First Anniversary and time to say a lot of Thanks !!!

Hi Folks,

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY TO ALL MY FRIENDS AND VISITORS !!!!

While the whole world is celebrating this great day , I have another reason to celebrate this day.Yes! It's my blog's FIRST Birthday. Last year it was the same Feb 14th my blog was born. Like many of my friends I too never thought that I'll be blogging this long. Anyway, today I have reached a second milestone with 137 posts. Wondering what's my first milestone? Ofcourse it was my 100th post on October 2007.

Another great news is that I have recieved "The Nice Matters" award from my dear friend Happy cook who is the proud owner of My Kitchen Treasures. Thankyou so much HC, you made me feel so special.

So, let me start the story of how I was introduced to the blogging world. It was some time in December 2006 I came across a health-related blog . The same author had a food blog too. I liked the idea of recording the recipes and that inspired me to start a blog of my own. Unfortunately, I forgot her name. Then, after two months I had my own blog .... En Samayal Pakkam.

Initially when I started the blog I wanted it to be a personal space to record my recipes. But seeing the comments in the other blogs I was so surprised by the way people are connecting to one another and how close they become after that. This inspired me and I wanted to be a part of it.

The first indian food blog I came across was Asha's. I became a great fan of hers. It was from her I learnt to write an intro before each recipe. There were days when I used to get only one comment and that was Asha's. She has always been encouraging me with her sweet comments. So, on this day I want to give you a big hug and say THANKS for all your inspiration.

I also want to thank Deepz of "Letz Cook". She was the first one to leave a comment on my blog. I don't think she knows that but I cannot forget that day. I was soooo thrilled that I can't express it in words. Thanks Deepz, You made me so happy that day.

Next I wish to mention some of the other great bloggers who inspired me during my initial days of blogging. Sia's eye-catching pictures, Inji Pennu's style of boldly expressing her thoughts, Prema's wonderful recipes (she made me blabber about her manchurian once in my dreams), Indo Sun God's Authentic recipes, Richa's simple yet flavorful recipes..... Ah, the list goes on and on...

I'm so thankful for getting friends like Happy Cook who is a soups & chaat queen, Bharathi who has a lovely collection of authentic kerala recipes, Viji of vcusine who is like a dictionary of food for me, Mansi who often tempts me to go off my diet with her awesome desserts, Jeena who inspires me with her healthy recipes, Cynthia & Bee who makes me forget to comment by getting me lost with their mind-blowing pictures and write-up, Latha ma and Lakshmi who shares their authentic Iyyengar recipes and also making a difference by reaching to the special-needs kids , Pravs who makes me drool over her non-veg dishes, Suganya of Tasty Palattes who brings out the beauty of food with her unique style of photography, Sukanya of Hot'n' Sweet bowl who makes beautiful cakes and Shella who has connected to me personally.

I also enjoy the dishes and comments of Laavanya who has a variety of yummy dishes that I'm yet to try, TBC who capitvates my heart with her unique recipes, Rajitha who makes my tummy grumble with her tempting array of dishes, Raks who gives nice step-by-step pictures to follow her dishes, Padma who creates beautiful dishes like her kesar amarkhand, Priar who makes mouth-watering tamilnadu style non-veg dishes , Ramya of Mane Adige who has introduced me to so many of her bangalore dishes, Remya of Spice n Flavors who has a variety of kerala delicacies, SMN who has great breakfast items like her different types of dosa, Seema who has simple yet comforting dishes like her appo and chicken curry , Sagari who in a short span of time has posted so many delicious dishes, meeso... more than her food, I always go to her blog to see her blush in her boyfriend's hands , Kalai who has a nice homey foods, Easy Crafts who is so talented in coming up with so many dishes that can be done in MW, Shankari who I'm so proud that she spreads our cusine through her cooking class and also does food shows in TV..... Really guys, the list is endless.

But I have to end my long list for now as I'm running short of time. At this time I cannot forget my non-blogger friends too who visit me and leave their kind comments behind. I owe it all to your encouragement . Anyway, what I wish to say is...... Each and every one of you, not only the gals mentioned above have inspired me and taught me so much. All I can say in return for that is THANKS THANKS and THANKS.

Last but not least ,I wanted to thank my hubby too who continues to encourage me (sometimes..... ) and my little kiddo Kavin who bears with me when I steal his time for blogging. I wanted to post some nice dessert for celebrating my anniversary, but as you all know I'm in Florida for the past 10 days enjoying my vaction. So no cooking, no work, no dieting..... enjoying life to the core. Will be back to Atlanta tomorrow and resume blogging from monday. Till then take care and have a nice weekend!

Going on a break again

Yes friends. I'm going on a break for one week. This is b'coz "B" is in need of his laptop for his new travel job. He will be gone for one week. Hopefully I will get my lappy by the weekend and also be able to accompany him to florida the week after. Couldn't go this week as Kavin and me are still recovering from the flu. I suffered so much that I narrowly escped from being admitted due to dehyderation. Hope we will come back to normal soon. I successfully completed one thing today. I kept up my promise of going through all the posts (295 posts) that I missed during my previous break. My! you girls are posting in jet speed that I'm unable to keep up with all of you. Anyway, Take care and will see you soon!

Blogging Break!!!

Hi Friends,
I'm taking a break from blogging until the new year as my kid has no school until then. I'm sorry that I couldn't reply to your comments nor visit your blogs. I shall catch up with you all soon. I should have posted this message earlier but I fell sick. So, please bear with me guys.

Anyway,
Wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2008!

A dark day in our life in the year 2006

Warning: This is a long health related post.

Just wanted to share a chapter of my life with all of you.Yes...The day after Thanks Giving when all the people are busy shopping and still enjoying the holidays we had a very dark day during our 2006 ThanksGiving. This is b'coz Kavin was diagonized with something called the KAWASAKI disease. Funny name uh? Yes, we thought so too when the ER doctor told us the name not knowing the seriousness behind it.Inshort, this an acquired heart disease that affects young childeren who are less than 5 years of age and rarely above 5. You can read more about it here and here.Kavin's story goes like this.


On 17th November 2006 he woke up normal just like any other day. He had his flu shot appointment and so we went to his pediatrician around 11 am. By 12pm we met 'B' in a restaurant and had lunch. Kavin dosen't eat anyway, so we kept him busy with some crayons. He was a little fussy though, so we packed our lunches half way through and I drove him back home.

Within minutes of reaching home, he threw up and started to shiver. I panicked. Then I gave him tylenol and put him to bed. I found that he developed fever. At that time, I thought it was a side effect of the flu shot. But as the clocked ticked away, his temperature kept on rising and rising. By 5pm he was burning and had a temperature of 104 degress. I didn't wanted to keep him in home any longer. So, we took him to the emergency by 6pm. All through the way he kept throwing up and his head was drooping down. Finally we got to see the doctor only by 10pm. (You know how the ER's function in US). They asked us to give him the same tylenol and motrin alternatively and sent us home.

The next day we met Kavin's pediatrician but he didn't find anything either. All through the day, his temperature would be 102 deg under the effect of motrin. When the medicine effect wares off ,it would go back to 104 . Back again in the evening his temperature shot up high and we rushed back to the ER.

After a long wait, we got to see that day's doctor. I was really not at all happy with the way he reacted to our concerns. He spent exactly a minute listening to our complaints, didn't examine Kavin (not even looked at him) and scoffed at me for telling my concerns as he thought I was exaggerating.

Again we went home to continue the tylenol and Motrin.Again we made a trip to the Pediatrician the next day. On this day, Kavin developed cracks on his lips and his toungue was coated with white substance and his eyes were blood-red. Still, his pediatrician said that it is a viral fever as his eyes were red. He also prescribed an eye drops and Nystatin for the toungue. Again we went home with no answers.

Fourth day also no improvements. Already, Kavin has feeding difficulties. He dosen't drink milk or juice also. It was so tough to watch him live with water alone. All long we knew something was wrong but we were helpless. My parents are doctors in India and my sis is doing her final year medicine. My dad became suspicious about Kavin's condition on this day. He prescribed some medicines too. But I was afraid to give it as I would have to answer Kavin's pediatrician if something went wrong.

Fifth day also continued with high fevers of 103. Kavin was humming weakly a lullaby that I used to sing to him daily. He tried to look into my eyes and said "boo boo". Oh My God! It was the worst moment. My hubby and me burst into tears and cried out aloud with Kavin in my lap. My Dad asked us to do a blood test. So, we went to the pediatrician to ask for it. He disagreed on that and he suggested to take a x-ray alone to check if it was Pnemonia. We went to the lab and got the result as negative. Again we went to see the doctor with the lab results. My hubby asked for the blood test again but the doctor said that he is very sure that it is a viral fever and that it takes 10 days to go away.

Day 6. A day before ThanksGiving. We cancelled our dinner program in our friends place and stayed home hoping to see some improvements today atleast. But nothing much changed. Back again we went to the ER and asked them to admit Kavin as we afraid to keep him home. But they didn't so as he was not dehydrated. I did tell them that he was drinking only water and very little pedialite (just 4 ounces a day). We had to give him through a medicine despenser as he dosen't like pedialite. Still, we were kiced like a ball back to our house.

Day7. It was Thanksgiving and while the world was happy celebrating it we were still in the dark not knowing what would happen next. My dad was angry with me as I did not follow his medicines. But he warned me that this was terribly wrong and a blood test was a must. He suggested to give a steroid that is banned in US but still used in India. I was scared to try it. Didn't want to complicate anything. So, I just told my dad that I gave the medicine but I didn't. No improvements. It's been 6 days since Kavin walked.

Day 8. We woke up after sleepless nights. Again my dad insisted on the blood tests and we talked to the Pediatrician and he basically washed off his hands. He said that he has done all that he knows and said that we could go to the ER again if we want and take a blood test for our satisfaction as our pediatrician's office was closed on that day. I was frustrated with the ER at this point. I didn't want to go there at all. But my hubby said that we go there again to do the blood tests atleast. Back again we went waited for 3 hours. The ER was packed with people as it was a holiday season.

In the waiting room, when my hubby took Kavin to the restroom he noticed that he was walking wobbly. He hardly took 2 steps then he sat down. B's eyes were watery. I consoled him and measured Kavin's temperature. This time the meter showed no reading. Just "HIGH". I was scared to death. I went to the reception and yelled at them for taking such a long time. Then the nurse came and checked Kavin. They took him in right away. Within half an hour we saw the doctor and told him the entire story. He was so patient and listened to us carefully. He then did a blood test and came back with the results that it could be "KAWASAKI".

After this the treatment started in a jet speed. kavin was admitted on the spot and was getting ready to be seen by the main doctor. 'B' rushed home to get a few things for our hospital stay. Kavin was given drips and had so many wires on his body. After 20 mins, his body started to shiver badly. I tried to hug him but his body was shaking so hard that his bed was also shaking. The nurse rushed in and changed the doses and he setteled down slowly. He was give IVIG (immunoglobin -an antibodies extract from human blood).

Day 9. Kavin woke up with no fever. His eyes came back to normal. He smiled and responded to us. He became aware that he was sick and that he was in the hospital to recover. We had a sigh of relief that didn't last for long. The doctor came in and gave us a sheet about this disease. We were shocked to read thru that. Then an echo was performed on Kavin and it was found that his coronary artery has enlarged and that he was in risk level 2. Phone calls were going back and forth to India and my dad was trying to find out the underlying complications and try to to do the best possible.

Day 10. We were released from the hospital and was asked to do a follow-up visit after a week with a cardiologist. Kavi was on baby aspirin for one full month. We met the cardiologist a week later and discussed the possible problems. He said that we have to wait for 1 full month to see how Kavin's body is recovering in the post kawasaki phase. His platelettes counts was more than double of what it had to be. The doctor also warned that if the platelet count continue to be this high ,he is in a risk for cancer.

This was too much for us. We walked in dark hoping to find some light at the end. This incident really changed us a lot. We started to appreciate Kavin more and his other difficulties did not matter anymore. We just wanted him to be alive atleast. In the end, after one full month of waiting time, the doctor did his echo and said that he has miraculously escaped and that his coronary artery has come back to normal and that he has crossed the danger line. Kavin is still kept on watch for the next 3 to 5 years . But we hope he will do fine in the coming years.

From my experiences, I strongly feel that our family would not have undergone this only if the doctors were more responsible in the first place. All that the ER doctors want us to do is spend some time in the patient’s room and hope that they can pass the patient off to the next doctor coming on shift or keep the patient alive for them to be seen by their regular doctor the next day. Anyway, it's we as parents who have to fight for our children. Always trust your gut feeling and struggle as much as you can.

Keep an eye for these Symptoms:
1. persistent fever that is higher than 104 degrees Fahrenheit (39 degrees Celsius), and lasts for at least 5 days.
2.severe redness in the eyes
3.a rash on the child's stomach, chest, and genitals
4.red, dry, cracked lips
5.swollen tongue with a white coating and big red bumpssore, irritated throat
6.swollen palms of the hands and soles of the feet with a purple-red color
7.swollen lymph nodes
8. Peeling of skin under the nails (For kavin it happened after his relase from the hospital


If you see any of these symptoms in your child, Please Please do not hesitate to do a blood test and check for Platelet count. Don't worry if the doctors turn deaf to your words. You got to be persistant. In our case, we could have escaped this if the kawasaki disease would have been detected atleast two days before.I'm sorry for a long one. Hope I didn't bore you. This is just to keep you all aware about this killer disease.

Coming to an end, he is a pic of my son taken recently. You can see what food blogging has done to him. He has seen me taking pics of food many times and one day I saw him doing this. So I grabbed my camera quick and took a shot. He even got a little tikes kitchen set for ThanksGiving!

This ThanksGiving was a good one. We went to a big church were our friends invited us for a lunch. There was a huge crowd from different countries. People from different places sang their National anthem on stage. And guess who sang our India's national anthem?It was KAVIN.

He sang the full song song so clearly and won a huge applause. Too bad that I didn't take a camera. My friend said that the church would have taken it and if he gets it he would send it to me. So, I'm still waiting for that. Anyhow, we were so proud of him. Exactly one year has made a huge difference in our lives.

Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to read this. I really appreciate it.

Happy Deepavali 2007!!!

Hello my dear bloggers friends and visitors,

Wish you all a very Happy, Prosperous and Safe Diwali.

Hope you all have a great time bursting crakers, eating sweets and enjoying your favorite TV programs. See you all soon with the goodies I prepared for Diwali. Bye.
(image from flickr.com)

Few food pics from my India Trip

As many of you know, I was on a break from june to august as I had to attend my SIL's wedding. After coming back I wanted to post some pics but I couldn't do it. So, here are some.

Virundhu in my first SIL's place for the newly wed. The items are Chicken Biryani, onion raitha, Era varuval, vangiram fish fry, boiled egg and chicken roast.Desserts are fruit salad (banana, jack fruit, mangoes and nagapazham) and rasamalai.


Pictures was taken in yercaud. The sour mangoes with spicy chilli powder mix is a perfect one for the cold days. This is the American sweet corn that is grilled on charcoals and served with lemon and a spice mix.


Look closely. It's not just two monkeys. There are three of 'em. The left one is a mommy hugging the little one. Last but not least is my all time favorite Panju mittai/ cotton candy. I don't like the ones we get in US. It just dosen't taste the same. I ate 3 of them in a row. YUM YUM.



That's all guys. Just wanted to share them with you. Have a nice weekend!!!

My Wedding Anniversary

I had promised my fellow bloggers about my anniversary post. So, here it is.Where shall I begin???

Ok, we met in June 1998 at a computer institute. Actually, all my friends had joined in another institute while my mom compelled me to join this particular one only, as it was on the way to her work place. I went into that institute thinking of all the possible reasons to get out of it. At that time, there was restricted lab hours in some institute. So, I picked that as a reason and asked my counsellor if they follow that rule.

All of a sudden, I heard a voice and a person who was facing the other side turn to me and say that they have unlimited lab hours. Yes, it was my hubby. At that time, I was so pissed and thought who is this nut to spoil all my plans. He was the pricipal of that center and he spoke to my mom in such a way that I was enrolled then and there. (This is what they call as fate I guess!!!)

Months later we proposed. Our parents came to know about it. "B" & me had to convince them. It took a little effort though. Finally they agreed and we got married on Sep 10th 2000.

I wish to mention an incident that took place during our wedding. When the time came to tie the knot, "B" was not sure what to do. He held the 'thali' (mangal sutra) in his hand and was blinking. People started putting flowers and rice on us to give their blessings. Still, "B" was wondering if that was the right time. I gave him a short lecture about tying thalis and asked him to do it soon. I even bent my head twice or thirce asking him to tie the knot. All my relatives made fun of me that "B" was having second thoughts about getting married to me and that I forced him. Atlast, my 'tubelight' hubby tied the knot.

After that, I came to US the next month and started my life here. Seven years has passed by. Do you want to know how we are now???We are getting along ok. Happy and contended. So much has changed. We don't have the same prefernces anymore. We differ in almost everything. He is a perfectionist and I'm careless to the core.(opposite poles attract :)) ) I hate it when he gives me long lectures( the gift of marrying my pricipal) and catches me red handed for gobbling up all the chocolates and ice cream. He never apologises for his mistakes. Everytime he would talk in such a way that I would feel guilty that I did something wrong even though it would have been his mistake.

Anyway, in the end I'll be the one who compromises as I cannot be without talking to him for more than an hour. That's b'coz afterall ,he is the one who chiseles me as well as shieldes me in all my difficult times. By this I don't mean to say that he should be my hubby in my next birth also. All I wish is ... to be with him in my next birth also only if we get our roles switched. (so that I can be the dominant one).

As our anniversary was on monday we celebrated on sep 9th as well as it was our reception day.

Here is the menu:

Vegetable biryani

shrimp saute

fish fry

onion raitha and

carrot kosambari.


On sep 10th we were supposed to go to temple. But as "B" was late we went straight for dinner at Ippolitis. We had Garlic rolls, garden salad,Grilled chicken & spinach cannelloni and chicken& shrimp cavatelli. For dessert we had ice cream at home.Here are the pictures.



With this I come to an end .Once again guys...I'm not a great writer, infact a lousy one. I'm really sorry guys if that was too much info. I'm not a good editor...did not know where to cut. Just wrote whatever I felt. So, please bear with me for pouring out everything. BYE BYE!!!

Varalakshmi Viratham

Varalakshmi Viratham is an important festival celebrated in South India. You can read about this in detail here .

I have been celebrating this festival since my childhood. I grew up in my grandma's house. So, I have seen my aunt doing this every year. When I moved with my parents I continued doing it although my mom does not do it. Even after my marriage, my MIL encouraged me to do it although she has never done it before.
Many of my friends said that I should not do it as my MIL does not have the practice of doing this pooja. But I disagreed on that.

According to me, it's not wrong to do any pooja just b'coz it is not a tradition. I enjoy doing it and here I am doing it for the past 12 years.
Every year it used to be so grand I would call lots of my friends and celebrate it in a big way. But this year it was simple. Just did a payasam and sundal and offered it along with some fruits. I forgot to take pictures of the fruit tray and the thamboolam. Anyway, here are some pictures of my pooja.

Missing all of you!!!

Hi Friends,
Sorry for my long silence. We reached safely and had a nice time at the wedding. Time is going so fast that I'm grabbing every moment I can to enjoy my time to the fullest. I will be back on sep 7th. I'm missing everybody very much. I did take time to go through all of your recent posts, but I couldn't post a comment. Please bear with me. I will join you guys soon. Until then, Have a nice time!!!

Kavin 3rd Birthday !!!

Hi Friends,Nice to be back. Atlast, my big day is over. Yes, my son's birthday which was on April 28th 2007.

We had a backyard party with slides,moonwalks and swings. The kids absolutely enjoyed it. Kavin is usually scared to go on slides. But to my amazement he slid down perfectly fine following the other kids. We had around 80 friends (60 adults, 20 kids).

We had the catering from Swapna restaurant. The items were: Appetizers: veg pakora, mysore bonda, chilli chicken,chicken-65,mint chutney and tomato chutney.
Main Course: Veg Biryani,Chicken Biryani, Raitha,Malai kofta, Paneer pasandha,Butter chicken ,Rogan josh and Naan.
Desserts: Rasmalai , fruit salad in mango custard and B'day cake ofcourse.Sorry Guys, I do not have a picture of the buffet table. It's all in the video.

For those of you guys who have not seen me...Here is my picture in the slideshow. The pink fatty girl. Oh no! I'm showing the world in what a bad shape I am. Ok guys, consider this picture as my "BEFORE" picture. Someday when I lose weight I'll post my "AFTER" picture.

Oh...I forgot to mention, we had 3 new guests whom we never knew before. Yes, three baby swallows. They flew right in when we opened the door for the first few guests. Many friends took turns in swooshing them away. But they were determined not to leave. Finally they were the last to leave around 10.30pm.You can check them out sitting on the doors in the slideshow.

I also have to add this....I could not get the picture of all my friends in the slideshow. Most of them were not taken in my camera. Will update it when I get all of 'em.

Break!!!

Dear friends,
I'm taking a short break from blogging as I'm in the process of planning a birthday party for my son Kavin which is on April 28th. Will resume blogging on May 5th.Until then, take care. Will miss you guys.....

Turning Older!!! Another B'day!!!

Yes, It was my birthday (April 12th) yesterday and my hubby suprised me with cake and flowers. As my son is also April born, my birthday is not intresting anymore. Still, I enjoyed this one as my son is now old enough to sing the b'day song, blow candles and cut cake. Here is another reason ,When my hubby got this cake there was no one in the store to write on it. Few others did not get the cake because they could not get the wordings on the cake. So my hubby asked permission from the worker there and got the icing bag(I forgot the name of it) and wrote it himself. The people standing next to him gave him so many oooo's and ahhhh's and followed the same. Although the writing is bad I'm happy that he did it for me. The day ended with a heavy dinner at Carraba's Italian restaurant with my friends.