Post 10 - Food Receipe Blogathon 2017

Yesterday I felt like eating Malai Kofta and I knew I had paneer and potato at home, so I went to whole 9 yards and made Malai Kofta with garlic naan.
Here is how I did it:-
For the Koftas
Boiled 1 potato
Some paneer crumbled
Mix together with red chilly powder, garam masla, pinch of salt and some turmeric, I added some besan and then made small balls of it. I took the paniyaram vessel and shallow fried them.

For the gravy I took oil in a vessel, added cashews, onion, sautéed till brown and added tomatoes, mixed well for about 10 mins. Once cooled then grinded it, took the mixture in a vessel, added salt, red chilly powder, coriander powder and the koftas.

For the naan, I tool 50% maida and wheat flour, made a douch with hot water, milk and oil, added some chopped garlic to this.
Heated a tava on high flame and made the naan.

Post 9 - Puerto Rico - Day 4 Blogathon 2017

***Recap of Puerto Rico Trip***
For Day 3 go here
For Day 2 go here
For Day 1 go here

We did not have any itenary for this day, so we browsed on the attractions and decided to do the Camuy Caves.
The Camuy River Cave Park  is a cave system in Puerto Rico. It is located  in northwestern Puerto Rico The caverns are part of a large network of natural limestone caves and underground waterways carved out by the third-largest underground river in the world, the Río Camuy.
We got our tickets and waited for the trolley ride that would take us down to the caves, we passed a lot of rich foliage.
Once inside the caves we did see a lot of stalactites hanging down , there were steps to walk through the caves and the guide gave us some insights on the formation of the caves. Then we walked about and went to the mouth of the cave, took a lot of pictures and returned back. Normally I do not enjoy being in caves a lot but this one was good, a must try for all those who visit Puerto Rico.
We had booked our next two nights at the Wyndham Grand Rio Mar Beach Resort & Spa, Fajardo. It was a long drive to the resort, even longer was getting parking and then getting checked in, well, it was a typical resort with huge shops, eating areas, casino. We quickly went and checked in our room but unfortunately there was no microwave in the room, if we wanted anything heated up like milk etc we had to go to a nearby pastry shop and ask them to heat stuff(it really sucked). A friend of mine had told that there was a eating strip and the tacos were very famous, so we decided to do dinner there, I did not find any taco place so we just went with the delicacies there like crab something/lobster/fish --I don't remember the names exactly now.
It was great to be seated out on the patio and have our dinner, we then returned back to the resort and off to bed.


 

Post 8- The 1st Sunday Blogathon 2017

Yesterday night I started watching the movie 2 States, watched it halfway till 12 and then went to bed. Today we all woke up aaram se what with it being a Sunday and all. Called home a it is their Visa Renewal Interview tomorrow morning **keeping fingers crossed**, quickly made tea and bread toast took bath and then myself and the kids went for a bday party in the party hall.
It was a Frozen theme birthday and so we went in our blues dress colors. There were activity for the kids, coloring, puzzles, some were just running around, then we had the cake cutting after which music was on for the kids to dance and a tissue wrapping game, the older one was with his friends, the younger one preferred to remain near me.

Soon it was pizza time after which there were cup ice-creams, strawberry and chocolate flavored and then the little return gifts were given. All in all a fun party!

We returned home and napped for some time.

C u all on Monday!

Post 7- Books That I Read Blogathon 2017

I have been on the lookout for good bools to read for quite some time, now that the kids no longer need my undivided attention and they have taken an interest in T.V I have some time for myself. I was super interested in Harry Potter books and so I googled on what to read after Harry Potter and came across this link  which you all should check out.
The first book I read was

Inkheart, Cornelia Funke

What it’s about: This story within a story follows a 12-year-old girl named Meggie, who learns that her father can bring fictional characters to life. One night while reading a book called Inkheart, an evil ruler escapes and abducts them both. Meggie must learn to harness the magic that caused this nightmare so she can change the course of the story

My verdict: I never knew what was going to happen, the beginning was interesting but then I soon lost interest in the story and the characters. Lastly I just skimmped the novel to see how it ends

Next on my list was 

The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson), Rick Riordan

What it’s about: Percy Jackson, a young boy who faced several strange, supernatural encounters, discovers that he is actually the son of Poseidon. Percy and his friends go on a quest to prevent a war between the Greek Gods.

My verdict : I liked the whole series, infact I read all the 6 books at a stretch, I do like Greek mythology so that added to my interest. However by the last book  the battles were getting redundant.Overall a good series.

Next was

The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern

What it’s about: This story is about a circus, one with black and white tents that arrives with no warning or announcement. Behind the scenes, two young magicians prepare for a duel that they have been trained for since childhood. Despite themselves, the duo fall in love, but what they don’t know is that this game can only leave one standing.

My verdict:-- I loved this book, the writing, the descriptions, the suspense, just beautiful. I wanted to take a pen myself and start writing a novel on the same lines.I do not mind reading it again.

Next was 

The Magicians, Lev Grossman

What it’s about: The Magicians, the first book of a trilogy, is about Quentin Coldwater, a kid who attends an exclusive college of magic in upstate New York. He and his friends travel in pursuit of finding a magical land, but what they actually find is more than they bargained for.

My verdict: The beginning held my interest and I kept reading it along, but somewhere at the three fourths I felt it stretched out a lot. In fact if the author would have stopped it there and then di the remaining in a sequel I would have definitely read the sequel. Right now I am not too interested int he sequel portion. FYI: I saw the trailer for this on Netflix, not sure if I will watch it.

 

Next and current

The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, Michael Scott

What it’s about: This story is about Nicholas Flamel, the greatest Alchemyst of his day. Nearly 700 years after his birth, he still lives, the secret of eternal life hidden in a book that Dr. John Dee is trying to steal. If it ends up in his hands, it could destroy the world, and based on a prophecy, twins Sophie and Josh Newman are the only people who can help save humanity.

My verdict So far: Not interesting enough, I started a few weeks ago and it has been days since I have returned to reading the rest of the pages, not sure if I will get back to it or just go and get another one form the list.

 

Please do let me know if anyone has any other good books that I can read to.

Post 6- The Post That I missed Blogathon 2017

Somehow I missed publishing the 6th post. It was  a Friday evening and I always thought I had plenty of time to post. I had meetings till 4pm after which I cleaned the kitchen and went to bath, Dundu baby came back from day-care so I gave her milk and put tea, after which I had this splitting headache because of the cold and congestion, just sat idly watching the kids play their own game, gave bath to Dundu and by 6:45 I took her to the play area. She made we walk with her up and down the staircase a couple of times giving me some exercise and then after some time lot of kids came to the play area so she went about playing with them, I walked a little with my friends, chatted with some, at 8 the poker group came so I played a little , then at 9 came home and quickly made some paneer paratha for dinner.
After having dinner it was past 10 and the hubby put the movie Dear Zindagi, sat watching it till after 12 and hit the bed at 12:30. It was then that I realized that I had not posted for the day. I immediately wanted to get up and write but I had already past the deadline for the day so let it go and promised to write 2 posts today.
So here is the 1st one, missing a post gave me the fodder for it 

Post 5- Bumble Bee's 7th Birthday Blogathon 2017

Nov 12th Saturday was the older one's 7th birthday. Long back I had though of a swimming pool party but we had our annual Diwali celebrations on 13th and on 12th itself we had our Indoor Volleyball Tournament and I did not want to delay with another week, so I though I'll skip this year.
I was in 2 minds till the last minute,at times he bugs me so much that I do not want to do anything for him but birthdays are always special and it was always in the back of the mind to do something special.
he and his BFF have the birthday in the same week, so I asked his friend's Mom if she wanted to do a combined party as they have the same circle of friends. She agreed and we decided to do a pool party on Friday the 11th. We placed orders for the cake and got chips,juice and also same shirt for both of them..
I got printed invitations and asked them to fill it and invite their friends themselves.
On 11th Friday after picking the little one from day-care, we went to the pool, it was a 5-7 party, the kids began assembling and jumping along in the pool. All of them had great fun.
There is a tiny party room at the side where we placed the birthday banner, kept the cakes there and lighted them. It took a hard time for us to get the kids out of the pool, but finally we managed and got to the cake cutting. Cake/Pizza,juice was provided to all.Lots of pictures taken and beautiful memories captured.
Happy 7th my love.


 

Post 4- Puerto Rico - Day 3 - Blogathon 2017

This Blogathon will also see me recapping my Puerto Rico trip
*************************************

For Day 2 go here
For Day 1 go here


Day 3 , morning we had our breakfast of bread and jam and then checked out from the hotel. We were covering the North Side of the island. We drove to our hotel along the beaches and on the way we stopped at the "Arecibo Lighthouse and Historical Park" . It looked like a tiny park and we thought we would skip it and keep going but the kids needed a break and so we went in, it turned out to be beautiful, the ocean view was spectacular, the light house was closed, we could just walk up to it, there was sort of a mini zoo with different kinds of birds and animals, there was also a water park, the son had loads of fun splashing in the water, there was a car water ride that me and the daughter got into, on the way to the hotel both the kids slept in the car,  as it was getting eve we started searching for an eatery to stop by. We decided on Panda Express and I wanted to eat some Chinese. The GPS kept giving some directions and we reached our hotel signal, so if we took a right we would go to the hotel where a left would be to panda Express. G said we should just go to the hotel and get something to eat whereas I was adamant to go to Panda Express and we drove through some inner roads and it really looked like a farmland with no hotel in near sight. Dismayed we turned back and headed for the hotel itself. We had some sandwiches to eat at the hotel restaurant , checked in , changed and then went to another nearby park, it was getting dark by now, so we strolled a little and then drove back to the hotel, had curd/rice, and then went to bed.