My daughter's 3rd birthday! Mickey mouse theme

I started planning for my daughters 3rd birthday, almost 2 months before her birthday. The planning first involved thinking about a theme and a lot of online searching and reading.
She loves 2 characters the most - chhota bheem and mickey mouse.
I decided to do a mickey mouse theme for her, and read a lot of blogs on it online, and got so many wonderful ideas, it was just too exciting!

As usual, I first had a birthday planning excel prepared :-) with all the things I wanted to do.
It looked something like this:
1. making mickey ears - DIY - using plastic hairbands and making ears from foam
2. return gifts - i had bags already - wanted to buy mickey related stationery etc to fill it up
3. mickey related decorations
4. snacks
5. invites
6. games
7. prizes for games
8. list of kids to invite (it was to be a kids and moms party - with about 10-15 kids)

There is a wonderful market in Pune in raviwar peth (ramsukh market), which has shops lined up with all decorations you will need for a birthday party. They sell thermocol cutouts, decorations, balloons, whistles, return gifts, so many things, its worth a visit once, just to check out all the variety available.
I love shopping in the streets, than any malls, they are value for money and the experience is simply incomparable to that of a mall.

Making mickey ears:
Bought more than a dozen black plastic hairbands, from a street shop.
Bought black glitter foam sheets with adhesive, so they are very easy to use, you just peel off like a sticker. I found these after a long search at a shop called samrat ,near to tulsi baug, its a big shop with so many art and craft related materials, any crafty person would love :-)

Return gifts:
Bought mickey shaped piggy banks.
Got a mickey stationery set - with a pencil, eraser, sharpener, paper scissor from ebay.
Mickey glow in the dark stickers from amazon.
Packed them in paper bags, along with some chocolates :-)

Games:
Colouring activity for kids - gave them a sheet each with mickey mouse printed on it, and a camlin crayon box, which they could take home in their goody bags.
Mom and kid game - Passing the hula hoop over mom and kids body, similar to a passing the parcel game
I had planned for some more stuff, like dancing ,making paper planes etc which I couldnt do, due to lack of time.


Snacks:
Made idli-chatni and pulav at home.
Ordered white sauce pasta for kids - kids love pasta :-)
Starters - popcorn, grapes (yes, i decided to keep only healthy stuff, and avoid fried chips etc) served in small paper cups, vanilla sticks, and the best part - mickey shaped muffins :-)
Bought the mickey shaped silicone muffin tray from ebay and used pilsbury eggless chocolate mix, the muffins were really yummy :-) and a hit with the kids!

Decorations:
1. Thermocol cutout of mickey - bought from the market
2. strips of mickey face cutouts hung on a satin ribbon - i hung them in the living room as well as outside the door of our house.
3. red mickey face cutout of card paper on the door of our house
4. circular fan like decorations made of card paper stuck on the wall in the living room
5. red balloons with white polka dots gave a really nice look

Invites:
- created these invites, to be sent on whatsap to friends living a little far
- made small mickey face shaped cards and wrote on them to give personally to kids in our building

There is so much more that can be done.
Below few ideas that you could use, that I couldnt implement:
1. Cup cake decoration for kids - give them gems and other little tit bits to decorate the cupcake and give a prize for the best decorated one.
2. Pin the bow on minnie - create a cutout of minnie and give a bow to the kids, blind fold them and ask to pin it
3. Cupcake toppers can be made - with mickey face cutouts , stick them to toothpicks and put them on the cupcakes.

All in all, i had a lot of fun doing the preparations for the party, thanks to all the ideas I got from other blogs on the internet.

Taking a toddler to a restaurant

If your toddler is anything like mine, and refuses to sit in a high chair in restaurants, then this post maybe very much relevant to you.

My daughter was 5 months when we took her to Goa. 

Me and my husband love the breakfast buffets in hotels, and planned to enjoy it in the hotel we were staying.

We took our baby and sat on a sofa, with her on my lap.

(TIP#1 : We didn't take her pram to Goa, reason being it was a big size pram which would be very difficult to carry in the flight, so if you plan to travel frequently, buy a lightweight stroller as opposed to a pram).

If we had her pram, we could have kept her in it and probably (not very sure) might have enjoyed our food in peace.

She was crying, trying to pull things (yes even at 5 months), one of us had to take her around while the other ate. From the next day, we decided to go separately and each of us took turns to go to the breakfast place and enjoyed in peace :-)

After this episode, we avoided taking her out for a very long time. 

But we realized the only way she would let us eat out is if she gets used to it. So we decided to take her along the next time we go eating out.

Next time we took her to Rajdhani thali restaurant, she was a little older, could walk (!!) and refused to sit at one place. Me and my husband took turns eating, but it was a thali restaurant, all the food went cold and it was not an enjoyable experience at all!

(TIP#2 : Thali restaurants can wait until the child is older)

Not to be deterred, we planned to go to a restaurant called Fresco, which has a Mediterranean buffet.

My daughter sat on the high chair for a good half an hour! And also seemed to enjoy pita bread.

But once her tummy was full, she was all raring to go, and once out of the high chair, she was running all over the place. So again we were back to taking turns at eating.

(TIP#3: Choose a restaurant which has some open space, inside or outside, so if the little munchkin has feet that need to run around, one of you can take her outside.)

BTW, we tried Rajdhani again when we went with our family, i cannot say it was better, but somehow we managed to eat.

(TIP#4 : Kids love things like papads, so thats a good way to keep them busy)

We also tried Ramkrishna on MG Road once. We ordered cheese dosa for her, since she loves cheese. 

(TIP#5: Choose a table which has a sofa, not chairs, so she can be comfortable on it and you can make her sit towards the wall, so she is kind of, umm, trapped :-D)

We once went to a restaurant in the Taj blue diamond hotel, it was a nice maharashtrian food restaurant, with most people eating quietly. We had one challenging time there with my daughter trying to run around, pull stuff, and making general mayhem. So there I was eating all alone while my husband took my daughter outside and vice versa.

The waiters at restaurants don't realize that there is a toddler on the table and treat them just like adults, by placing very much breakable plates and sharp forks and spoons right under the kid's nose. So be quick and remove all such dangerous stuff far away, you need to be really fast here, because the things will be in the small chubby hands in a second :-).

One restaurant called Kokkita in hadapsar, has a huge aquarium with huge fish and also a small play area outside. It entertained my daughter no end, but it resulted in us eating separately yet again!

Over time, after taking her out several times, we have achieved the state where we can both eat, and maybe for 5-10 mins towards the end we need to take her around and eat one-by-one.

We avoid crowded places, but food courts in malls are also a good option to try, although it is very difficult to keep a toddler busy there, since they get so much space to run around :-D

So don't be afraid, go ahead and eat your heart out, your toddler will help you in burning all the fat  :-)

PS: I think i need to write about all the restaurants i have been to and review them :-)

Maid/Nanny for Baby - Part II

The search was a difficult one, time was running out and I had not yet found a nanny.
The nanny who was leaving, one day came with another lady, who said she needs work.
I thought why not, lets give it a try, I was desperate.

I decided on a transition period of about 10 days, where both will be taking care of the baby, with the old nanny doing KT (knowledge transfer, its the term we regularly use in our world :-)).
Even after spending 10 days, my daughter refused to go to the new nanny!
After the old nanny left, I decided to work from home for a few days, until my daughter adjusts to her.

A couple of days passed, and it was just not working out! My daughter would start crying if the new nanny tried to feed her, to put her to sleep etc. So I had to leave my work and go to her all the time, i was not really able to work from home.

It was a very frustrating time, I even thought of taking a sabbatical maybe and looking after my daughter myself.
But I knew it was not something I could really do, I cannot sit at home, and would surely get frustrated soon. Even in my maternity leave of 7 months, by the end of 4-5 months, i was itching to go out and have some space of my own.
Finally, I decided that the only way my daughter would get used to the nanny is by me getting out of the way. So one day, while she slept, i left for office, telling the nanny and my father-in-law to call me if she cries.
And what a day it was! I was constantly worried at work, looking at my phone every few minutes to see if there's a call. But what a surprise, there was none, my daughter stayed with the maid the whole day!!
And then from next day, i started going to office as usual and all was fine :-)

Since then, its been almost a year now with the new nanny, it has not been an easy journey. I have had to constantly monitor her actions, her cleanliness habits were clearly suspect, and her work not of the greatest quality.
There has been a lot of improvement now, and my daughter also enjoys with her, and learns marathi songs from her. Her favorite is "Chando mama chando mama bhaglas ka" which she asks me to sing every night when I put her to sleep. :-)

Maid/Nanny for Baby - Part I

Before my daughter was born, I had thought I will put her in daycare when she is 6 months and then resume office.
But things change when you become a mother, you become protective, emotional, and I couldn't imagine keeping my little baby in a strange place with strangers, and so the thought of keeping a maid/nanny for her came up. Thankfully my in-laws are living with us, so the nanny wouldn't be alone with the baby.

Nanny search isn't an easy one.
I started by informing our building security to let me know if anybody is interested. I also had a lady coming home for "maalish" (massage) for my baby, she is very well connected with many such people, so she too was looking for someone for me.

The ladies who came to me looking for work, came at odd times, at 3 in the afternoon, ringing the bell loudly, which in turn made my baby wake up!
Also, some of the conversations i had with them were hilarious, some of them were so unsuitable for the job, i didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Sample conversation:
Me : Have you worked somewhere before?
Candidate (holding her sari pallu in her hand, looking down, and blushing, god knows why) : hee hee hee hee
Me (Again) : Have you worked somewhere before?
Candidate : (hee hee) yes
Me : Where? What work do you do?
Candidate:  "Te, tikde, hotel madhe" (translation: there in the hotel)
Me : What do you do in the hotel?
Candidate: (hee hee) "te bhandi ghasna, cutting karna" (washing utensils, cutting vegetables)
Me : have you taken care of a baby before?
Candidate: No
Me (Already decided she isn't the one) : Give me your phone number, will call you if i need
Candidate - cant write :-(

The basic expectation i had from a nanny:
1. should be able to read and write
2. should be clean
3. speaks clearly

The above candidate failed in all.
I met several ladies, who came looking for work, but really, it was a nightmare for me.
Finally the lady who massaged my baby, found me a nanny who had taken care of a kid before for 3 years, I also spoke to her previous employer, who had only good things to say about her.
After about 8-9 months, the nanny left me, since she found some other job.
The search for a new nanny started, which is a story for my next post.

In general, some points to note when hiring a nanny:
1. If she worked somewhere before, do take their number, call them and ask them about her.
2. Note down her address and phone number, if possible check the area she lives
3. Make sure to tell her that the priority is cleanliness and only cleanliness, her measures of cleanliness might not measure up to you, so spell out the exact things she needs to take care of.
4. The nanny I hired turned up on the first day in a sari which was a little dirty and had sharp sequins on it. The next day i bought her 2 saris, which she was supposed to wear when she comes and wash before she leaves. This might seem a little awkward to some, but believe me, for a mother, baby comes first, and I don't mind asking the nanny to do this. Just tell her you are getting her 2 new saris which she needs to wear while handling the baby, and she will be okay.
5. Make the job description very clear, if you want the nanny to do additional jobs around the house, make them clear before you hire, so later you don't have conflicts around it.
6. If you are hiring the nanny for full day, then surely she needs weekly holiday so agree on that beforehand.
7. Ask the nanny to get her own lunch, because one thing, she might not like the food you eat, second, you will be obligated to arrange some food for her, even when you have other plans, don't want to eat etc. The nanny I have currently follows many religious fasts, so many times she eats only fasting food.
8. There are maid agencies available, I didn't try them so far, but have heard that some of them are good, they charge a little more though.
9. The nanny might expect a holiday on every festival, but we don't have holiday in offices for all festivals, so make it clear to her, she will get a holiday only if you have one too :-)

Baby book

Creating baby books is fun, its a lovely memory for the child, and it gives the tired parents a creative channel to vent out their parenting blues.

Many people i know feel too lazy to do this, thinking it takes a lot of effort.
But with a little planning making this baby book can be really easy...

When you take photographs of your baby and upload them to your computer, make sure to create a folder for each month and upload the photos accordingly.
This way, you have all the photos ready in chronological order.

The baby  book can be updated at the end of the year with all the photos per month, selecting one best photo of each month.
You get lovely ready made baby books in most shops, i bought mine from Reliance Timeout (the one near me has closed down now), but Landmark and Crossword have very good options.
(Or you could get a blank book and do a scrapbook)
I didn't want to put too many photos in the baby book, i put a limited set of photos there relevant to the format of the book.

I prepared a separate baby album, for that I selected the best photos of the entire year, from her birth to her 1st birthday and put them in a separate folder.
I wanted to get them printed, in photo shops like fotofast they charge Rs.10 per photo to print.
I checked online and found a good deal on snapfish.com, I printed almost 250 photos for Rs.4 each. I uploaded all the photos to the site and placed my print order. They charged me courier fees Rs.200, but i got all my photos home delivered :-)
Next was an album to keep these, I looked for albums in many shops, didn't find anything suitable.
Finally bought a cute pink mini mouse album from landmark at MG road, and arranged all the photos there in chronological order.

Go ahead and do it for your baby, its one thing they will love to see when they grow up :-)

Baby clothes buying in Pune

For all new parents and to-be parents, i hope this post is useful.

I used to buy maternity wear clothes at Uzazi at Camp.
(I had my eye on the shop long before i was pregnant, and always wanted to shop there :-D)
Once while shopping there, i asked the friendly woman there, where can i buy newborn baby clothes, and she told me about this wonderful shop called "Needlewoman" on M.G.Road. (its right next to Karachi sweets)
This is a plain old traditional shop, but with very good soft cotton clothes for kids upto 7-8 years of age I think.
When we went there, asking for new born baby clothes, they immediately gave us a whole list of what is required for a new born baby, it was so helpful, we just selected all the things we needed and they showed us all the stuff they had.
The baby clothes there are all of cotton, nice and soft, reasonable prices, i buy all my daughter's comfortable home and night wear from this shop.

The other shop from which we bought  a lot of stuff is Mom & Me.
We bought her baby cot, pram and a lot of other baby paraphernalia from there.
The clothes there are a little expensive, i have not bought a lot of clothes there, only once i bought a baby pink party wear frock for my daughter, but in general the range of party wear frocks is not that great.

Same with Me & Moms in SGS mall at camp, the clothes not that great, but have bought some small items there once in a while.
One tip : the socks that i buy for my daughter to wear around at home, i buy those, which have a rubber print design on the underside, this gives better grip and chances of slipping on the floor are less.
Such socks i could find in Me&Moms, didnt get them either in Mom&me or in Needlewoman.

When i had to buy her a frock for her first birthday, i took the advice of a friend, who told me about a great shop called "Small Mall" in Deccan. It has a lot of variety and I got a lovely frock there!!

Laxmi road has a lot of good shops too. I have shopped in Maitrik - this is where i bought her 2nd birthday dress. I also got a very good ghagra choli from here.
They have a good selection of shoes too, but on the expensive side, ranging from Rs.850-900.
In tulsi baug theres a very small shop, i will try to remember the name and update, that too has nice soft homewear for babies and kids, it also has cute parkar polkas (the traditional maharashtrian dress) for girls.

Recently, theres a shop called bonsaii opened in seasons mall. The shop has a very good variety of shoes.
But the clothes range I didnt like so much.
The range of toys for kids of all ages is very good!

BTW all the above shops are good for boys clothes too :-)

Next time I plan to explore more shops on laxmi road and tusli baug, the shopping experience there is so much fun! I love the traditional market there, the small shops, this kind of shopping cannot be compared to the glass and AC shops in malls...

Copycat

My little daughter copies everything we do..

Yesterday, i told her i am calling her pappa, while i was still dialling, she picked up her toy phone, put it to her ear, started walking around like we do, and was talking "haan, tu kadhi yetoy ghari?" (When r u coming home?)
It was amazing to see her talking the way I do!

Another incident today morning, every day in the morning i call up my mom (my daily status call :-)).
My daughter calls her "mothi aai" (it means elder mom, its the term used for grandmother).
While i was in the kitchen, she went in, got my phone and gave to me and "mothi aai la phone laav"!! (call mothi aai), i didnt realise its become a routine for her too...

But sometimes these cute little things she does can also be scary..
In the evening, I had put the pressure cooker on the gas stove. As soon as the weight on the cooker blew a whistle, she ran to the kitchen and before i could blink my eye, came back to me saying "aai, shitti zhali, cooker band kela"!! (mom, the the whistle blew, i switched off the gas!!)
the little girl had actually turned off the knob!!!

Toddlers and playschools

My daughter is 2 now, and the thought of putting her in a playschool comes up several times.
Some people put their kids in playschool at 1.5 years of age!
There are different views on this, play schools promote the idea of sending kids (babies still) to playschool early for their development.

I too have had a lot of conflicting thoughts about this.
Once playschool starts, the kids (or rather baby's) life will start off in a never ending story of playschool, nursery, kindergarten etc...
I want my daughter to enjoy at home , when else will she have this time of -
getting up in the morning, going straight to her toys and just playing,
running around giggling  while her grandfather runs behind her trying to stop her :-D,
getting flowers from the terrace in her basket and offering them to god,
doing what she wants, when she wants :-),
making a mess of the entire living room,
jumping on the sofa and not letting her grandmother sit :-D,
running behind the cleaning maid (mavshi) and helping(!!) her to put the clothes to dry,
playing hide and seek with the cook,
sitting on her little chair in front of the devara, folding her hands and saying morya at any time of the day! :-),
singing chandoba chandoba,
watching krishna on tv and eating dahi with her hands :-)
generally creating a chaotic scene at home and then laughing away!

People say a child develops faster, learns a lot in playschool.
But she is learning at home too, she observes everything everybody does, and tries to do it too...

I think its a personal choice of each parent.
There's a lot of confusion among all parents about when to put in playschool, and most go by peer pressure.

Let the kids enjoy whatever they do :-)
I have decided to put her in playschool a little later, i will also get more time to get adjusted to her going to school!
I guess for working mothers who don't have support at home, putting in playschool early becomes a necessity, my daughter thankfully has wonderful grandparents at home, who can look after her along with the maid, while i am at office.

My daughters 2nd Birthday!

We celebrated my daughters first birthday at home, with just family. We felt she would not enjoy in a big party with too many people, most first birthday parties i have been to have involved the baby being cranky, crying, not happy at all, you get the picture :-)
This year, for her second birthday, we wanted to do the "big" party for her, and also wanted her to enjoy.
First issue was the venue.
We thought of some restaurant/hall, but due to consideration of her grandparents and the travelling time involved etc, we decided to do it in the clubhouse of our building.

Next was the "theme".
My daughter loves the humpty dumpty nursery rhyme, I thought of making the theme around it.
I checked with some decorators about it, but none of them had done this theme before, so they would have to design all the thermocol cut outs newly and since they wouldnt be able to reuse them, they would charge me more.
Also, since the rhyme involves a single character, it would be difficult to think of decorations around it.
I finally decided this theme can be done if i am doing it on a smaller scale at home, so i went with the next idea i had in mind, about  doing a jungle animals theme, quite common, i know, but this is something my daughter would love too!
I somehow do not like the princess/cinderella themes, maybe if in future my daughter asks for it, will have to go with it!
We hired a decorator who would handle this decor, the games, music etc.

I bought her birthday dress quite in advance, i think its best to get all these things done earlier, which dont require a lot of thinking, later you need time to do all the other preparations, guest list, inviting them, cake, and the return gifts/party favors.

"Party favors"/"return Gifts"
The return gifts was something i spent like 2-3 weeks just thinking about it :-D
One weekend we went to the Ramsukh market in Raviwar peth, the market and the area around it is full of shops related to birthday parties!
Theres a shop inside the market, which sells stuff from rs. 2 to rs.300 per return gift, it was crowded and i was amazed at how many people were buying!
There were games and colours, lunch boxes and bottles, bags and pens, lots of stuff!
There were shops selling cut outs of all the usual characters like chhota bheem etc, there were stationery shops which had a good variety of paper bags, decoration material, i felt tempted to buy a lot of stuff :-D
I just wanted to check out the whole area and see if i find something interesting.
Personally, i dont like giving plastic stuff which is no use or will break in a day.
I was thinking of giving out some books or any toys which are also educational, like puzzles.

I also checked out all websites which sell such stuff, and mostly found the same stuff everywhere.
In my case, there would be kids from 1 year to 10 year old, and if i went for age specific gifts, it would be difficult to come up with the number of gifts required for each age range.
So i decided to go with something generic for all.
Goody bags filled with edible treats was a good option, its something kids of all ages will like :-)

i started looking for chocolates and wrapped packages etc and was also thinking of checking for cookies shaped like animals, it went hand-in-hand with my search for the perfect cake :-).
We went to all bakeries near our area, and unfortunately none of them said they did cookies with animal shapes, they didnt have animal shaped cookie cutters, i finally gave up on it and decided to go ahead only with chocolates.

"Birthday Cake"
As for the cake, i thought jungle theme is a pretty common theme, and i would just go to the cake shop, select the design and place the order and thats it, but i was in for a surprise.
All cake shops do jungle themes, with plastic animals placed on top of the cake.
Cream cannot be used to make them, you wouldnt be able to mould cream, also the shape wouldnt be attractive at all!
I did what i always do, and went to google, it opened up a new world to me, of fondant cakes :-)
Fondant makes beautiful cake designs, the cakes looked so amazing, thats when i decided i HAVE to go for fondant, and will not go with plastic animals.

I read a lot about fondant, and asked my friends on my different whatsap groups, i got a lot of inputs.
I decided i need fondant only for the animals, rest of the cake should be with fresh cream.
Fresh cream tastes better any day!

Now was the next challenge of finding a cake shop which does this, in my area, none of the cake shops did it! I went to a shop in koregaon park as well, they too didnt do fondant animals.
I went to fatima nagar where there are several cake shops and a couple of them showed me pictures of the cakes they did, and i was very happy i found what i wanted.
But none of them delivered to my area :-( i didnt want this last minute cake pick up on the day of the party, so i wanted home delivery.

I started googling again, i found a website kreativekakez.in, it also had a page on facebook, the pictures looked amazing, i called them and they said, they can deliver the cake but they will charge me for it.
i was fine with it, i am wondering why didnt the other shops offer me the same?!

But just calling up some number, without having any feedback/review was risky, what if the cake turned out to be a disaster?
I called them and asked them if i could come and taste, the lady is a home-baker, she doesn't have cakes ready, since she bakes only on order. I went to her home, tasted the samples and booked the cake.

"food"
I forgot writing about the caterer, we booked a caterer whose food we had tasted in a friends birthday party. A note about caterers, do taste the food before you book any caterer, its very important, after spending so much on the party, average food really spoils it all.The food was very good and the desserts, moong dal halwa and strawberry rabdi were yummy :-)

Overall the party was great :-) The cake looked amazing, the upper layer was chocolate, and lower one was pineapple flavor, the pineapple cake was awesome and soft, the chocolate cake not very soft, but the cake simply looked amazing, just like what i wanted!

Pictures of the cake and decor below:

Chocolate cake

Yipppeee!! I baked a cake and it turned out good :-) , this is the first time I tried a chocolate cake in my new microwave. The Onida black beauty came with a book of recipes (with glossy colour photographs of amazing desserts :)).. So I followed the recipe exactly and created my first masterpiece, although the icing cone (which i made from paper) didnt turn out good, it broke in the middle with the icing oozing out, so did it with a spoon :-D.

Foodie!!

I have realised, Yes! I am a foodie!! I know I know, I am vegetarian, but cant I be a vegetarian foodie? Also, as most people say about me, that I hardly eat, But do Foodies have to eat a lot??
I just love food and I sometimes get these cravings for food that I have to eat something!! right now!!
Like the current craving I have is to eat stuffed moong dal puri, its a puri filled with moong dal stuffing, I had it once and have not been able to forget it since then :-) I dont know where I will get it, so I have planned to prepare it this weekend :-)

Sometimes in the evening when I am hungry, and I imagine some particular food, I go crazy!! Like Once I just had to have puran poli, I went home and started making it, it was the first time I was trying it out, the chana dal somehow didnt cook well, the puranpolis lacked the correct amount of sweetness but still it was something :-)

One particular craving I had was the Modaks at Shreyas, I had just heard abt those soft, lovely modaks, with a blob of tup (ghee) on it, and I wanted to have them since long. The first time I went there, it was for dinner and it seems they dont serve modaks at dinner, only during lunc, and the only time the modaks are served at dinner are on sankashti.
Now I am not particularly religious and dont follow sankashti, but after I had heard this bit of fact abt Shreyas, I started checking my Kalnirnay regularly to check the next Sankashti :-)
Once I even went there at lunch-time, I saw a plate full of yummy modaks being served at the next table, I immediately waved out to the waiter, and asked for a plate for me, but unfortunately, it seems they were over :-(
Finally my craving was satisfied on kashid beach(mentioned in my earlier post), and I had Ukdiche modak :-)

Badshahi Boarding and Lodging

Badhshahi, this amazing place is on Tilak Road, next to Tilak Smarak Mandir in Pune.
Ah! What can I say abt this place!!
I am a fan since long, ever since one of my friends introduced me to it.
Its a kind of mess, theres also a lodge above it, the food there is typical Maharashtrain vegetarian food. It is very hygienic, very healthy, I am sure it will actually cleanse your body of all the masalas and tikkas you have been eating.

The thali is a combination of limited and unlimited stuff, it costs 35 rs, consists of 4 chapatis, 1 "mud" bhat (means 1 round shaped ball of rice), 1 dry bhaji, 1 wet bhaji, 1 koshimbir,pickle etc and amti/varan or sometimes you have this heavenly tomato saar, I havent tasted anything like it anywhere else...
Somedays, you have a thali of 50 Rs, with everything unlimited, and also some sweet.

There are some rules here though, mentioned clearly outside on a board :-) (Translating them here..)
1. Pls check which bhaji is available today beforehand, and do not take it, if you dont like it, you are not allowed to waste anything later.
They actually scold you if you leave something, I personally experienced it :-( , the first time I ate there, I was a bit slow, one of the servers said to me "Kha na lavkar",(eat fast), I immediately gobbled up and finished everything :-)

2. Switch off your mobiles while eating!!! (You actually receive stares from the servers if you happen to alk on your phone while eating!)

The food is just great, I crave it for almost all the time :-)

Kashid beach

Kashid beach is abt 8-10 km from Murud, From Pune you can either go via Murud, which is a shorter distance, but the "twists and turns" ghat will make it a longer route. We went this way, and there were so many small hills, we were ascending and descending all the time :-)
While coming back we came by expressway, we went towards alibaug, then thru Pen-Khopoli and then expressway to Pune..

The beach is clean, and big, crowds are also less, also there are a lot of small shops on the beach which get food for you, if you order in advance, they have these hammocks all around, its the best way to spend a weekend, laze arnd on the hammocks :-)

We had lunch at a "khanaval" a km away from the beach, they have both veg and non-veg food, I had the veg food, its very simple food, chapati, 2 bhajis, rice and dal with papad.
We asked at one of the shops for "Ukdiche modak", they prepared modaks for us and we had them after lunch , they were good :-) , we dint get Sol kadhi though.
Make sure when you go, ask the khanaval to prepare sol kadhi in advance, you should not miss it!

Friends

Over the years, you meet so many people, make new acquaintances and some become "friends".
This all-encompassing word includes best buddies, childhood frnds, school frnds, college frnds, different college frnds, office frnds..
What is it that makes friends? I remember in school in the first standard, we had to write an essay, "My best friend" and we were supposed to stick a photograph of our best friend,I remember I had cut some photo from some newspaper/magazine and stuck it :-)
There are some friends whom I hardly meet now, but I always remember them on their birthdays, I may not call, since I am out of touch now, But I do remember the bday..

Different frnds know different sides of the same person.
If you were shy in school, a school frnd meeting you after years will be shocked to see your vivacious personality, I have seen such people myself.

Some frnds are those whom you talk to every day, share stories, share all events
happening in your life, but these people keep changing, in school, there was somebody, in college there was somebody else and now its somebody else...

Some frnds are just "email" or "chat" frnds, you know over the years they have changed jobs, got married, have kids, but never actually met them since years, thanks to googletalk(cant use other messengers) and orkut , such relationships are thriving..

Some frnds are such that I meet them after ages but I can talk to them like we had just talked yesterday, and with some, even after years of frndship, you dont seem to be able to connect...

What makes people drift apart? Why is it that sometimes you need to get to know a friend all over again? Why is it that sometimes the people you give a lot to, dont give back the same?

Delhi

I had been to Delhi last week, a very short trip for a friend's wedding.
The trip took a toll on my sleep (punjabi wedding, didnt sleep whole night :-)) , so have been trying to makeup since the past 2 days, but my bai (punctual that she is :-() manages to wake me early anyway.
Delhi, looks a lot different from Bombay, also the people look different. Dont ask me why do they look different, I dont know, they just do. I think it is the sweaters and jackets that they wear?? (In Bombay we are not used to them :-))
Took a quick peek at Gurgaon, had heard a lot about it, the malls and the IT companies etc, but it failed to impress me. I visited the Metropolitan Mall, ppl told me you dont find such big malls elsewhere, but really, I didnt find it that impressive! The Haldirams restaurant there serves different types of chats, I had papdi chat, again, I felt I have had better chats elsewhere.
What impressed me was the history of the city, its tremendous! So many historical monuments, I could just imagine how stately, how royal all those places must have been.
I visited the Qutub Minar, and was genuinely surprised, its so well maintained, I actually loved the monuments and the delicate carving on them.

Am in a new world!!

I just started my blog yesterday and I feel like i am entering a whole unknown world, I used to read others blogs sometimes, but I never knew that this is a new world in itself!!!

So many new terms - feeds, widgets (somehow feels like midgets) ,readers, atoms(?? I vaguely remember them from chemistry) , subscriptions, syndicate (I only know the syndicate bank) , I am sure there must be a glossary for this, or a book called "blogging for dummies"..

And I found so many people I know blogging already, how and when did this happen? when did all this start? Was it like a Big Bang one day and everybody started writing??

Breakfast??

What do ppl eat for breakfast everyday? I get bored thinking abt what should I make today!!

I call my mom everyday in the morning, and she has her usual question "What did u eat?", some days if i have really managed to get up early in the morning and actually made soemthing(!), I recount every detail to her excitedly, even giving her tips on how to make it :-D.
And then on some days, when I have actually done nothing, my answer is like a gruff hmm, haan, yes I ate something and I try to change the topic as soon as possible.
Today was one of those days :-(

But as I left today, I saw some blackened overripe bananas lying around, and my mind immediately flew thousands of kilometers to a place in south Karnataka called Karkala, and a wonderful eatery called "Ashoka hotel". Oh, how I love the buns you get there!!! These are not the "english" buns you must have imagined, these are the hot,delicious, fluffy, slightly sweet, amazingly soft when you chew them, banana buns!
Yes, buns made out of ripe bananas, and I have decided I am going to make them tomorrow for sure (ahem..)
The recipe goes like this , which is how my mom makes it : Crush the bananas, mix with flour(my mom uses regular wheat flour, maida can also be used), sugar, salt, some curd, jeera and baking powder. If you have a food processor, you can mix the dough in it (its less messy). Keep
this dough overnight, and in the morning fry them in oil like pooris, and you have your buns ready.
If I do make them tomorrow, I will try to uplaod some pics.

"pachodi"

I feel like having pachodi :-(
Its been my fav snack since long!
Pachodi is basically a snack made with "kurmura" or "murmura" depending on what part of India you belong to. Kurmura is mixed with coconut oil(I know many ppl will wrinkle their noses now, but believe me, coconut oil is an acquired taste, and once you taste pachodi, you will defintiely acquire it :-)), some pickle , chopped onion, cilantro and if its in season, chopped raw mango..aha..Just writing abt it makes me salivate...

My memories of pachodi are those associated with my study leaves, during engg, i would study like crazy during the day and would take a break in the evening only to eat pachodi, made by my mom. (my mom soemtimes used to make paper cones and serve pachodi in that, bhelwala style)

Gone are those days, when I was pampered all the time and would have things ready for me :-) .

Welcome

I am welcoming myself to my blog, I am rather late in entering this blogging world, dunno why today i suddenly felt like writing, as my blog name says "Just feel like writing.."

I have read many blogs and always feel why do ppl blog? I guess if somebody asks me now, why have you started this, I have no answer :-)

I used to love writing when in school, always used to think I will write a book sometime , like all childhood fantasies, this remained just that, a fantasy.
One observation here : whoever I meet, are not doing what they really want to do, they always say, I always wanted to do "..", but ".."
Is there anybody out there doing what they like?

Tilgul ghya, god god bola

For Sankrant, I tried tilgul this year for the first time. Basically laddu made from sesame seeds. Its not an easy task!
As usual I called up my mom to get the recipe, and I also got quite a few warnings from her, its a skill few people have, its all about timing, its the first time you are making them etc. I as usual, overconfidence personified,got a kilo of sesame seeds, and started roasting them. After a long time, seeing not much activity in the kadhai, I called up my mom, she said, the sesame seeds will start dancing! My sesame seeds seemed to be more like sleeping, in fact nothing was happening. Then my mom asked me the question, exactly how much quantity have you taken, when i told her, she was simply shocked at my audacity, and said "Do you know how difficult it will be for you to make laddus and that too when the paste is hot!"
Sanity restored, I immediately split all ingredients into half and started the first batch.
Ingredients :
1. Half kilo sesame seeds
2. Half kilo jaggery (chikkicha gul)
3. Groundnut powder(little)
4. Roasted dry coconut powder(little)
5. Elaichi (cardamom) powder
Method:
Roast the sesame seeds, till they are brown and start dancing.Keep them aside.
Similarly, roast the groundnut powder and cocount powder and keep aside.
Heat the jaggery until it takes a liquid form, this is the mosty tricky part, it should not be heated too much or too little, then put the sesame, groundnut and cocount and cardamon powder and mix well.
Switch off the heat, make small balls(laddus) when this mixture is still hot, once it cools, it becomes hard and then it cannot be rolled into balls.