One in a million giraffe

We uploaded one giraffe to One Million Giraffe



Link to our giraffe

Summer art work

We took another book from the drawing is easy series "Drawing with Nature". This was really fun because it involved messing with paint and collecting leaves, pine cones, twigs and shells. My daughter made the turtle as a birthday card for her friend's 6th birthday. (good she doesn't insist on buying a card:-))







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Drawing with you Hands

Outlet wall

Outlet wall - I would like to have this near my computer table!!



An interesting playing surface, if you have children :-)

Source: Ironicsans

Audi RS6 Promo Video

UP movie

Last week as treat for the two milestone birthdays in our home we went to the Pixar's UP movie. Everything was so amazing about this movie. I think it was the presence of human characters and emotions which made it more likable.

Where is Mr & Mrs Mallard?

These Mallards have made the pond in our backyard as their home for this summer.

Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey is a very nice book to read to your children.

Homemade Pizza

Its only after you try making a dish you realize how simple it is. I used to make pizza with frozen Naan. This time wanted to try making the dough at home. Few weeks ago NY Times had a series on healthier pizzas. For the dough I used whole wheat flour as specified in the NY Times recipe.

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough Ingredients:

2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, plus additional for brushing the pizza crusts
1 1/4 cups stone ground whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus additional if necessary for kneading
1 1/4 teaspoons salt

Involving my daughter in creating the topping for pizza was all the more fun. For our pizza we used Italian sausage, tomato, green bell pepper, olives, red onions, some italian herb seasoning and mozzarella cheese.

Stuffed Pita Pockets

Stuffed pita pockets is a quick and easy crowd pleasing appetizer. Also a great dish for kids lunch box. The stuffing can be anything...its up to your imagination. I had stuffed the pita pockets in the below photo with sauteed veggies (onion, coriander leaves, orange bell pepper, green onions, tomato, cucumber) and fried paneer (feta cheese can be used for a Mediterranean taste). Before stuffing the veggies I warmed the pitas in the oven for few minutes and then rubbed the inside of pita halves with hummus.

From our patio

Violas! Violas!

Visit to the Bear Dunes

This weekend we went to the Sleeping Bear Dunes and had fun climbing the sand dunes. Bear dunes was one of the must see places for this year after reading "The Legend of Sleeping Bear", a very touching and moving story of mother bear's dedication and care for her cubs. I wouldn't recommend this book to children younger than 5 yrs but a very nice read for little older children. To tell the truth I cried when I read this book for the first time.

The weather was little cold so we couldn't do much exploration.



View of Glen lake from the dunes.


Lake Michigan

More beautiful photos of the bear dunes can be found here.

Indo Chinese Fried Rice

I was so bad at preparing fried rice, all my variety rices would end up like biryani. Not anymore! I have finally mastered the art of fried rice. While in India we used to have ketchup as condiment for any Chinese food.

The key to good fried rice is high heat, quick cooking of vegetables and right dash of green chili, soy and tomato sauce.



Ingredients:
- Finely chopped onions, cabbage, carrot, beans, green bell pepper, cooked peas (whole), ginger, garlic,
- pepper and salt to taste,
- scrambled eggs (2 eggs)
- cooked chicken small cubes or seasoned and cooked shrimp,
- vinegar, tomato sauce, green chili sauce, soy sauce (all sauces 1 tsp)
- 1.5 cups cooked rice.