Rasagulla made easy!

Disclaimer: I am no expert in cooking...
Makes 30 medium sized rasagullas
For the Paneer:
1 litre milk
1 lemon
For rasagulla:
4 cups(1 cup= 250 ml) water
2 cups sugar
cardomom powder
saffron if available
Procedure:
Boil milk without adding water. When it is about to boil add the lemon juice. Stir well and wait till all the milk is curdled. Once this is done strain it and wash the paneer in cold water to remove the lemony flavor. Now transfer the panner to a clean cotton cloth and keeps something heavy on top of it to get rid of the excess water(Preferably a big pan filled with water). Keep aside for 3-4 hours.
After the paneer has hardened, take it and knead it well until you can small balls with the paneer. Make very small balls about the size of a blueberry and keep aside.
Add sugar to water and heat it in a pressure cooker. Add little cardamom powder and little saffron to it. Bring this mixture to a boil. Leave it on high flame for 5 mins. Add the paneer balls one by one. Cover the cooker with the lid and cook on low flame for 20 mins. You might want to put the weight but allow no whistle. Once it is done, take the rasagulla out, refrigerate and serve it cold.

Ilam kandrum bayamarium....

I have been thinking to write a post on Baby N's fears. Today i get to write it finally. I have listed the things that she fears the most in that order
.... Cooker whistle
.... Mixie
.... Door bell
.... Bottle cleaning brush
.... Anything that moves unexpectantly
she is not afraid of darkness. I dont know if it is good or bad. That is the end of the list for now.

How possesive can someone get

The other day my father had bought a big suraikai(dont know the english equivalent for this vegetable). I held this in my hand and sang the usual jho jho and guess wat?? Baby N started crying thinking that I am carrying a baby and singing to her.. She doesnt like it when I lift other babies or even go near them right from she was 8months but this was heights.One part of me felt proud and another part a little worried.....At least there is someone who is real possesive about me..Worth all the pain.

Nehavum naangalum

Neha is 10 months now. I still remember the kutti pappa who slept like angel on my mother's lap... Not any more. She has become a real tomboy now. Constantly doing something or other.Hmm time is running. Soon it will be time to put her in school.
Some good things about her: $he can stand without support for few seconds, She can identify fan, she can put objects into a container and she knows how to use a comb. She used to be bald at birth. Now she has this Kramer like hairstyle with all that combing she has learnt. She can eat a piece of biscuit on her own now that she has cut 4 teeth. She likes curd, fruits,veggies and all non-baby food. She enjoys going out these days by walk or two-wheeler. She loves music. She is not interested in tv but loves the remote. She likes to play with ball and her father's glasses and of course with utensils of all shapes and sizes.
Now the not so good things.. She can pinch and beat you real hard. She can pick the tiniest bit from the floor and puts it right into her mouth. She refuses baby food in any form. Making her eat still takes a lot of time and energy. She still cannot say amma though she says appa sometimes. And then she wants to have a feed from me right before going to sleep. No one can put her to sleep... Each day i tell myself that i should not shout at her or get upset with her for not eating or sleeping. This thing will continue for one or the other reason for many more years to come i guess..... It is just the tip of the iceberg...

Thenaliraman poonai

Neha is slowly recovering from stomach flu and cold. Her appetite is still not good but when did she like food... Otherwise she is doing ok. Finally I had to go to my mom's place and take her to the doc who was her paed till I came to my in-laws' place. She said I should not have given the medicine that the skin doc prescribed for rashes(he diagonsed her with atopic eczema). The rashes have disappeared on their own though some appear after she gets from sleep and disappears soon after that. I would have litreally fallen on her feet for saving the baby. She was in such a bad shape. Severe diaorrhea, vomitting, severe cold and rahes all at the same time. She had to take 5 medicines 2 times a day for 4 days. At the end of 4 days she ran away the moment something was brought near her mouth. Poor thing. Thenaliraman poonai vallaththa kadhai ayiduchchu.... Each time I think of weaning her and getting back to work she falls sick and I end up giving her additional feeds and start all over. Lessons learnt: dont give any medicine for skin allergy and go slow on weaning.

Immunisation

Baby N had her measles vaccine on jan 30th. The doc said 'oh this is a subcutaneous injection.she will have no pain. Very rarely kids get fever that too a mild one after 7 days.' Baby N did not cry
much after the vaccine was given. We went home thinking nothing would happen. After 4 hrs she had mild fever. I gave her a dose of tylenol and she was ok. She was indeed fine till 5th of feb when diahorrhea started. I gave her the usual medicine and it only got worse the next day. I took the 7.30 pm appointment with the paed and by midday she developed mild rash in the legs near the ankle region. We went to the doc in the evening and he asked me continue the medicines that i had given and said that she would settle down in 2 days. He also prescribed a cream for the rash and asked us to remove the silver anklet she was wearing. Her stomach got a little better in a couple of days but the rash got worse. For the first time we all felt it could be measles. By then she also developed severe cold. On sunday i gave her a bath with neem leaves but it did not help. Again we rushed the doc on monday. This time he said it could be becos of the vaccine. He gave her a cream with calamine and aloe and said she would be fine and that it occurs in few kids. Need not worry. Cold could also be a side effect of the vaccine. Two days has passed and she is still not well. God knows wat my baby is suffering from. What r these vaccines for? Why didnt the doctor warn me earlier and why didnt he diagnose correctly when we went for a checkup on 6th? So many questions unanswered.... To top it all my hubby says that i go on and on abt this all the time... How comforting? May be i should get immune to all this. I take care of her 24*7 and this is what i get in return. How can i not worry abt my baby? She is suffering right in front of my eyes and i cannot even talk about it. Tension and frustration prevails in nehaland.........

Baby N had a great fall....

I had put Baby N to sleep and sat down to have breakfast yday abt 10.00 in the morning..Baby N usually takes only 30 min powernaps during the day (3 times at the max). I finished rasam rice and was abt start curd rice when I heard a loud wail from Baby N. She usually cries when she wakes up but this time it was real bad. I rushed to bedroom. By the then our maid had picked up the baby. Baby N had jumped off the bed - my little superwoman. I started shaking from head to toe. It took 20 mins to calm down the baby. I immediately called our paed and he said everything should be ok. Our maid then thoroughly checked if the baby is ok by gently touching from head to toe. I just couldnt believe that she fell down. I had 3 pillows arranged by her side but nothing helped. I am really scared if anything would to her because of this in the future. Many assured me that children under 2 dont her hurt that soon but still I am a little scared. We have an appointment today with the paed.Let us see what he has to say. Baby N was back to normal immediately after the incident and I was the one who could not sleep the whole night and ended up having such a bad headache. I still havent come out of shock. Hope this does not affect her in any way. I do understand that this is all part of the growing up process but I could have definitely been more careful. My father already says I dont take proper care of the baby making me all the more guilty. Hope this does not happen again. How to teach my kid that it is dangerous to jump out of the bed and she is not old enough to do such a thing????