I wish someone told me

‘I wish someone told me…’that writing is actually hard work.

Having been an avid reader all my life- actually can't even remember when I picked up my first book.Some of my first memories are not of stealing sweets and trying to spend more time playing or even watching more TV,like most of my classmates- they are of reading , reading and reading and consequentially getting scolded with the typical rants of " your eyes will get spoilt";"you will have to wear specs soon"; "if you studied so much- you would land into genius category"...

Books were my inspiration for writing as well, reading "The Diary Of Anne Frank", inspired me and my best friend to write our respective diaries-this was a competition and the loser would be the one who stopped writing first.Well, I absolutely was not ready to lose, so the diary(well, a suitcase of diaries by this time) continued well into my college and stopped only when I got married.

What happened to all those diaries- those numerous personal anecdotes ;the sweet sour memories which were penned down so faithfully;a reminder of so many friends, boyfriends,my interactions with them; my hates and my loves...ummm..well...I just burnt it all one fine winter afternoon in a fit of privacy concerns- "how will I ensure no one reads them in my new home"; "how do I store this trunk full of diaries".There were no easy to carry iPads; laptops which could conserve my memories without taking space and with just a password....

What is done is done

Yet, there always is a diary going on in some part of my inner subconscious...dialogues; incidents automatically get converted into "he said""she said" and story lines moving somewhere at the back-yet not getting time to pick up paper and pen- life happened with job, home and a baby...

Subsequently, got introduced to the world of blogging and decided to blog about my two passions; books and my baby- the internet has been a great help in answering a lot of baby questions and hope to make my blog one such site.

Readers, I digress, this part of writing has been relatively easy, since I was always writing from my heart and just about day to day happenings...

The writing which is hard is the discipline of writing, sitting with a pen and paper or on the computer writing a story...writing a novel.The outline is ready, characters are performing, yet the discipline to pen it down is the difficult part.My husband, who sees me reading whenever I have time, tells me that "You read so much, you MUST write, your ideas are great" - so inspiration is also there....yet, get a block...

With all this on my mind, saw the mail from blogaada regarding the WOW ...seems like a message from the gods; 

inspiration to write; 

a timeline- hence preventing procrastination; 

a topic- to surge ahead from my writers block

members - to read and give feedback

This is my entry for the WOW contest- looking forward to lots of comments and help in writing my novel..

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda

This post is a part of <a href="http://blog.blogadda.com/2012/09/28/write-over-the-weekend-wow-indian-blogs" title="WOW">Write Over the Weekend</a>, an initiative for <a href="http://www.blogadda.com" title="Indian Bloggers">Indian Bloggers</a> by BlogAdda

Breakfast options for 18 month old child

Breakfast as we all know, and have been reading a lot recently , is the most important meal of the day- yet on speaking to a lot of friends who have kids , have found that they are making do with a glass of milk and fruit OR a bowl of oats.
I feel this is a very inadequate breakfast for a child who most probably had her dinner by 7-8 pm, and has thereby been fasting for almost 12 hours.
With the kind of active lifestyle they lead, children need the most nutrition we, as mothers, can provide them, and an integral part of this is a healthy , filling breakfast to kickstart their day.
My DH is currently 18 months old, and even though we don't experiment a lot with her food, yet three meals are fixed for her at specific times.

Mostly she will have a bottle of milk by 6.30 - 7.00 am
Gets up by 8-8.30
Followed by body massage
Play for 10-15 mins
Breakfast by 9-9.15 am

Am replicating some of the options,with methods to make them as well:

Breakfast for an 18 month old can be any of the following:
1. Dosa - 
               Prepare dosa batter by soaking 1:5 ratio solid urad dal and ildi rice.Grind after a soaking period of 8-10 hours.The dal needs to be ground, then rice added to it and ground to a fine batter.
This batter needs to ferment in a vessel for around 5-8 hours.
It can be stored in the fridge for upto a week , and used for making doses and idli for your little one.
The dosa for a child should be soft.Take a little amount of batter in a ladle and pour on the tawa(griddle) in a thick round shape and spread so that it is not too thin, neither too thick.Spread ghee on it, and let it cook.Once this side is light brown in color, turn and cover with a lid.This will make the dose even more soft.
Once it is cooked, dip in milk (you can add sugar if you want) and feed.


2. Idli- 
           The above batter is steamed in a idli making vessel or in microwave.To know whether the idli is cooked or not- insert a knife- this should come out without any batter.

3.Wheat dosa-
                         Mix one ladle ground wheat with a pinch of salt and add water.The consistency should be such that the mixture should flow freely.
This should be cooked like a dose on the griddle.The only difference being that both the sides should be cooked really well- the taste of wheat should not come.
This can be fed dipped in milk.


4. Bread in milk
5. Oats
6. Upma with vegetables
7. Wheat daliya
Recipes for 4-7 in the next post..
Happy feeding:)

Leave a comment if you want to add more options OR would like me to do so....

Day 1- Meal plan

Early Morning: Milk

Breakfast: Oats cooked in full fat milk with a mixture of dry fruits like anjeer, black grapes,badam

Mid morning : Ragi cooked in water

Lunch: Rice +dal+veggies+rasam

Evening- half paratha

Night- Uttapam

Sleeping time : Milk

 

Baby Food for 14 month old

Nowadays, a large part of my day goes in deciding what to feed my 14 month old daughter.Till one year she was the epitome of obedience- used to open her mouth and I could feed her as I wished.
Now she has become so finicky and will not eat her staple food anymore.
So, have to decide and try new things on a daily basis.
Will try to reproduce her daily menu and the new things I try for her for the other mothers of fussy eaters...:)

Review: Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L.James

Had seen this book in the new york times bestseller list therefore decided to download and read it, but sadly was a waste of time.

Could barely get through half of it which is very very rare for me.

Not worth wasting money on at all... 

Working mom vs homemaker

The past two days have had me obsessing on making DD sleep....her sleeping times being erratic suddenly- leaves me with no time at all.Have realized that being at home is more work than office.

I spent just 1 month in office after she was born and would invariably obsess whether she has been fed properly; is she missing me etc...and ended up rushing home on a half day /or early to find that madam is busy playing.

We moms are always in such a quandary- better to go to office and earn and fell that one has utilized ones potential or leave all that for taking care of a baby.
Realised that being a homemaker is a really thankless job...:(

Sano Ichiro Series by Laura Joh Rowland

In my continual search for new series to read, I downloaded the Sano Ichiro series by Laura Joh Rowland.

These are mysteries set during the feudal times of Japan.The main protagonist is the Shogun's main detective Sano Ichiro and each book presents a new mystery for him to solve along with the add on of political intrigue.

Having read the foremost writers in mystery fiction , these books are quite put-downable. Mostly mystery/murder series are such that one is unable to leave the book once started, and the depth of characterization is so detailed and full of intrigue that we want to follow the main protagonist to the next book as soon as possible.I have actually read series on series without a break.

In comparison, these mysteries are quite staid and one can take a break- read another more urgent book and again come back to these.

On the positive side, they present a very good picture of life in Japan during the imperial times, the way people lived, ate, dressed, their code of honor etc.

Laura Joh has written 15 books featuring Sano and these are worth a read if you are out of choice as I was...