In honor of the first day of Rodeo in Houston, I made this for dinner tonight.


Veggie Corn Dogs
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoons sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/3 cup finely grated onion
1 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons cornstarch, for dredging

Mix all the ingredients together, should be pretty think batter. The grated onion adds amazing moisture and flavor. We use vegetarian hot dogs, skewer them with a chopstick, dredge in cornstarch and then dip into the batter. After a bath in 375 degree oil and a quick rest on paper towels, they are done! I have also heard you can bake them for a healthier version. I would try that, but I am sure Ryan would pass.

Quick-pickle Cucumber
1 cucumber cut into sticks
1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
splash of sake
1 tsp mustard powder
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1 tsp black or brown mustard seeds
sliced garlic ( preferably green garlic)
pinch of sugar
Sea salt to taste

Toast spices in a dry pan until they release there aroma. Turn off heat then add liquid and cucumber. It will sizzle nicely. Cool and serve. Salt to taste.

Sweet potato fries

Cut up sweet potatoes into fries. Spray with olive oil or grape seed oil. Place in cast iron skillet and back at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Set aside 1-2 tablespoons of sweet potato. Steam it and mash it up with liquid for baby on the side!

I made the cucumbers first so they could marinate. Then started on the batter so it could rest a bit. Then got the fries in the oven and the potato steaming before frying up the dogs. That way everything is all done at the same time. Easy!




Probably would have been a bit easier if the baby didn't get sweet potato all over him.

All in all though it was pretty successful. Fried isn't exactly the healthiest, but Ryan gobbled the cucumbers and sweet potatoes down too. The baby still prefers bananas I think, but I'm going to try sweet potatoes for a few days and see how he does.

Cheers.

Super Food.

So, Avinash is almost five months old. My pediatrician recommended started food at four months of age and we tried mashed bananas. I basically just gave him a taste of them, about one to two tablespoons in the evenings when I got home. He went through some fussy days and we weren't sure if it was because of the change in food or the onset of teething.

Then, life got crazy. Ryan was at the tail end of trial, then started studying for the bar full-time. I was working late for about two weeks in a row. I was talking to my Mom from India and she suggested that we stop feeding him until he actually does cut his first tooth. It is so hard juggling conflicting advice! My amazing cousin Manind and his wife Anjali gave me this book called Super Baby Food. That book says you can start with lots of different food at four months, like avocado, bananas, rice cereal, oatmeal, different strained fruits. 'What to Expect' also suggest four months, but says to start with rice cereal. But, I really don't want to start him out on such a heavily processed food. So, I am feeling totally lost.

Meanwhile, for ourselves, I used to make really original and varied home-made meals almost nightly. Now, we live on take-out and Eggos. Not very healthy I know.

My main problem seems to be I just have no mental ability left to come up with good dinner ideas. My new plan is to write down my favorite recipes and new ideas that I come across in an effort to generate inspiration.

For example, tonight I'm thinking of making home-made veggie corn dogs with quick-pickle cucumbers and sweet potato- fries for us and mashed for Avinash. If it works out, I'll post the recipe.

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I recently found out about Pamper's Gifts to Grow program. It was supposed to expire on March 1, 2009 but has been extended a full year. I was a little bummed at first because I have already thrown out so many points in the last four + months. Then, I realized that the EMU here stocks Pampers too. I may have taken all the stickers off of those packs and used them myself. Hey, they were just being thrown out anyway. I did find a bunch of codes that can be used for bonus points, these are all still good. Go to pampers.com to enter them.

THRIFTYMOMMYGTG (1 pt.)
HAPPYHOLIDAY089 (3 pts.)
GIVE09UNICEFGTG (3 pts.)
WELCOME2GTG0809 (1 pt.)
OHAMANDAAWGTG08 (1 pt.)
DONTFORGETGTG08 (1 pt.)
WELCOMEBONUS089 (1 pt.)

Not Me! Monday, preview edition.

Ok, so I am going to attempt another Not Me! post in imitation of my most favorite MckMama and her blog, MyCharmingKids, even though I do not NOT still feel like I don't know what I'm doing.

To start with, I did NOT buy this little Marie Chantal jumper for Avinash on Gilt.



I especially did NOT buy this item because I thought he would look adorable running around in velvet suspender shorts. Images of little baby Avinash yodeler, much like a long lost VonTrapp baby, did not go dancing through my head. Never, ever would I subject my son to being dressed up in a NOT silly outfit, for my own pure enjoyment.

And, despite the fact that I have, like, no vacation time for the next seven years I am NOT contemplating how I can make it to World-wide hug a Stellan day. I would NOT go crazy for this. Nope, no way. Am not constantly thinking that I have so much in common with MckMama. Not me, never.

I am also not writing this post when I should be studying. Never. I also never watch House when I should be studying--telling myself that I can practically learn just as much watching someone make insane diagnoses that DO NOT have almost no basis in real medicine.

I also did not forget to call my Mother before she left for India, that would make me a terrible daughter. I would never do that and then feel awful about it all week. I am also totally capable of taking care of Avinash without checking in with my Mom about him ever few hours. Ha!

Sadly my husband's Valentine's Day present arrived broken. He had bought me this beautiful Mickey Mouse statue, which we spotted during our last trip to Disney World. We love collecting statues and have a handful of Lladro's now. Mostly Asian ones, like Thai Dancer and Japenese Maiden. We love all of the Hindu Lladro's they sell, as you can probably tell by scrolling down to the bottom of the page. Unfortunately they all remain well out of our price range, even on-line! When we saw this new statue at Disney World we were so impressed by the quality and attention to detail, it really paralleled our current collection.

Now, my poor husband has to try to haggle with the E-bay seller over the damaged merchandise. The statue arrived in a million pieces and there is absolutely no way that it happened en route. It had to be broken before they shipped. Of course they are refusing to take responsibility. I really hate E-bay sometimes.

It was sweet and wonderful of Ryan to get this for us though, and it really is the thought that matters. Even in the midst of trial, studying for the bar and taking care of the baby half the time he remembered to get me a special present. And, all I got him was a couple of boxes of girl scout cookies.

Avi and all of his toys!

Happy Valentines Day!

We took Avi to my friend's housewarming puja ceremony and dressed him up in his favorite India pants. (The same ones he wore for his birth announcements) I can't resist taking tons of pictures of him when he wears them. My friend Srilatha had her 10-month old daughter decked out in a red/gold lehnga with a gold belt, necklaces, bracelets and earring. I'm so glad I can dress Avi up a little too. It's genius really, dhotis are perfect for a baby boy! I may have also put kajal and an anklet on him as well. Oh well, he'll probably never look at his own baby pictures anyway!

Then and now.

Want a simple way to fix your old photos? It can be a long and painful process, but it's mostly joyful. I'm no expert, but I recently found some pictures I could easily fix up. Here is one example.

This one needs a lot of help.

Ahh...that is much better.

Unbelievable.

Tonight, Avi actually took a bottle while I was home because he was just too starving (I think he is getting ready for some solids soon). You cannot imagine my shock and disbelief when I saw this. I am amazed at how active he is, but I want to cry when I really think about it how fast he is growing. He still refuses to drink formula though.




I guess if your Mommy is a busy neurosurgeon (in-training) you have to learn how to take of yourself quick!

Not Me!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I am not new to all of this and totally know what I am doing when it comes to this post. I was not completely inspired by the promise of a funky MckMama prize.

I am not so into blogging, that I spent all my down time this weekend reading them instead of studying for my class Monday night. Not me!

Now that my baby is four months old, I am not totally overwhelmed by the task of starting him on solid foods. I would never delay starting him on them because I'm worried about 'allergies' when I really just do not know where to begin. I love eating healthy, that is why I did not eat out almost every day this week, especially that fried, gooey, soft in the middle eggplant with this perfectly spicy dipping from a new Thai restaurant near us. Never. I also did not take the car to work today instead of the train, especially since we are trying to save money. I would never panic at Old Navy when they wouldn't let me use my ten dollar coupon. Not me!

I did not try to post a cute, but screaming Avi video on my blog (only to have my darling log me out so he could check his email before I had a chance to hit publish). This is not putting me in a funk all morning. And, I probably will not spend all night tonight trying to post the video again. I also did not change the background to this cute penguin, even though the holidays are technically over - and it is not even cold out where I live now! Nope, not because I think that cute little penguin reminds me of Avinash or anything.

Well that was my first attempt, I think I could keep going and going.

Four Month Birthday

I can't believe our baby is four months old already. I spent all last weekend making up a scrapbook of our family, and there are already so many memorable moments to fill it up with. I thought Ryan might not think much of the scrapbook idea, but he was really into it! I ordered the Sweet Baby kit that I saw here and printed out a bunch of pictures from Target. Ryan was working on his trial all day Saturday, so it was Avi and I pasting pictures together all day. It was so fun showing my handy work to Ryan that night. Luckily Ryan didn't have to work on Sunday so we got to hang out all day. For our Superbowl menu we made deep dish 'Shroom pizza and pear tarts. The pizza was amazing, as it seems impossible to get deep dish outside of Chicago. We used Carla's pastry recipe from Top Chef, but it was really lackluster compared to our old standy-by Ms. Stewart. We had a blast cheering the Steelers on from home and getting updates from the Stadium from my Dad and brother, apparently there is a TV delay. The last quarter was sooo nerve-wracking, but Big Ben actually managed to drive down the field in under two minutes and get it in the endzone. We finally let ourselves cheer once they got the final interception on the Cardinals last play. I couldn't help jumping up and shouting when they won, though apparently my own baby isn't aware of my loud-ness. Haha, hope he gets used to it.



Aside from still having a pretty active startle reflex, Avinash is changing so fast I can hardly keep up. It feels like he is learning some new thing every day.

Still working on these things:
1. Crying when you are tired (rare) or hungry (often).
2. Getting scared by the New Year's Eve fireworks at Disney World.
3. Screaming at the top of your lungs after being startled by your Mom cheering for the Steeler's sixth Superbowl victory.
4. Sinking suspicion that you only understand Spanish.

My favorite things:
1. Going from crying to laughing in one minute after you wake up.
2. Blowing bubbles whenever you see your Naniji or hear her voice on the phone.
3. The look of high concentration when spinning your alphabet wheel all by yourself. 4. Your first giggles when bouncing on my lap this Saturday.
5. Always wanting to stand and jump up and down.
6. Smiling at me whenever I make raspberry sounds with you.
7. Playing airplane with Daddy, which always calms you down.
8. Rolling over both ways.
9. Finally starting to like tummy time, in the process of working out how to crawl.

We are loving watching Avi grow, I think that crawling and solid food are on the way soon too... Happy Four Months Avi!