Nature trail

Done in a small green fair at the beach. Turned out to be an insect trail and the kids loved it much to my surprise.

This is an Indian domino cockroach which we all thought was a ladybird. Turns out it was a yucky cockroach.

After that I followed it up with a tree trail in the building where the children smelled and saw betel leaf, curry leaf, lime leaves, plenty of flowers and mango leaf. Refreshing and green nostalgic, something that even I have not smelled in a long long time.

My Overactive Children

Every day, from 7am to midnight, it’s like I have hurricanes in my home

Where do kids get their energy from? Why can’t I have some of that vitality?

Hop on to read my post here

http://www.yowoto.com/posts/help-the-batteries-in-my-overactive-kids-never-seem-to-wind-down

Hop on to yowo

Brown Velvet Cake

This is modified recipe if red velvet cake, I call it brown velvet cake. Turns out super soft and light, much to my surprise. It is quite simple if you do not plan to embellish it with the cream. This was the first time I worked with cups or oz measurement and since I had a measuring jar with both oz and gram measurement it was super convenient.

1 cup = 8 ounces = 236 g

Ingredients

Whisk together
3 eggs
Vanilla essence
3/4 cup or 6 oz or 177 g approx unsalted butter
1.5 cup or 12 oz or 350 g sugar

Combine together
2.5 cup or 20 oz or 590 g Flour
3 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder (some recipes do not recommend baking powder but I cannot imagine ignoring it in my cake mix)

Add the two mixes together however you will find them tough to blend because the eggs are half the quantity of a simple cake.

Combine the bubbly mix

1 cup butter milk which could be effectively made using 50 ml (1/3 cup) of milk and 200ml (2/3cup) of yoghurt blended together
1 tbsp white vinegar or lemon juice
1 tsp baking soda or sodium bicarbonate

Add this bubbly mix to the above mix and fold. I topped the mix up with about 2 tbsp milk as I found the mix too stiff.

I baked the cake in my convection microwave, medium power, 180 degree C and 8 minutes



Sent from my iPad

Tejas wrote a cartoon strip

The idea was Ojas' he said.

This is in the diary if wimpy kinds do it yourself book. A lovely book where kids can make up their own cartoons, answer questions and generally a fun thing to do. Something that Tejas loves doing. 

I am glad I bought it for him, on his insistence of course.

1 to 10 books

Finally I get round to doing the tag Kiran Manral asked me to do. I am going to move away from the high class books and just talk about those simple ones that gave me a high not because of their complexity but because of their simplicity and heartwarming index and also a beautiful escape. I will try to keep them chronological so I can stop myself from playing favourites.
1. I start with those I read when I started reading ...all my precious amar chitra Katha especially the Ramayana which I read painstakingly in class 1 over a period of a couple of months, little did I know that one day I will turn out to be a very fast reader. Then the Pran comics, champak, chandamama, nandan, tinkle, each of them with stories of a different genre, the ones that stayed with me are tenalirama and Vikram aur Vetaal.
2. All Enid Blyton's esp the school ones and Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, Premchand's stories, HG Wells stories, Somerset Maugham stories, Jungle Book whom I got introduced to in school.
3. All Jeffery Archers and Sidney Sheldons...I club them because I was introduced to both authors at the same time.
4. Asterix and Tintin
5. Rebecca, Gone with the Wind and Scarlett.
6. My Family and Other Animals by George Orwell
7. George Orwell stories
7. Harry potter series
8. All Sophie Kinsella books
8. Palace of a Illusions
9. The Pregnant King, Jaya by Devdutt Pattanayak, Prem Panicker's Bhima and other assorted Mahabharata books
9 a) All Moni Mohsin books
9.b) All Anuja Chauhan books
9.c) The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul
9 d)Devapriya Roy's books
10) Jorasanko and all other Tagore stories

And that's my book

In the hands if my little fans who sought our their names written in the book in the author intro!

Repurposed

A crabtree lotion box into a nailpolish organiser
A citizen watch box into a coin box
A ferrerocher tray and box for odds and ends and watches
A hersheys box into a lipstick organiser.
A bath set into a hair clip organiser.
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Butt of jokes

ojas hits his skipping rope in his bum
Quips Tejas ..arya butt.
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Adieu Nana

Adieu to one of the strongest, most enthusiastic and happening grand man I have known. You went doing what you liked best...traveling, buying car and even joking. We did not want to believe you but turns out you had the last laugh. Love you.

The passing of an era. The one who lived life the fullest. The one who was ahead of his time, practical and innovative. An entrepreneur who built everything from scratch. A stylish man who passed on his sense of humour, love of cars, travel and good life to his progeny and in some of us, his ample waist! The guy who lived and passed on, on his own terms. He who had the last word after all. For whom we can't say rest in peace but live it up wherever you are. Bon voyage Papa/(Bade) Dada/ (Bade)Nana 

Coming Soon Mango Chutney

27 authors, 27 stories as tangy, spicy and sweet like mango chutney.

Published by Rumour books, copies will be available for pre order on Amazon and Flipkart from 1st August.


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