Samosa And Chai

It's a beautiful Autumn day outside, while I am still in August on my blog posts. Another major, may be not, milestone that occurred during the Summer is that my kids learned to make tea. Tea making is a perfect start to teach somebody how to cook as it starts off with boiling water. A little flavoring gives the new chef some freedom to try out their natural abilities and be a little experimental while staying with in the boundaries.

Here's the recipe I taught them to make a cup of tea.

Heat 3/4th a cup of water with crushed ginger and 2 cardamoms

When the water starts boiling, add a teaspoon of tea

Simmer the tea and add 1/4th cup or less of milk.

Wait patiently until the tea boils. Turn the stove to low heat for a couple of minutes and switch it off.

Filter and serve tea with samosas, rusks or Parle-G, our favorite go to biscuit to have with tea.

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Read ... Laugh ...Repeat

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Chinese Lantern Festival, Dallas, TX

A must see exhibit of lights beaming with creativity. Dragons made out of Porcelain plates, ancient creatures assembled from tiny bottles filled with colored liquid, ants on vacation some see-sawing while others playing a band, a miniature Temple Of Heaven about 1/3rd the size of the original one, mermaids, mushrooms, octopus gardens, dinosaurs, flamingos and Texas long horns to name a few exhibits.

No doubt the dragon was the high light of the show, mainly because the 300 feet dragon built from 15,000 dishes joined by hand is spectacular. Can you spot the plates?

The peacock simply stole my heart with dynamically changing lights imitating the natural movements of the peacock feathers.

The picture/photo does not do justice to the lilies and lotuses lighting up the pond. A couple of weeks ago, we had sneaked peaked into the Lantern festival during Diwali Mela as the venue was the same for both the events. We decided to come back another day and I am so glad we did. It's worth the 15$ for parking and the ticket price.

I am off from work starting tomorrow. What a delightful way to kick start our holiday season. I have to admit, the show was way better than I expected it to be.

You can find more pictures on pintrest.

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Happy Diwali

 

It's still raining Diwali celebrations here in Dallas. I have a 2nd round of Diwali party at work tomorrow. The first one was held last Friday. My parents are here to join in the festivities with us. Super exited about that!!! We hosted last weekend with sparklers and sweets galore.

I have a new found love for sarees. But some how could not get myself to buy one this Diwali for a one or two time wear. Sure I will get there, some day. The water jug filled with roses and the heavy duty appam-maker (appam-karai) as shown in pictures below are my latest finds. Actually my dad's finds.

The roses are from our back yard. Yes, it's still green here in Texas and sure is a pleasure to party out doors in November. Until I find a chance to make appams, the appam maker shall serve the purpose of a candle holder.

 

Of course my favorite urli filled with flowers, starring along side is the wooden floors that I am still mad about.

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Kids' Room

I usually refrain myself from reading books that my daughter does. The Hunger Games Series is probably an exception. We watched the Hunger Games and I could not resist my self from reading "Catching Fire" to know that happens next. Waiting a year for book #2 to be made into a movie did not appeal me as I suffer from exhibiting really low thresholds of patience. Gripping is an understatement to describe Hunger Games. I was pleasantly surprised to find the book written using simplistic language avoiding fancy schamcy words and sentences. No wonder it's such a popular book amongst school going kids and adults alike.

As a rule, I leave a lot of wall space in the kids room to engage their interests and encourage them adorn the wall with things of their choice. Proudly stands on her wall is our 5K race numbers for a charity event for breast cancer awareness, her choir show performance posters, a 6th grade Social Studies assignment on Abigale Adams, a poster of Taylor Swift along with the colorful bubbles we painted a while ago.

If you are interested in knowing what's in my son's room, it's simply - animals. Postures, cut-outs everything related to animals. Watch out you may very well step on insect habitats he builds out of plastic containers with holes poked on lids and the boxes filled with dirt and pieces of fruits. If you are lucky, you may find a box with an insect intact that he found on the school playground; carefully transported home in his back pack.

He's promised me he will not bring home all the "cute" geckos he finds outside our house, no matter how tempting it gets; simply because he knows I am scared of it. Now, how sweet is that !!!

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Play Dress Up And Garba

A lanky girl in tees and skinny jeans or shorts in the Summer biking around the neighborhood or throwing in a few hoops in the back yard, playing the piano particularly the Christmas songs at this time of the year so she can be ready for the holiday season or reading a book too fast ignoring my words of wisdom to read slowly absorbing every word and appreciating sentences best describes my daughter. If she is not doing any of the above she is probably definitely listening to Taylor Swift songs. She needs a lot of convincing to dress up girly-girl. Not that she is a tom boy, but simply does not take the time to dress up fancy.

A couple of weekends ago, I took the time to dress her up in traditional South Indian skirt and blouse with some of her jewellery from the time she took Bhartnatyam lessons. The bangles are a tad size too big for her as those belong to me.

The temple and other Gujrathi organizations around the DFW are organizing daily/weekend Garbas and Dandiyas. My daughter, her friend N, N's mom (a good friend of mine) and moi went to Garba in the temple Sunday night. It's my daughter's first Garba ever and I am glad she loved it.

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Fall Festival At Work And Middle School

Elementary school is a good time to try out various activities for the kids to get an idea of the their interests and to identify inherent talents. By Middle or High school the kid could still surprise you with a hidden talent or an interest they never showed when they were in elementary. Riya is still into spelling, singing, piano and her latest fascination is with sports and politics. Governor Romney did a wrong move by pulling in Big Bird into the political debate. My kids are so against him they remind me everyday that he could very well pull the plug out of NPR, one of my favorite radio stations. Riya made it into the school's Tennis team but sustaining the team needs a lot of practice. She is also looking at basket ball for the upcoming season. It's a little overwhelming for us but she seems to be enjoying the whole thing and efficiently managing her time.

Thanks to Facebook, I know I am not alone with the sudden influx in the activities for Middle school.Well, like everything else, this is a phase of life to be enjoyed and savored for time flies so fast. Last Friday was Fall Festival at my workplace. Riya had choir practice that day and I made her skip it to take her to the Fall Festival at work. She was hesitant at first but was glad she came to the festival.

Live band, bounce houses, crafts for the kids, kettle popcorn, cotton candy, charred corn on the cob, caramel apples with Halloween toppings as well as the classic peanuts, cake walk, plenty of games for the kids and fire truck with firemen providing tours of the the truck were all part of the Fall Festival last weekend.

No points for guessing that my current work place scored as the best company I ever worked for with my kids. I am beginning to realize the same, not just because of the free-festival but mainly because I am able to balance my work and life way better here than with any of my previous employers. Will post in detail another time on that aspect.

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