Cabbage Pakoda

These pakodas came out so delicious! They were crisp on the outside and tender inside. The blend of vegetables provided the right contrast for the taste buds. I've never used peas in any kind of pakodas and was a little hesitant. Never again will I think twice!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup besan (chickpea flower)
• 1/4 cup rice flower
• 1 cup cabbage, chopped
• 1/2 cup onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
• 4-5 curry leaves, sliced
• 1 tsp green chillies chopped
• Salt to taste
• Water, quantity will vary
• Oil for deep frying

Method:

1. Heat oil at medium heat.
2. Mix besan and rice flour together.
3. Then add all ingredients except water and oil.
4. Add enough water to make a batter that is neither too thick nor too thin. You should be able to easily make lumps from it. It should not be so thick that you can shape it.
5. Oil should be hot enough. If its too hot then the pakodas will cook from the inside and not from inside. If it's not hot enough, it'll take too long to fry and you will not get a crisp exterior.
6. Take a lump of the batter and add it to the oil. Fry 4-5 pakodas at a time. Any more and your oil will cool down.
7. It yielded yummy pakodas that were so crispy on the outside and perfectly tender on the inside!

Thai red curry pineapple rice

We all loved this rice and it is so simple to make! I adapted this recipe from The Chunky Chef.

Ingredients:

• 4 tsp oil
• 1/2 cup onion
• 1 tsp ginger, chopped
• 1 tsp garlic, chopped
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 can (20 oz) pineapple chunks
• 1 1/2 cup rice (I used basmati rice), washed
• 1 tbsp Thai red curry paste
• 2 cups colored bell peppers, cut in strips
• 1 cup broccoli, chopped 
• 8-10 cashews
• 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
• Salt to taste.

Method:

1. Add the liquid from the pineapple chunks and the coconut milk to a measuring cup. If the total quantity is less than 3 cups, add some water to make it 3 cups.
2. Heat 2 tsp oil in a pan on medium heat. Sauté onion for 2-3 minutes. Then add ginger and garlic. Sauté for another minute or two.
3. Add the mix of pineapple juice, coconut milk and water to the pan. Bring to a simmer.
4. Add the Thai red curry paste and mix well. Then add rice and pineapple chunks. Add salt.
5. Cover and bring to a boil. Then reduce heat to medium-low and let it cook for 15 minutes (or till the rice is done).
6. In the meantime, heat the remaining 2 tsp oil in another pan on medium high heat. Sauté the bell peppers and broccoli. After 2-3 minutes add the cashews. Add some salt. Sauté for another minute or so. It is done when the peppers are slightly charred. Vegetables should be tender and crisp.
7. Once the rice is done, turn off the heat and let it sit covered for another 15 minutes. Then add the above mixture as well as cilantro and mix well. Use a light hand so as not to make the rice mushy.

Positive discipline for Preschoolers

Author: Nelsen, Erwin, Roslyn and Duffy

There are multiple version of this book. The original - Positive discipline and then specific ones for different age groups like this for preschoolers.

The book, as the tag line says, focuses on disciplining kids using respectful means. The main premise of the authors is that as parents we must always be respectful to the kids even when we are disciplining them. While it makes a lot of sense, I feel one does tend to forget it. You need to consciously remind yourself of this. While being respectful, to discipline kids you must be kind and firm at the same time. As an example, the author talks about a case where the mother asks her child whether they would like cereal A or B. The child picks one of the choices (giving them age appropriate choices helps make them responsible) but after eating a spoon complains that they don't like it. You then take away the cereal. Later the child says that they are hungry. You respectfully tell them that the lunch (or whatever the next meal is) will be at so and so time and you are sure they can handle themselves till then. You do not say things like "I told you you would be hungry", "You should have eaten your breakfast", etc.

You do not need to yell, shout or scream but you need to be true to your words. If you say that there is a consequence for doing a certain thing you must carry it through. It is important for the child to know that you will do as you say. This is the part about being firm.

Another trait that it focuses on is making kids responsible. As an example, there's a family where the father drops off the child to daycare when the father leaves for office. So the child is given their morning schedule in a visual form and needs to follow through it in order to be ready to leave with the dad. The visual schedule outlines that they need to brush then have bath then make their bed and so on. If the child is not ready by the time the dad is ready to go to work, then the child has to leave in whatever state they are in. If they have not changed their clothes then they go to daycare in their pajamas and with their change of clothes. Again, no taunting here.

Further it talks about what are different reasons why kids could be misbehaving. There are 9 temperaments and each kid falls into one or the other side of the temperament. Which side they fall into could give reasons behind their misbehavior. While this is the nature part of the child, you can try to influence it by giving them an environment (nurture) which encourages the right behavior. Then there is the birth order psychology. Whether you are the eldest, youngest or the middle one could tell some certain things about your personality. The author iterates again and again that none of these should be used to stereotype the child but to understand where they are coming from.

Hope all this has gotten you interested in reading this book! It gave me a sea of information of possible reasons behind misbehavior and how to tackle them. I may not remember all of them. Even if I can remember/implement 1-2 of the things that I learnt that would be great!

Rich and chocolatey hot chocolate

I looove hot chocolate! The more chocolaty it is the better! We once had Charlie's Sipping Chocolate at Joe Chocolate Co and it was so rich! Simply heavenly! It was really like sipping chocolate. I had had a similar concoction at another place in Seattle and it was called European hot chocolate. You get the idea - I'm always searching for real good hot chocolate. That includes searching for recipes that would make one. Not necessarily as rich as the sipping chocolate because it is not something that you can drink daily and not hurt your health; but something better than just adding cocoa and sugar to a cup of milk.

Since I trust KAF for their recipes I decided to try their hot chocolate. I made half the quantity because the full recipe seemed a lot. It turned out so good even though I used half the suggested quantity of the mix! trust me - it's the real deal!

Ingredients:

• 1 cups granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 1/4 cups  semi-sweet chocolate (I was a little short on it, so used a little bit of dark baking chocolate chunks)
• 3/8 cup  milk chocolate (I used Theo chocolate)
• 1 cup (85g) Double-Dutch Dark Cocoa
• pinch of salt, optional

Method:

1. In the bowl of a food processor, combine the sugar and vanilla and pulse for 5 to 6 seconds until well combined.
2. Coarsely chop the semi-sweet and milk chocolates and add them to the bowl. 
3. Add the dry cocoa and salt. Process in the food processor till everything is mixed. The mix will be slightly coarse, like brown sugar. Pour into a large glass or plastic jar for storing.
4. For each cup of hot chocolate, combine 1/4 cup of mix with 8 ounces of hot milk. Stir until all of the chocolate is melted. Top with whipped cream, marshmallows or your favorite topping. Makes 24 8-ounce servings.
5. Store airtight for 6 to 9 months. Excellent for holiday gift giving. Try packing in pretty mason jars tied with bright ribbons. Be sure to add a card with the mix directions.

Nanaville

Author: Anna Quindlen

Another Anna Quindlen book! Just like the previous one, this one too was a pleasure to read! This book is about her journey as a grandparent. The challenges, the fun, the learning, the love - she talks about every aspect of being a grandparent and what makes it so enjoyable is the fact that she's so honest about everything. How there are times when she would like to advice something for her grandchild to his parents but thinks that it is not her place to do so; or when she couldn't control herself and did actually give the advice. How she hired somebody and took formal lessons in the foreign language of her grandchild so that she could converse with them in whatever language they understood. Even though she's a first time grandmother it is amazing how much thought she gives to everything. I love her sense of humor. For example, the time when her grandchild was a baby and crying in the middle of the night. She wanted to go pick him up and cuddle him and put him to sleep but knew that his parents were "sleep training" him and would not like it. Many a times reading her feelings/reactions also reminded me of my mom. I could see her having the same feelings/reactions.

Being a parent myself, I wanted to read this book to understand the world from the eyes of a grandparent. How they feel, what they would like, their predicaments. This was just the perfect book for it.

Homemade energy gel

This year I ran my second half-marathon. If you've read about long distance running then you would have heard about energy gels/chews which keep you fueled up for your runs. When I was preparing for my first half marathon, I tried a few different chews. I didn't try any of the energy gels. Of the ones I tried, I liked Honey Stinger ones. What I didn't like was the trash that I generated in every run. I searched online and surprise, surprise I was not the only one. There were many people who shared my sentiment and hence there were already solutions to my problem. I need to make my own energy gel and then one of the reusable energy gel containers.

This year before I started my training, I thought of getting my energy gel ready. Guess what? The link that I had saved for the recipe was no longer working :(. And if you're like me then you don't want to "guess" the recipe for your running fuel! After some search I found a recipe that I liked and after trying it out on my runs I felt it was even better than last year. Of course, that is just what I "felt". Anywho, after my experience last year I decided I'm going to save the recipe on my blog in case the link stops working in the future.

I wanted to have a photo of the gel here but completely forgot about it; and turns out the quantity of the gel was (almost) just right. I hardly have any left after my final run.

Recipe:

•  4 dried, pitted dates
• 1/2 cup maple syrup or honey
• Grated zest from 1 lemon and 1 lime
• Juice from 1 lemon or 1 lime
• 1 pinch salt
• 2 teaspoons chia seeds.

I used maple syrup; the dates were medjool dates and I didn't have any chia seeds on hand so skipped that. Next time I'll try those because apparently they are supposed to be "superfood" for runners! I put all the ingredients in a blender and blended them together!

This year during my half-marathon I generated zero trash and I was so proud of it especially when I saw all the paper cups littered along the way!

Sunset Beach

Author: Mary Kay Andrews

I had so much fun reading this book! For a while, book after book I'd been reading non-fiction. This was a good change and sort of a murder mystery at that. The story is set in Florida and is about a girl who was almost good-for-nothing and then slowly builds up her life. For sure it's a feel-good story and I guess that's why it felt good to read it :)

Drue Campell, not too long back had a knee injury and can no longer do kiteboarding - which was her life. And now she lost her mom too. For better or for worse, her father who hasn't seen her for years offers her a job at her firm in another city and gives her keys to her grandparents beach-front cottage which she inherited after her mom. The fact that she had nothing going for her where she was and the thought of living in her grandparents' home where she had beautiful childhood memories, makes her accept the offer.

Moving to a new city also helps her start her life anew. The cottage needs a lot of TLC which she's happy to give. The work while not what she was looking for pays her bills and helps her meet new friends. Although Wendy - the thorn at work - her dad's new wife does make life at work a little hard at times. Then one day she comes across a case that was handled by her dad's firm and is closed. However, the client feels cheated. Drue is intrigued by the case and starts investigating. One thing leads to another and she's deep into the investigation. She has two mysteries at hand.

It's a fun read!