Decade Accolade

(For Abhiir at 10)

The table tennis coach came to me and said about Abhiir, “He has the feeling for the game. Looks like he got it from his mother…” I recalled a similar incident when the old Egyptian football coach had said to Kris, “This boy will make you proud”

The summer of 2025 has been more of me and Abhiir, being there for each other! While Kris had gone for his biking tour and Arhaant for his teenage summer camps, it was just me and Abhiir together — We went for the table tennis tournament, where I cheered so loudly that everyone thought I was his coach ! We watched Masterchef Australia, played LEGO, cycled on the new track and of course made some crafty things indoors in the ‘45 degree afternoons’.

Dear Abhiir,

At ten, what I am most proud about, is that you can now make your own fried egg independently, without any help. I am also very happy to see these awesome Cobra Kai cards that you made, taking inspiration from the football and transformer cards. You just came up with the idea and completed all 20-25 cards, front and back, tirelessly and consistently. That's remarkable!

I liked it when you went to Baba’s office for some half days of “ pretend internship” , where you sat on an empty office desk, and completed your cards. You took your bag, lunch box, Harry Potter book to read and headphones. It was another great idea, because I know, deep down, you envied the teenage summer camps that Arhaant got this time and you didn't!

Be this fearless boy, you always are — The class monitor, student councillor, lead singer, head boy material ;) and gadget guru with amazing typing speed! Keep making your own sandwiches, fried egg and cucumber salad. Take the lead when Arhaant is feeling moody and hesitant ;)

And I know, you would rather have a new football jersey and a party for your birthday, than a trip that even all of us get ;) I won't be able to say from now on that the spring break trip itself is your birthday present ;)

Thank you for patiently collecting all our favourite songs for my car playlist. I can totally count on you for such things. I am always amused , watching your fights with enemies from your imaginary world and your accented commentary for imaginary matches that you play in the living room with famous footballers! This kind of imaginative pretend play is the best!

But please, watch your screen time and do your warm up and stretching exercises. Ten year olds with older siblings are always more mature these days and know a bit too much for their age! I still do need to keep a close watch on you!

Keep up your main character energy ;)

Love, Amma

:: Cobra Kai Cards by Abhiir ::

Forty Plus Fruity

OUR Birthday Season has begun ...April-May-June!

:: Blueberry-Sweet Lime-Mint Cake::

::Citrus surprise with a hint of cinnamon!::

:: For us, May-Borns! :: 

:: Mango-Coconut Cream Cake for the April boy! ::

:: Virgin Pinacolada Cake for the June Teenager :: 

:: Happy 9th Birthday to Mango-fan Abhiir! ::

Mother's Recipe #9

Home Baked Biscuits

For my older son, back when he was four, his grandmother(my mother) was no less than Mary Poppins or Fraulein Maria from the Sound of Music, who used to carry a magical bag full of limitless possibilities, when she came to spend the summer vacations with us in Abu Dhabi. She baked these with my son, as a summer activity suggested by the nursery, back in those days. She would knead the dough with magical expertise, opening the doors towards baking for me, erasing all my starting troubles. I made these using finger millet flour along with the traditional whole wheat flour. I used jaggery and some olive oil to balance the sugar and butter respectively. A pinch of cocoa powder to finger millet flour gives the cookies an irresistible dark chocolate colour for the MUD part  in the cookies!

Ingredients : (Amounts are given from experience and intuition ;)

• Whole Wheat Flour  - 1/2 bowl

• Ragi flour (finger millet) - 1 and 1/2 bowls

• Butter - 1/4 slab

• Olive oil - 3 tablespoons

• Jaggery - 1/2 bowl

• Cinnamon (powdered) - 1/2 teaspoon

• Vanilla essence - 1/4 teaspoon

• Baking powder - 1/2 teaspoon

• Soda bicarb - 1/2 teaspoon

• Cocoa powder - 1 teaspoon

• Mixed nuts (powdered) - 2 to 4 teaspoons

• Warm milk/ warm water - as needed to knead the dough.

Freestyle Method : 

1. Mix the flours, baking powder, soda bicarb and cocoa to a large mixing bowl.

2. Add jaggery, cinnamon, nuts and vanilla essence.

3. Add butter chunks and olive oil.

4. Knead roughly until the butter chunks melt.

5. Add warm water or warm milk and knead firmly into a ball.

6. Refrigerate for a few hours to let the dough rest.

7. Roll into sheets of roughly 5mm thickness 

8. Cut to any size and shape. If you do not have a cookie cutter, use the lid of any jar to cut perfect circular shapes.

9. Use a fork to make patterns if you wish. 

10. Preheat the oven for 2 minutes at 230 degrees. Then bake for 20 minutes at 230 degrees.

11. Let them cool down to get the golden crunchy bite!

#mothersrecipes #handcraftedwithlove #homebakedcookies #grandmumslove 

:: Mud Cookies ;) ::

:: Finished in minutes! ::

:: 3rd batch was perfectly golden :: 

Frangipani Fest

As landscape architects, we generally know how to design around plants and with plants. But to really understand the behaviour of plants and trees, we must know what a gardener knows. A good gardener feels the pulse of each plant. He knows how much to prune a plant and when. He intuitively waters the plants according to their needs through changing seasons. Basically, he can read the minds of plants! And that's exactly why, these days I am doing an internship with the gardener of my compound. And funnily, he doesn't even know that I am trying to be his student ;) But he's one happy chappy, ready to share a few gardening tips every now and then.

This morning, I saw him chopping off some branches of my favourite Frangipani tree. I ran outside a tad annoyed. But he told me that the increasing bunches of flowers this season have been weighing the tree down to one side. He needed to prune the branches on that side to keep the balance of the tree and stop it from bending down. I agreed, the tree needed pruning.

Immediately I began collecting the fallen branches that still carried loads of white and yellow flowers. He was saving them for me. These are the flowers I collect every morning.

He also warned me about the white sticky ‘milk’ that leaks from the chopped branches of a frangipani tree. I was actually aware of it. I have grown up around these trees in my childhood garden in India. We didn't exactly have this particular frangipani (plumeria obtusa) but we had the one with pink flowers(plumeria rubra) . My sisters and I used to have our hands smeared with that white sticky milk while playing “flower sellers”!

Soon I had several large bunches of long stemmed frangipani flowers, enough to decorate one tropical beach wedding party! Oh what a treat! I arranged the flowers in baskets on my terrace and made a few bridal bouquets as well. Oh I felt like a flower queen! It was indeed a frangipani festival marking the beginning of pleasant weather.

Mother's Recipe #6

:: Mixed Vegetable Cutlets ::

Thrifty Thirsty Thirteen

Lost childhood calls
newfound attractions
a journey green and brown

:: Coffee Walnut Cake for the Teenager! ::

Arhaant’s Birthday Interview at 13: 

1. Me:  Current best friends.

Arhaant:  Alan, Jay, Ilona, Matthew, Azim.

2. Me: Favourite band/musician. Mention your favourite song by that person or band.

Arhaant: Coldplay, OneRepublic, One Direction and many more. One of my favourite songs by OneRepublic is probably ‘I ain't worried' because it was played in the movie ‘Top Gun: Maverick' and it sounded really good; it kept getting played in my mind over and over. My favourite song by One Direction was really tough to decide because they make so many great songs. I think it's ‘History'; which was the last One Direction song released before the band went on hiatus or disbanded. In the official video of ‘History', they showed many old pictures and videos of them together when they were younger; hanging out, making jokes, laughing and that reminded me of my friends and I. I don't know why but the song ‘Speed of sound' by Coldplay is one of my favourites. The music in the background was really vibrant to me.

3. Me: Favourite teacher and why.

Arhaant:Mr Warren; he's always so fun and he even hosted one of our amazing pizza parties after school.

4. Me: Favorite activity with your mother.

Arhaant: Playing table tennis with Amma, swimming, yoga. She really wants the best out of us (me and my brother)

5. Me: Favourite activity with your father.

Arhaant:Football was mainly the sport my father liked as a child and that carried on towards me and my brother. We love playing football with Baba. 

6. Me: Favourite sport and why.

Arhaant: My favourite sport, you guessed it, football. Football brings people together, it's really fun; doing skills, slide tackling and mainly scoring goals! I've never thought about playing it professionally, but most of my friends are like, "You take India to the Fifa World Cup." That was kind of funny. Another thing about football, the rules aren't that hard to understand.

7. In football, the biggest question is “Messi or Ronaldo?" I prefer Messi because I think he has a better playing style; less diving, better freekicks, WAY better dribbling and he has won more trophies (1 World Cup, 4 Champions Leagues, 7 Ballon D'ors, I could go on for hours.) Yes you can compare their stats and say Ronaldo is better, but my choice and many others' choices are going to be that Messi is the G.O.A.T (Greatest of all time.)

8. Me: Favourite food.

Arhaant:My father's famous ‘Chicken strips and mushroom sauce' and my mother's cakes - THEY'RE LITERALLY TO DIE FOR!

9. Me: Favourite movie and why.

Arhaant:There's so many to choose from. But one of the best has to be ‘Top Gun: Maverick'. It's a great mix of action, adventure, drama, romance. In addition, ‘I ain’t worried’ was played in this movie.

10. Me: Favourite book and why.

Arhaant:One of my favourite novel series has got to be the ‘Percy Jackson’ saga. It greatly displays Greek mythology throughout the books. It shows Percy going on adventurous and daring quests with his mates, Annabeth and Grover. After reading these books, my interest in Greek mythology has grown. The series unveils Greek gods, villains and valuable treasures very well. However, I think the ‘Harry Potter’ series is even better; the names of the characters, places and even spells are really cool and interesting. To me it feels like you’re part of the book when you say the spells, like Expecto Patronum or Expelliarmus.

11. Me: Do you like school? If yes why, if not, why not.

Arhaant: Most of the time, I do like school because I love meeting my friends there, chatting with them, and playing. I like most of the lessons taught at school, like: Math, English, P.E, I used to like Humanities until our teacher changed and I also like Science as it's very intriguing.

12. Me: What is your birthday wish?

Arhaant: On one of my future birthdays, I wish to get Retro Air Jordans, however I know that they are very expensive and I’ll probably buy them when I’m older. 

13. Me: What do you want as a birthday gift?

Arhaant: On my birthday I want to probably get some Percy Jackson or Harry Potter books. 

14. Me: Is there anything your friends have that you don't and you want it so bad?

Arhaant: Most of my friends have PlayStations, which I do want badly!

15. Me: What do you want to be when you grow up?

Arhaant: I have not decided yet but some of my choices are: Lawyer, Pilot, Engineer, Architect.

16. Me: What do you miss about Ajji (maternal grandma)?

Arhaant: The first things that remind me of Ajji are the soft touch of the blanket she would always carry along with her and the fresh smell of Nivea Cream. And the amazing smell of her famous and mouth-watering ‘Sabudana Khichdi’ that would flow from the kitchen. She was also very helpful and playful with everyone.

17. Me: What's your favorite memory of COVID times?

Arhaant: My favourite memory from the COVID times was when I found Harry Potter movies and watched them - they were so interesting - and then I started reading the books (yes I know I was late in starting to read them!) 

18. Me: Which family trip was your favourite and why?

Arhaant: My favourite family trip has to be the one to Thailand, where we went to Bangkok (not knowing how dangerous it is) and saw the tall skyscraper MahaNakhon with an exceedingly scary skywalk on the top floor! The hotel there was really cozy with a top floor swimming pool and restaurant. Then we went to Udon Thani - mostly famous for its sea of lotuses: Talay Bua Daeng (where we went) However the city seemed very quiet and almost like a ghost town. After that we went to an extremely beautiful city full of sea and green. The beaches there almost looked like they were from a website or magazine. And the water was crystal clear. Even with all this beauty, there were some downsides or one downside. While we were riding on a ferry in the waters of Krabi, I somehow got stung by a jellyfish! Oh the burn! Anyway we met some of our friends there and had a great time, we even made some sandcastles and found fascinating seashells and ate great Thai food. 

19. Me: Which place do you want to visit next and why?

Arhaant: The next place I would like to visit would probably be Rome. I've heard many fantastic things about the place and the great landmarks - The Colosseum, The Pantheon etc. And I’ve heard the weather isn’t too bad there.

20. Me: Which animal do you think you resemble the most and why?

Arhaant: I think I resemble a wolf  because sometimes I act like a bit of a loner and sometimes I act like a leader. 

Mother's Recipe #5

Tomato Saar

As a child, I remember being confused between tomato “Soup” and tomato “Saar”. I always wanted to have a thick creamy cheesy tomato soup but my mother used to make a thin spicy tangy tomato drink , with flavours of garlic and coconut, which I later came to know as “tomato saar”. I realised recently, its consistency is similar to rasam, but without the dal water and rasam masala. Must admit, this time I liked the Saar more than the soup!

Ingredients :

• Tomatoes - 4 - medium sized
• Grated coconut - ½ cup
• Garlic cloves - 3-4
• Dry red chilies - 3-4
• Curry Leaves - 5-6
• Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
• Cumin seeds -1/2 teaspoon
• Asafoetida - 1/4 teaspoon
• Dry mango powder - 1/4 teaspoon
• Oil
• Salt

Freestyle Method :

1. Blanch four medium sized tomatoes for 10 minutes in boiling water. Keep aside in cold water for a while and peel off the skin.
2. Let them cool down. Then blend them into a smooth puree.
3. Grind the grated coconut, 3 red chilies, cumin seeds and garlic in a separate blender jar.
4. In a pan, heat some oil for tempering. Add mustard seeds, then one dry red chilly, asafoetida and curry leaves and wait for it to sizzle and crackle.
5. Add the coconut chili garlic paste to the pan. Sauté until the garlic loses its rawness.
6. Add the tomato puree and some leftover water from the blanching of the tomatoes to let it simmer for a few minutes. Season with salt and dry mango powder. If required, pour through a sieve to get a smooth thin shiny consistency.
7. Garnish with fresh coriander.

Tomato Saar can be eaten with rice as a light meal. In that case, the sieving process can be skipped. But I prefer to have it as a warm but fresh summer drink just like rasam, giving a subtle sour spiced satisfaction!

Lemon & Mint

Happy Birthday to YOU, Happy Birthday to ME!

Its nice to celebrate two birthdays in the same month, in the same house, just a week(and some years) apart! This is my summery 'Lemon and Mint' Cake, bathed in olive oil and showered with fresh orange juice and the zest of two full lemons (that are now sitting naked in my fridge, lol)

#handcraftedwithlove #twotaureans #egglesscakes #maybirthdays 

:: Lemon & Mint Cake ::

Mother's Recipe #4

Sheer Khurma/ 

Shevaya Kheer/ 

Semiya Payasam 

(Vermicelli Pudding)

This month, I thought of trying another simple dish, my mother used to make often on festive days - Shevaya Kheer. With the flavour of Vishu lingering from the week before, I thought why not Semiya Payasam! But then because of the Eid context last week, I finalized my plan on making Sheer Khurma.

These three dishes are pretty much the same thing, just with different consistencies of milk. While Sheer Khurma has a thick rich and creamy form, Shevaya Kheer has slightly more but thinner milk and Semiya Payasam has a lot more milk giving it a pourable consistency. Ingredients are all the same. Just a dash of the local cultural touch makes the difference.

In fact I remember my mother saying, “Lets make Sheer Khurma” for that one Eid holiday we used to get back when I was in India. She used to tell me that it's just a thicker version of the Shevaya Kheer, but sounds a lot more “royal”! Hence it seemed perfect for Eid-Ul-Fitr.

Ingredients :

• Milk - 1 litre (thick, full fat)
• Vermicelli/ Semiya - 1 cup
• Dates - 3-4
• Nuts (Almonds and Cashews) - 5-6 each
• Raisins - a handful
• Cardamom - 3
• Sugar/ Jaggery - about 2 tablespoons
• Ghee - 2-3 teaspoons
• Rose water - ½ teaspoon

Freestyle Method :

• On a hot pan, roast the dates and raisins with ghee and keep aside when aromatic and marinated.
• In the same pan, roast the vermicelli, crushed cardamom and finely chopped nuts until golden brown.
• Add milk + the dates and raisins mixture to the same pan.
• Let the vermicelli cook in the boiling milk. Keep stirring so that the vermicelli does not stick to the bottom of the pan. Let the milk thicken.
• Add sugar/ jaggery and rose water. Continue stirring.
• Turn off the heat when the vermicelli looks thick and wormy and the raisins are juicy and plump.
• Let it cool and garnish with more nuts.
• When warm, it can be eaten as breakfast and when cold, it can be served for dessert.

Of course, a themed plating is a must! After watching too many episodes of my favourite MasterChef Australia, I keep serving those fancy plates of food, telling my family about how I'm more into “Sophisticated Flavours” ;)

But secretly, later on, I added a lot more milk and more sugar to the Sheer Khurma and served it as Payasam to my very very sweet “payasam people” from the south ;)

Mother's Recipe #3

Egg Fried Rice

This recipe is not a trial but a pure dedication. I have made this dish about a thousand times till date…probably once a week for the past twenty years for myself and for my boys! This is the simplest recipe, but this one deserves the first place in my heart. This is the first dish my mother actually taught me, the first that I made as a teenager. This is a survival dish for those super hungry times, in the middle of school projects, vacations, architectural submissions and of course has been my '5 am bento box saviour recipe' for years!

I am sure all my best friends from school must be remembering my mother’s famous egg fried rice in my steel tiffin box. My vegetarian friend, who secretly started eating eggs, was because of this egg fried rice!!!

Even my children’s friends have begun to love it, sharing it from their lunch boxes. My only regret remains, that because of his egg allergy, my husband has never got to taste this recipe. I always tell him, one day, the aroma of my egg recipes will help him get rid of his allergy!

Ingredients : (Serves two extra hungry children)

• 2 -3 Eggs
• ½ Onion
• Cumin seeds/ Cumin powder - 1/2 teaspoon (Personally I like cumin seeds more than powder. But for some finicky boys, I add the powder, because they have some complaints about jeera rice, that “the seeds keep coming in the way of each tasty bite!” )
• Curry leaves - 6-7 (Better if freshly picked from the garden)
• Green chilly - 1
• Turmeric powder - ¼ teaspoon
• Ghee - 1 teaspoon
• Oil (groundnut/ olive/ sunflower) - 1 teaspoon
• Cooked Rice - 2 bowls (leftover rice works perfectly)
• Goda masala (Indian spice mix - optional)
• Fresh coriander for garnish
• Juice of ½ a lemon.
• Salt
• Black Pepper

Freestyle Method :

• Heat the oil in the pan. Add curry leaves, cumin seeds and green chilly. Let them dance in the oil. Add sliced onion. Let him join in the oiled dance until tired and transparent ;)
• Add cumin powder (if you're not using cumin seeds) and turmeric powder. Toss until uniformly coated on the onion.
• Break two eggs. Let them settle for a while and then toss them into a scrambled form. Wait until the eggs are cooked perfectly.
• Add cooked rice and mix. Add ghee, salt, pepper.
• Add that magical touch of the goda masala spice mix and let its aroma get infused with each grain of the rice.                                                                                                                       *Every year, my mother used to give me a jar of her special homemade goda masala mix. It adds that magical touch to absolutely any dish. I have only about a quarter jar of that masala still left with me. I am using it sparingly, as I have never found that exact mix in any shop even in India. It was her special secret recipe, which I have been trying to crack. Somewhere deep inside, I'm scared, what'll happen if that spice jar gets over? It's the last of my mother’s creations that I am holding onto like a child. That masala has pushed me into trying new dishes. I hope I can recreate the magic of that jar one day!
• Garnish the rice with the juice of ½ a lemon and some freshly chopped coriander. No dish is complete without this lemon-coriander duo!
• Fill it in the bento box/ tiffin box after letting the steam settle. Otherwise eat it up right away ;)

Cooking Time - less than 10 minutes (Rice should be cooked beforehand and cooled)

#mothersrecipe3  #eggfriedrice  #bentoboxrecipes  #tiffinbox 

Mother's Recipe #2

Finger Millet + Fresh Fruit Cake

This recipe is carried forward from my great grandmother, to my mother and now to me. This cake is not really a fancy dish, but a humble, no fuss, eggless sweet dish, made from the less used flours in the house, combined with seasonal fruits to add a much required freshness. The egg is replaced by yogurt. Hence the cake has a nice balance of sweet and tangy flavours. Cakes in those days were generally steamed in a double boiler as opposed to baking in ovens. Perhaps this method keeps the cake more moist.

My mother and my great grandmother used to make it with semolina + jowar/ sorghum flour with yogurt and fresh mango. I decided to add my own touch by using ragi/finger millet flour, which is rich in iron. I have used fresh strawberries for the “Valentine’s day” context ;)

Ingredients -

• Ragi/ finger millet flour - 1 and 1/2 cups
• Multipurpose flour/ Maida or Semolina - ½ cup
• Fresh fruit (strawberries) - 1/2 cup finely chopped fruit + 1 cup roughly chopped fruit for mashing into the batter.
• Butter - 1/3rd slab
• Baking powder and Soda Bicarb - 1 teaspoon each
• Sugar - ½ cup
• Jaggery - ½ cup
• Yogurt - 2 tablespoons
• Milk - ¼ litre
• Ghee - for greasing the baking tray
• Almonds/walnuts - about 6 Nos, if you like nuts.
• Fresh Cream - just a dollop.

Freestyle Method -

• Take one bowl for the dry ingredients. Sieve all the flours. Add powdered sugar and powdered jaggery into the bowl. Add baking powder and soda bicarb.
• Into another bowl - (the wet bowl) - add butter, roughly chopped strawberries and yogurt. Mix well.
• Add the dry mix to the wet mix . Stir firmly with a spatula adding milk as required. Then blend with a hand mixer till a dosa-batter consistency is achieved.
• Add finely chopped fruit and nuts towards the end. No mixing after this process.
• Grease the baking tray with a few drops of ghee. Pour the magical potion into the tray. With ragi flour, the batter gets a nice light brown “chocolatey” colour, without the cocoa! That's a victory! The boys think it's chocolate cake ;) I understood the whole point of using the less used flours in such dishes. No one can pinpoint our underlying healthy intentions!
• Preheat the oven for 10 minutes at 200 degrees.
• Bake the cake for 40 minutes.
• Take the toothpick test to see if you need another 5 minutes of baking or not!

Finally, I coated the cake with some fresh cream and thinly sliced strawberries to give a chic makeover to this rustic recipe from the villages of the western coast of India, where my great grandmother used to live.

My mother was a great cook and a quick learner, who became the favourite student of my great grandmother. I have become the student now! Everyone says, my personality is a combination of my mother's and my great grandmother's.  Thus these recipes have found a way of reaching out again, this time through me!

#yearofthemillet #milletcake 

:: Finger Millet + Fresh Fruit Cake::