Rated P

One of the very few traits in me that can be termed adventurous or brave is that I love horror movies. I hate to sit on even very simple rides in theme parks, but am very eager to experience the thrill of watching a scary movie. When we stop at BlockBuster, I am in the horror movie row - but you know, there lies the problem - so many choices and not all of them are classy.

That is how we got tricked into watching two very yucky movies! One was called 'The Slither'. And the other 'The Mist' (better than the former).

A classy horror movie is one which does not resort to yucky animals or creatures in an attempt to horrify us. It should be able to thrill us with the storyline and screenplay and not just special effects. Having sat through these two movies, here are some elements that are part of such movies.
1. Tentacles - absolutely need tentacles to grab the attention of the viewer (pun intended)
2. Goo - some yucky liquid is secreted out of the dreary animals' body parts...yuck!
3. A man who is stung by the dreary creature is 'pregnant' with tiny baby Poochis and at one point his body bursts to release them all..which crawl in all seven directions quickly..Ayyo rama!

Hope you guys are not reading it while having lunch! Sorry, but I had to share this!

So my request to the censor officers is to add a new Rating for horror movies only. It will be called P and it will gives us an indication that it is 'that kind' of a horror movie. P for Poochi!
That means insects and creatures are the stars in the movie!

If you can share names of good horror movies that you liked, I'd be sure to check them out!

Road trip and Mother's Day

The busy schedule continues this week too. I do catch a couple of posts of Laksh and UL occasionally. I have not spoken to my Appa in a week day lately. I have been wanting to write about the wonderful weekend we had at our friend's place in NJ. It was the break I was dreaming for and the road trip B and I were waiting for.

On Friday night, we started late to NJ. We were all set to chill out with the set of family/church friends. It seemed to take forever to reach D's place with the rain and the dark. We got there at 9.30 and thanks to our ladies who made chapatis and curries for all of us. After all the singing and talking, we slept at 2.30PM! That is a world record. In a way, inside an apartment, there is more closeness and we ended up spending time together instead of splitting in batches.

The next morning, after the chaya (by lady B) and breakfast prepared by my dear hubby B, everyone took their own time to take bath and get ready to go for lunch. The host took us to Anjappar restuarant. I was wondering what kind of name it is, but when I saw the name board said 'Chettinad' and 'South Indian', I was OK with whatever they call it and it already looked promising to me. The veg thali was homely. I was thrilled to see Nikhil finish up a dosa - like mom, like son! Nithin sat in the high chair and did well for his standards.

From there, we set out to 'Sandy Hook' beach. With two cars, it was hard to coordinate and find the desitnation. Finally, we all met at the beach. I was surprised by Nithin's reaction as he saw the sea. He said 'Amma, ocean?'. Never knew this word was in his vocabulary. Last year, when we went to the beach, he would not get down. He hated his foot touching the sand. This time, I was amazed how quickly he started playing with the sand. He was all excited. Of course, Nikhil and his friend were super thrilled too.

Back home, B promised to take me to Nan King restaurant which people told us is great for Indo Chinese food. We have been thinking of going there since a long time.Gobi Manchurian and Veg Hakka noodles were good. Came back to D's apartment and relaxed and slept well. Part of the gang had left before then. It was just us - we woke up in the AM and headed back home to PA.

Sunday evening was made colorful again by B's offer to take me to Hot Breads for a Mother's day snack in the evening.

A relaxing and eventful weekend. Ate out a lot. And not too well-prepared for the coming week. But we will cross the bridge when it comes!

Time is valuable

This week has been so hectic and crazy not just for me, but for our whole work group. When I had to work for some days for about 12 hours, there were people around me who were putting in more. I could feel the stress creeping into me and killing me throughout the week. There was no time to eat lunch - to me, that evokes self-pity! Mornings were crazy, it was difficult to get up coz my body has not recovered from previous day's stress and dragging the kids to their respective places seemed painful and gave me guilt pangs too! Mr.Nithin has his own innovative reasons to cry for in the morning - refusing diaper change or dress change.

Yesterday evening, when my job was done and I was graciously allowed to go home, even though others were still at work, I told myself how precious the few hours in the evening are to me. To be able to spend that time with the family was a boon. B had promised N a family dinner outing and we were too tired to even move. But we always try to keep our promises to the kids, so we changed the location of the outing to something closer home and made it.

It was a nice two hours at Carabba's Italian Grill. Kids were happy and I saw B relaxed. We both had to put in additional effort to not scream/yell at the kids. As always, our hearts pounded when Nithin would not sit down and try to mess things on the table, but I have learnt to 'enjoy' the moments with the tension in the background.

Today, finally I got some time to type this up. So how have you all been? I am in a great mood to go on a trip somewhere, but work keeps me from moving out of town on weekends. I love to sit next to B when we explore new roads, making guesses on where we would end up going that route and get excited when my guesses usually turn right. I think of those on-the-way places/rest areas where we stopped to buy coffee/fries. The looks of places different from what we usually see on our daily drives - I am longing for those now!

Next month..I will have to wait for June!

And those of you who can get out and take a drive far away, please do it. It will freshen you up, I am sure! Happy Weekend!

Aunty, eh!

After I crossed 30, my mental age has not changed much. I still think of me as the same old person ( note this usage of 'old' does not pertain to age!). Also, whomever I talk to who looks like my age, I assume she is my own age. If I can communicate to someone in the same wave length as mine, I assume they are my own age!This has given me some interesting shocks!

I still think of me as a fresh graduate from College! But somewhere down the lane, I never realized that what people perceive in me is much different from my mental image of myself!

Being the mother of two kids, people have promoted me from 'chechi' or 'akka' to 'aunty'!Last weekend, we attended a wedding. There was this girl I met in the women's room and she was feeding her infant. She had an older kid who is my second one's age. She called me 'aunty'! I am like - you have 2 kids and I too have 2 kids...what makes me more of an aunty! Of course, I did not say that to her. I smiled and came back.

The converse is also true - I think of Mr.X as 'uncle' assuming he is close to 40 (or at least 6-8 years older from me). I am still holding on to the mental image of 'uncle figure' from years back!
But when I know their real age, I am so shocked, I am only 1 or 2 years younger to the 'uncle'. So he is not so much of an uncle. But I have become more of an aunty!

To top it all, last year, I recall someone called from our church and they were asking for some contribution. They just addressed me 'Ammachi' right away! The person who spoke thought that he has got his name into the good books of the eldest member of the family - or at least that was his idea. You are not going get a penny out of my pocket if you do that! Do I sound like Kaviyoor Ponnamma or Manorama! (Now that is a rhetorical question! Shh..!)

Nevertheless, I would like to hang on to this mental feeling of age. It helps me to relate to younger people's feelings and understand them better. It helps me be approachable in case of problems. I prefer to be shocked like this once in a while..but I will hold on to my youth!

Karaichu Vartha Dosai

Yesterday evening, when I had to make a quick decision of what to make for the rest of the family coming home after activities, I decided to put the remaining dosai maavu to use.

What is Karaichu Vartha Dosai?
It means - you mix different kinds of flours, dissolve them in water and make dough out of it to make dosai. I added wheat flour/atta, maida and rava to the left over dosai maavu (which was not enough to feed more than 1 person!) and made dosai with it! I then garnished each dosa with onions, green chillies and curry leaves sliced super-thin. When I turn the dosa with the garnishes upside down and turn it back up, it was gratifying to see all the onions roasted well!

This can be fixed quickly, provided you have people who love to eat it. My sons reject the dosa with any topping, so I did not put the toppings on for them. Surprisingly, they were so hungry and they did not crib about the different color and texture compared to the regular dosa.B was also hungry, so thankfully, he did eat the dosa with some approval symptoms!

Then I decided to blog about all the dosas it reminded me of. After all, dosa is one thing I can eat any number of times a day. And it is unfair that I have not blogged about it!!

1. My Ammamma's (grandma) karaichu vartha dosai. I cannot make the same kind of dosai she used to make. The maavu used to be so watery and she would just pour it over the tawa and not spread it. It was awesome.
2. Khali dosa of Kadambam, Bangalore. There were 2 dosas in one order - thin and tasty.
3. Dosa from Brindavan Hotel, Bangalore. Kind of homely. Different from Sukh Sagar ones.
4. Amma's in Virginia used to serve Onion Chilli Masala Dosa. When I was pregnant with the first one, we were in Virgina then. I used to go there on weekend evenings to have that. I used to abbreviate the name as OCMD. The ones I made today were close to be called OCMD missing the masala part. OCD! I am not referring to Obsessive Compulsive Disorder here.

Readers, would love to hear about the yummiest dosas you have had in your life!

Welcome back to the world of Capris!

It was a bright and sunny Saturday. I think everyone was so excited by this turn of weather. Long awaited! The best part of the arrival of summer is that one can slip back into those comfortable capris! It was such a relief to not wear the sweater and jacket. We went out for getting a new pair of glasses for Nikhil and I wore my pair of capris after so many months. I wore a small sleeve top and felt great.

I picked a half sleeve T shirt for Nikhil to wear. I was having a hard time to get a 'not-so-warm' pant for Nithin. His wardrobe is overloaded with winter gear and I have to spend some time to get some summer clothes for him. When we came back home, I gave Nithin a pajama shorts to wear and he asked me in his toddler language - ' what is that?'. Poor guy! He has completely forgotten how shorts look.

Welcome warm weather! And thanks for bringing such small pleasures with you!

P.S. Just completed the review of Bhool Bulaiya in my Movie Blog. Check it out.

A rebirth

B's bro is now recovering. Thank God and thanks to all who prayed for him.
He is able to breathe by himself and talk. It will take some time for him to be back to normalcy.
But this is excellent and we are all thrilled.

I am heading off towards the weekend. I put a review of a movie 'Laga Chunri Mein Daag' I saw this week in my Movie Review Blog. Check it out.

Happy weekend all of you!