some pics and post it.

Busy Month, New School, Lemon Cake Recipe :)

Things have been real busy lately with the kids going to a new school. It sort of has taken a toll on me keeping up with their homework, assignments and school lists. Like a typical mommy, I have been worried about them fairing well and making friends. I remember the time when I had to change schools and how hard it was to adjust and make friends.

Fortunately both boys have adjusted well and are doing pretty good in school. This school provides lots of cultural arts / extra curricular activities after school hours which is very convenient for me since I do not have to run around taking them for Piano, Tennis and Chess.

Past two weeks has been extremely busy with Ashish's birthday and my good friend Ammu's birthday. I had a lot of cooking to do and fortunately everything turned out good. I don't really cook a lot everyday but wanted to make something special on these birthdays since both of them are so close to me. I learned to make this wonderful lemon cake from Cathy at home goods blog. I just made a few changes to the original recipe. Here it is:

Cake:

1 -(18 oz) pkg. lemon cake mix or french vanilla cake mix
1- (3.4 oz.) pkg. instant lemon pudding mix or french vanilla pudding mix
1/2 -cup veg. oil
4- eggs
1 -cup lemon/lime soda (Mountain Dew reg., not diet, or Ginger Ale)
1 table spoon Cointreau (optional)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 325*, grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan. Combine cake mix, pudding mix,then stir in oil. Beat in eggs. Then stir in soda. Beat for 2 min. Stir in cointreau if you like orange flavor. Stir the walnuts and pour in Bundt pan. Cook for approx. 45-55 min. Cool completely.

Frosting:
1 - 8 oz. cream cheese (room temp.)
1 1/2- cup confectioner sugar
zest of one lemon
2 -tablespoons lemon juice

Beat together all but 1/2 of the zest to sprinkle on top of the frosting.

Topping:

I personally don't like frosting so I took a can of pineapple chunks with real juice. Poured some juice over the cake, just enough to make it moist. Filled the hole in the cake with frozen mixed berries and pineapple. Left the cake for an hour for all the juice to soak in and violla. It looked as pretty as in the picture, just without all that extra fat :)

Healthy Eating

I was reading health and fitness section on msn and came across the 10 best foods list. So here it goes:

1. Beets : Now we all know about this one. This is rich in folate and betaine which lower our blood levels of homocysteine. Bottom line is, this is really good for the heart and lowers the risk of both heart attack and cancer. Should be eaten fresh and raw. Try with some lemon and pepper.
2. Cabbage : I never thought cabbage would be good for me. Try it Indian style, saute onions and couple of red chillies. Shred the cabbage and put it in the pan. Add Salt. Cover the lid. Once it softens, add grated ginger (1 tea Sp) and some black pepper powder. Easy and simple. I usually eat it with rice or roti (Indian bread). Cabbage consists of sulforaphane, a chemical that reduces risk of cancer.
3. Guava : This is a fruit I love. I have a guava tree at home and it is high yielding. You can easily grow it in Florida. It is usually very expensive in the stores, not sure why. This fruit fights prostrate cancer. Has 63% more potassium than banana, and 9 grams of fiber in every cup. The fruit should be eaten whole since the rind alone has more vitamin C than an orange.
4. Swiss chard : I really have never eaten this before, but I think I will try to saute it with garlic cloves in a wok, and season with salt and pepper. Girls pay attention to this- This protects our retinas from the damage of aging. Internal eye protection, I am all for it.
5. Cinnamon : This one is easy. I eat this with everything. Just a sprinkle in coffee or oatmeal is enough to get the benefits. This helps control your blood sugar which influences your risk of heart disease.
6. Purslane : Have no idea what this is. It is a popular vegetable from China, Mexico and Greece. No wonder Chinese people have such beautiful skin. This plant has the highest amount of heart-healthy omega-3 fats of any edible plant. This plant also contains melatonin that inhibits cancer growth. It can be found at Whole foods. Eat in a salad as an alternative to lettuce.
7. Pomegranate Juice : This one is definitely not a surprise. I have started buying this at Costco for my husband. Just 2 ounces of this juice everyday is all you need to keep a healthy heart.
8. Goji berries : I love all kinds of berries, but never heard of this one. Good for diabetic people. Reduces insulin resistance.
9. Dried Plums : Not a surprise again. Contains antioxidants that reduce damage to the cells and risk of cancer. Wrap a thin slice of prosciutto around each dried plum and secure with a toothpick. Bake it in a 400 degree F oven for 10 - 15 minutes. Most of the fat will cook off and you will be left with a nice sweat treat which is healthy.
10. Pumpkin seeds : This has a high level of magnesium. Research shows that people who have a high level of magnesium in their blood have 40 percent lower risk of early death.

I have seen people take so many pills to compensate for the nutrients. We really should be eating nutritious food and not these pills. Who knows 15 years from now what effect they might have on us. Be healthy.

More Momma love

Kids are so cute most of the time ;) Every morning Soryan and Arnav get up and start talking about some imaginary characters. They seem to have so much material to talk about and sometimes I wonder where all that comes from. While playing somehow I came in the picture, not sure how. Over the years I have learned to tune out and am not sure what the conversation was between the two brothers. The only thing I heard was "Momma ! You love me more than Soryan?" It was not really a question but a statement requiring confirmation. This is one of the questions when you really have to be careful and not ignore. I told him, "No, I love you both equally." That was all that was required of me and they started talking again with me being in the third person. I heard Soryan say, "You know Arnav, Momma loves us both but I got 3 more years of love from her than you." And then I heard some screaming, fighting and I had to intervene.

Later when I was mentioning about this incident to Ashish, Arnav was listening and he commented to what Soryan had said, "Yes, and that is totally unacceptable", and then walked away as if nothing really had happened.

Beautiful Amaaaaaazing ALASKA

I have been thinking of taking the Alaska cruise for the longest time but never made the effort to go ahead and finalise it. One of my good friends decided to take the matters in her own hand and plan the trip. She did all the airline, hotel, cruise, and also shore excursion reservations. We also decided to go to Denali National forest by train before taking the cruise. The trip was about 12 days. On Friday May 25th, we all got on a plane to Anchorage. After a long 8 hour flight we reach there at 10:30 PM. We get outside and it is bright daylight. WOW! Then it really hits you that you are so close to the North pole in the Arctic circle. The sun would set for only a few hours but it would never get dark. The scenery there was just amazing. Where ever you look there are snow capped mountains, streams from glaciers and spruce and mountain hemlock trees. After coming back everything seemed so flat. And it really gets dark here :) Here are some of our trip pics:

Line Detector Test

Soryan came from school the other day and wanted to tell me something. He is usually very quiet and keeps to himself, but that day he said, "Momma, I really have to tell you something."

Momma: OK, what is it.
Soryan: Today, my hand got hurt at school so my teacher gave me ice to apply. I went to the bathroom to get some paper towel to clean up the water on my desk.
Momma: And?
Soryan: Later my teacher went to the bathroom and there was a burning smell.
Momma: What happened?
Soryan: Somebody had burned paper in there and the teacher was really upset and she was asking all of us who had done this.
Momma: (Still trying to understand where this is going)
Soryan: I was the last person who was seen going inside the bathroom.
Momma: (now getting concerned...) you didn't do anything did you?
Soryan: NO!
Momma: So did they find who did it?
Soryan: No, but they have a suspicion that Veer did it since they found a matchbox in his pocket.
Momma: OK so he must have done it. Did they punish him.
Soryan: They were scolding him and Veer said that somebody else had put that matchbox in his pocket. My friend Karthik told me a joke at that time and I started laughing. The teacher then told me and Karthik to go to the principals office since she thinks we did it.
Momma: This does not make sense. They found a matchbox on Veer and then they sent you to the office?
Soryan: And they also said they are going to get a line detector test tomorrow. Mommy, what is a line detector test?
Momma: It's a Lie detector test. It can find out who is lying.
Soryan: I am really scared. I look suspicious since I was the last person seen coming out of the bathroom, and then I laughed. Now the teacher thinks it's me who did it. What if my brain starts saying I did it too and then the police will take me.
Momma: Soryan, you don't need to worry if you didn't do it. Lie detector test is just to find out the truth and clear all suspicions. You shouldn't worry.
Soryan: But what if my brain tells this Line detector something. (Still very worried) . I don't think I will be able to sleep Momma. I will get nightmares.
Momma: Don't worry Soryan, We will be there for you.

Anyway, the lie detector test was just a scare and 2 days later the kid Veer was caught doing it again.

Love of Tropical Gardening

I have always loved gardening and have wanted to create a tropical paradise in my backyard. I have grown up with fruit trees and they remind me of good times with friends, cousins and my parents. So the first thing I wanted to do was plant all those trees which I grew up with. So far I have planted 8 varieties of Mangoes, 1 Logan, 1 Mulberry, 1 Guava, about 8 Coconuts and a Moringa. I have unsuccessfully tried Sugar apple and Lichee but haven't given up and am going to give Sugar apple another shot. I know what you are thinking, these plants are all dwarf varieties so they won't create a jungle :)

Besides this I also planted a small herb garden with just few things like coriander, mint, oregano, basil and curry leaves. I am still working towards pole beans, bottle gourd, bitter gourd and maybe the Indian squash.

I love colors and you can see it in my garden. I have tried to play with mostly orange, red and yellow with some purple.

Trip to Washington DC

This is the first time we took the kids to DC. Both of them LOVED the Museum of Natural History. Such a great place for kids. Soryan is learning about US Presidents so he was very interested in checking out the Lincoln Memorial and Thomas Jefferson Memorial. We did the whole walk around the Tidal Basin with beautiful Cherry Blossoms around the Potomac river. It was very cold but gorgeous. The National Mall is the best place for kids. Both Soryan and Arnav love dinosaurs and they took so many pictures. We also saw the Mammoth fossil - Remember Manny from IceAge?

The tulips were in full bloom, and the kids even played with snow one day. It was a COLD vacation but we had so much fun.

School friends

Soryan and Arnav are now going to go to a new school starting Fall. Arnav, the 5 year old already has 2 best friends and is very popular in school. I am not at all worried about him going to a new school and adjusting since he has a very bubbly personality and makes friends easily. Soryan on the other hand is reserved, a more introvert personality. I remember going to his class in Pre-K trying to make friends for him. Now he has finally made so many friends and is very comfortable in his school. I feel horrible to take away all this from him, but I have no choice. So this is for my son Soryan, his school friends :)

Momma Loves you LOTS!

Halloween 2005 - 2006

I just uploaded a lot of pictures from my camera and came across these. I don't know about u all but I am pretty bad in getting prints and uploading pics. As usual I waited till there was no more space left on the memory stick and had to either start deleting the pics or get a new memory stick. So picked the better of both options -- Upload them :)

I still had pics from 2005 in my camera. So here are pics from 2005 and 2006 Halloween. I still remember Soryan wanted to be Shrek and Arnav Spiderman, both influenced by the movies that came out that year. In 2006, I wanted to reuse the costumes but I got new demands to which I finally gave in. Soryan was Buzz Lightyear and Arnav became the Red Power Ranger. We had so much fun going around the community. Every Halloween we have a block party tradition. All the kids from our block get together and we bring out snacks and drinks at one of my neighbors houses. From there we all go together trick and treating. Last Halloween, the kids were tired after going through 1 block of 15 houses. So one of my neighbors got their pick- up trucks and we all hopped in the trunk and went through the whole community. The kids had a BLAST!

Washington Post's Mensa Invitation List

My Favorites:

1. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realise it was your money to start with.
2. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly
3. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.
4. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.
5. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.
6. Glibido: All talk and no action
7. Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly
8. Ignoranus: A person who's both stupid and an asshole.

New Title

A little bit of inspiration from my friends Blog got me to create a new title bar. I decided to make my own and have been fooling around with MSPaint. Can you believe it.. MSPaint. Nobody really uses that :) But I just wanted to draw my own and did a horrible job. I will work on it some other time and promise to change it regularly to keep it interesting.

Spring Water

After a good half hour workout at the Karate class Arnav sat in the car and we headed home. He was very thirsty and I gave him a bottle of Zephyrhills Spring water. For a while there was silence since he was busy drinking. Then he started reading the label, "Spring water!, So this is not Winter water. Winter water is cold."

I could not stop laughing and he got very annoyed at me. Next time I will try to control myself :)

My Doodling

From childhood I have this habit of scribbling on all my notebooks. So here is an example of one, which I probably did in few minutes during some meeting. I do this unknowingly and without any effort which is very strange.

Also, all of them seem to be geometrical. I would definitely like to meet somebody else who has this habit.

Why did you tell

Arnav loves gummy worms. So one day at Publix he threw a tantrum to buy gummy worms. This time I gave in to his demand . Somehow we managed to reach home without opening the packet.

I don't allow the kids to eat candy until they have had proper food. So they call it dessert. To avoid Arnav eating it all the time and then getting sick I hid the gummy's in one of my kitchen cabinets. After dinner, Soryan asked for it and I opened the cabinet and took it out. Soryan usually never pays any attention so I wasn't being very cautious. I know this sounds weird, but it's unbelievable what all I do to make sure they are eating healthy food and not consuming junk all the time.

The next day after dinner Soryan went and took out the gummy's by himself and shows me and Arnav that he is taking it. I comment that I will have to change the hiding place again. Arnav was watching all this and scolds Soryan, "DADA! you should not have told her that you found the place."

Me and my husband could not believe what we had just heard.

Green Fruit

I got a note from school to send in a green fruit today for St. Patrick's Day Celebration. I went and bought some green pears for both my kids.

When they came home from school I told them that I had got them the green fruit. Soryan, my 8 year old never questions and accepts all my decisions. Arnav, on the other hand seemed very excited and asked me what kind of fruit it was. He wanted to see it for himself to make sure I had not made a mistake. I showed him the pear and he said very confidently, "Momma, you could have also bought a watermelon or a kiwi."

Been a long time

It's been a while since I posted anything. The whole Blog thing was getting way too boring and so I decided to make it sort of my journal and store memories that I think are important to me.

So what's really important at this stage of my life..... My kids Of Course.

Just the other day I was thinking of how that show "Kids say the Darnest thing" started. I see it everyday out of the mouth of my 5 year old.

Arnav is in Pre-K at a Montessori school. He created a 8 page book with his drawings and few sentences explaining his drawings. The school had laminated the book. It was Arnav's prized possession. He showed me the book with great enthusiasm and exclaimed, " Momma, look at this book I wrote."

One of the pages had a pig drawn and he had written, "The pink pig got wet in the water."

I looked at the picture and the text under it and asked him. "Arnav, why is the pig blue?"
He said innocently, looking at me in disbelief, thinking how his mommy could not understand something so simple, "Momma! He is WET"