Birthday Time!

Another year has passed by so quickly!! Its birthday time again :)

Last year I was nursing my fractured foot. This year, I was sort of counting down the days and then as the day got closer I felt like it snuck up on me.  It fell on a Saturday after so many years and this time of the year being the busiest one work wise I haven't really been able to take the day off. Since I'm now at home off work, I was looking forward to a serene day :)

Birthday wishes - The lovely arrangement and the card.
[ I added more flowers to the arrangement after I got home :) ]

Last week I got a mail from Chechi (S-I-L) about her and two other friends taking me for lunch and to check on my availability. Of course i said!! Fast forward 1 week and yesterday I met chechi, Bhavani and Kala at Bollywood Bistro for lunch. By the time i got there they were already seated and imagine my surprise when they handed me the flowers and the card. It was great to meet with them for lunch to celebrate my birthday...we had a buffet and the surprise was at the end when they caught me completely unaware with a creme brulee with a candle. So they thoroughly got me embarrassed (I'll have to admit it was a happy embarrassment though) in public with the loud rendition of 'Happy Birthday'. I wish we had taken a group picture :( After some more chatter and devouring the dessert, we dispersed to tackle the regular Mom/Spouse duties..

To be continued...

Spring garden update

Spring is here but it is chillier than usual this year. Nevertheless I couldn't wait get started on the garden. On one of my visits to Costco, they were selling spring bulbs and I couldn't resist picking a bag. At the time I really didn't know where I can accommodate more plants but I just had to get them. The bag was a mix of Cala Lilies (my new favorite), Blazing Star (Liatris) and Coreopsis (Tickseed).

After much deliberation over the next couple of weeks and many many times of thinking through potential beds I finally had a plan. Its been 3 weeks since I planted the bulbs and I have been checking to see if any shoots have come up every single day. Yeah, i know it takes a couple of weeks but I am so impatient. Finally my wishes came true and last week I saw a small little shoot poking through the mulch in the side yard where I had planted some of the blazing stars. I was hesitant to get excited since the other two beds showed no signs of any shoots. I waited and waited and finally this past weekend I saw more shoots on this bed and saw a few on the other two locations Hooray!!

Blazing Star

It doesn't take much to get me happy and excited does it? I cannot wait for them to grow and start blooming. The Coreopsis, I think are also slowly coming out, they look nothing like it and I'm hoping its them and not another uninvited weed getting my hopes up..

The Cala lilies seem to still continue their process under ground. I have a yellow and a deep purple planted.I've been reading up a lot and it looks like they take longer and develop strong roots before sending shoots up. I just hope that there is some good action going on under ground and they will soon present themselves.

The roses are full of buds and the first couple of buds bloomed last week. Usually the first blooms are around Easter weekend but of course old man winter linegred a while longer and everything got delayed.

Rose bush around the deck

The same with the Peonies as well. By this time they are all gone but this year, the timing was perfect...the first blooms were out just in time for Mother's day and I got to make a beautiful arrangement. I want to make one with peonies and hydrangeas next.

Pink Peonies (Burgundy not pictured)

My hydrangeas are still sprouting leaves and it maybe another few weeks before we see any signs of buds.The lilies are doing well. I have about 35 of them and they are all out. The 10 or so I planted last year in the front are also out and I'm hoping to see more flowers on them this year!!

Lilies

The daisies are coming along nicely and the lone surviving Dahlia has not given up and its coming up right next to the daisies.The Hostas that I planted last year, didn't completely survive the winter. I had three of them and only one survived :(

Daisies and the lone Dahlia behind it

I aso went ahead and got the annuals for the planters on the deck. Petunias, Hibiscus, Verbana and a few others..

The Lone star on the garage entrance and the red,white and blue petunias

Rhea and Sean singing!

This was recorded on our way back from church yesterday...both of them were goofing around, singing and being generally silly :)

http://vimeo.com/66163873

Happy Mother's day!

Ten years ago, I celebrated my first Mother's day. Sean was a few days old and I was barely getting a hang of this 'Motherhood' gig. Aji gave me the most beautiful pendant of a Mom holding her baby which i wear every year on Mothers day!  

I can't believe its been a decade and what a fantastic experience it has been. Sean and Rhea are the light of my life and everyday they make me want to be a better Mommy to them. They have taught me patience, resilience, to live life in the moment and so much more..

Happy Mothers day! The peonies are from our garden!

Aji and the kids made it super special. They got me flowers yesterday night. And the celebrations continued today. Breakfast was yummy french toast topped with strawberries and whipped cream. Sean and Rhea made cards for me and Rhea even broke into an impromptu song she made up about Mother's day! It was so good, I have to get her to do it again so I can record it!

French Toast with strawberries and cream

 We decided not to go for tennis today. That means we had a pretty lazy Sunday. Made a few phone calls wishing everyone. After church, Sean and I spent some time studying for his SOLs while Rhea worked on Kumon and Aji did some work stuff. I made paninis for lunch and then got back to our studying. Sean kept asking for another break and i let him go for some time. The two got together and decided to play lawn tennis yeah..quite literally. It was hilarious but they had alot of fun and I took some video as well!! At this time, Aji started working on the marinade for the skirt steak.

Lawn tennis action!

                                                                             
The dinner menu was absolutely delish - grilled skirt steak and mushroom gorgonzola risotto. French bread to mop up the sauce from the steak!!

The Spread!

                                                                                 
We cheered to the fantastic day again and Rhea said 'I can't wait until it is 'Sisters Day'. So we promised her that this summer we will celebrate Sisters Day and Brothers Day :) She is already thinking of what she wants to do that day :) We then dug into the food!! Both Sean and Rhea thoroughly enjoyed everything, which is a rarity. Most of the time if one of them likes something, the other one will not. So today's spread was a complete winner!! Good job Dad! It was outstanding!

Cheers!

                                                                     
After dinner, the dessert was even better, pound cake topped with vanilla ice cream and triple berry topping (strawberry, raspberry and blueberries). Light and delicious! The perfect ending to a spectacular dinner and day!

Dessert!

What a great weekend!! Thanks Aji and my lovely Seany and Rhee!!

Home made rasgullas!

I've been fascinated by rasgullas for the longest.Its one of my favorite indian sweets just because its not overly sweet. I always got the feeling that these were very difficult to make and so never even bothered to look at a recipe nevertheless attempt making them.

Since I've been at home now in between jobs, I'm doing a lot more experimenting with Indian food. Have been trying a lot of vegetarian dishes and totally loving the successful outcomes. So one day i stumbled upon the rasgulla recipe. After pondering for several weeks, i finally decided to take the plunge and boy am I so glad I did. It wasn't difficult at all (especially since i saw it as a Mt.Everest in my mind) and it turned out beautifully - perfect texture and taste. I should use a bigger vessel to cook them next time since they were all squished together and so all of them were not perfect spheres, but am super happy with the end result.

Ajit and the kids enjoyed it as well and it was all gone in a couple of days :)

Happy 10th Birthday Sean!

Sean turned 10 last week. I cannot believe that he has reached the double digit milestone. He is growing up to be a sensitive, loving and very caring son, brother and friend. He is very competitive and always wants to win even against his little sister. He is funny and smart and makes us all laugh. He gets emotional talking to his Appachas and Ammachis and misses them. he will tell me he loves me and always comes and tilts his headfor me to kiss his forehead before going anywhere even if its out to play with his friends. He is our sweet little boy and he gave me the most precious gift of motherhood a decade ago..We love you Seany..more than you'll ever know.

For his birthday this year, he had a special cake request -   Caramel cake. So once I got my order, off to the net I wandered and did some searches and found the one that I thought would fit his request. Got working on creating it, with a few mishaps along the way and the some adapting, the final result was awesome if i say so myself. The cake was really soft and the icing was just perfect. For dinner, since it was a school night, I made chinese - Egg drop soup and Mongolian beef with rice.

Over the weekend we took him out. He wanted to go to a sports bar but then after playing tennis that evening we were all a bit tired and finally he chose his favorite burger joint that also had a sports bar area.