My Mom's Kitchen Shelf

My Mom's Kitchen Shelf. And my entry to the CLICK May 2008 event.

This month's theme is "Beans 'n Lentils". I have always been a fan of Lentils or Daals. And only now do I realize, that they are a manna. Very nutritious and tasty and quick to cook, especially for Baby food.

Let me share my recipe for Baby food. This has variety and considering that it has to be made day after day, for 3-4 meals a day, very convenient, as it does not require much thought. Rice, Daal & Veggies mentioned below can be used in different permutation-combination.

Ingredients:

Rice: White, brown

Lentil/Daal: Moong, Toor/Arhar, Masoor

Veggie: Carrot, Potato, Cabbage, Spinach/Palak, Cauliflower, Sweet potato

Salt & Turmeric

Broken wheat: Optional

1) Wash equal portion of Rice, Daal & Wheat in pressure cooker.
2) Add double quantity water.
3) Add a pinch of salt & turmeric powder.
4) Add chopped veggies
5) Pressure cook to very soft.
6) Puree a meal portion.
7) Store the remaining in Fridge. Puree fresh when required.

It's a form of kichdi. But once pureed, it gets a look of Pudding or fruit-less Custard. This pureed food is the best till Baby is toothless.

What I Did This Summer ?

Summer vacations. We are half-way through. Schools might start in a few weeks. I don't remember much details about my vacations, except it was fun, just games outdoors with my brother and friends or visits to Grandpa home in Udupi. That totally changed with college and after starting work, I think I completely forgot what it means !

It's only now with the challenge of entertaining my cousins & nephew, who are here for the vacations, that I am slowly going back in time. Initially it's just TV and their usual outdoor play, and some tinkering with mobile phones. With nearly every adult having his/her own mobile, each different make & model along with their Games, that's a lot of keeping-them-busy. But there is a limit to how much TV one can watch. It's a wakeupcall only when one of them gets a headache. So now I was the organiser, rather than the vacationee.

Kids are notorious for getting bored every minute. So this is a list of things for them to do which requires minimum adult supervison.

Gadgets:

1. Photography: Thanks to Digital cameras, they can take unlimited photos, make mistakes, learn, experiment. Also add mobile camera phones.
2. Computer games, DishTV, TataSky games
3. Other video games
   
   Games: No matter how modern times, traditional games are always at your rescue.
4. Scrabble
5. Chess
6. Cricket
7. Swimming or just thrashing around in water tank
8. Byheart a book on Capital & Flags of all Countries. It's fun to toss around a Capital quiz at dinner
9. Word: Boggle, Name-Place-Animal-Thing
   
   Projects:
10. Paper Puppets: Draw out characters (like Joker) or objects (tree, ball). Stick it to another paper, with a broom stick in between. Cut around the outline. That's one puppet. And then play out a story from behind the sofa. Yesterday, we taped one such play, and then spent rest of the day, laughing at every rerun!
11. Socks or cloth puppets, if you have more time to guide.
12. Leaf Project: Collect leaves of different plant. stick them in project book. Label them.
13. Book reading: Out loud
14. Scrap book: Give each child a diary. Let them cutout & paste any picture that catches their fancy. From old magazines & newspapers. Cars, cricketers, mobile phones, nature, animals, etc. Watch this scrap book grow with each vacation.
15. Drawing book: 10 drawings per vacation. Inspiration is all around us. Household objects, plants, animals, etc.
    
    
    Outings: Picnics at
16. Lalbagh
17. Cubbon Park
18. Museum tour: Art & Science Museum at Kasturba Gandhi Road; Innovatice Film City has numerous ones (Dino, Fossil, Wax, Ripleys Believe it ot not)
19. Big Banyan Tree
    
    Finally:
20. And then signoff the vacation with an Essay on, "What I did this Summer !"
    

Voted !

For the Karnataka Assembly Election on 10-July-2008.
For a government that will complete all the in-progress Road work.
And a whole lot more.

My Daughter's Room

Made this watercolor for a Drawing competition.
Topic was "Vision 2020".
So my entry was - "My Daughter's Room in the Year 2020" !