Kids Fun @ Home

Perfect weekend fun for kids on a Friday evening. Our grandkids want to watch TV or play Nintendo on Friday after school. So their mom planned a game on a Friday. It was so perfect for them as well as for grandparents having involvement. Two kilos of apples and a tub of water. It creates curiosity if their hands are tied back. Give a whistle and let them start. Of course starting trouble was there. When the older one got the first apple then he got the technique. Afterwards it was so easy for him. The little one managed to get one and afterwards he seems to conquer the whole. He starts eating the one he got. It was a real fun for us too. We have seen this game in some shows. Thanks to our daughter to arrange it for grands. Yes, we had fun. 

Friday dinner at our friends ❤️

A delicious dinner on Friday evening. 

We had an easy made, simple and nutritious Euro American dinner with our lovely family friends. Friday evenings are always special with a great weekend ahead. So I love Friday dinners much more than Saturdays. Can spend more time talking with the topics we like. The butcher board snack appetiser and the s'mores were the stars. In India I am not used to these types of snacks. Was so excited to learn more. The nicest point attracted me was no chores to arrange the dinner. Just shop the required ingredients and use your magic fingers grill and do the delightful presentation. The guests will be so happy. 

S’mores with the melted marshmallows and chocolate in between the crackers were tempting to eat more. The appetiser was such a tempting with variety of cheeses, crackers, nuts, ham, bacon, dates, cranberries and many more. The rosemary rub was awesome 😎 Then finally went for the sausages and patties. Yummy delicious dinner 😍

Butcher board snacks appetiser for a dinner 

S'mores making in the patio  

Grilled Sausages and patties for hotdogs and burgers  

Halloween 👻 again with our grandkids

Halloween is considered as a powerful turning point in the wheel of the year signifying the cycle of life, death and rebirth. Halloween is the time when people release and let go of the negative and low energies that hold them back and celebrate the new energy that will eventually take its place. Children and parents dressed up and parade from house to house in the neighbourhood calling out trick or treat hoping to have their bags filled with candy. Back home the sorting of candies session is so interesting. Grandma got a big share from both of them which they don’t like. The good thing is that chocolates were removed from their collection and gifted to grandma. I enjoyed the parade of the kids at our door to get their treat. One more time enjoyed the Halloween celebrations hoping to join in another one. Hope makes us dream and dream comes true. 

Cooking Class in USA during my visit ❤️

My immersion in Indian cooking for the past 5 weeks has been truly inspiring. I learned so much! I had the wonderful opportunity to learn 5 different menus from South India cuisine, region of Kerala.

I am thankful and grateful to Mrs. Suma for her time and knowledge in this aromatic journey. The unique flavors and the infinite array of fresh spices are truly amazing and delicious! Learning authentic Indian home-style
cooking is a blessing to me and my family! THANK YOU Mrs. Suma 🙏It was my pleasure 😇

Thank you so much dear Iustina for the opportunity I got. Cooking is my passion and to teach how to cook our traditional dishes in USA is really awarding. I truly treasure your words. I cannot but appreciate you for the enthusiasm showed in capturing the techniques and practices to mastering the knowledge and skills of an entirely different cuisine. Your dedication and the efforts taken to find time in between your busy schedule is really astounding. Your keenness, in harnessing the minute details, is beyond words. Approaching cooking is an art. I enjoyed our grocery shopping for the cooking and the lunch we had from Bamboo Biriyani. Once again thank you from the bottom of my heart ❣

Grocery shopping for the cooking class with my friend

Indian Grocery tour. Learning all about spices and Indian flavors. Then lunch &  conversation about Indian cooking and culture with cookbook author and yoga teacher, Mrs. Suma PillaiLove it! It was an awesome experience to tour with you my lovely friend in familiarising the spices, condiments, grains and lentils used for our traditional dishes.   I was surprised to watch your curiosity in gaining the knowledge of idli cooker, pressure cooker, puttu maker, dosa pan and momo cooker. And of course the conversation we had about Bamboo rice and bamboo biriyani was so interesting and informative. I love to do shopping for the ingredients to cook. Likewise me and my Romanian student agreed with me and went for shopping. That was an awesome tour for her to familiarise our food, ingredients, kitchenwares, brass dining plates and glasses.

Soul food for Party ❤️

When my daughter told me about a Sunday early dinner for her friends in USA I thought of a complete Indian recipes especially of Kerala. I love biriyani. So no doubt included it. Then went for rice and side dishes. Even rice thought to make it special.
Dishes prepared was
Jeera green peas rice, pineapple in yogurt, avial a complete veggie dish in grated coconut, fish curry, fish fry, chicken 65, chapati and chickpeas and spinach in coconut milk. The highlight bites were dal patties. Our friend brought pumpkin bread and the kajukadli served the perfect desserts. The guests enjoyed the food and that was the best award for us in the evening.
There was one common ingredient in all the dishes. That was nothing rather than the essence from soul. Visualising our guests while our cooking add the soul part in the dishes. So whenever you cook, whether it’s daily cooking, special cooking for friends or families no matter add the special ingredient. Please don’t forget❤️

Halloween Parade 😍

Halloween Parade at Prep school of our little one. It was so nice to watch the kids, teachers and parents in the costume parade around the ground in the Prep followed by kids party and fun in their classrooms.

Don’t miss Trailing, it’s perfect for Healthy Lifestyle

Bob Eden Park, Euless, Dallas is a great walking trail. We love trailing. When we are holidays we enjoy food. That means if you are not giving importance to workouts it will become very hard to get back to normal. So to avoid stress and to enjoy holidays forcefully set aside some time for daily exercising. That’s our principle. It’s working great.
Getting outside enables to enjoy nature, breathe fresh air and socialising with the neighbourhood. Walking offer opportunity to get exercise strengthening core and improving balance. It helps to get rid of Lifestyle diseases and keeps one healthy. Easy and safe way to improve our physical and mental health.

Perfect Weekend with a lovely family 😍

 We are thankful to Neelam and Prakash family for their hospitality care and concern towards us during our four days stay with them. For sure we were blessed with the lovely family. I love to meet friends where ever I go. Here too Neelam took me to Arlington and met our friend and family where we had a fruitful time of discussion. Legacy West is a beautiful place we enjoyed. Went to Tesla showroom and walked around. Had a great workout and after that delicious dinner at food court with live music. One of our friends visited us at home. We went for shopping at Market Street and did grocery shopping at Diamond Groceries. Had a beautiful ride to South West Lake and Downtown. All days we went for walking in the neighbourhood. Bob Eden Park trailing was so nice. Sunday we had lunch with our friends and returned with Lynn and David couple back home. Our onward journey was on a Mega bus which we enjoyed so much. Thank you Prakash, Neelam and your cute kids for the love 💕 We are thankful and blessed😍

Mega Bus ride...A bucket list wish into reality

A happy ride on Megabus from San Antonio to Dallas.

For the last decade we are travelling to USA. Our children here had taken us to a lot of places across the country including cruise. I don’t know when and where or how about seven years ago I got a wish to travel in a bus to Dallas or Houston by ourselves. I kept the wish in my bucket list and waited for it. This time it realised on the invitation of our family friend Prakash and family. The tickets were reserved and we had the upper deck front seats enabling to view the picturesque surroundings. Took pictures and it reveals that we passed through Selma, Schertz, New Braunfels, San Marcos, Austin East Cesar Chavez, East End, Austin Downtown, Georgetown, Temple, Troy, Robinson, Waco-Carver, West, Hillsboro, Milford, Waxahachie, Dallas Lake Cliff, Kessler, City Center District and finally our destination Dallas Grand Prairie. This is our third trip to Dallas.
Our first ride in a Mega bus for six hours, we both enjoyed looking around, taking pictures, talking and snacking. It was an incredible experience for both of us. Onboard restroom, power outlets, free WiFi and reclining seats are the advantages in the ride.If you are not in a hurry Mega bus ride is a great option. In the 51/2 hours ride Austin was the only stop before Dallas. We were so happy to see that the bus was before time in the stops. Our host was waiting to pick us. The trip was really awesome 👏 👏