Goggles In Space

Made parippu vada last weekend. My first attempt at it in so many years. I am a great fan of this and had been lucky enough to eat without taking pain to cook. I have eaten the home made parippu vadas made by maid, mother and mother in law. It tastes super. Yesterday, i followed my instincts to mix the ingredient and fried it. Generally a health freak, at times, i slip down to do bit of deep frying or generous spread of ghee on otherwise sukha rotis/paranthas. It was not very spicy but at the same time tasted good ,except for the uneven spread of salt. Kids and myself loved it. With a cup of chana dal, i made about 15 medium sized vadas. Should have made hot tea as well,but had so many household chores to complete, i let the tea part aside. As an adult i wasnt a good cook ever(i mean still not), but of late deriving inspiration from cookery blogs like Mariasmenu, Sharmi's passion etc, i have started trying out new things like cakes,snacks,fried rices, paneer curry etc.The recent fe...

After a 2 (or 3 ? )month break from blogging i am back..a ten day vacation to Jaipur and delhi during pooja holidays,"maid" void days and such had made me extremely busy. Still when i sit back and relax for a while during the busy days, i do think of my little blog space. Jaipur is an enchanting place with large forts, bazaars and streets full of colorful handicrafts,rajai, camels and of course bangles. I became crazy when i saw the streetside choodiwala and became contented only after buying 10 dozens of  bangles, made of cut glass and mud. I wonder how many days they would with me intact still it was my big wish to buy some of those and i did ! I cannot recollect when my love for Gujju and Rajasthani handicrafts began but i know i love them lots.Love the bright colors and the awesome combinations.In the scorching heat, most of the desi Rajasthanis looked a tired lot ,carrying water and making rotis all the time but their ideas and skills are a class apart. The Pink city w...

Like most wives, usually every year i remind the husband many times before September even starts so that my bday doesnt go unnoticed and i get some gifts too. This time consciously i didnot give any hint or remind about the bday. After all, i have been with him for 8 long years and that was more than enough for him to have Sep15 engraved in mind. I was mistaken. He forgot to wish me, didnt give even a card (forget kiss) and no gifts absolutely...He dressed up for office as there was a recruitment drive and spent the day there. Initially pissed off and later disgusted, i told kids that its mom's bday ,made them wishe me and made an instant mug chocolate cake(Sharmi's Passion blogsite). There ended my 31st bday celebs !Phew !!!!!!!   Come October and i will take double treat from you at Jaipur,Sreetta :)

Bdays started becoming significant during College Days. Back in school, i cant recollect how my bdays were celebrated or whether there was any celebration at all - probably for star bday, parents would go to temple,perform archana in my name, prepare sadya if it falls on a weekend..Three out of four in the family had bdays around onam time (me, hari and achan), so sadya/payasam combo was mostly the routine. Back in college hostel, friends used to celebrate everyone's bday by cutting cake at midnight and giving surprise gifts. Love my friends for that :) After engagement with Sree i had some of the best birthdays - not because Sree bestowed surprises on me or religiously took me out on bdays but he acknowledged that i felt elated to be wished/gifted on birthdays ! He would have thanked god that the day comes only once a year ! After our engagement, we used to talk every night. During one of those calls,i had told abt my Date of Birth as well.We used to talk over phone at night (mo...

We just finished making 3 cards - 2 for the kids for Teacher's Day (Today) and another one for my dad's bday..Parents never had the habit of celebrating bdays and we too never bought gifts as such. Amma loved sarees, so for her i used to get sarees since i got a job - For the past 9 yrs , i have been doing that! these days there is lot of hype abt bdays, Mother's Day, father's Day etc but we are not used to buying and sending cards. For our anniversray and sometimes for Sree's bday, i buy cards form the shop and gift it...This time for dad's bday, we 4 got together to make a card. There was hardly anything at home to decorate it, so we pasted few pics, some cutouts using color paper and then made a card. Yesterday, it reached him and the "grandfather" was profoundly happy...Next in line is a card for Hari..sigh ! how life has changed since he got sick in 2009..

FaMILY - Father says I love you to the Mother and thats when the family gets life. Now the father is too busy with Kindle, yoga, laptop, weekend baddy court ,phone and dont know what else when he is not into reading/eating/sleeping. The mother is busy in the kitchen, kids,studies, reading etc...There is always whole lot of noise in the house and Father hates it.Something is missing and the Pa-Ma combo is no more making a good couple .That has led me to think we are not a FaMily in the true spirit. Earlier, the four used to sit in the bed in the evenings , reading stories, fun fighting, hugging each other but not any more. To be frank, I am hating it. I didnt talk to Sree in the car saying he is not spending time with me. He says i am not talking to him when he comes to me. We start the day together with yoga, drive to office together, meet for lunch, go for a walk in the campus but that glitter is not thr in his eyes nor in mine. Yesterday we spent time in The Baby Shop getting toys ...

To me, my mom's place and relatives were more near. One reason definitely was the distance and hence the chances of getting to see and spending more time with them. Me and my brother used to spend summer vacations with grandparents and cousins. I cherish those days of watching movies (both in theatre and VCR),occasional temple visits, vishu kaineettams,tasty food (pappads, chips as well)from my grandma, tales from my grandad about his military days etc. After a long 10 months of school, this was defnitely a good break. For reasons, good and bad,dad's native and his relatives were always very far. Last week, for a marriage, we decided to go there and spend couple of days in the malabar, walk on the banks of Bharathapuzha and relish some good moments in the serene land. I had opted a week long vacation from work, so it gave me enough time to plan the trip. Along with parents and kids, we reached the wedding house in the afternoon. The house was so well decorated with a huge white...