Category Archives: Kids and Me

Experimental Cookies

Image January 21, 2014 jcisnowjs 5 Comments

One Cookie….. Two Cookies…. Three Cookies

That’s how Otu (My 2 yr Old son) was counting cookies by watching a “counting for kids video” running on TV. Suddenly, I started hearing “Cookies, Cookies…. Mamma….I want cookies”.

First it was just Otu, and within seconds two more monsters Tisha and Renne joined him. Ratio of Power just got shifted to 3:1, in fact 3:0, because, I don’t have any say, when all three kids unite against me 😛

Only reasonable thing to do next was to convince them that they will shortly receive some cookies. On that note, I was wondering why do kids always want that particular food item, which just got out of stock. :O

So, I went ahead and made some plain chocolate chip cookies. But, nothing is plain when it comes to cooking. Problem being, I try something new every time I make something. So what new now? Well, you have to read more to know that.

Here is the simplest Recipe for chocolate chip cookies.

Ingredients –

2 ¼ Cup All Purpose Flour

1 tbsp Baking Soda

1 tbsp Salt

1 Cup Butter

¾ Cup Sugar

¾ Cup Brown Sugar

1 tbsp Vanilla Extract

2 Large Eggs

2 Cup Chocolate Morsels (was out of them, so used butterscotch morsels)

1 Cup chopped Nuts

Method –

Preheat the Oven to 375 degree F.

Mix Flour, Baking Soda and salt.

Beat butter, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in another bowl. Add eggs to it, one at a time, mixing thoroughly.

Mix the flour mixture with egg mixture.

Add morsels and nuts, stir well.

Now make small rolls and place them in baking sheet.

Oven time.

Bake for 9 to 11 Minutes.

Let them rest for 2 minutes, and Ready to go.

But, what was new that I talked about? Well, it got more to do with presentation.

So, instead of chocolate, I used butterscotch morsels, for the one thing.

Next to do was use shredded coconut. For this, roll your small cookie dough into shredded coconut, and then bake.

Third, I used my pineapple jam, as filling. Just placed a half spoon of it in the middle. Baked and done.

Fourth, I used chocolate syrup to do some fancy work on some of the plain cookies.

Fifth, did some mix n match.

After 10 minutes, Otu and Tisha were jumping and clapping seeing their cookies in different flavors. Renne as usual has by now forgotten about the cookies, and was busy destroying one of my book. Next mission, save the Books.

P.S. half of the cookies were finished in an hour 🙂

Food, Kids and Me

A Three Minute Cake for My Sweetie

Image January 6, 2014 jcisnowjs 4 Comments

My baby Tisha turned three, and all that she was bothered about, was her birthday Cake. So, we booked a Tinkerbell Cake for her Birthday party, which was on Saturday. Big Problem : Her birthday was on Friday, 27^th December.

We wished her, pampered her in every possible way on Friday, but she was still not in the Birthday mood. We took her to an animated movie, got new clothes for her, gave all the attention that she deserved on her special day. Still, she was like “No, It’s no Birthday”.

What’s a birthday, without a cake? She was right. So, I decided to bake a small cake for her. Small because in my family no one seems to have a sweet tooth. We don’t like eating cakes. Even my kids don’t like eating sweets much. All that Tisha wanted on her birthday was to cut the cake, not to eat it. 😦

I have baked cakes before, but this time I wanted to try something which is quick and easy to make, taste doesn’t matter. (I am not gonna eat it, so why does it should matter 🙂 ). I was going through all the cake recipes, when I stumbled on this easy to make 3 minute chocolate mug cake. Voila!!!!

Recipe is down below.

Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour (Maida) – 4 tbsp

Sugar – 2 tbsp

Cocoa Powder – 2 tbsp

Egg – 1

Milk – 3 tbsp

Butter/Oil – 3 tbsp

Vanilla Extract – ¼ tbsp

Choco Chips – 1tbsp (I was out of them, so didn’t use)

Method:

Add and mix all the dry ingredients.

To this add Egg and mix really well.

Pour in milk and oil as well to make it smooth.

Make sure there are no lumps.

Add Choco chips and vanilla extract. Mix well.

Put this mixture in a Microwave safe Mug. (I have used a bowl, to have a small cake shape)

Microwave it for three minutes on high.

And done. 🙂

I used some M&Ms and chocolate for decoration. All it took to make this cake was 5 minutes.

Some friends also joined in the small celebration and Tisha cut the cake happily. Icing on the cake, it was not bad in taste. Although, it was not as good as a cake baked in Oven for half an hour, but still it was a quick fix. Tasted okay, looked more than okay. Happy Ending. 🙂

Happy Birthday My sweets.

Kids and Me

Anyone Up for a Late Night Tea Party?

Image December 26, 2013 jcisnowjs 2 Comments

Nights are always pleasant. It’s the only time when there is quiet in our home, silence, everywhere. Having three toddlers, I can vouch that there is nothing like a peaceful and quiet home. But, only if it’s for a short time, else, I will go crazy in that silence. It’s their giggling, which make my home lively 🙂

My babies have very good sleeping habits.(Don’t Jinx it) They can’t help it, it’s kind of enforced on them. By me. 🙂 No Joking. I believe that it’s an integral part of their development to have a proper sleep schedule. But kids are kids, and they are smart enough to know when they can break the rules.

So, a few nights back, I took my kids to their room for sleep. Otu, my two year old boy, was as usual saying “NO” to top of his lungs. Tisha, my three old girl, cutie pie is now intelligent enough to understand the sleeping time, so she, very convincingly, went to sleep on her bed. Renne, twin to Otu, did some fake crying, but like Tisha, knew that there is no other option, goes to sleep too. Finally, after some coaxing, Otu also went to the bed. After a while, when I was sure they are fast asleep(Me Idiot), I came back to my room. So foolish of me. 😦

Some ten to fifteen minutes passed and I heard noises coming from the living room. I do believe in ghosts, but this time I knew poor ghosts are not behind these slow murmurings. It was Otu with Tisha, yes my sweet little angel daughter, who was pretending to sleep sometime back. First thought that came to my mind was to go there and again take them to sleep. But, then I thought, there is nothing to do for them in night, so they will be bored in few minutes and probably will go to sleep on their own. Also, they must be tired, really tired after playing all day.

But, God I was wrong, so wrong. 😦

Some time passed, and then, they were not even whispering. They were cheering and giggling, must be thinking that their mamma is asleep and they have the whole house to themselves. I was listening to them. Making all the noises in kitchen and living room, ransacking all the cupboards, throwing food packets, picking up plastic boxes, playing with plastic cups and mugs. (all the cupboards within their reach have only plastic stuff, good thinking on my part). It was like a late night party going on in my kitchen, only I was not invited. 😦

After a while, Tisha came by my side to sleep, must be tired. I was still pretending to sleep. And here came Otu, calling her back “Di, come on”. “Di, Di” (He calls her Didi or Di sometimes). Tisha must have got her energy back, jumped on hearing that little voice saying “Come On”, and rushed back to Otu.

Again my kitchen and living room were going through all the ruckus. This goes on for a while, to be precise for more than half an hour. They were still not tired enough to sleep, and here I was about to move to dreamland. Finally, I decided to go back and restore the peace back to the universe. I put on the lights, and there it was, all the sofa cushions on floor, lying around the center table in a circular fashion. Tisha and Otu sitting on them at opposite side of the table, having a tea party with all my coffee mugs on the table. Rest all my kitchen pots were on the kitchen floor, with some of their stuffed animals. As if teddy bears, monkeys and puppies were having a party of their own. 😦

What was the first reaction of Tisha and Otu, when they saw me? Nothing. Blank. And then they gave me their silly mischievous smile. I started laughing. They laughed and we all had a small tea party. 🙂

So, next time you want to have some tea at the middle of the night, and don’t know where to go? You are invited, just bring along some new tea cups.

Point to note, all this time my husband was sleeping peacefully, ignorant of whatever was going on. 🙂

Kids and Me

Long/Short story of my new Haircut

December 13, 2013 jcisnowjs 8 Comments

(My before and after moment)

I love my hair. Every girl do. But, I love them as long as they are manageable. Manageable in my dictionary means one brush here, one brush there and you are done. Someday I comb only when I am going out. No, I am not that busy, I am just toooooo Lazy. (here, I have said it. Happy now.)

It was almost five to six months back, when I had my last haircut. You know that itchy feeling (not itchy – itchy, but, ohh forget it, I don’t have the right word to explain it), feeling when you know that you need a cut but your hair still look okay to others. Others in this case is my hubby. So, I was nagging him for the past month, that I needed a haircut, let’s go to a hair salon. And, he was always, like, hmm okay. Will go. But, I keep on hearing this “will go” for a month. Poor me 😦

I used to think of me as the laziest person on earth (My mom would have agreed with that too), but since I have met my hubby, I have moved down to second position. He is “The Laziest” person I have seen, unless he has to go to gym. If you want to take him somewhere, you have to coax him by saying, we will stop by the gym, do some exercise and then we will go to the desired place. Even than he will ask you, how much time in gym?

You must be thinking, why I didn’t went on my own. I could have, I know the way to salon, I have the car, knew driving, could have also managed with kids, but, and the big but is that, who would I have blamed on, in case something goes wrong with the cut. In case, I didn’t liked it, I could have said, “you bring me here, it’s your fault”. Yeah, we wives can blame anything on our husband. One time I even blamed him for the weather. “It’s raining, because you don’t want to go out.” So, typical of me. J

I kept on bugging him (I don’t nag much 🙂 usually ). But, as he was also trying very hard to save his number one title of The Laziest person, he didn’t take me. :O

So, there I was, standing in front of my mirror, with a scissor in my hand, some different sizes combs and one hand mirror. There I was, all set. Where to start from? Took the scissor and cut a small bunch, then another, and then one more cut, and then it was fun. Yup, I enjoyed it. Going through my hairs, layer by layer, trying to see what will look good, better then good, or bad…. and after around ten minutes, I was done. Phew!!

Had a look at myself, front mirror then the hand mirror, back and front, side ways. Hmmn. Not bad. Like it. Then I look down. Ohh crap. Who will clean this mess? Whole floor was covered with hairs. Thank god, kids were asleep, otherwise it would have been a whole lot messier. So, it took me ten minutes to cut my hair and another thirty minutes to clean everything.

Interesting was my hubby’s reaction to my new haircut. I was waiting by the glass window, saw him park his car, and I rushed to mirror(not door 😛 ). Combed again, looked again and again. Good. Opened the door.

Five minutes passed, then ten. Now, his tea is also finished. I am still waiting, trying very hard to wave my hair, all my fingers running through my hairs. (very stupid thing to do without wind). Finally….

Me: notice something different?

He: hmm….. (trying very hard while looking at me)

Me: I cut my hair. (with a big grin)

He: oh yes, that’s what I was thinking about. You are looking very good. Since yesterday, I wanted to say this to you. You are really looking very good.

Me: but, I cut my hair, today. 😦

He: hmm….. you are looking really very good.

Kids and Me

A Diva in Making…

Image December 5, 2013 jcisnowjs 11 Comments

I was on phone, when I heard the sobbing. It was Tisha, my soon to be three year old girl. I put down the phone, excusing myself, and rushed to the kids room. (It’s a very good excuse though, to put down phone and save yourself from long boring phone conversations. Oopsie!!! spilled my secret. )

Coming back to my girl, Tisha. She was crying in her room with her hand covering her mouth. She is full on drama, and when she wanted to add some extra special effects to her crying, she would put a hand over her mouth and nod her head slowly, in every possible direction. Even if there will be no tears, she will close her eyes and pretend that she is crying hard.

This time she was really crying(with tears), actually sobbing, with her hand covering her mouth. 😦

I was confused, as to why was she crying? She doesn’t looked hurt. Even boys were asleep in their room. No one to hurt her or tease her. Then why?

So, I asked her.

Me: What happened, Tisha? Why are you crying?

Tisha: I don’t have any pant.

Me: What?

Tisha: I have no pant.

I looked at her cupboard, which was all upside down by the way.

Me: Who created this mess? And what happened to all of your pants?

Tisha: I don’t have any pant. (this time louder)

I picked out a black pant from the mess, which was a neatly foiled clothes rack earlier. By the way, she has more clothes than both of my boys have combined. Still….

Me: You wanna put on this black one?

Tisha: No. I don’t like it.

Me: (Picked another one), You want to try this red one.

Tisha: No. I don’t like it. I want new pant.

(Crying more louder now)

Tisha: I have no clothes. I want new.

Me: blank………

She finally agreed to wear one, but only when I promised to buy some new clothes for her. Good thing is that kids forget about promises very soon, bad thing, my girl is growing fast, and soon she will be a three year old lady.

God, help me, and please send some cash next time along with your blessings. 🙂