End of the month blues

February has flown past, leaving in its wake a dozen planned projects, book to read, software to catch up, foods to cook.

Maybe I should make my march list fewer and simpler.

This past sunday was Sivaratri and I had fasted most of the day and concocted the usual sweet potato dish for prasadam ;

• Boil 2 sweet potatoes, peel, chop coarsely add it to 1/2 cup of thick jaggery syrup.
  
• Garnish with a handful of freshly scraped coconut.

I had quite a bit leftover; This made todays breakfast very interesting.

Amaranth Seed Sweetpotato kanji

• Cook 1 cup amaranth in 2 cups water and 2 cups milk for 15 - 25 minutes. Add a handful of raisins when you start cooking.
• Add 1 recipe of the sweet potato dish mentioned above and mix thoroughly.
• Ladle onto cereal bowls, top with fresh milk and enjoy.

Both my DH and son enjoyed this.

BTW I had not realised Amaranth is just Thandukeerai, a sure fire in my mom's arsenal. I used to love eating Thandukeerai Masiyil and Vatral Kuzhambu. My son loves Vatral Kuzhambu (yes, the boy who complains daal and rice is hot loves this very spicy dish), maybe it is time to start preparing this combination for him.

I modified The Spice Is Right's Methi Chana for lunch today. I substituted sprouted, semi-cooked black-eyed peas for the Chana, 2 fresh tomatoes of the disintegrate-when-cooked-long-enough variety and leftout the besan thickener altogether.

I have to wait a day to figure out how it turned out. I am fasting today - Tuesdays in the Tamil month of Maasi are dedicated to Lord Vaideeswaran, the celestial doctor. At the end of the month, I am supposed to make a pilgrimage to the Vaideeswaran Temple and offer Salt and Jaggery. The symbolism is, just like salt and jaggery melt away, may the illnesses afflicting my near and dear ones also melt away.

Hmmm. I suppose no one has ever noticed it takes quite a bit of time for jaggery/salt to melt away when just left out. Perhaps that is why one suffers through the illness before getting cured. These sudden bouts of rationality always get me in trouble with my elders, especially MIL. Besides, I am sure Gautham's frequent bouts of colds and wheezing is par for the course at his age especially with my genes.

Coming back to my list for March, GIMP, getting started on .net certification, Pre-School Website and Naukas project, if it comes though should cover it.

I also need to spend some time making this blog more readable.

Greatest Compliment!

Today, I set a simple lunch for my son - Roti, Aalo Sabji (potato curry), Millet Rice and Moar Kuzhambu (More like Gujarathi Kadi). Halfway through the meal, he said "I love everything you have prepared today"!!! It must be snowing in Chennai ;)

This behooves me to set down the recipes I used in 24 caret gold!

Or atleast this blog.

Aaloo Sabji - A modification of my MIL's so called Aaloo Dum

(The real aaloo dum is a complicated mughlai undertaking, requiring fried baby potatoes and a almond-cashew rich gravy)

1. 1 Cup of shallots, peeled and coarsely chopped
2. 5 Medium sized potatoes thoroughly washed, unpeeled, cubed and put in a bowl of cold water (about 3 Inches long)
3. 1 Small sweet potato (about 5 inches long) washed,peeled, cubed and added to the cold water
4. 3 Tomatoes of the country variety, juicy and somewhat sour, disintegrates when cooked
5. 20 Curry leaves, washed and torn
6. 1 tsp Jeera
7. 1 tsp black mustard
8. 1 tsp kalonji
9. 1 tsp fennel seeds
10. 1/2 tsp Methi seeds
11. 2 tsp dhanjeera powder
12. 2 tsp Sambhar powder
13. 1/2 Inch cube jaggery
14. Salt to taste
15. 3 tsp peanut oil

• Heat the oil in a pan on medium high heat, add items 5 to 10 in the order given.
• As the methi darkens add the shallots and the curry leaves.
• As the shallots brown (4 - 6 minutes), drain the potato mix and add to the pan.
• As the potatoes just begin to change colour, add the tomatoes.
• As the tomatoes turn pulpy, add items 11 to 14.
• Fry well for 2 - 3 minutes. Pour a cup of water; Reduce heat to medium-low
• Cook covered for 10 - 20 minutes until potatoes are thoroughly cooked.

Note: Potato peel has a lot more iron than potato. So, I now scrub potatoes, wash it with potassium permanganate and use it unpeeled.

I have started haunting the Nilgiris store in Besant Nagar for 95% of my grocery needs and they always seem to stock up on interesting brands and items. The whole wheat atta from South India Flour Mills (SIF brand) is one fine example. The dough from this atta tastes comfortingly grainy and just a little stretchy. One small piece in your mouth and you really savour all the wholesome goodness of wheat. The only alternative to this brand is buying wheat and having it ground in the local mill.

I bought the Millet rice in Pondicherry at Food World. This millet comes from Kodai Hills, grown under the aegis of M S Swaminathan Foundation. If any one is listening/reading, I would Love to work for the foundation. I brought 2.5 Cups of water + 1.5 cup of milk to a rolling boil, added 1 cup washed millet, reduced heat to low and cooked uncovered for about 15 minutes. I usually pack curd millet rice for sathish's lunch.

Now for the Moar Kuzhambu - Kadhi Recipe.

1. 2 tbsp besan
2. 2 cups yogurt
3. 2 cups water
4. 2 cups ashgourd chopped into chunks (about 1/2 kg)
5. 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
6. 1 tsp jeera
7. 1/2 tsp methi
8. 2 green chillie
9. 10 curry leaves washed and torn
10. 2 tbsp coconut fresh / 1 tbsp coconut dry
11. 1 tsp jeera
12. 1/2 tsp methi
13. 1 inch piece fresh ginger
14. 1 tsp jeera1 inch cinnamon
15. 4 - 5 cloves
16. 1 inch cinnamon
17. 10 curry leaves
18. 2 -3 red chillie washed and deseeded
19. 2 - 3 tsp peanut oil
20. salt to taste
    

• In a kadai, dissolve the besan in a little water ensuring it is free of lumps,
• Add the yogurt and whip, slowly add the water and whip
• Add items 4 - 9, salt to taste and cook on a medium low flame
• Grind items 10 - 13 to a pasteand add to the mixture on the stove
• Cook 10 - 15 minutes until ash gourd is tender
• Heat oil in a separate kadai, add items 15 - 18 in order given
• Take of flame when red chilly darkens and add it to the kadi

This tastes best when eaten hot with rice.


I cooked bottlegourd with moong and masoor daal for dinner. This went well served over Idlis and Dosai too.

All in all, we have had a fairly healthy day - my idlis batter is made of red puttu rice and regular idli rice.

Travails of school search

My son is turning 4 this March, time for him to move to a regular school.

Schooling here is very very rigorous, the emphasis is on academic performance and acing the various board and competititive exams offered when the child turns 12, 15 and 17. The schools generally tend to be authoritative with no patience for those who "walk to the beat of a different drummer" to use an oft repeated cliche.

IMHO this curtails creativity. I am one of those mom's who dont try to teach their kids anything. I just gently expose my son to a lot things - songs, books, astronomy, science, cooking, painting, origami etc... and then sit back and respond to his exploratory queries to the best of my abilities and patience. From age 2, my son is aware I look up google for questions I cannot answer. My method has been fail proof so far. Gautham has an amazing vocabulary, he asks a zillion questions, listens to the answers and uses them in the right context; sometimes to my detriment. He loves to "wallow" in new games/ideas.

I used to read up a lot more on education when he was a baby and had my heart set on a waldorf type education for him. Waldorf schools dont exist here in Chennai; I dont have the energy, patience or intelligence to homeschool. Besides, I sincerely believe learning to get along with peers is one of the central goals of education.

After a long and hard look at the various syllabi offered, school reputation, accessibility, school building, play ground size, class room size we have come down to just 5 schools and a first preferance for ICSE Syllabus. The School run by KFI topped our list. With a 15 acre campus, multi-age classroom, emphasis on self explration, arts and crafts The School seemed the best option.

I mulled over their complicated application form for days, argued with my husband over how to fill and finally submitted it. We were called for an interview. I was totally intimidated by the panel, as usually happens when people dont introduce themselves to me. I was barely aware there were 4 people in the room! The interview ended on a somewhat shocking note - we would be asked to pay NRI fees if selected (Rs88000) since my son was an American Citizen. I hadnt expected such a pecuniary note in the discussion. We left the room after 15-20 minutes of talking feeling rather apprehensive. On the way home, Sathish declared he wouldnt mind paying the amount, he felt our son would gain a lot from just the ambience of the school.

We were rejected.

The inevitable Post-Mortem at home ended with the feeling I caused most of the screw-up going on about how smart and intelligent Gau is. I should have also laid out his weaknesses - over attachment to parents, need for approval from adults be it teacher or parent, tendency towards emotional melt down. I just dont see these as problems! They are just a phase in a rapidly changing personality! Yes, I am obsessed with him. But I am his mom, I am supposed to believe in him and see him as what he can be not just what he is. I truly believe a lot of his negative qualities is just a passing phase. Short temper inherited from me is probably the only quality I dislike that he will carry well into adulthood (God Forbid!).

Besides the point of the interview was to see if we were convinced about The School which I am. Our values match quite a bit

• he is sensitive to his environment. How many kids stop demanding a new toy once you tell them it is made of plastic and hence bad for the environment?
• he cares for the plants and trees in our balconey. He is definitely loving towards nsects, birds and beasts and wants to be an eagle when he grows up.
  
• he dresses and eats simply. We believe in buying locally; even cars and two wheelers despite repeated warnings from friends and families that the foreign brands are much better.
• he shuns violence on TV and too much TV viewing. He has been convinced watching more than 30 - 60 minutes of TV + Video games would make him dumb. I believe in moderated exposure to most things. I dont want him overloaded and shocked when he visits a friend / relative and watches TV/Movie there. I also admit I use TV to distract him into eating more at lunch. We are both exhausted at lunch hour and he is barely 13 kg at 4 years. I NEED help then.
• he is frequently generous with his time and his toys.
• he can sit down and read with us for a full hour if the material / technique is suitably absorbing.
• I believe not having to compete as a child keeps you from worrying about failure and equips you to meet both with equanimity later in life.

They emphasize their selection process is transparent and not to take their rejection as a judgement on us or our son. How can we not take this as a judgement on us? They didnt spend any time talking to gau so it is not a judgement of him. Besides, only someone certifiable would reject him personally. And if I am not told precisely why we have been rejected how can the selection process be transparent? They can only claim they do not entertain any sort of recommendation from some-people-more-equal-than-others or any sort of financial incentive.

Anyway, his preschool teachers offered to write to The School. This forced my hand and I wrote to them, pleading for a chance to appeal their decision. The first email was sent over a week ago (Feb 22nd to be precise, I am editing this post on the 2nd of March). I still havnt received even a sorry, we stand by our decision email. I am definitely disappointed their being different doesnt extend to the common courtesy of a response to our email.

Hey Abdul Kalam is an original thinker and a very great man (a sincere optimist! In Indian politics!) despite government schooling. Maybe even because of government schooling. I still have a lot of hope for my son. Besides I am conditioned to trust my father. He tells me all my child needs to preserve that spark of intelligence, creativity or whatever you want to call it is just 1 hour time. 1 hour with each parent every day of his school life.

We will definitely do that.

Overflowing Cookie Jars .....

and a child unwilling to eat any :(

I had always had this visual image of a pleasant kitchen with a small dining table; A pretty looking cookie jar on the table.

I forgot to visualise my son grabbing the cookies; Now, I beg him to try 1 cookie, promising him a red juicy apple or a bunch of grapes in return!

I have slightly better luck with my younger nephew; My older one is just as fussy. This time, when my in-laws returned home to Erode I deceided to bake 2 different batches of cookies, one aimed at tempting the older one and the other one a proven success with the younger one.

My version of Amaretti (Italian Almond Cookies):

1. 1 Cup Almonds
2. 1/2 Cup Chiroli
3. 3/4 Cup Melon Seeds
4. 1/2 Cup Sugar
5. 1/4 Spoon salt
6. 8 - 10 peppercorn
7. 2 tbsp Maida (All-Purpose flour)
8. 1 tsp Vanilla Essence
9. 4 egg whites beaten
10. 1 yolk (optional - mine was a mistake but tasted fabulous)

• Roast items 1,2,3 in a 100 deg Celsius oven for 8 to 10 minutes; Take care not to burn.
• Pre-heat oven to 175 deg Celsius, line cookie sheet with aluminium foil, butter the foil.
• Blend items 1 to 7 in a food processor / blender until fairly smooth.
• Beat the egg whites, add the yolk beat, add the essence mix.
• Pour the blended mixture to the wet mixture and stir.
• Drop by spoonfuls on the foil lined pan.
• Bake for 8 - 10 minutes.
• Move the foil to a wire rack after it has cooled a bit.
• Remove cookies from foil only when completely cool.

Notes:

• The foil lining (or Parchment lining) and cooling on wire racks are essential steps to ensure a somewhat crisp cookies especially in humid Chennai. Air needs to flow all around the cookie to make it uniformly crisp. Also cool for a few minutes directly on the wire rack.
• The original Amaretti is made only with almonds, rather expensive here in India.
• You can also add a teaspoon of almond essence for a more pronounced almond flavour.
• Tastes fabulous with Raw sugar (instead of white sugar), available at the Econut store and Nilgiris, both in Besantnagar.
• This made about 60 cookies.
  

Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies adapted from The Greystone Bakery Cookbook

1. 2 Cups well-packed brown sugar (naatu chakkarai)
2. 2 Cups butter at room temperature
3. 1 eggs lightly beaten
4. 3 yolks lightly beaten (leftover from the amaretti, substitute another egg)
5. 2 tbsp water
6. 2 tsp vanilla extract
7. 2 tsp ground cardamom
8. 1 tsp baking powder
9. 1 cup all-purpose flour (Maida)
10. 1 cup whole wheat flour, shifted
11. 3 cups old fashioned rolled oats (the long cooking kind)
12. 2 - 3 cups popped Amaranth (substitute another 2 - 3 cups oats)
13. 1 cup raisin
14. 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
15. 1/2 cup melon seeds

• Preheat oven to 175 degree celcius
• Cream together butter and sugar
• Add eggs and/or yolk, water and vanilla. Mix well.
• Add cardamom, baking powder and flour. Stir by hand
• Fold in oats and/or amaranth, raisins and nuts. Blend thoroughly to distribute evenly.
• Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls on lightly buttered baking sheets (or pick with fingers and shape into dollar size circles)
• Bake for 12 - 15 minutes or until lightly tan.

Notes:

• The popped amaranth is high in iron, folic acid, etc... and readily available at the Econut store in Besantnagar. The original recipe only calls for rolled oats.
• I left the quantity of oats at 2 - 3 cups because incorporating the entire 3 cups is a very tough job.
• The quick - cooking oats can be used in a crunch but doesn't result in a crunchy cookie
  
• Cinnamon is a good substitute for the cardamom. It is not the preferred flavour in my house.
  
• This made about 9 dozen cookies, enough for 3 households :)

How time changes! Before Gautham, I used to bake a lot. Mostly cheesecakes, brownies and flan for my husband. Now the only man I try to please is my little master.


One thing hasn't changed though; When my father is around, he is the only man whose palate I try to please , with moderately healthy foods.

Hanuman movie review AKA Violent Visual Media

The visual media seems to take most of the blame for all of societies evils these days; While I dislike most TV, is it fair to lay all the blame at visual media's door step?

We watched the eminently avoidable first Indian animation movie Hanuman; We even bought the DVD. My excuses? Impulse, Misplaced patriotic fervour, loyalty to Indian Software so-called Genius, dad on the phone demanding to know whether to buy or not, immediately and finally my son's blatant enjoyment of the movie.
The makers erred on every possible angle in making the movie:

• The fundamental error was making Hanuman some sort of a super-human on steroids and portraying Rama as a God from childhood itself. In my view, the most beautiful thing about Hinduism is an emphasis on nature and nuture. Fundamentally flawed beings rise to the occasion drawing upon their inborn abilities and their breeding and show themseleves to be worthy of God-like worship. This was totally lost by the makers of this movie.
• At the conception stage, instead of paring the story down to an almost manageable Amar Chitra Katha comic level, they added even more unnecessary details like Hanuman forgetting his super human abilities, playing with Rama as a child, Hanuman having a son etc...
• At the development stage , Total lack of characterisation - every one sounds the same! What makes western animation eminently watchable is the beautiful voice characterisations. Can we ever forget SHer Khan, or Mike in Monster's Inc or even Shrek? None of the voice overs was in the least bit remarkable in this movie.
• The background music was indifferent at best and a painful cacophony at worst. Camlin has wisely adopted the best bit in the entire movie, and has inadvertently brought a huge audience of 3 - 9 year olds to the movie.
• Very poor censoring of the fundamental story, the burning of Lanka being a case in point. I don't like the idea of a child observing God burning down an entire city in a fury when the reason for the punishment of innocent bystanders escapes even my adult cognizance. The wanton violence of the rakshashas, the indiscriminate punishing by the devas etc... futher illume their poor discrimination. A lot of his friends had nightmares about Rakshashas after wtaching this movie.
  

Now we come to the effects of this movie. In the midst of a disciplinary melt down, my son suddenly declared he feels like setting me on fire! Did it ever occur as a just punishment to us, of the pre-visual-media generation? We did hear the story at a equally young age. Is gautham better on drawing on his fount of knowledge or is this the effect of watching a city burn in the movie? Do pictures really pack more of a punch than illustrative words from someone whose stories generally facsinate? I remember being most thrilled by Jatayu - the vulture king killed by Ravana as he abducts Sita. I have always loved doomed heroes for some reason.

3 months ago he was still allowed only 30 - 60 minutes of TV a day, but I had more control over the content. We watched soothing POGO programmes like Kipper, Oswald, Miffy. Now after having discovered online games at Cartoon Network India and Cartoon Network (thanks to my 12 year old cousin), I have less control and more violence in my house. I dont know whether to attribute it to the video game or the growing-into-a-boy phase of his development. He loves to wrestle with sathish these days and he has started snatching back rather than come to me crying when he "argues" with his friends over toys.

I still think it is better to start a controlled TV viewing programme at home rather than have him exposed to visual media in a friend/relative's house without supervision. This way I get to tell him the violence is pretended not real, the advertisers are just trying to make money and sell more etc...

He remembers some of the not so clearly pictured parts of the movie too, so, I am still wondering what brought on the fire remark. In the midst of a bustling shopping complex, he wanted to know who was Hanuman's wife. I told him he was not married. Then he demanded to know in his ear-splitting voice, how could Hanuman have a son when he didnt have a wife. He went on to speculate Sita is his wife. I thanked my stars I was not visiting a orthodox Iyengar temple with him.

This begetting a son has become a frequently repeated theme with him after Lion King. He wants to know whether he will have a son when he is "as tall as amma, no, as tall as appa". He was then wondering what to name him!!!!! I have assured him the name will just come to him.

You are what you eat?!

The recent articles over the inefficacy of low-fat diets has me in a tizzy.

I have my son on a wholesome food diets - lots of unrefined grains, lentils, beans, fruits, vegetables and a lot less of cakes and biscuits and other junk food. Despite all this, he was been diagnosed with borderline anaemia.

Feeling a wealth of fear for his well being and guilt over my ineptitude as a mother, I read a gadzillion pages on increasing iron content in his meals and improving iron absorption. I also spent sleepless nights worrying he has thalessemia of the mildest kind. Finally, I brought out a excel spreadsheet, tracking what I buy and what I cook, ensuring we eat a different lentil/bean everyday and have the required quota of fruits and veggies.

Some of my research findings:

• You need 10 dates just to get 1.8 mg of iron, but getting a kid to eat more than 3 is a Herculean task.
• Half a cup of cooked lentil/Daal has anywhere from 3 - 6 mg of iron, depending on the lentil used. There is a negative co-relation between the tastiness of the lentil and the iron content.
• Spinach doesnt have much iron and what it does have is not that easily absorbed. The traditional "paruppu chadham, keerai masiyil" (rice, lentils and some greens) kids probably did well more because of the daal than the greens. Or they used a lot less spinach and a lot more not as tasty greens.
• Soybeans have a lot of everything but the jury is still out on how good they are for you atleast according to this website: Newest Research On Why You Should Avoid Soy and the observations of a few very watchful mothers like Mythili. (Drinking soymilk everyday causes her 12 year old daughter to have irregular periods. Twice weekly seems to work fine).
• Everyone agrees citrus fruits boost iron absorption
• Dried fruits like apricots and figs are rich in iron but the drying process leaves behind some sulpher , harmful to kids prone to wheezing.
• Breakfast Cereals are good source of iron but we avoid processed foods, prefer traditional south indian breakfasts and I think it is too expensive here in India. I also have some doubta on the bio-availability of these fortified cereals.
  

I took a deep breath and started recording our food habits in my infamous spreadsheet when I came across the Go with your gut in the NYT.

The gist of the article is, certain studies show our bodies absorb the most nutrients from food we enjoy. Our brains help along in the digestion by kicking in more saliva, digestive enzymes etc... when we enjoy the sight, smell and flavour of food. The real culprit in the floodtide of obesity and Type II diabetes is probably the tendency to NOT savour food.

What does all this translate down to? Do I just give my son whatever he asks, ensuring there is not much junk food that he can demand, in the house? I still have to pay some attention to ensure the meals I cook are balanced (Atleast until some one publishes an article claiming the route to excellent health is savouring a large order of mac fries over a 1 hour period ;) . But perhaps, forcing down sprouts adai down the throats of my unwilling husband, child and FIL is not the way to go.

Sorry Mahanandi , I might have actually messed up your recipe and hence ended up with unappetizing adai.

Perhaps adding sprouted horsegram was not such a hot idea.

Or perhaps their (unwilling husband, child and FIL) brains didn't send the right signals to their tongues and guts since they are not used to pesarattu type foods :)

Perhaps You are HOW you eat.

Multitasking

Are kids always born with the expectancy to multitask, or is this brought on by the visual onslaught of TV and video games?

Gautham likes the sound of Hindi, so I left some old hindi movie on and started dinner preparations. He suddenly walked into the kitchen and demanded to know what the kid in the movie had just said. I told him I was too busy chopping vegetables, I didnt hear what the kid had said. He surmised I dont understand hindi, for I hear with my ears and chop with my hands. My ears should have heard the words, but my brain didnt make any sense out of it.

That was a fortnight ago. Yesterday we had our lunch while watching Oswald as usual. He finished and went to the sink to wash his hands. I switched off the TV. He demanded more Oswald, because he had heard the TV say "Oswald will be right back!". He paid attention to the TV over the sound of running water and the fun of playing in it!

Gautham a la Seuss

Sowmya : Gautham are you Priya?
Gautham: Sowmya are you Ria?
Sowmya : No, I am not Ria.
Gautham: No, I am not Priya.

Time's Fun when we are having flies ;)

Gau is Kermit the frog! He is doing innumerable amounts of language jokes!

We were leving pondycherry for a three hour, arduous drive back home to chennai with a very restless almost 4 year old. We playfully asked my sister, leaving for Bangalore the same night, she take Gautham along so that we could drive back peacefully. "Oh, so you are going to shell peas' the full ride back" he quipped immediately! He really is going to be 4 only in march.

He declares Tricycle is called so because babies Try and Try to ride one and finally make it.

Kanian is a somewhat insulting word in Tamil meaning idiot / bumpkin. Gautham has to stand on an old water can to reach the sink. Sathish playfully told Gautham he is a Kanian because he stands on a can to brush his teeth. Gautham retorted he is a Cannon not a Kanian.

I hope I am not overreaching in calling his quips highly creative. The question now is does creativity arise from imitation? My dad and his dad do a lot of such language jokes. They make it a point to explain their jokes to him. Is this where he gets it from? If so, can we really train our children to be a genius of a higher or lower order? Or is this run-of-the-mill childhood generous

Please tell me yes. Otherwise I would drive everyone crazy trying to figure out how to contribute to making him more creative.