Tips.... about chikkoo

Image via Fruitpedia

Sapota or chikkoo as we call them is one of my favorite fruit. But unfortunately whenever I bring them home, it's more thrown than eaten. If I get the ripe ones, I cannot consume them all at once, the next day they would have the sour taste. Once I asked the shopkeeper how do I make the raw ones ripe at home. He suggested me to put them in the rice dabba/box and close its lid. But again they would be ripe but would have a undesired wrinkled skin. Therefore most of the time I just avoid buying sapotas even though they are tempting.

But recently I thought to give it another try. I put them in a polythene bag and then put this bag in the rice box. Ha, ha this trick of mine worked. 

So guys if you are sapota lovers like me, all you have to do is put the raw, grown sapotas in a polythene bag, tie it and put them in the rice box with a closing lid and you get to taste the juicy sapotas in the end...

Lord Ganesha, the Vignaharta..

It's been weeks since the festival 'Ganesh Chaturti' is celebrated and over. Sometime in August there was a competition announced in the local Kannada paper. It was about painting Lord Ganesha in any form and submitting. After intense googling I came upon a simple  painting of Ganesha in lovely Madhubani style. I decided to give it a try, and if at all it came out re-presentable then I would send it across the paper's address. But due to my MIL illness I could not complete it on-time and the whole idea was dropped.
Like the celebrations running late in the daily TV soaps, I finally could complete the picture, frame it and seek the blessings of Lord Ganesha.
After viewing the results of the competition, I discovered that there were lot of talented painters among us and their way of depicting the Lord was simply amazing . I am glad that I didn't participate, I know I would have looked like a fool among them -:)))

Flowers, Plenty of them..

How do you spend your week if you are a homemaker like me? 

Me, all I do is arrange and re-arrange most of the things at home, and I am sure most of the decor lovers do the same. Apart from this I constantly try to arrange flowers. Oh, don't think too big on this, all I am talking is putting the flowers in a holder/vase, few match here and there and then making a pleasing flower arrangement for myself. 

Who doesn't love flowers in their home? Flowers brings happiness and adds cheerfulness to your life, your home. I am one lucky girl who has sources of flowers other than buying from outside. Yes, I pick flowers from my own garden, from the scarcely populated public garden, few fallen flowers from trees, fresh flowers from trees etc.

Hibiscus Idli's

Surprised, aren't you!
Today I am sharing you a simple tip while preparing Idli's. Well this is a traditional recipe followed in my in-laws place and it does tastes good.
It's just that you add few hibiscus leaves to your Idli batter. The most preferred one is the white hibiscus leaves but if you don't have it you can add leaves of any other colored hibiscus. You add approximately 20-25 leaves of the white Hibiscus or approximately 8-10 leaves of any other color. This is considering serving three people.
Please note that while making the batter soak a bit lesser Urad dal than you usually do. If you are using a grinder for grinding then put the leaves first in the blender and later to the grinder along with the Urad dal.
As a result you will have
1. Colorful green Idlis (If you add grated carrots, definitely more colorful) instead of boring white ones according to my son.
2. More healthier version of Idli.