The Winner of MasterChef Austrailia is….

…. ADAM.

Wow!!! I had bet on Adam and I won it!!! Yesterdays’ challenge was preparing a Snow Egg pastry and frankly for a moment I thought Callum would lick it!! As he has a sure hand when it came to desserts , I was a bit worried. But well, “alls well that ends well” and the best Man Won.

Adam deserves it!! He has a firm head on his shoulders. He thinks right and works on his dishes without any tension. The pieces he brings to the table are innovative and he has the advantage of also knowing oriental food techniques. The episode on Dec 29 involved cooking a protein in 3 diff ways. Adam chose pork and he used one technique (Japanese Chinese) where he minced the meat with two butcher knives hitting alternatively. I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!!!! But surely I don’t have the guts to try it. (of course I would have to try it on some veggies since i don't eat meat)

Way to Go Adam!!

Spoiler -> Seems what we saw in India is a stale show (BLIMEY) The contest aired early this year on 19 April 2010 on Network Ten, concluding on 25 July 2010

More info on Wikipedia…

Anyways, I m now eagerly waiting for the masterchef series 3. It will start in April 2011, means lates 2011 for us Indians (sniff sniff)

New Microwave Oven

Congratulate us friends…

We finally bought the Microwave oven!!

And yes as you are thinking right this is our 10th anniversary present to ourselves.

After hankering for LG 7148 and spending much time on 'Oo Lala ' ing on the features guess which did we finally buy?

ONIDA Black Beauty!!!!

Yes we were bowled over by its looks, it pricing and ahem the offer. The sales man did a good job in promoting it!

We have got a 3 non stick pans set along with it!!!

(Our tribe of non stick pans is increasing)

Now don’t think I m gonna blog about the delicious meals I cooked in the microwave. That will be done by my hubby .

Customer Response..

Ok so we thought we should visit COORG for leisure stay this year. Like wise set about making enquiries for the homestays. yes it’s a bit late for enquiries for Dec 25 weekend. But well… whats the harm in trying.

Of the many I wrote my mails to I wrote one to “Gowri NIVAS” . People who know my mail writing capabilities will vouch for the formality and detail I included and well, know what answer I got

A One Liner and that too in lower letters– “ sorry not available ”

Do these people not realize that by sending such terse one liners, they stand to lose potential customers? Or are they not bothered at all about that?

I have decided to not ever consider this homestay in the future, If the answer to a polite enquiry is a terse one liner then .. well I can wonder the quality of the hospitality they will provide!!

On Bench and Blog

Being on Bench gives you a lot of time to spare!! So as people around me are trying to find themselves a project or scratching their heads as to why their names are not appearing in certain lists, I am spending a gala time browsing through Blogs and hold your breath .. food Blogs. Ok I had written sometime back how I love to read food blogs, so this is nothing but a similar kind of post. Have I put you off already?

But well today I wanted to list out another Blog of note…

Srivalli’s Spice Up Your Life -> http://spicingyourlife.blogspot.com

She does write well, very much like BongCookbook’s Sandeepa she needles her children’s tales with the recipes and well I have copied some of her recipes now to try out (??)

Speaking of Food Blogs, Kris is supposed to launch one of his own. Now, the fotos are ready, but the posts are still to be polished. And yes, Yours Truly is gonna design the blog…

I shall share the link the day its launched.

Now the Question you ask -> Shraddha , You have so many blogs, how about a food blog?

My Answer -> Well, heard of Green fingers? Well mine are light green and Kris’s definitely are Dark Green. So he wins the battle without much ado! Stop bothering me with that question!!!!

(Sniff Sniff .. wish this Bench LAN allowed me to publish posts, I wouldn’t have to write them today and post them tomorrow!!! )

Update on 10th Dec,2010 -> I prepared pesarrattu from her blog, it turned out YUMMYYYY. thanks Sri.

Pratham, the Englishman

Ok unlike other Indian Parents, we DID NOT START SPEAKING to Pratham in English. Actually even when we were off on our recent trip to California, we did not think that we should teach him conversational English either. But the little fellow has picked up English so well… We are sure he will be perfect by the time he reached the primary section(ie grade 1 – 4 for non Indians to understand)

Today as he lisps and speaks his baby sentences, we only sometimes not not correct him (yes two nots there).

His first English sentence was “HAPPY NEW YEAR” this was taught by Kris for the New year 2009. But the teaching ended there when he shyed out and didn’t say any word to the aunties and uncles he met around the time.

But today his English is as fluent as it can be allowed.

Like the other day he asked me “ Mama, are your listening? Or are your hearing?”

Or then his favourite phrase now “ Don’t tell me Wrong!!!” he says this when we try to tell him that he did a wrong thing!

When I get him home on the scooter and overtake a four wheeler(say car) “ Mama, Our Scooter is First, Scooter is a Winner, Car is Second”

When he wants to request us anything ” Papa I Ask you to give me ----“ or “Mama can you please make me some omlette” (that she prepares well) or “ Papa Can you please repair my building block” (Yes Papa can mend anything!)

OR when he doesn’t want to wake up in the morning “ I (am) not going to school today!”

On the road he identifies the Stetter, the Tanker, the Tipper, the Bulldozer and the tempo. And yes he loves Cranes!

One more thing, The moment he steps out of the house, he speaks only in English! Now, people would think that he has been instructed to do so, but friends, no, we have not.

The moment it is someone who is not a family member , the prattle with them is in guess what – English. (Its so funny to see him speak to the house maid in English, while she talks to him in Kannada)

Well, its not just us, but many other “Aunties” and “Uncles” agree that Pratham’s English is far much polished than any other child at his age. I will update this post with more English lines from him.

Man or Woman?

My in-laws are visiting us currently. As you know from my earlier posts, Pratham insists on speaking English(and pretty fluently at that). So he speaks to them in english too.

Now, my MIL knows English but uses the slang "man" often. Eg. "What are you doing man?" "Where are you going Man".

So now Pratham has started adding "man in his sentences"

today as i was looking into my facebook profile, as he was lying on his father's lap , asked me "What are you doing man? noooo what are you doing woman?"

I was so taken aback and looked at him surprisingly.

To this he said "Mama, you are girl no? so woman!"

This is just one of the many prodigious actions !! His word associations are brilliant!!

:-)

My house is bigger !!!

So Pratham told my MIL

Your house is very small!! only 2 floors no?

My house is veryyyy big, see 9 floors, also zero and -1.

you dont have -1 no?

(The apartment complex we live is multistoreyed. My In laws have an ancestral home which is single storeyed)

Scare Tactics!!

Pratham Scared us royally yesterday and today!!!!

Well trust him to do so..

SO what happened yesterday? We took him to the homeopath to treat his insistent cough. We came home with three small bottles of 'sweet white pills' . Pratham just loves them and insisted on holding the bottles with himself. We left him to his antics; kris with his work and me in the kitchen ,getting his dinner ready, little realising what was in store for us!!! When kris went to his room, what does his see!!! Pratham has gulped one ENTIRE BOTTLE OF PILLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The cap of the next bottle was unscrewed, all ready to be swallowed when he was caught in the act!!! I m sure u will understand the tension we faced!!! I came in and held him, asking "Puttu, where are the pills? did u eat them?" I took care to tone down my tone so that he doesnt feel as if he is being scolded(thanks to the parenting session i attended recently)!

Me : Puttu, tell me did u eat them all? tell me dear , see if u have then you will have a bad tuummy ache!!
Pratham : No WWWhat? Me?

The poor thing was scared stiff.

Pratham: Mummy what will happen to me?

and he started bawling!!

In the meantime Kris called up the doc and explained tht he had swallowed all the pills.

To our relief, doc said that that was ok. we could give him some milk to reduce the effect!!

It was that simple!!!

We did likewise, Pratham also for once drunk his milk without much ado. and things continued to be hunky dory. :-)

I love HOMEOPATHY :-)


So what happened today?

The Iron wala hadnt returned the clothes and well, i had to go and see what happened to them. But Pratham was busy watching his video and wasnt ready to budge!!! Instead he suggested tht i go and collect them myself !! he would contently watch his video!!! Hmm , why not? i thot

Me : Puttu, i m going to the iron wala, u watch ur video, dont move, dont open the door
Pratham(absentmindedly): ok

SO off i went, finished as fast as i could (nothing blogworthy there) and was back, and lo behold what do i see

THE DOOR IS OPEN, the door stopper is in place, the house LOOKS EMPTY!!!

GOD NO!!!!

I yelled "PRATHAM PRATHAM"

A maid on the floor : Madam, he is here!!!

and pitterpatter come pratham running!!!! All this in a matter of 5 secs but , my mind raced to fearsome terrains!!!
I hugged him!!

Pratham: Mom i was searching for you! Where are you? you left me!!!! (All in english)
Me: Bala, I told u rite? i was off to the iron wala!! Why did u open the door!!!
Pratham: I wanted you!!, you lost no !!! maaka bhay dislee . haav liftakade gelo, tuka sodhchaak(i was afraid, i went to the lift to search for

you)!!

Now what do i say?

And after that, he cried and vomitted!!!! I dont know whether the throwing up was pathological or psychological!!

"Atta Kanala Khada" , i m not leaving this little fellow alone till he becomes 10!!!

Pratham Speaks - Of Gals and Frocks

Sometime in the morning, when Pratham watchd the ads in between his SpongeBob Square Pants Episodes, he saw that most of the girls in US wore frocks.

So he told me 'Mummy, tu Girl Kee?'
Me : Yes dear, Haav Girl
Pratham : Tar Tu hee frock ghaal nai
Me: ok dr, haav frock ghaltaa ok?

Great!!, now i could buy many summer dresses here and blame the dollars spent on my son's express wishes of me wearing "frocks" :-)

In the evening as i was getting ready to go out for a walk, Pratham entered the room while dressing. I had only worn a top by then. This particular top was a bit flary and had a belt to tie at the back and was a bit short. So

Pratham: Mummy, Tu Frock ghale (happy smile)
Me: Hay Baalaa, have frock ghaale (just to humour him)

He surveyed me for 2 secs and then said 'Mummy tu ek pant ghaal nai, tujhee chaddi distaa"

Coming from him, it was sooo funny to hear that!!!! He was worried that I would venture out in so short a dress!!!

Me: Ohhhh, puttu haav pant ghaltaa haa, bhivu naaka.

I had to humour him rite?

HAHAHA

Me on Twitter..

Yup guys , me on twitter.

https://twitter.com/prabhushraddha

(one more place to update.. now all i need is time)