Summer Bliss

I made a deal with the kids that we would be making Ice Cream at home, all through the summer.
2 weekends ago, we made Mango Ice cream using the Kesar mango Pulp.

This weekend (yesterday) was Megha's turn to pick the flavor of the week and she picked Vanilla....
With a little supervision, kids made this from start to Finish.

Recipe:
Heat 500 ml Half and Half with 1C sugar. Once done, gently fold 500 ml whipping scream and 500 ml almond milk. Let it chill for a bit in fridge.

Stir in 1 tsp of vanilla extract and pop the liquid into the ice cream maker....thats it. 20 mins later, the slush is ready and another 2-3 hours later in the freezer, the yummy ice cream is ready.

and oh, they did pop in a few chocolate chips, maker it even more delicious.
Here, kids are watching the ice cream making doing its thing/.

Also, they kept complaining that they were bored and wanted to watch iPad. I gave them something fun to do (cleaning up the fridge with Saje cleanser, cleaned up the windows and the cupboards!)...one shot 2 birds?? Fridge is sparkling clean now...win win.

On to the Blue belt!

Megha has been training in Taekwondo for the past year and a bit. Its only twice a week for 45 mins lessons but that itself is a lot for a 7 year old who also has her soccer, swimming and dance going on.

She made us incredibly proud 2 days ago when she passed her orange belt and moved on to Blue(Starting with White, Yellow, Orange and now Blue). 3 nights before the test date, she came announcing that she will be taking part in the belt testing. She was 2 tapes away from the testing and it was a pleasant surprise….i would forever cry the tears of joy at all her achievements.

Anand was working night shift and he couldn’t come for the test. That means, I will have to keep tanush entertained (and quite)when the belt testing is going on. The best way to do that is to get him some snacks. So I packed a fairly big container…he finished it off right as Megha’s turn for testing came…sigh…and started fussing…sigh.

His snacks included chips, goldfish, cheese, yogurt, gummies, juice, water.

Megha, 7 or 27?

3rd week in July:
Megha loves to hear stories from when I was a little girl. We (Megha, Tanush and I and when Anand is not working, him as well) sit down to eat our supper on the dining table. We made it a rule that all 4 of us would sit there and eat, without TV. Best decision ever.

Other day, I was telling her about one of the incidences from childhood. I must have been about 6 or 7 years old; I remember it was in grade 2. This was in the playground at my school. I think it was lunch break; some other kid was eating ice cream and I shamelessly asked for it from it.
So then, another friend of mine went and told my mom, who in turn told my dad...oh it was a bad bad day.
As soon as tanush heard it, he said, "naughty mommy". But Megha was like, its ok momma, mistake happen, important thing is not to ask for it again. I did tell her how bad a decision it was 1) asking food from others 2)from a stranger at that...

megha went on to defend my actions saying i must have been hungry....love you baby girl.

A Day out with Thomas the Tank Engine

July 2nd weekend. 

For the past few years, we’ve been visiting St. Thomas (small town) every summer. I remember the first time, when Tanush was still inutero J

You never get too old for the famous British train Thomas the Tank Engine J

They have beautiful indoor stadium where they had all sorts of fun things to do. While Megha couldn’t get enough of the bouncy castle, Tanush was happy playing with the trains. The boy loves his trains!

We have to persuade both the kids away as neither wanted to drop what they are doing. Kids had fun at the puppet show and Bob the Builder show (I was tired and yawning and hoping no one is noticing how much I yarn). They tried to keep it as lively as possible, though, if you are not under 10, you probably wont really enjoy puppet shows.

Kids had fun, that’s all matters.

We then proceeded for lunch (the usual Poutine and hotdogs) and headed out to board the train. Tanush immensely enjoyed the ride, waving at the traffic, at the toot-tooing Thomas. Megha, well, Megha I think is getting a bit old for Thomas J (though, I love Thomas anyday).

Tanush here cannot take his eyes off Thomas. Things like the twinkle in his eyes makes it all worth it (the long ride, the hot sun and the whole nine yards). 

Selfie time..

Bubbles have always been a favourite part of the trip for me. Here is Megha with her jumbo bubbles.

Here is Anand being a kid, as I said, you are never too old for this stuff J

Tanush enjoying his favourite strawberry ice cream; he only loves that. This was actually cherry ice cream but its pink and can easily pass as strawberry.

Megha enjoying her own favorite chocolate icecream. I remember last year we made a mental note not to buy more than 2 sccops as kids don’t finish at least half of theirs.

But then, mental notes are only helpful if you remember them; we forgot. Again. We bought 4 sccops and half of it melted as kids didn’t eat beyond their half (it’s a pretty big scoop).

We returned home and I made fish and chips...the real deep fried one's :)

Ice creams, lemonades, hot sun, Poutine, hotdogs, beer, splash-pads, family....what more can one ask for? A million dollar lottery right here. 

Fish Fillet

I am slowly starting to get Megha and Tanush interested in cooking. Since about 2 years, Megha (then 5) could fix for herself a small breakfast of cold milk and cereal. Her and Tanush both love cooking beside me. 2 nights ago, we made fish (Tilapia).

Since I have moved on to OPOS (One Pot One Shot) technique, developed by chef Rama Krishnan, I find myself spending less time in kitchen while being able to whip up more and more verities of food.

2L pressure cooker (my magic Pot):

Layer 1: 3 tbsp water + 3 tbsp oil

Layer 2: Tilapia fille sprinkled with salt, pepper and a little lemon juice.

On high for 2 whistles. Release pressure manually. Serve with broccoli and cheese.

2L cooker is standardised as per OPOS method, 1/4C water in the 2L cooker. You should get the first whistle within 2 mins. This is just for the first time to get the standardization right. After this, use the same heat setting for all dishes.

Tanush’s first sleepover:

1^st week in July

We went to visit our family in Atlanta. Kids had so much fun with their cousin. Megha even played cricket and is getting very good at it. Here are the kids playing while building jenga.

We also visited 6 flags. Here is Tanush right before Anand and I were leaving for the hotel. Tanush insisted that he wanted to spend the night at my sister in laws’ along with my nephew. He was too excited (and hence the bad picture as he was jumping) and I was too nervous.