Summer Treats

Strawberry Smoothie - Sean's recipe



One of our all time favorite dinners - Steamed Mussels with herb french bread

Summer Travels

First came Vegas ....our first vacaton sans kids....what can i say...it was fantastic...

here are the pics:








Then came our family trip to Niagara...3 generations on a road trip...it was a lot of fun and the kids really bonded with appachan and ammachi..

First Time Visitors!

This month we had a few first time visitors to our home. Needless to say we were very excited and so happy to have them all visiting us! All of them visited were here in the last couple of weeks. We had Aji’s cousin Joppen visiting us from Canada. He had a conference in New Jersey and took a couple of days off after the conference and visited us. He got here Friday afternoon and spent the night at Anishchayan's place. Saturday he went sightseeing in DC came to our house in the evening.



Joe chetan, was also in town the same week. He wasn't sure if he would be able to make it since he was pretty busy with work. Saturday morning he called us to say he will be able to make it. Yay!


Saturday was a busy day.Rhea had swim lessons that morning so I took her for that. Sean had soccer at noon for which Aji took him and we told Joe chetan that we'll pick him at 4:00pm. I did my cooking in between all this. Aji was a bit late to start from here but managed to pick up Joe chetan and get home by 6:30pm. Soon after Joppen, Anishchayan and family came over. We had a great night of fun and laughter and after dinner, it was dessert time and I brought the chocolate cheesecake, the mimickers and the chocolate dipped strawberries. As I was serving the dessert, Aji sneaked out of his seat and couple of minutes later reappeared with cake, lighted candle et all. My birthday was 2 days later and boy did he get me on this one. I did not see this coming at all...what a surprise!!! The kids were all excited and I was so embarrassed, I wanted to hide under the table. I was just not prepared for all the attention. It was a good surprise so I tried to enjoy the moment the best I could.


Happy Birthday to me!
Last weekend Aji's cousin from California was in D.C for a conference. We came to know about it only on Friday and he wanted to stop by. He said that he was staying with a friend. We suggested Tea or Dinner and he opted for Tea. Maybe he had already made dinner plans with pals. Since it was an action packed weekend - swimming, soccer I didn’t plan for anything big. Saturday morning rolled around and Aji took Rhea for swimming. Around noonish Sean started showing symptoms of UTI so Aji took him to urgent care and sure enough it was. By the time he came home, Joboy chetan and his friend and wife (Regi and Geetha) and Geetha's sister Latha and her husband Tomsy stopped by. They made a quick stop at ANishchayan's place and Anishchayan and Suzanna brought them to our place. We had a great time with them...I had make egg puffs which they thoroughly enjoyed. They even took the leftovers for their son who LOVES puffs. I had also made a crumb cake which was also enjoyed by all. We took chicken spring rolls and coconut macaroons also along with tea. We chatted quite a bit and then we suggested that they stay back for drinks and dinner. They didn’t seem to mind the drinks part but had to get back to the Latha's place since all the kids were there and were supposed to go to a birthday party. Tomsy and Latha left to take the kids to the party, Anishchayan and fly left for church and they had a friend over for dinner.

The Shakers!
So once the movers left the shakers took the party to the deck. The bar was open and Glenfiddich was the star of the show and definitely helped to take everyone's humor and wit to a whole new level. Luckily I had some cutlets and almonds to accompany the wine and scotch. Much fun was had by all and the party dispersed around 8:00pm since they had to pick up the kids.

What a fun last few weekends it has been. We really hope we have more family coming to this part of town! It’s always a joy to have near and dear ones for company!

Surfer Dude!

Sean started his summer swim lessons this weekend. He has started liking the water and was very excited about the class this week. He loves 'The Backyardigans' show on TV and there was an episode where all of them go surfing. After Sean got dressed her pretended to stand on a surf board and stretched his arms out to balance himself on the board wwhile surfing. He really had the surfer dude look going on (and the goggles). See for yourselves!


Master of the waves!!

Home and Garden Edition

Bye Bye Winter...Hello Spring....Oh My, Summer's almost here ..

It's been while since i did any writing..work was ultra hectic.In the meantime Winter's gone buh bye...spring and its showers and allergies are still lingering and summer is almost here.Yay!

We're almost done with our spring gardening...we planted a lot of perennials this year. We did Lavenders, sweet tufts, dahlias, lillies and a few other whose name escape my mind..I also added some annuals (petunias and gerber daisies) for an instant boost of color. The peonies from last year bloomed this year..well, the pink one, the burgundy buckeye has one bud...hopefully it will bloom soon.


Peony

The butterfly bush has new leaves and the crape myrtles have thick foliage..can't wait for the blooms in summer.

Lavender,Crape Myrtle, Petunia


Side Yard

The roses are in full bloom and oh so lovely!



The dahlias are out - all 8 of them. They should bloom in summer..


The Lillies are slowly sprouting. I have planted 18 of them ...and almost 5-6 of them have come to life...they are in season so I'm hoping they will be out in time and have some blooms this year.

I also did some herbs - coriander, rosemary, basil, mint and thyme.

We have a bunny rabbit in our back yard and today i noticed that it had eaten all of my cilantro plant not a leaf wwas spared...I had a made a trinity with the rosemary,basil and cilantro and in the picture you can see that the whole haed of cilantro has been eaten up. I really hope my herbs survive the attack of the rabbit this season...otherwise i might have to resort to setting bunny traps and maybe roasting that little fellow with a marinade of all my herbs...so you better watch out..you bunny who thinks you are smart to eat my cilantro..



My first vegetable a container tomato plant. It already has baby tomatoes!


Gerber Daisies on the deck!

Can you say that I'm thrilled at the way the yard has shaped up this year :) That's me grinning ear to ear.

Since this is a Home and Garden edition and I've done a comprehensive garden edition, let me get on to the Home edition now...just couple of my culinary adventures.

Last weekend I made fresh pasta for the first time and it was delish. it was easier than i thought and i made a yummy bologonese sauce to go with it. The kids loved it which is always an added bouns!

We were hoping to go strawberry picking this week and i had plans to make a strawberry rhubarb pie. Well, Sean came down with fever so we had to ditch the farm trip. I still wanted to make the pie so off to the store i went and this was the end result...the crust was nice and flaky and the filling was juicy and yummy!

The EVIL Bed Magnet

Its the source of my workout woes..winter for me is the hardest time to force myself out of the bed for my workouts and off late its magnetic pull is getting stronger and stronger and my will to resist is turning into mush...

MUST GET BACK TO THE DRILLS AND LOOSE ALL THE JIGGLES..

Back to reality!

Praveen, Rosie and Elisha left for New Jersey...its back to reality...Work, School, Home work, chores....Ughh...Such is life...

Birthday Party!

Rhea is 3!! Yipee!!

She wanted a Dora party so i went all out. we had it at lifetiome fitness...we were also thrilled that Elisha was here all the way from sydney to join in the fun.




Maybe since we had people from the other end of the world...there was such a poor turnover from her class...but the important thing is Rhea had a blast and that made us all happy!







I made her a dora birthday cake.





Happy 3rd birthday my princess!!!

Family Time

This week pavi and fly came to visit us...it was a short visit and since this was their first pit stop...they were tired and jetlagged. By the time it was ready to go Elisha was her ususal self...but fun was had by all ...the kids got to bond with their cousin.



Praveen got to meet his tennis mate from 10 years ago. Sunita's daughter and Sean go Tennis class together.


he also met another friend of his...only his nickname comes to mind and i dont think i want to refer to him by that :)

TEAM WORK

Last week we enjoyed some good weather and the kids ventured out to play on the deck. And as always they started fighting over the same bike even there are 2 other options they could choose. But after a feww minutes of push, pull, cry (wwhich i stayed away from ) i heard laughter. i was curious how moods can change so fast. But as i peeked out the kitchen window this is what i saw. And it brought the biggest smile on my face.



After all the fighting they figured out that they could ride the bike together and have more fun than their solo rides!

That's what I call TEAM WORK!

If only they would use the strategy more often..

Rhea is 3 !!

Our Tweety pie is 3! Wow, how fast time flies!



So today morning we wished Happy Birthday and the first question she asks - Where's my gift! I guess by now she has gone to enough birthdays to understand the relation between birthdays and gifts.

I'm so glad i picked up her gift the previous evening. So we gave her the doll house which was of course still in the box. She was beyond excited!! She kept saying 'my present!, my present!' and wanted to open it right away. We were able to distract her with her new dress and she was ready in no time raring to go to school to share her birthday with her friends.

Rhea with her doll house - All SMILES!
I had made pretty flower cup cakes for her to take to school.


Flower Cupcakes
That evening after we got back from school, i worked on icing the chocolate cake while the TV babysat the kids. Daddy got back only around 8:30 but both of them waited patiently. We cut the cake after dinner and they both enjoyed a big hunk of the chocolate cake!


Rhea had her 3 year Dr appt early in the week. She is still a peanut but is followwing her growth chart and has it all the milestones for her age. She told the dr, colors and shapes in spanish (and i was wondering why she said circulo instead of circle. Thank god Dr Howell knowws spanish!) So no shots this time and she is at the 8 percentile for weight and 44 percentile for height. I know she is petite but i'd rather have her lean and tall than be on the other end of the spectrum. i've een there and would not wish that hell for anyone..

Rhea, i have a special message for you...i will post that here soon ..

Slumdog wins the Oscar!

And what a sweep it was!!

I knew it would win for music and I was planning to make some dessert to celebrate but I fell sick that day and watched the historic moment on the couch barely keeping my eyes open as I was sedated with Sudafed. So fast forward a week and half later - I returned to the world of the living and decided to still make that dessert honouring SM.

I made the chocolate cup filled with vanilla pudding and a dash of cocoa powder.


So let me explain the inspiration behind this mouth watering yumminess of a dessert(if i may say so myself) - the chocolate cup and the cocoa powder is reminiscent of the slums, the dirt, the poverty and everything sad. The yellow vanilla pudding represents all the glory, it reminded me of the golden oscar statue and everything good about the movie, the triumph of the human spirit, the riches the pratogonist in the movie acheives by winning the love of his life and becoming a millionaire!!



So whether you like it or not - this is my culinary interpretation of the amazing movie - SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE.

Happy Valentines Day!

Had a great valentines day! I made valentine cookies for the kids to take to school for their friends. They were so excited!



Aji gave me this fantastic gift which was a complete surprise and hence even more special. I'll post a picture soon. I made a heart shaped cake which the kids devoured.

Super Bowl Sunday!

Well, yesterday was superbowl sunday. We had a ton of errands to run and started off with mass at 10:45. By the time wwe got back it was 3:30. Sean and Aji stepped out again to get his pictures for passport renewal and couple more errands. Rhea took a nap and I had decided to do start on the dinner. Since it was superbowl and all and the wweather was pretty nice we had initially thought of grilling. I had planned on an appetizer and desert both of which i hadn't even done any prep work. Add to that I also had to make the Oatmeal and the lunches for the week. It got dark outside pretty quickly, aji went downstairs for a jog and i started on the Asparagus and Hummus Tart and then marinated the chicken to grill. That didn't take much time and i knew that it was going to be a appetizer and dessert night. So i put away the chicken that as marinating back in the fridge.


Asparagus and Hummus Tart

The game was on and the kids and aji settled with their drinks. Beer for dad and sparkling cider for the kiddos. I started on the desert in between watching snippets of the game. The game got pretty interesting after half time especially the 4th quarter. Anishchayan would call whenever there was a touch down. Sean also got interested in the game and he was backing the steelers. Since the Redskins hadn't made it (no surprises there), aji and I ususally support the underdog, in this case the Cardinals. It was a pretty close game and of course the steelers took it away with just 40 secs remaining.

In between the game, dessert was ready and Sean had slept off in front off the TV. I tried waking him up since he was most excited about the dessert. But he was so sound asleep.





I wanted to cut the tart in the morning with Sean but father and daughter would have none of it. both of them wanted it rightaway. Since i was outnumbered we went ahaed and indulged. It was awesome. Rhea enjoyed the fruits and the custard the most!



We went to bed, way too late for a sunday night and I woke up late and missed my workout today morning :(

Life's simple pleasures!

Friday night we let the kids stay up later than their usual bed time and this week they had a surprise late night treat - Ice cream! Rhea thoroughly enjoyed hers to the last lick...watch for yourself!

Favorite Things

I just realized today that i have never noted a list of Sean or Rhea's favorite things at any given time. Granted that they tend to change over time I think I should do it atleast once in a while. it will be fun to look back at what they loved at different stages of their growing years :)

SEAN,

Family - He is such a family man already. He loves loves loves his lil sister and calls her bebe or lil baby. Loves to play wwith her but also knows t0 push her buttons and get her irritated. He will occasinaly come and give me and aji a kiss and a hug. If i make something different he is very vocal and will say - Thank you mommy for making this. I just love that about him!

Food

His current favorite is breakfast. Pancake with a dollop of butter, maple syrup and breakfast sausages. he loves it so much, we had it both days this weekend. His other favorites - Poori, Poot (puttu), Flat eggs (bulls eye), baked eggs, egg and cheese sandwich, Cereal(mix of cheerios, cinnamon toast, frosted flakes, honey bunches)


He also loves chicken nuggets and tater tots, mashed potatoes, pesto chicken sandwich, pizza, chirros, ICECREAM (MINT, COTTON CANDY with gummy bears mixed in, CHOCOLATE, VANILLA)

Entertainment - He loves everything STAR WARS. He has watched the movies so many times that he has memorized a few dialogues :) He loves his light saber and is looking forward to soccer in spring. He is slowly beginning to enjoy his swim lessons.

Fav quote- yeah Babe! (in different tones depending on when he is happy, sad or angry)


RHEA

That's Rhea!

That was what Rhea exclaimed as I was showing Aji the video from today morning. She kept screaming, That's Rhea!! That's Rhea and laughing loud....It was so sweet to hear her happy giggles...moments like these make being a mom truly special and rewarding!

Learning the fun way!

It is always easy to remember when you have learned something the fun way. Rhea's class has been doing just that. They learnt the spanish numbers (1 thru 10) in a song and also the days of the week (in english of course)in a song. She has been singing it at home for the past few days and I thought I should capture it before she moves onto something else. These are her current favorites and if you notice in the video she loves to repeat the same song over and over again until we tactfully get her to move on to the next one :)

So Ladies and Gentlemen,Boys and Girls, put your hands together for Rhea - singing the Uno Dos Tres Amigo and The Days of the week!


Rhea Singing from PreethsJ on Vimeo.

Hope you enjoyed it!

Ice Ice Baby

Yes, that's the story here today. So much so that county schools are closed again. Luckily winwood is open so Sean and Rhea were dropped off even through they were reluctant. Aji and I are working from home since the roads seem to be slippery and makes for a hazardous commute. Yesterday aji cleared the driveway in the morning but by evening as I was driving in, it again had a few inches of snow and Shirley our neighbor with whom we share the drive way was clearing it out again. Justin their 9 year old was having fun in the snow. Because of my tendonitis, i dont even attempt to take the shovel out.

Deck today afternoon. You can see the ice on the chair and the table


View of our side yard from the garage

Anways, fast forward to today morning I hear the grating sound of the shovel on the drive way. Ed (shirley's husband) was out again and he cleared the entire drive way. Aji was in a conf call so he couldnt step out. Thanks Ed!

Clean Driveway!
Usually the two of them work on it together. I was thinking that maybe I should take a few of the muffins i baked yesterday as a 'thank you' to them.

Mmm Mmm Muffins!

Sean has been asking me for blueberry muffins from Saturday. I was planning on making some banana muffins over the weekend but he said he wanted blueberry ones. Since they are not in season, I asked Aji to get some frozen blueberry's. I didn't get to make them over the weekend but today we got our homework out of our way slightly early. And since Aji was home, he played with the kids afterward. So I had just enough time and all the ingredients to whip up a batch of blueberry muffins.

The kids were in the basement when I started on them and came up as I was getting done with the batter and Oh my! the look on their faces :)


They were so excited wanting to eat the batter rightaway. I always let them have a lick or two of the spatula/spoons.


Rhea licking the spoon clean!


Mmm..Warm muffins with gooey blueberry's inside. Yummo!

It was getting a bit late for bed time but i let them stay a little late for the hot muffins. Here they are enjoying the late night snack!




They absolutely loved it and downed a muffin each :)