Recipe Review: Chicken South Indian Style

For a while now, my daughter has been obsessed with cooking shows and one of her favourites is Spice Goddess.  Its somewhat surprising to see a little girl so enamored of a show about Indian cooking, especially when she has no interest in eating Indian food.  We often get takeout from a local Indian restaurant and while she LOVES rice and naan, that is about the extent of her interest in eating Indian food.

Although being of Indian descent, I've never tried cooking Indian food.  Growing up, I had no interest whatsoever in Indian cuisine let alone learning to cook from my mother.

Watching Spice Goddess each week, I decided it was time to take the plunge.  I sent my husband off to the local Indian Grocer with a list of spices to buy.  Truth be told, his real incentive was to pick up a case of mangoes, which unfortunately for him, were out of season!

With all the ingredients in hand, it was time to start cooking!  Here is the original recipe from Bal Arneson (The Spice Goddess):

Chicken South Indian Style

The recipe took a while with respect to ingredient preparation, but overall was easy to follow.  I found the asafoetida (which I had never heard of before) to be a little overbearing in the aroma department.  Next time, I will either use less or omit it altogether.  I'd also skip the 1/4 cup of water as it does nothing other than to dilute the recipe.  And if I am so inclined as to spend more time on ingredient preparation, I might chop a few more tomatoes next time.   Despite these modifications, the recipe was a hit with my husband who is not a huge fan of Indian cooking.  He liked it so much, he's asked that I make it again this weekend. 

Toy Review: Leapster Explorer

For those with young kids or those who buy gifts for young kids; I highly endorse the Leapster Explorer.
Its a LEARNING gaming device made by Leap Frog.
The age range is 4-9 for the device, but my son at 3.5 is absolutely engaged with this toy.

There are fun titles like Toy Story, Tinkerbell, Madagascar Penguins, Scooby Doo, Dora and more. I highly recommend the Toy Story cartridge as it covers a whole range of learning - mostly phonetics and logical reasoning. Some games like Tink focus on math from a basic to more advanced level.

The toys work in conjunction with the Learning Path software. The more the kids use their devices; the more badges they earn and the more points they get. They use these points to buy tools and micromods which are downloaded to add more "stuff" to their games. The games have locked learning progression, so you can only advance after you have mastered a skill, and when you master a skill, the device gives lots of reinforcement for completing boards, adding flags, or getting badges. Without even knowing what it means, my son gets a huge smile on his face when he tells, me "I won a new badge, Mommy". You an also use the earned "points" to buy supplies for your virtual pets. My kids love taking care of their virtual pets and do so daily (good thing, because they are not getting a real one!).

When I connect their device to the computer and use the Learning Path software, I can see exactly how much time they have spent, and where they have spent that time  (i.e taking care of their pet or learning math). I can see how they've done (ex. 40 questions answered correctly out of 45). I can also set minimum skill sets. For example, for my daughter, when she uses Tinkerbell, they no longer give her questions (add or subtract) using single digit numbers and the questions are all double-digit now. As she advances, I can set the minimum to multiplication or division so that she spends her time learning and not doing questions that are too easy for her.

For the Tangled cartridge, which focuses on spelling, I have picked the words that I want the game to teach them. I have my son's set at 3-letter (bat, cat, sit, etc.) and my daughter's set at more complex words (bath, thing, etc.).

I just love this toy. My daughter received one from her Godmother for her birthday in February. I loved it so much, I went out and bought one for my son too. It's their favorite toy to play with now.

Is is it wrong to title another post YIKES?

That is all I can think of as another 7 months have passed since my last blog entry (and a full year has passed since the subject of my last blog post.).


After suggesting to a friend today that she should consider blogging it occur ed to me that I REALLY need to do a better job of keeping up this blog.


Checking in today, I reviewed my my "profile" and realized that so much has changed since I first started this blog. For starters, I have ascented from "Goan Princess" to "Queen of Oakville". And my children have somehow, through the magic of time, AGED! My daughter Sienna just turned 5 and my son Victor will be 4 in July. WOW. Did I really start this blog 3 years ago?


What I intended to be a journal for my children, sadly, has only 16 entries to show. Life, overall, has been pretty good. We just returned back from a wonderful trip aboard Holland America's EURODAM. Hopefully, before too long, my next post will be our trip review.

YIKES!

Where has the year gone? Back at the start of 2010, I really had the best of intentions for keeping this blog active. Perhaps I am just not a woman of my word. Perhaps, I'm just a busy woman who has to prioritize.

Back in March 2010, I had intended a blog entry about our family holiday. We took a cruise aboard the Carnival Dream. I'm not quite sure the trip was a dream (thanks to Carnival) but at least it wasn't a nightmare. I had so many wonderful stories to recap, but alas, held off while waiting to organize the 1000 or so pictures.

My best memories are probably of the plane ride to Orlando - thanks to the wonderful crew on Southwest Airlines.

The trip started with (ah ... it all comes back) a trip to the emergency clinic with our welcome to the US Healthcare System. We were hard pressed to find a clinic that would treat us without insurance (apparently, travel insurance does not count). Fortunately it was just a bug and a few days into the trip and the kids were feeling much better.

The DREAM really was a beautiful ship. The children seemed to enjoy themselves; despite the fact that Victor was terrified of being left at Camp Carnival. It did serve as quite the threat though ... "you better be good, or we're going to take you to Camp Carnival".

We did a build-a-bear workshop and brought home Crunchy-Crunchy and Little Black Puppy

We took naps on deck Weplayed mini-golf

Mark and I had plenty of time to partake in our favourite land/sea passtime - GAMBLING! Fortunately, we left the ship with more money than when we go there! The dining staff was just okay, certainly not up to par with previous wait teams that we have had. This of course, was compensated for with Aaron the Magician - he won over a scared little girl within seconds and everywhere she went; she was on the lookout for Aaron and asking for a magic trick! Sienna's favourite part of the trip - wearing a party dress EVERY night!

We stopped in Cozumel, Isla Roatan, Belize, and Costa Maya. I'm not sure we will cruise with Carnival again, but we've certainly created two little monsters who keep asking when we are going on our next cruise!

Yee HAW!!!!

2009 ended with Victor being totally obsessed with "Toy Story". For Christmas, Santa gave him an interactive Buzz & Woody action figure set. Although he loves his Buzz and Woody, he was quite upset that Santa gave him the "wrong" Buzz because Buzz's wings don't open. Poor little guy doesn't realize that Santa paid twice as much for a Buzz that talks. If his only requirement was a Buzz with wings ~ he needed to be more specific with Santa.

What was totally unexpected was how much Sienna would also grow to love the Toy Story crew. Christmas 2009 also brought gifts of Toy Story 1 and 2 DVDs from Uncle Al and REX the dragon from Uncle Drew (along with several Toy Story shirts and pajamas from Nana and others). Uncle Drew gave Sienna a Mrs. Potato Head and Victor received Mr. Potato Head from his sister.

Unbeknownst to us, we were quickly acquiring the entire cast of Toy Story. For Sienna's birthday, she has asked for Jessie the Cowgirl, Slinky the Dog, Ham the Pig, the Green Army Men, and the Aliens. Her goal? She wants all the Toy Story characters so that they can re-enact the movie.

Several of the gifts are on there way from Nana and Uncle Drew. Mommy and Daddy decided to buy her the Jessie Doll and the Aliens ("Farewell my friends, I have been chosen, I am going to a better place").

Recalling what an amazing Toy Story collection was offered at ToysRUs from last Christmas, last night we rushed over to ToysRUs to pick up a Jessie Doll and the Aliens Claw Game. The Toy Story Collection is not quite as grand now as it was at Christmas, and a Jessie doll was nowhere to be found. This was the only toy she wanted for her birthday, what were we to do?

We asked a sales associate if she could call another store (it's not like there are any other stores close by, but it was her birthday and I was willing to drive!). I was directed to the Customer Service Desk and lo and behold found a "manager" there. I asked about calling to another store to ask for a Jessie doll. She asks, "Jessie the Cowgirl?". I say "yes". She says "your're just in time, we just received a shipment and they are unloading the truck now .... I'm pretty sure I saw a Jessie doll back there ... let me go check". It was meant to be. We had a very happy little girl on our hands last night. To quote our 4 year old, "thank you Mommy and Daddy, this is the BEST gift EVER."

Look at me, look at me!

I regret not taking my camera last night, or I actually would have had a cool pic to attach to this blog entry. The children have officially graduated from Parent & Tot and are now swimming on their own. I was unsure how well this first lesson sans-parents would go, but the children did marvelously. I was surprised at how anxiously they were ready to get into water knowing that Mommy and Daddy were not dressed to go in the water with them. The pool has a zero entry wheelchair lane and both quickly ran into the water. They played for a few minutes before being called by their teachers. I think not having us in the water forced them to both try even harder. I think back to when they had their first parent&tot lessons late in September. Both were screaming at the prospect of putting their heads under the water. Last night, they were jumping of the side of the pool, putting their heads under water and learning to float. I'm so glad we didn't take lessons through the YMCA or parks and recreation. Heather's Cool Pool School is truly the way to go. If all goes well, according to Heather, the kids should be swimming on their own come summer. Every now and then, they became conscious of us sitting on the sidelines and watching. We'd see each of them peeking our way and smiling to make sure we were watching. As a proud Mommy, I couldn't help but cheer them on. I've truly been inspired by my kids. Hopefully its not too late to teach this old dog some new tricks. It's time for Mommy to learn to swim.

Can I See Your Willie Mommy?

Bathing time is always fun and with a little boy and a little girl, questions about nudity are fair game. As I was bathing Victor and washing his "privates" he looks up at me and asks, "Can I see your willie Mommy?". I chuckled and then explained to him, as I had done many times before, "Mommy doesn't have a willie. Only boys have willies and Mommy is a girl.".

He pauses and then thinks about this for a few seconds and says in a burst of toddler exuberance, "I have a great idea Mommy". Of course this was said in a tweety bird accent and sounded more like "I have a gweat idea Mommy". He beams "maybe you could ask Santa Claus to bring you a willie for next kwistmas".

I laughed and responded with the only thing I could think of, "Your're right - that IS a great idea".

Saddly, even Santa can't pull this one out of sack.

WHOA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Where did the year go? Perhaps a year in review is in order. The year started off with a WOW as we boarded a plane on New Year's Day .... destination .... DISNEY. We spent ten wonderful nights at the Wilderness Lodge and took in all the theme parks complete with rides, restaurants and lots of Characters. We dined with the whole Mickey Gang and all of the Princesses too. We certainly made memories that will last a lifetime. A year later and the kids are still talking about it, anxious to go back. In February, we celebrated Sienna's 3rd Birthday. Another WOW ~ my baby turned 3 ~ where has the time gone? All of her friends gathered at Little Goobers followed by a family party at our home. In April, we celebrated my birthday with a shopping trip to Rochester, NY. April also marked the loss of our dear Uncle Leslie. In May, we travelled to Montreal to celebrate my cousin Simon's Wedding. We spent close to four days taking in all of the sites and enjoying lots of time with good friends and family. In July, we celebrated Victor's birthday with a BANG as the fireworks burst into the sky on Canada Day. The big day started with friends at Little Goobers and ended with a BBQ in our backyard. The little man turned 2. Another WOW at time passing by. The day after his party, we packed up the car and drove off to Great Wolf Lodge in Sandusky, Ohio. The kids had a blast and so did we. We can't wait to make it back for our next trip. August ~ WOW ~ August was a tough one. Sienna had her tonsils and adenoids out. It was a lot to go through for a little girl her age. It made it worse that we came home from the hospital to find her brother sick with the stomach flu. It was less then a day before the bug had passed onto her. Poor thing ~ as if she didn't have it hard enough already. Another day or two passed and I was down with strep throat and fortunately did not pass that on to her. The month did start on a brighter note as my cousin Brian married his beautiful wife Rhea. We went to our first Hindu Wedding for the Friday night festivities followed by the Catholic Wedding and Reception on the Saturday night. The children looked adorable dressed in their Indian outfits. September ~ my little princess started school. She's an eager little beaver and loves school. Her little brother was not so happy to see her leave every morning and go off without him. October ~ halloween ~ and my little ghouls were happy to decorate the house. Sienna dressed as Sleeping Beauty and Victor as a Doctor. They were so sad when the decorations were taken down. But the promise of Christmas was in the future! November ~ brought extended family to Toronto to celebrate Mom's 65th Birthday hosted by my dear brother and his wife. It was great to see all of our family together again. It was the first time in manny years that my mother's family had reunited. There have been a few deaths and losses along the way, but minus my cousins Natasha and Kevin, it was the closest we've come in a long time to having the whole family together. December ~ CHRISTMAS! Woo hoo, the house was quickly decorated and the kids were amazed at the tree ~ fighting each day over who got to turn on the lights. Sienna dubbed my snowman collection "the Snowman Family Reunion". Big gift themes for the year were Princess and Strawberry Shortcake for Sienna along with lots of new arts and crafts. For Victor ~ everything themed after his favourites Handy Manny and Toy Story. And Mark's big gift this year ~ a Samsung 58" Series 8 TV complete with new pvr receiver and blu ray player. As I look back ~ it was an AMAZING year for our family. We are so blessed to have such wonderful children. We made many wonderful memories this year that we will cherish forever. And now my New Year's Resolution ...... to keep up this blog next year and use it to individually capture all of the special stories and memories that bring smiles and laughter to my life.

My Little Discoverer

As I lay in bed with Victor last night, I noticed him sitting up and staring confusingly at the wall. He cocked his head to the left. Then he cocked his head to the right. To the left once more and then back to the right. And then, with a big smile on his face, pointed to the wall and exclaimed, "ME". He had discovered his shadow. I somehow missed that moment with Sienna, and I'm not quite sure if she has even made the same discovery yet. As if our bedtime ritual were not already long enough, we have now added shadow puppets to our list of nighttime activities. How wondrous it is to see the world through the eyes of a child and take pleasure in the simple things. Like the discovery of one's shadow.

The Best Christmas Ever

"Mommy, this is the BEST Christmas ever!" exclaimed my 2 year repeatedly on Christmas day.

After a late night on Christmas Eve, the children thankfully slept in on Christmas Day. We got home from my brother's house at about 2:30 in the morning. We spent the next hour building the Dora and Diego Pirate Adventureship and wrapping the Kitchen Centre that had fortunately been built a few days earlier. We filled the stockings and then snuck into bed at about a quarter to four.

We awoke at 8:45 to Victor banging at his bedroom gate. We were grateful and amazed that the children had slept in almost 2 hours. We let the little guy out of his room and he ran to his sister's room and jumped on her bed, calling "nenna, nenna". She jumped out of bed and raced to the top of the stairs to see if Santa had come.

Two little munchkins were bursting with excitement as they raced down the stairs. Oddly, they ran right by the wrapped pirate playhouse and the kitchen centre and went straight to the fireplace to rip open their stockings. Half-way through, Sienna remembers the glass of milk and cookies and carrots that we had placed out for Santa. She was very pleased to see that Santa drank all of his milk, leaving only a few cookie crumbs behind, and one carrot that had been munched on by Rudolph.

We actually had to point them in the direction of the two monstrous gifts sitting in the kitchen. They were jumping and squealing with delight as they unwrapped the pirate ship and the kitchen centre, left by Santa.

At Sienna's request, we had Strawberry Belgian Waffles for breakfast. This gave them just enough energy to rip through the rest of their gifts from Mommy and Daddy. The reaped a huge loot this year. Sienna received pots and pans for her new kitchen, a blender, a mixer, and a coffee maker along with a new dolly, a princess outfit, some books and a few clothes. Little Victor was equally gifted with an Elmo Live, a shopping cart, toy drum, saxophone, remote control truck, books, and clothes.

Time

Five hundrend twenty five thousand six hundred minutes It really doesn't matter how you measure time - whether it be by seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks or months. The units of time that make up one full year pass by so quickly. I measure time by the arrival of the weekend; by the passing of another work week with so much left uncompleted. I measure time by the disappearance of a day. Before I know it, another day is over and I am once again placing my head on the pillow not understanding how the day has passed so quickly. I measure time by the the clothes I pack away which no longer fit my children. Just how did they outgrow this shirt, pant, sock? I measure time by another trip to the grocery, wondering how all those groceries I last bought have disappeared from the fridge. I measure time by staring at the trees in my backyard, wondering how they became covered with snow, when just yesterday I was was watching the leaves bud. Time is tick, tick, ticking away.

A Time Honoured Tradition

You know what they say about the power of suggestion? Well, there I am standing in line at the grocery store looking at the display of ready-t0-eat rice krispy treats. I reach out to throw a box into the cart when I think to myself that it would be much more fun to make rice krispy treats with Sienn. It is afterall a time-honoured-tradition and a rite of passage for every mother to teach her children to make rice krispy treats, right? So off I go on the hunt for rice krispies [check], marshmallows [check] and butter [check]. All done - an easy list. I get home, excited to tell Sienna that we are going to make rice krispy treats together. She, of course, is thrilled at theh prospect of cooking with Mommy, even though she has absolutely no clue what a rice krispy treat is. We pull the step ladder up to the stove she can watch [and help]. By this time, she has ripped open the bag of marshmallows and proclaims, "mmmm, yummy". We start to add the marshmallows to the pot, and she is not too thrilled that they have melted into a gooey mess. We add the vanilla, and then the rice krispies. And stir, stir, stir. She helps me to pat them into a buttered pan, her little tiny palms flattening away (much more efficient than a spatula, right?). She eats all of her dinner in anticipation of trying her first ever rice krispy treat. And then the moment of truth ...... "mmmmmm, Mommy, I like rice krispy treats".

Rice Krispies - 5.99

Marshmallows - 1.59

The look on your child's face when she eats her first rice krispy treat - priceless

The Battle at the Bedroom Gate

It's been months since Victor has slept in a crib. He sleeps on a twin mattress on the floor, with bed rails flanking the sides of the mattress, keeping his tiny little body from rolling of the bed. He's held prisoner in his room by the child safety gate which barricades his bedroom door. For months now we've been trying to get him to sleep through the night and to learn to put himself to sleep. We've successfully weaned him from the the sleep-inducing effects of warm milk. The next challenge is to get him to stop crying when he realizes he is under lock down for the night. Last night was a battle. He stood at the bedroom gate, beating his little fists on the clear plexiglass and wailing as loud as his little lungs would let him. He almost wore me down, but I resisted. I came and went from the gate, pleading with him to go put his head on the pillow. I was almost convinced that he couldn't understand me and that I was losing the battle, when it happened. He admitted defeat. He looked at me with an angry snarl on his little face. And with tears streaming down his little cheeks, he turned and walked away from me, and climbed up on his mattress. I won. For the first time ever, he went to sleep on his own. On his own. No bottle. No lullaby. He climbed into bed. Put his head on his pillow, grabbed his Elmo, and within seconds he had drifted off into dreamland. The first of many battles, I'm sure. But the Battle of Bedroom Gate was over and won by Mom.

And Then My Heart Melted

Last night, my littlest monkey (Victor) was an absolute demon. We are trying to teach him to go to sleep on his own, without a bottle and without anyone sitting by his side. He screamed bloody murder everytime I left the room. He woke up a few times through the night and at about 4 AM, I finally caved and brought him into our bed. He snuggled up againts me and slept soundly for a few more hours.

I woke up this morning to slobbery kisses on my face. I openned my eyes to this smiling little boy with a big goobery grin. He smiled at me and said the words that every mother longs to hear. Ma-Ma.

And it melted my heart.

Am I really doing this?

I remember a few years back, reading a thread on a message board, called "Do you Blog?" I had no clue what a blog was. Probably still don't. I love reading the blog of a close friend, and I guess I thought, "hey, I can do this". If nothing else, this will serve as a chronical of the life and times of working mom, wife, and mother of two. Sound exciting? It is to me. Maybe one day, my kids will read it too. And then, they will probably say, "gawd Mom, did you have to put that on the internet?". As I paused on the registration page, I had to think of a user name. For years, my Yahoo ID has been Goan Princess. So Goan Princess it was. When my daughter was born in 2006, I affectionately called her "Princess Sienna of Oakville" and then when my son was born in 2007, he became "Prince Victor of Oakville". So there you have it, a theme is born and The Royal Family of Oakville are we. For years, my husband has been telling me that he is a god. I guess he will have to settle for being a Prince. Maybe one day, he'll be King.