Our favourite place to eat in Bandar Kinrara

We found this place, on the ground floor of the Giant Hypermart @ Bandar Kinrara. Don't ask me the name of the place...it's long and I refuse to memorise it !! But it is bang opposite Bata; so this should help anyone of you who wishes to explore this place.

The concept of this place is health. You will see a weight & height measuring instrument at the entrance. Each table has a special table-top-calendar-like menu. Now this is not the main menu; but this one is only to describe & detail all the food-nutrition-calorie information of each dish served there. Even the juices and other drinks have this kind of information drawn out.

The lovely hostess Linda (you can see her in one of the pictures) told me that the place is actually a Government initiative to get people to think about food with their health in perspective. The effort is worth an applaud. I just wish that they open up some branches near the city center so that it becomes more popular.

The food is the best part of course!! why else would I talk about the place !!

My favorite so far is the nasi goreng-chili-padi which is a fried rice with green chilly (lots of them for me) and has a generous amount of vegetables and chicken in it.....it's just yummmmm !!

The husband has liked the nasi goreng paprik which is fried rice dish with a gravy; and the gravy is the best part of this dish. The second time we went there, he ate nasi goreng - kampung, that is kampung (village) style fried rice, this one had loads n loads of vegetables in it, and was also great to taste.

I have eaten my favorite one when ever we've gone there. I also like her teh-tarik (tea).

Some pictures....

Linda the beautiful, chirpy, cheerful, friendly manager of the place.

A close up of the nasi goreng kampung

Nasi goreng kampung - the full dish

My Nasi goreng chili padi

Another shot of my favorite thing

Diwali 2009

Diwali this year was celebrated on a grand scale at the Sawaikar residence. The wife made the 'faral' the sweets and namkeens that are served as snacks during this festive season. The items on the 'faral' list included:

1. Patal pohyacha chivda - a namkeen made of thin 'poha'. This has a tempering of curry leaves, green chilly, groundnuts, and puffed chana daal.

2. Sweet Shankarpale - these are diamond shaped fried snack made out of semolina & maida, sugar milk etc

3. Namakpare - thin, long strips of fried maida which has ajwain & salt.

4. Shev - again a fried snack made up of besan, and a few spices

5. A long-ish flat shev - a snack I found to be loved by local Indians, ingredients are same as the shev, only difference is the disk pattern used while frying.

6. Chakli - this is an all time favourite at our home, but this time I did not make it with the usual 'bhajani'; I just used the locally available ready mix and added some sesame seeds, a bit of black pepper & red chilly powder to it.

7. Besan laddoo - this one is coming to be a favorite with me & Aadu ; this is not your usual besan laddoo; in this method the besan is kneaded into a dough, then rolled into thick pooris, and fried, once this is cooled down it is processed in the mixie to make a thick powder; then a sugar syrup is made in proportion to this fried besan powder; once the syrup is ready, the powder along with huge amount of desi-ghee is added & this mixture is cooked till it becomes thick & a spoon can stand in it (that thick). Dry fruits are added along with elaichi powder & then this is rolled into laddoos....they turn out very delicious.

8. Olya-naralachya-karanjya (karanji made of fresh coconut) - this one I made for the first time, and they turned out quite a hit with the crowd.

This is the 'rangoli' I made outside our home during Laxmi-puja, it shows how inept I am at the art, I am very poor at doing the traditional 'dot-dot' wala rangoli patterns, that others find sooooooo easy to make....well I have my own ways...

This is the rangoli that Amol drew freehand with a chalk, and then we sat together and filled in the colors; it is actually a dot-dot wala design, but he being a better artist than me, he just flashed his arms around and voila the rangoli was drawn !!

Thus Diwali of 2009 was celebrated at our home in KL !!

Most educational TV shows for children

According to David Dutwin, a social science researcher and the authour of "Unplug your kids:A Parent's Guide to Raising Happy,Active & Well-adjusted Kids in the Digital Age", the following are among the best educational shows for preschoolers:

Reading Rainbow
Oobi
Mister Roger’s Neighbourhood
Wordworld
Super WHY!
Play with me Seasame
Pinky Dinky Doo
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
Jack’s Big Music Show
Barney & Friends
Dragon Tales
Between the Lions
Sesame Street
Mama Mirabelle’s Home movies
Franny’s Feet
Backyard habitat (For age 4 and up)
Wilbur
Hip Hop Harry

Out of all these shows,I am familiar with "Worldworld","Play with me Seasame","Mickey Mouse Clubhouse",Barney & Friends","Between the Lions" ,"Sesame Street" and of course "Barney & Friends".

The two seasame street shows are undoubtedly good and maybe I am biased because I watched Seasame Street as a child. "Wordworld" is also very educational for children above three and so is "Between the Lions"."Between the Lions",however,is probably not aired in any of the children's channel in Singapore but I have bought some of the DVDs.

We have recently started watching Mama Mirabelle's Home movies in CBeebies and I would say that it is an excellent show.It gets kids interested in the animal kingdom and presents lots of information in a lively way. Barney,though educational,is no longer liked by my four and a half year old girl...my younger one still likes it. The other shows,which we have never watched,I am trying to trace in Nick Jr.,Disney and Playhouse Disney.Other mummies...please help me out in tracing these shows and let me know when and where they are aired.

Mister Maker

All mummies & kids who love art and craft,please don't miss Mister Maker in CBeebies.The guy (Mister Maker) is absolutely fantastic and he makes such beautiful crafts in a matter of minutes!In Singapore it is aired at 9:00 a.m. in the mornings in CBeebies.

Craft Idea - Building made of toothpaste box

Few weeks back (or was it months???) while Aadi was staying at home due to the H1N1 fear in his school, we used to do art and craft projects.

This one here is a building that we created using a toothpaste box/cover.

What you need: One toothpaste box/cover, some colored paper, glue, pencil, color pens (shiny), scissors, and plenty of patience.

How to get it done:

• Cut out a sheet of paper making it the exact size of the box so as to cover all sides. Also cut out 2 squares to fit the top and bottom.
• Stick this paper to the box
• Using other color papers cut out doors and windows. Stick them on as well.
• Now with the shiny pens shade out or outline the doors and windows. Here I have shaded the windows so as to get the light-shining effect. The black window means that the office is shut and the orange is where people are still working. My building is a night-view version !!
• My son loved to stick the windows onto the building, and then announced it as Papa's office. Later in the day it became our residential tower !!
• Enjoy making this oh-so-simple craft, you could make multiple buildings and then the kids can play 'city'.

This was the 'Building' that I made with Aadi some time back.

Taking care of silk sarees

My silk sarees have just been occupying the top shelf in my wardrobe. The last time I wore a saree was during the Diwali of 2008. All the expensive wedding silks just stay put up without much care and attention.

My mom always tells me to keep changing their folds, so that they last longer and so that the 'zari' does not wear off or tear along the folds. I used to do as told, but for the past year I have ignored them completely. It's not that I buy sarees all the time, I have not bought a single one since 3 years. I know I am not going to wear it so what's the point in investing in one.

Last night, out of nowhere I thought of them, and decided to do something about them ASAP.

So as soon as I woke up this morning, I pulled all of them out, and spread them out on the bed, and switched ON the fan, and tied up the curtains to allow some morning Sun to warm up the room.

But I kept thinking of other things I should do to preserve my sarees and I must confess right here right now that I love each one of them....and one day would love to see my daughter/bahu/niece wearing them.

Hmm so I must do something to make them last that long......here are a few things/steps that I found through the Internet.

1. Store silks away from sunlight & heat.

2. When you buy a silk saree, do not keep it in the plastic bag for more than 3 days, the plastic traps moisture, and this can cause yellowing and mildew & ultimately damage the saree.

3. If your saree has a 'zari' border, it is best to attach a 'fall' to it. Here I would like to tell you one more thing regarding the fall. Use the same breadth of fall fabric as much as your saree border. Anything more than the border will cause the delicate fabric to bear all the weight and you will notice tiny holes there; besides it looks really ugly if your saree fall and border are of different breadths.

4. For the first 3 washes, use only plain cold water. In case of stains, use cleaning product only on the affected spot. (more on stain removal follows). Many people suggest adding salt to cold water for the first wash. And yes hand wash the silks please.

5. We can use soap-nut or 'reetha' and also 'shikakai' for washing of silks.

6. Wash the border, pallu and main body separately.

7. Never wash saree with other clothes, and keep it in water for minimum time possible.

8. Never beat the saree or wash roughly.

9. Dry the saree by rolling it in a towel and then hanging it on a padded hanger.

10. Iron on medium heat only. I have seen people iron their silks by placing them under another saree in order to avoid direct heat.

11. My dry cleaner in Mumbai once told me that we should dry-clean our silks just before it is time to wear them. Like just before Diwali or any wedding etc. He said, dry-cleaning after a function and then storing the saree without use only damages it. I follow this rule strictly.

12. Store the sarees in a dry and cool place and dust with Neem leaves. Moths love to live where natural fibers like silk are stored, so make sure the place is cleaned properly frequently. One can use cedar chips or balls to keep moths at bay.

13. Some silks like Raw silk, China silk, India silk, Crepe de Chine, Dupion and Jacquard silk are safe to be washed at home.

14. Covering silks in a cotton cloth/bag/lungee/dhoti allows the natural fiber to breath.

15.

Stain removal for Silk sarees:

1. The moment you get a stain wash with cold water.

2. If the stain is of oil/ghee then sub some talcum powder over it. The powder will soak up all the oily stuff. Then wash with mild soap/shampoo and warm water.

3. Protein stains: these include stains caused by blood, deodorants, eggs, meat juices and sweating. For removing these stains, apply a mild detergent like a shampoo (Amway has some amazing products for delicate fabrics), wash off with cold water. If the stain is stubborn then try using a mixture of a few drops of NH2 with Hydrogen Peroxide.

4. Lipstick stains: use dry-cleaning fluids like petrol and then follow up with mild soap/shampoo and cold water.

5. Nail polish: rub the affected are with acetone on a ear bud.

6. Other stains: These include chocolate, gravy, ice-cream, milk etc. Use dry-cleaning products like petrol, then let it dry. Then use mild soap/shampoo/liquid soap and rinse with cold water. Later use a pre-wash stain remover and wash in warm water.

Homeschooling moms

I am in awe of homeschooling mothers because they have taken the schooling of their children entirely in their own hands and doing so requires a lot of guts.

I find the concept of homeschooling quite appealing because the mother has a lot of freedom in designing the curriculum according to the interest of her child. Also,she can devote her attention fully to him and give him a lot of one-to-one attention.Recently,I have started giving some individual attention to Nayaz in the mornings when Zunairah is in school and I have already noticed improvement in the area of vocabulary and language.We do nursery rhymes,coloring or go for interesting outings nearby.Our time is cut short by his schedule as he has to set off for school around 10:15 am.

I was actually thinking of withdrawing my younger one out of school and homeschooling him.He is going to turn three and so he doesn't have much to lose even if I turn out to be a not-so-effective teacher-mum. But then I thought of the socializing part and I kind of backed out.He loves going to school these days.Also,what about the Mandarin part?I can't understand a thing that is in his mandarin report card but I believe that the early exposure that he is getting now in the mandarin classes will serve him well if we stay on in Singapore and even if we leave the country.

These reasons have kind of dampened my enthusiasm for homeschooling.But I keep reading about homeschooling as it fascinates me.

A beautiful story - God's Wings

God’s Wings -

A little something to put things in perspective…

After a forest fire in Yellowstone National Park , forest rangers
began their trek up a mountain to assess the inferno’s damage.

One ranger found a bird literally petrified in ashes, perched
statuesquely on the ground at the base of a tree. Somewhat
sickened by the eerie sight, he knocked over the bird with a stick.
When he gently struck it, three tiny chicks scurried from under
their dead mother’s wings. The loving mother, keenly aware of
impending disaster, had carried her offspring to the base of the
tree and had gathered them under her wings, instinctively knowing

that the toxic smoke would rise.

She could have flown to safety but had refused to abandon her
babies. Then the blaze had arrived and the heat had scorched her
small body, the mother had remained steadfast ..because she had
been willing to die, so those under the cover of her wings would live.

‘He will cover you with His feathers,
And under His wings you will find refuge.’
(Psalm 91:4)

Being loved this much should make a difference in your life.
Remember the One who loves you, and then be different because of it.

Window shopping - our theme for the weekend

Window shopping in a place where everyone seems to be shopping for something and where every (almost) store has some too-good-to-resist promotion going on...how and why on earth did I decide to just window-shop?.....answer lies in the time of the month...where the bank account has been set on high speed spin dry by paying off all those bills, and trying to maintain a good diet at home....it's the month-end and like me many of you also may face this situation at this time of the month.

It's not that we go into a spending frenzy but given that we just turned the page on Diwali makes up for all the loss of cash in the bank. We did buy some clothes for the son and father from Isetan, and then my footwear had to be replaced because every step that I took was accompanied by a 'charrr-charr' noise which finally got to me. There was an occasion of impulse buying at the Bangsar Village where I spotted a lady with a good collection of Indian wear. We also bought some surprise stuff for our brothers. Most expensive turned out to be the son's clothes, as we were replacing all of his cute cartoon featuring clothes for some grown-up (in kids category) stuff.

Yesterday we just went to the Curve (Aadi kept calling it 'urve') and strolled into some stores, where we had not been before like the Padini Concept Store, where I absolutely fell in love with most of the accessories on display. The chains, the earrings, the large cocktail rings, the sunglasses, the bags (one particular one has caught my fancy, but it's going to have to wait at the store for me). The accessories were very nicely displayed and separated as per the color tone, yellow, oranges, black, white....green-blue etc...very well done and a very well thought out collection too I must say. None of it was OTT, they were all wearable pieces and price was also good, a nice pair of danglers was 29.00 RM etc.

We spent quite a lot of time at Padini.

Next we walked into a home store called IDEKO, located on the 1st floor. They had a good collection of lanterns, and the display was very nice, with lanterns of different designs were all hung in one cluster at various heights. The cushion covers were nice too. Best of all I liked their dinner sets, they were from Italy, and they looked very tempting. Priced at around 140 RM (after discount) for a 16 piece set. Again very subtle & minimum details. Amol liked some lamps there, and also some bathroom sets. Aadi had to be warned time and again about not touching any of the items.

After a quick bite at the Thai Express where we ate some seriously spicy yellow chicken curry, we strolled over to the Ikano Power Center, across the street. Here we walked through the Ace Hardware store (don't as me why we entered it in the first place); but we walked out with a coir door mat, a nylon string to dry clothes and a steering wheel cover.

Something interesting about this cover: Aadi & I were in the car accessories aisle, Amol was somewhere very far off. Aadi spots this tiger striped steering wheel cover and insists that we buy it for our car, and he said it was Tigger's tail !! I tried to dissuade him and lastly told him that that thing was outright dirty !! Much later when I was at the check out with my door mat in hand, Amol walks up with the same cover and insists that he wants it !!! (Talk of father son bonding) . At this point I was down 2 to 1 so I had to concede and pay for it.

Next stop was a very impressive store called AuthenTeak, which sells Teak furniture. Not only was the collection good, the prices were sky high as one would expect; but some of their stuff was made out of re-claimed wood which in these times of climate change and global warming is very nice to see and one should encourage such companies.

Macy was next in line, and I was instantaneously in love with the numerous curtain fabrics on display, the sofa fabrics were also very nice. They make sofa slip covers, so I made a note of it, and will pass on the details to my house owner as we are in dire need of replacing the current covers which are beige in color and have weathered after all the use and abuse they have been through with us around !!

With no more time in store, we hit the road again to attend Aadi's art class at Bandar Kinrara. Amol also did some canvas painting there, and we will go again next week to finish off his work.

Our Killa (fort)

These are two (not so good) shots of our Diwali Killa (fort) that we made for Aadu.

The base is a blue plastic tray that we usually use to keep Aadu's drawing papers. The outer wall is made up of Pizza boxes cut up and painted. Inside it the maid body of the fort has a base of soil and we used a toy bucket (up side down) to create to height variations.

The blue/purple cup that you see is supposed to be our water well. The trees were made by moi, just used some sticks as the trunk then the leafy part was cut out from thick paper painted in hues of green. the cut up paper was stuck to the truck with cello-tape and also some stapler pins.

We sowed some mustard seeds - that resulted in the green growth all over the Killa.

The idols of Shivaji, his Mavla (soldier) and the Gavlan (village milk lady) were made using white clay that we bought from Aadu's art class shop. They use this clay to make various articles. This is not play-dough clay but more like pre-kneaded plaster or paris. Very soft to use and finish was also good.

I may have some better photos of the killa, I promise to upload later...that is if I find them.