Aarav turns 4!

When I write this.. 4 seems to be a big number but visions of the first time I saw my son are so fresh!

It was like this.. I lay on the table and saw the most beautiful thing, pink lil hands, feet, with spiked black hair, crying out loud.. I wanted to look, keep looking but the nurses took him away so quick… 4 hours later, I held him for the first time! Wow, 4 years went rather fast!

It makes me so happy when he colors pictures, says his numbers, words, asks questions, shares toys… he makes me proud :)

Aarav and I were home on a rainy day, I was busy looking into my phone. He was playing, I murmured to myself " oh, I am so hungry" soon Aarav comes to me and says, "Mumma, I am sorry" I, very curiously ask him "why are you sorry?", He says… "b'coz, I don’t know how to make food for you."

I was touched.. My lil boy so sensitive, so thoughtful!

From soft toys - barn animals - play doh - dinosaurs - cars - super heroes, a month before his 4th birthday, his happening favorite was Dinosaurs. He would name 10-20 types of dinosaurs!

When asked what cake he would want when he turned 4, perceptibly he said DINOSAURS.

It was a chocolate mousse cake and a old fashioned sugar cake this time! I enjoyed baking all this from scratch and was overjoyed when it was all put together.

With friends, food  and fun it was a memorable celebration.

The chocolate mousse cake was 9*13 inch chocolate cake with chocolate mousse filling, poured with generous amounts of chocolate ganache and bordered with pirouette cookies. I made 3 dinosaur fondant animals and placed it on the silky ganache.

The old fashioned sugar cake was two layered with 9 inch holding the 6 inch layers. The cake was frosted with butter cream and filled with Nutella and fresh cream. The decor on the cake was done with some tinted fondant. 

These memories are precious and writing or reading about them makes me revisit these beautiful moments!

Our Farm Birthday Story!

Aarav, my son loves barn animals and his favorite rhyme is "Old Mac Donald had a farm"
He loved watching this rhyme a 100 times and would be eager for more any time of the day!
For us it was Old Mac Donald overdose!

To cheer his love for old Mac Donald and barn animals, weeks before his Third Birthday, my husband and I wanted to give him a farm themed Birthday party! We thought of farm themed goodie bags for guests, cake, cupcakes and cookies!

I love to bake and wanted everything "Mom-made" for my boy!

I derived inspiration form many sources online! With all those ideas bubbling in my head, I couldn't go to bed, every night I was imagining so many things, what, when and how it should be done.
It was a big project, hopefully a successful one!

 

 A week before his Birthday, I planned on making the fondant animals, Cows, A horse, sheep, chickens with a nest, ducks and they looked great! Everyday I got to work for 2-3 hours when my son napped. It was important to keep all this a “Shhhh”... Surprise! There was no way I wanted him to see those animals before his Birthday!
It was a joy making these cute animals! The more you work with fondant the more creative you get. As I put together the parts of the animals they looked great! These appealing, cute lil animals were ready to be placed on a cake. The cake!

 

 

 I also made about 48 fondant animal faces to be placed on the cupcakes! I enjoyed doing every bit of this. I was so thrilled when they all started looking great together. 
The day before his birthday, I planned on baking the cake and that night my thoughts took over my sleep and I was so restless. I hoped that the cake turns out well and nothing goes wrong! 
Next morning, I baked 5 layers pineapple sponge cake, 2 layers of chocolate magic cake, about 50 cupcakes and 5 dozens of sugar cookies with Aarav's name, flowers and the number 3!
Wow! I had turned my kitchen into a bakery! It was great, the sugary buttery perfume for days!
I primed 3 types of icing. A fresh cream icing with pineapple chunks to get into the layers of the sponge cake, Chocolate hazelnut fresh cream for the chocolate cake and the butter cream icing tinted in colors for decorating the cake.

So now was the BIG, important, final task, putting them all together to make those dramatic thoughts and imagination a reality.
The decorations were looking so fantastic! We used animal patterned balloons and colored paper, it was simple yet festive. My husband did a wonderful job!

It was about 4 pm, on 19^th of May, Aarav was napping, I started my assembly, focused. I put them all together and here’s how it looked. It was the most complicated cake I had made till date and with the way it looked and tasted, I was proud of myself.

Aarav woke up and looked at the décor and the goodies and he said “This is for me! Thank you Mommy and daddy, I love you. I loved the surprise” He hugged us and that moment was pure bliss. It was worth all our efforts! That expression on his face and those precious words he said will always be in our heart forever!


 

We got ready for our guests and it was a great party with great food and wonderful people!

My story of losing 30 pounds in 300 days!

So It's last year August 7, I started my first diet plan and Zumba. It's been 300 days since and yes I have lost 30 pounds!! 

After Aarav's birth I had lost all the pregnancy weight and was quite happy with the way I looked but it was when my sonny boy turned 7-8 months old that I had put on weight and just not happy with myself.

Then after he was about 15 months, i decided i do something about it and  That's when all this began, 

Initially my plan was to reduce abut 20- to 25 pounds and I thought I was doing the most difficult thing in the world but it was easy

Oh yes, i mean it... It was easy.

I can say it was easy because, of a few reasons specific to me.

1. I do not take coffee or tea and the extra sugar and calories that some with it.

2. I'm far far away from mom who makes the most delicious food and a threat to my willpower and this whole diet plan.

3. Have a super active son, I need to be running behind! Making me more active

4. Not a person with a sweet tooth 

5. Stubborn with a stubborn willpower :)

How I did it....Just a few things to keep in mind and keep out from ;)

Mainly it was two things that helped me achieve  this - Dancing and the GM diet plan.

Zumba was something that kept me physically fit.... It was awesome dancing and I love the idea of burning calories thru' dancing. Zumba was thrice a week for around 80 mins each class. High impact dancing for an hour and 20 minutes of abs and other exercises.

The GM diet is a seven day diet plan and really really worked for me, thanks to my friend. Nishal for introducing me to this diet plan!

It's a week of just fruits on first day, veggies on the second, veggies and fruits on the third, banana and milk on the fourth, chicken on the fifth and sixth (my most awaited days of the diet week) and some brown rice and veggies on the last day. For more details on the GM diet, click here

On the other days of the month, I ate we'll, rice, sambar, chapatis all the curries

However, There were some rules we made and followed, well mostly...

• No frying 
• only skimmed milk
• No buying snacks, sweets and stuff that's irresistibly yum
• Stack the fridge with fruits and veggies. 
• Whole grains
• Chicken and fish in place of prawns and lamb.
• Reduce salt and spices (just go on a low salt or no salt diet as you'll be amazed at how much weight you'd have lost and inches thinner you'd have gotten)

Well, at parties and gatherings, just about anything, even the deep fried, dangerously high calorific chocolate mousses, desserts and other prohibited irresistible stuff.

It's okay to crazily eat occasionally and control yourself for the next couple of days. I mean I did this and it worked for me.

 Never starve, eat fruits, raw veggies at regular intervals.

My husband helped me tremendously through out those weeks of few carbs no fat, whiny, mood swingy weeks. My friends, Dipali and Shanthi....they are adorable, they never forgot to compliment even if I lost an inch and keeping me up! Here's my story because Dipali wanted me to write it and  kept reminding me I should..

With each passing week, I was smiling at the weighing machine :)

What keeps you going is, the result you can see after a successful completion week of the GM diet. With a high impact physical routine, it is amazing how much we can lose. 

It's also flattering at how beautiful you feel about yourself. It is definitely worth a try!

Picture courtesy: Google Images

Happy hands, happier feet and happiest times!

Life is exciting, it's full of surprises and living each day hoping  and making efforts for the better is really the best way to live.A few days are the happiest, a few the luckiest, then there are those days you never want to have again, the sad ones, the tiring ones, the normals and so on...There would be times you need to make sacrifices for the loved ones and put their needs ahead of ours, there is something I learnt about sacrifices put in words here it is quote unquote:"There are days that make the sacrifices seem worthwhile. And then there are the days where everything feels like a sacrifice. And then there are the sacrifices that you cant even figure out why you're making"
My post "breakfreeee" was more when I was going through the not so happiest days, but like I said we chase life hoping for more sunshine, more excitement and more happiness.
Well now here it is and so I write with Happy hands, happier feet about the happiest times :)

Happy hands because I have loved art and crafts and appreciate them immensely and I am getting to create a few. A friend of mine is immensely talented and is coaching me on this creative side.  I have finished my first painting and makes me feel happy to have  it on my wall, a simple one but elegant. I also have been long chasing the dream of making a Tanjore painting. It is a grand, incredibly beautiful  and detailed artwork.

I almost started taking lessons and didn't really get started like about three times and fortunately, now I have begun and it feels great, I am just loving it!! Thanks to my friend and teacher for this, my hands are in All smiles, when I am working on my board!

Here is my first work,  a simple but special one!


My feet are happier because of the dancing tunes and the fitness workout - Zumba! 
Dancing is my passion and when I am at it, it's just ecstatic. I have the most enthusiastic and talented instructor and she takes us on this incredible musical dancing joy for an hour and half and it is addictive and absolutely enjoyable. 

My son is now a year and a half and he is chasing butterflies, jumping, climbing, saying or rather trying to say all that he sees and it is pure fun watching him and see how much he has grown! He is just never tired and is always full of energy, that's something i wish i could have :)

 It's like, when you are happy and have your hands full, it feels great! My friends, they are an awesome bunch, always planning for some fun!! We Women know, time with girlfriends are super fun and much needed ;)
My man, my son, the Skype and phone time with my family far far away, those long conversations with my old precious friends, the company of my new friends, new people, the long drives, interesting conversations, delicious food and simply the  start of everyday all make my time fulfilling and happy!

Signing off with a smile :)

Wishing you all Dozens of happiness - Happy 12-12-12!
Love


Pictures Courtesy: Google images

For those with a 'less' sweet-tooth - A recipe for banana oatmeal muffins

Banana Oatmeal Muffins

My in-laws are here with us, it has been wonderful seeing them with their grandson and touring places around. They are loving the united states, the land of the free! Both my parents-in law are in their early stage of diabetes and have cultivated and follow a healthy diet. However, there is still a tiny craving for sweets.


I thought of a sweet bread and tried the Banana walnut bread and everyone loved it! My next try was to make something more healthier and tastier and then I tried the Banana Oatmeal muffin, which was an absolute hit!


I relished the taste of these yum muffins and I am sure you'd liked to try this because it's healthy, not too many calories and easy, so easy to make! My husband who is never an oats person found them delectable :)


Here's how you make these moist nutritious muffins.
Ingredients:

1/2 cup softened butter
1/2 cup Sugar
2 eggs
1 cup mashed ripe bananas
3/4 cup honey
1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole Wheat flour
1 cup quick-cooking oats
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, bananas and honey; mix well. Combine dry ingredients in another bowl; stir into creamed mixture just until moistened. Fill paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 350 F for 20-25 minutes or until the poked toothpick comes out clean. Cool in tray 10 - 15 minutes before  serving. The above quantity of ingredients would make 18  golden-brown muffins. Here's how it looked. The above picture is the same muffin with the instagram effect ;-)

Break FREEeeee

Breakfree... Really... Let's see.
You Are all positive about all the changes that life has thrown upon, changes that come with challenges, it's own ups n downs...Life isn't always easy...
You feel, feel so strongly and have made up your mind to deal with all it's difficulty... Yet there is this part of you that just breaks down at one stage when it's all too much!

Why is life so tiring? Why does it make you feel, u can take it no more?
Don't we deserve to be happy go lucky all the time? Why does it have to stop and make us feel awfully down?


You go to work, you are great at it and you are showered with compliments almost every day, you get them from colleagues and friends that you are exceptional, indispensable, the best the company has, the best worker etc etc...
Then suddenly you choose the family way and give up the work... It ends up with taking care of your baby, cooking, household chores.... No matter how hard or how perfectly you do... Nothing exceptional. Apparently, this becomes every women's "duty" the large, active world you lived in suddenly feels so passive, small and limited.
All you hear is a few compliments from close ones, few friends, relatives, invites, who come and go now and then... What happens to self esteem??


 All of us like to appreciated, liked and loved.... What if all this just gets lost in the monotony of change that has become your life currently?
you thrive to do best what you are doing, but do you derive any happiness out of it? Is it going to be appreciated, is it worth of all the things you given up... I am not sure....
Yet we continue chasing it... Going strong, not to give up on life.
There will be sunshine and sooner or later, you'll get what you want from life!


Hope, thats what it's all about..
A quote from a wonderful movie which brings a smile on my face...Hope,  is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.

Chocolate Cupcakes!!

Cupcake recipes are wonderful inventions!
Cupcakes are versatile little cakes that suit any occasion.
You can get as creative as possible and are only limited by your imagination.


Here I've made these chocolate cup cakes & they just turned out deliciously delectable!
Here's how it looked...

If you are tempted to try this easy recipe, follow the black magic cake recipe from my previous post and reduce baking time to 20 Minutes.

The reduction of cooking time was one of the reasons for the discovery of cute Lil cup cakes.
It's that the cake batter was cooked in teacups and other small containers since it took such a long time to cook cakes in hearth ovens. The small teacups cut the cooking time of cakes dramatically.