Winner - 7/12

This past weekend we made the trip to West Virginia.

Sean emerged winner at the USTA U-12 clay court championship, Morgan town, West Virginia!!! With this win, he is #16 in Mid-Atlantic! Its a joy to see all teh results from his hard work!

Finalist Singles and Doubles- VA State U-12 Clay Court Championship, Lynchburg, VA

7/19/2015

Finalist Singles and Doubles- VA State U-12 Clay Court Championship, Lynchburg, VA

Summer Tart!

Its summer and tarts are my favorite dessert. So I keep making them with different fruit combos. This one with peach, blackberries and raspberries. I like the color combo..like a ray of sunshine :)

Happy 4th!

Yeah, i know its been a week since the 4th but i had to start somewhere especially since I've been away for so long. We didn't really do a lot last weekend which was great because weekends are becoming more and more busy. It was good to just be home and hang out ..just the 4 of us..

Made a good family dinner to celebrate the 4th. We had cocktail shrimp for starters. This was followed with herb roasted lamb with potatoes and roasted butternut squash and dessert was a very berry tart. The tart was a huge hit and with just one slice remaining at the end of the night.

We finished the night with some sparklers and called it a night! 

Time to come back...

Been away for too long..didn't realize its been two years..,.how time flies.

I realize that i do need to pen down my thoughts more often...so here's to a fresh start again :)

Attack of the mint

A couple of years back, i planted a lone mint plant in our side yard. Little did I now that it was the beginning of a 'hard to get-rid' of problem. Next year when spring was around the corner I started noticing mont not just in the one spot but several and it just bigger and bigger. I tried several times to get them out completely but of course their roots are all over and they came back with more force the next year. This time I decided that rather than trying to unsuccessfully uprooting them, I would just attack them back or rather embrace them into my home. So last week Rhea and I pulled a whole bunch of them and put them in a vase with some colored pebbles. Such a pretty sight!

A simple mint arrangement

The mint harvester :)

 I wish I had done this sooner...

Hydrangeas in bloom!

Hydrangeas always reminds me of beachside cottages. It is a flower that i started liking after coming here, dont think I admired them as much growing up. 

Hydrangeas with green dianthus

This particular one we bought when we did our landscaping 5 years ago and every year the plant would get a little bit bigger and have few more blooms than the previous year. This year, is like the coming of age, the entire plant is covered with blooms and I just cant take my eyes off them. I have a pink one as well and the blooms on them are just coming out. So maybe in the coming weeks I can share their beauty here as well.

Hydrangeas remind me of summers by the beach

I made this simple arrangements with the Dianthums from last weeks arrangement. The peonies and the hydrangeas wilted and some of the carnations as well, so i picked out the Dianthums and decided to pair them with the Hydrangeas and of course i had to put them beside the giant shell to get the 'Beach Cottage' look.

Enjoy!

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.

Lookin' Good!!

I took this picture after church last Sunday. The weather was beautiful and the flowers were in full bloom.

Mom-daughter time..

Last Saturday, Sean had a tournament. So he and Aji left around 8:30 after breakfast. Rhea was sad that she couldn't go with them since she had her tennis lesson at noon. So to mix things up a little Aji suggested that we go for a walk.

So once the boys left, Rhea and I got ready and ventured out. I decided to do the 3 mile look and make a stop at the park which was on our way.

She was so excited to play in the park even though it was still chilly. Soon we said goodbye to the park and continued our walk. She hopped around, was very excited to see the golf course on our way. There were people playing and she was happy posing for a picture.

 Around mile 2 all the enthusiasm started to wear off and she wanted to go back home. Since we were beyond half way i decided to distarct her, we did short quick sprints from lamp post to lamp post, admired the yards that were full of flowers, so some doggies. Even then she was increasingly restless as we got nearer to our street. This was the first time she was coming this route so I decided to follow street names and told her that we might be lost and she has to figure out a way to get us home. Smehow she seemed pretty excited at the thought of being lost (i thinks its from her books) and that saved the day. When we reached the intersection to our community, I still pretended like I didnt know the place and she was super confident we were on the right track.  She was so excited when we could see our house and very proud of her 'navigation' skills :)

It was one of the best mom-daughter outings and we plan to have more in the future.

Spring is here!

Spring is here...we had a good share of great weather the last couple of days. It almost felt like we skipped Spring and went straight to Summer. But today the thunderstorms were back reminding us that it is indeed spring. The cherry blossoms are in full bloom, so are the pear trees and such a treat to the eyes. Tulip and Daffodil blooms all around.

I had planted quite a few daffodils and tulips when we first moved here. Over the years many of the bulbs just didn't make it. I 'm now left with a handful of daffodils and tulips. the daffodils that we have are on the side of the house so we never get to really see and enjoy them. The other day we got the spring mulching done and so i was checking out the yard and saw them in bloom. I gave them another day in the garden and yesterday brought them inside for us to enjoy. They would start to dry in a day, hopefully they will last longer indoors.

I just love the cheer they bring and am reminded of William Wordsworth's beautiful poem about them...Here they are from our house to yours. Hope they bring a smile on your face and a spring to your step!

Sundal!

Sundal has been a favorite of mine for a long time. I only got to eat them when visiting friends homes during the Golu festival and I have savoured it very time. Not sure why I did not try making it at home before. Now that I'm trying my hand at a lot more South Indian vegetarian cooking, this one came to mind.

The recipe is super simple and the outcome is just pure bliss. It's a great source of protein and not much in the way of added calories other than the teaspoon or two of oil used for the tempering. It makes for a great snack but can easily be used as a simple side dish with rotis or rice.

A perfect start to a new day!

And I'm back...after a very long break...i hope to post more often. I am in between jobs now and have got some time to do some cooking...so will share my experiments. The above is one of them....for the first time...had a very successful attempt with the humble IDLI and the authentic South Indian Sambar!! That with a good filter coffee and the newspaper in the morning...perfect start to the day!!

Happy Father's Day!!

I thought father's Day was the week before and with a hectic schedule I couldnt do anything special that weekend. I was so relieved to hear that it was the following Sunday. 

We started off with some special flowers for Daddy the evening before and it was surprise since he had taken Sean for a tournament and wasn't expecting it !! This was followed by appetizers - Bruscetta, Pigs in a blanket and roasted fingerling potatoes.

Breakfast next morning was some fresh waffles and eggs! Called up both the Appacha's and wished them too. After church, we stopped by Anishchayans place, the kids wanted to stay back so we left them there to play with their cousins and went for a quick lunch, did some errands to prepare for Sean's summer camp that was starting the next day. One our way back we picked the kids and headed home.

For dinner, I made couple of Aji's favorites - Peas Pulav and Spicy Shrimp curry and some cool raitha. Dessert was left over chocolate cake!

Happy Fathers Day Aji!!

Over and out!

We got home from Rhea's dance recital pretty late! Both Sean and Rhea were completely tuckered out. Sean had tennis that morning and he was tired as well. We stopped by for dinner on our way and after we got home, got them out and asked them to go to their rooms. This is what we saw 2 minutes later :)