Five on Friday

Monday: 

After another hectic weekend, I couldn’t wake up early in the morning. Moreover, when I woke up it was a very cloudy day. I love to sit back and relax on any cloudy morning with cup of hot coffee. After sitting for some time I remembered that I had many jobs to be finished. On the top of that, the weather suddenly changed from cloudy to very much sunny. First,I went to Sephora to change some of the make up I bought few days ago, then went to Children’s place to buy some clothes for my kid. Then , from there I went to library. Past few days my son pursuing me to rent few “Diary of a Wimpy kid” series books. So, I went to library.Luckily, I got few of the books of the series. No, my day didn’t end there. It was already the time to pick my son from school. So, I rushed to the pick him from school. At least he didn’t have any activities today. Again, in the evening we went to Costco. From Costco, we went to dine out at an Italian restaurant. Actually, my son’s school organized that dine out at an Italian Bistro to raise fund for the school. It was a fun event, as the teachers and the principal served food to us. 

Spring time, gardening time

Redwood Regional Park

We didn’t know about the hidden redwood forest which was very near to the Oakland downtown. Where we hiked in Bay area, we didn’t get such a splendid Redwood forest anywhere. We had been in Oakland downtown many times, but we were completely unaware about that forest. When we were searching for a hiking trail, one of our friends suggested going there. 

Earth Day celebration at Local Farmer's Market

I love to go to local Farmer’s market almost every Saturday. Last Saturday was a little special. We all knew that April 22 was Earth Day. Our local farmer’s market organized few little yet very interesting event for the children as well as the adults. 

Five on Friday

Monday:

After a super hectic weekend, I just wanted to rest. However, Monday cannot be a day to rest. I had a long list of jobs to be finished. On the top of that I had doctor’s appointment around 12:00 in the morning. So, before going to doctor’s office my plan was to finish all chores. It took a long time there. Doctor asked to me to do a couple of blood tests. Anyway, from there I came back home . I got little time before going to pick my son from school. I utilized the time by making some cards for my Etsy shop.

Oat flour bread

I didn’t have oat flour in my pantry, but I did have oat meal in my pantry, which we usually eat for breakfast. So, to get oat flour I ground the oat meal in grinder, and it worked all fine.

Here is my oat flour bread recipe:

Half cup all-purpose flour

Half cup oat flour

Two tbsp. firmly packed brown sugar1 tsp. baking powder

One fourth tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

Two tbsp. vegetable oil 

One egg

Half cup cold milk

One tsp. vinegar

One fourth cup raisins

One fourth cup chopped almonds

Take the cold milk in a cup, add vinegar into it. Keep aside for ten minutes, it’ll curdle.
In a big mixing bowl, mix all the dry ingredients, except the sugar, and keep aside.
In another mixing bowl, mix oil,sugar, and egg with an electric mixer until smooth, and fluffy.
 In the same mixture add milk and vinegar mixture, and mix well.
Pour the dry mixture , and mix well. 
Preheat the oven at 350 degree F.
Take a 9”X5” baking pan. Grease it with an oil spray. Pour the mixture into it. Bake for half an hour or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Yosemite rivisited

Few months back one of Mr. Man’s friend contacted him after a long time. Actually he was his classmate in Elementary school back in India. The guy was visiting California, and he asked Mr. Man to accompany him to Yosemite. I also didn’t want to loose the opportunity to go to Yosemite. The  steep high mountains with lurking numerous falls apart from the famous ones always fascinate me. 

Roaring Merced River

Happy Easter

HAPPY EASTER TO ALL OF YOU!

GOD BLESS YOU AND YOUR FAMILY

I PARY FOR YOU AND YOUR FAMILY FOR GOOD HEALTH AND ENDLESS HAPPINESS

I apologize for my delayed wish to you. Last two days were really hectic to me. I couldn't wake up early today morning. All of you are my beautiful friends, I know you will understand.. 

Five on Friday

Monday:

At last the spring break was over. We again came back to our normal routine. However, our spring break was not a lazy one. Mommy-and-kiddo were super busy. We had a school project to finish. Though the submitting date was in May, still we utilized our break time to finish. So, we didn’t need to rush later. As both father and son left the house I literally jumped into my works. For seven days I couldn’t clean my son’s room. In that seven days he cut out numerous papers to build “airport," “planes," “Fighter planes," and of course “Titanic”. The room was in great mess. I can’t clean the mess in his presence. So, it was a golden time for me to clean up. 

Home Depot kid's workshop collection :)

Whole wheat flour banana bread

The comment from Judy of Judy’s Gold Country cottage , took me back to my childhood days. I always love the rainy days. I grew up in India, which is a tropical country. Rainy season is a different season  there. During that season, it rains almost everyday. Rainy season is a vital season, as the farming of the country very much depends on that season. Anyway, when I was small I always loved the heavy rain in the morning. As I knew that very few students would turn up to school, the whole day in school would be fun, rather study. Though, my mom tried to resist me to go school on those rainy days, but I ended up going to school. Today, in the afternoon while I was sitting in my bedroom, and staring to the cloudy sky, I felt to write down this little memory. No, I'm not chatting , I'm also giving a recipe of banana bread, which you can enjoy with a cup of coffee on a rainy afternoon.

One and one fourth cup whole wheat flour

Half cup sugar

One chopped walnut

One tsp. of baking powder

One tsp. of cinnamon powder

One tsp. of nutmeg powder

One third cup of oil

Two eggs

Two ripe bananas

Preheat the  oven at 350 degree F. Smash the bananas with a fork and keep aside. In a big mixing bowl mix all the dry ingredients, except sugar. In another mixing bowl mix sugar, and eggs very well,with an electric mixer. Gradually mix the dry mixture, while mixing. Then add the banana paste, and mix well. Lastly add the walnuts, and fold with a spatula. Take 9”X5” in baking pan, grease with  oil or butter spray. Pour the batter, and bake for half an hour , or a knife comes out clean while inserted in the middle.

Busy weekend and museum visit

Unlike other weekends this weekend was crazy and busy. Saturday morning, it  was raining, so I decided not to go anywhere. However, in the afternoon the weather changed totally, and it became bright and sunny. So, we changed my mind, and decided to visit two parks, which kiddo was  supposed to visit as an assignment of a school project. Then, after running some errands we returned home around seven in the evening.

Las Trampas wilderness

Five on Friday

Monday:

The spring break had started from today. However, we were going to be very busy through out the week. Before last Friday , I was really concerned how to spend the week, as kiddie would be at home. He was going to be bored whole day. When he came back home from school, he showed me a small booklet about a project they had to do. It came to me like the moon from the sky.  I didn’t need to scratch my head to find new things to keep him busy.

Spinach bread

Two cups of fresh spinach

Two cups of all purpose flour

Two tsp. of active dry yeast

Two tbsp. of oil (I used vegetable oil)

One tsp. of salt

Two tsp. of  sugar

One cup shredded mozzarella cheese

In the juicer, squeeze out juice from the spinach leaves. If two cups do not yield three-fourth cup of juice, you need more spinach leaves. Take a sauce pan, slightly heat up the spinach juice. Just enough, so that you can deep your finger at least for five-seconds. In a big cup, take out the juice, add the yeast, and sugar. Slightly stir, and set aside for 10 minutes covering the cup with a lid. It’ll activate the yeast. Do not over heat the juice. Excessive heat will kill the yeast. Take a big bowl. Add the flour,   oil, and salt. Mix well. Add the whole juice, and mix well with hand , and make a dough. If you need more liquid, you can add water little by little. Make tight dough. Lightly spray oil over the dough, cover it , and keep it in a warm place. I usually warm up the oven at 170 degree F. Then I switch off the oven , and keep the bowl inside the oven for two hours. In the two hours the dough will rise up into double. Again knead the dough well. Do not over knead. Grease a loaf pan. Put the dough in it. Stretch the dough in the shape of the pan. Cover the pan, and keep it in a warm place for another one hour. Again it will rise into double size. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degree F. Bake for 30 minutes, or the knife comes out clean when inserted in the middle.