wandering mind

Nothing but the best artist in town for my pumpkins :) The finished art work. Finished artwork lit up a closeup The second pumpkin with a graveyard scene Happy Halloween!!!!!

My daughter's elementary school had sock hop last Friday - pizza, candy, and a DJ singing and playing cool kid songs . I had the pleasure of accompanying a gorgeous purple witch. Off we go The purple witch was holding two coats that she brought in for donation (which was the entrance fee to the dance). The wind tossed the witch's hat and she cackled as she ran.... DJ failed at several attempts to get the purple witch to join - they played macarena, they played soldier boy, they played cha-cha slide, but the witch just stood aside. Finally they played the cotton-eyed Joe and the purple witch joined in Great fun was had by all.

I got up this morning and somehow got into this baking spree. First I cut up an acorn squash in half and scooped it out Then I brushed it with butter and maple syrup and baked it for about an hour. I washed the seeds and put them to bake as well. I cut up some sweet potatoes and tossed them with olive oil and salt. I tossed some sweet peppers and poblano peppers with olive oil and lemon pepper salt. Here are the finished culinary delights: Roasted seeds: Sweet potato fries The acorn squash - all roasted and sweet and some baked tofu leftover peppers phew - that is a whole lot of baking !!

My daughter has a book club as part of her GT group activities in her sixth grade. They are reading many interesting books. A couple of week ago she loaned me her copy of "Wednesday Wars" by Gary Schmidt. I put it on my night stand along with other books that she had recently given me to read (A wrinkle in time, Tales of Despereux, etc.) I always have a stack of my - more interesting, grown up - books to read through and can't ever seem to find time to fit in one of these kid literature. Well, I am so glad that I did. It is set in time when country is at war (Vietnam) and everyone is sick of that war and they looking for someone young with lot of new energy (Kennedy) to bring change to the country - ring a bell anyone? I would highly recommend this book. Here are some samples from the book: "Mr. [Principal] Guareschi's long ambition had been to become dictator of a small country. Danny Hupfer said that he had been waiting for the CIA to get rid of Fidel Castro a...

Here is another fun tag from aalochane . ~ The tag copy ~Two questions in each category answer them and then tag your friends from the blog-o-sphere. (Simple enough right) Leave a comment on their blog letting them know they have been tagged and you are all set. Yesterday - Your oldest memory - What were you doing 10 years ago? Today -Your first thought today morning - If you built a time capsule today what would it contain? Tomorrow - This year ….What do you see yourself doing 14 years from now? ~ End Tag details ~ Oldest Memory - It is not a whole memory - just flashes of vision when I was probably three. I can sort of describe the house, but that is about it. 10 years ago: I had a toddler and was expecting my second one and was finishing my Masters in Computer Science - and working on a NASA project part time - life was very chaotic. First thought today: the to do list of my current project at work - I know very pathetic :( Time capsule: It would contain my kids childhood that I ca...

I was just reading the latest post on Plum tree which pointed me to one of her older story and I loved it so much that I had to share it here. It sums up so nicely what has gone wrong - we just eat way more than is good for us. We are surrounded by food all the time - boat loads of it - and it is killing us. The story also reminded me of how relationship to food and eating has changed for me since moving to US. As a kid, most of the houses I lived in were not kitchen-centric. Kitchen was a small room in a corner of a house, delineated with doors to close it in between the meals. All the cabinets were sparsely furnished . We went in there to cook breakfast, lunches and dinner (ok, we had someone cook those meals for us - but that is besides the point :)) - Once a meal was over ,kitchen was closed and that was that. Fast forward 20 years - and I find myself living in this house where the kitchen is probably the size of one of my childhood homes. Kitchen with its gigantic refrigerator a...

I have been tagged by transient lives - here it goes: Clothes Shop: I love the stuff in Antropologie but can't always afford everything there - you can find me often in the back at their clearance rack :) Furniture Shop: I love ikea stuff. I don't particularly like furniture shopping - hence our formal dining area (4 years after moving into this house) is still empty. Sweet: raspberry cheesecake, dark chocolate , sandesh (bengali), kalakand (indian) City: I had to think about this one - I am not sure. I it is easy to fall in love with a city when you are visiting it, but living there might be different all together. I really like Washington DC - the area around the mall. Drink: Can't live without ginger chai - a cup of chai in the morning and a glass of merlot with dinner :) Music: Indian bollywood, some gazals, and a variety of bands from the 80s TV Series: I sort of stopped watching TV when my kids were born. Before that I used to watch Seinfeld and Freinds a lot. Lately...