The time of our life....

Raise your hands, if you answer yes to the following question -"the best days of my life, were spent with my friends in school/college". I would imagine, most of you have your hands high in the air. There is something about that period in our lives which truly makes us want to reverse the clock! The relatively stress-free phase where our most significant concern revolved around our next get together/birthday celebrations/figuring out a way to sneak into our parents booze/not getting caught smoking.....all bring a smile to my face.

During our recent trip to Minneapolis, we were specially fortunate to have friends come for a visit to our rental cabin from all over the US. DH's friends came over for a weekend and I honestly think that they all left looking a few years younger.....and no, this has nothing to do with my cooking :). 

The realization that being co-hostelites (yes, this is a newly coined phrase), brings people together to such a large degree, truly hit home when I saw the interaction between DH and his friends. From the minute they landed, the atmosphere seemed to transform. There was a fair amount of gentle and not so gentle teasing, a lot of discussion over who had the most amount of hair left, a comparison of waistlines and an overall feeling of camaraderie.

Over the course of a particularly long evening of drinks, I was put on the spot by being asked if I thought I knew DH better or if they did. Of course, I told them that I will win hands down. As it happens, I did not know the answers to any of the questions they posed my way!!

So, as any sore loser does, I decided to let them figure out the next day's lunch on their own..to be pleasantly surprised here as well!!
 

  
Yep, this is what the boys came up with - a brunch that packed a punch!!! It is what I now call "Sridhar's Version of Huevos Rancheros". When I say that it tasted even better than it looked....I am not exaggerating!!

Sridhar's Version of Huevos Rancheros

(Makes 12 portions)

 

12 medium sized soft corn tortillas

 

For the Scramble:

16 eggs

Some milk

Salt and pepper

2 tbsp. oil

 

2 cups Guacamole (Recipe)

 

For the Mango Salsa:

2 ripe mangoes chopped

1/2 cup onion chopped fine

1 jalapeno deseeded and chopped fine

1 tbsp. chopped cilantro

1 tbsp. lemon juice

1 pinch of cayenne powder

Salt to taste

 

For the Beans:

5 onions chopped

8 tomatoes chopped

3 cans of black beans

1/2 cup cilantro chopped

5 garlic cloves grated

1/4 tsp Oregano

1/4 tsp cayenne powder

1/2 tsp cumin powder

1/4 tsp dry ginger powder

1/2 tsp sugar

Salt to taste

3 tbsp. of oil

 

1 bottle of spicy tomato salsa

 

1 cup of sour cream

 

1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

 

Lemon wedges and cilantro for garnish

 

It starts with getting the accompaniments ready......I was of course the fly on the wall (not willing to help at all) who was surreptitiously taking notes :).



 

The black beans were drained and rinsed well. The other boys got busy chopping the onions and the tomatoes. Sridhar heated the oil in the pan and cooked the onions and tomatoes with the cayenne powder and garlic. After cooking the mixture for 2-3 minutes, he added the beans, salt, sugar, oregano, cumin powder and the ginger powder. He allowed the mixture to cook at low heat for 15 minutes and added the cilantro to finish.

 

The mango salsa was prepared next by simply mixing all the chopped ingredients together.....



Here is the picture of the guacamole. The only difference from the original recipe lies in the removal of mango and addition of bell peppers in the mix.

The scramble was made after lightly beating the eggs with the milk and adding salt and pepper to it. It was cooked on a pan using some oil.

And here is the masterpiece! Sridhar lightly toasted the tortilla on a pan and added the beans and egg scramble on it. After adding a generous sprinkle of cheddar cheese, he microwaved the tortilla for 30 seconds to help melt the cheese. Then the tortilla was topped with spicy salsa, sour cream, mango salsa and guacamole. It was finished with a sprinkle of cilantro and a light squeeze of lemon juice.

 

Ok, I can imagine what you are thinking.....if I was a oh-so-casual observer, how did I manage to take these pictures....well, I cheated a little bit. I took good mental notes, and recreated the dish at my friend Vanessa's place. I got the pictures, managed to test the recipe and Vanessa got to have a tasty lunch - a win-win situation :).

 

 

The boys get-together resulted in a lot of bonding over alcohol, exercise, shared experiences and a whole lot of reminiscing. The image that refuses to leave me though, is of 5 friends heading back to their lovely wives and kids, great jobs and beautiful homes.....who seemed to have left wishing for a little bit more.....more time together, more ribbing, more laughter....in short, more of their younger selves..... 

 

 



 

Home away from home.....

Wow....are the holidays really over? Someone pinch me, cause I cannot wait for school to start and for the kids to get into a routine that is thankfully dictated by someone other than me. Though, I must confess that the reason I sound particularly frazzled is because I just spent an uninterrupted, un-assisted 6 week period with the boys in Minneapolis, MN. You don't realize the benefit of building friends/neighbors/drivers/nannies/teachers/classes/free-play-time etc. - till you realize that you have become all of those for boys aged 4 and 6!! Did I remember to add mother and cook to the above?

In case anyone is wondering - DH was working while we were in the US, so it was really an all work trip as far as he was concerned. And no, there is no sympathy involved in the above statement, coz, there were multiple days when I would have gladly exchanged roles with him!!

So on the onset, let me confess that even though seeing the below pictures and reading about our experiences below will make some of you drool....it was not all fun and games. In fact, it took a lot of hard work and a ton of dedication from my US based friends to make all of these experiences happen. I was so thankful to be blessed with friends who truly emptied out their calendar for the period that we were there and provided us with more than enough toys/entertainment options for the boys and a warm cup of tea together with a listening ear for me.

To ensure that there are enough doors to close between the children and me, we decided to rent a lovely lake home retreat near Minneapolis. Of course, we were greeted, true Minnesota style, by a snow blizzard after we landed!! Yes, 4-7 inches of fresh, powdery snow and the kids were already in bliss! I was of course looking at maximizing the heating and getting the fireplaces going!!

The Easter egg coloring, decorating and hunting were fabulous experiences for the boys, specially considering that they managed to find some quarters, nickels and dimes in some of the plastic eggs. The candies suddenly became more of an after thought :).

Considering the unpredictable spring weather, we ended up seeking various indoor activities and honestly a warm pool with a slide, a visit to the dinosaur exhibit of the Science museum, roller skating to 80's music, and operating a crane in the Children's museum were only the beginning! The kids went to the Mall of America a few times and had a great time with the rides. They also went to various indoor maze parks. I usually tagged along with a nice book to keep me company :). On that note, the local libraries became our favorite haunt!

Luckily for the boys, we were able to get an exclusive visit to a fire station in MN to look around the truck, try the equipment, and explore the firefighters living quarters. Wow, what an evening....of course it was made even more fun thanks to pizza dinner at a train restaurant followed by a walk on the banks of the Mississippi!

I truly don't know if there is anything more beautiful than the scenery in this picture! Let's just say, that it was a great opportunity for me to realize how very stunning the city truly is!!

Did I mention the food as yet? I truly do believe that I ate more raspberries in my limited time in MN, than an average person living in the US eats in a whole year!!! They were stupendous!! The salad leaves, the edamame, the grilled vegetables....wow, it was a treat for the senses!

And yes, we were on a lake, so once it warmed up sufficiently, we were able to get out for boating and canoeing, thanks again to the extreme thoughtfulness of our dear friends!! We truly could not have asked for more!!

The farmer's market visit on Saturday mornings usually corresponded with nibbling on hot, butter soaked, roasted corn, followed by munching on pecan cinnamon rolls and the perfect glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. Oh yes, we did also take some time to admire the lovely flowers and fresh produce on sale as well!

The multiple parks/beach/biking options were explored to both the boys hearts content! One time, after a bike ride with a friend, the kids came back to tell me that they were stopped by a cop! Upon asking for further details, in a somewhat panicked mode, I was informed that they were stopped and rewarded with a free ice cream coupon for wearing their helmets!!! Yep, ice-creams were a daily must!!!

And yes, I did entertain a little bit while I was there :). We had a few barbeque parties, bonfires in the evening (with smores), a little bit of fishing off the dock and tons of shared laughter.

Thanks to Jennifer, I can share a wonderful salad recipe that can be made in a jiffy!

Warm Spinach Salad

 

3 cups of baby spinach

1/4 cup goat cheese crumble (you can use feta)

1/2 cup sliced red onions

1/2 cup sliced tomatoes

2/3 cup balsamic vinaigrette (I used store bought)

1/4 cup sweet chili pecans (you can substitute with walnuts)

 

Mix the onions, tomatoes and the vinaigrette in a microwavable bowl and set aside for a few hours. When ready to serve, take the spinach in the serving bowl, and sprinkle the goat cheese on it. Warm up the vinaigrette for 2-3 minutes in the microwave. Add the hot dressing and veggies to the salad slowly so as to allow the cheese to melt a bit.



Top with the pecans and dive in! Your healthy and delicious salad heaven awaits :)

Our vacation also involved more than one Dr visit,  an ER visit (the excitement in our life never ends!), various meltdowns witnessed by strangers who could not help but raise their eye-brows, tons of falls and scrapes on the knees, various days when all I wanted was for someone to just take my children away.....but, all in all, there is no way I would not do this again in a heartbeat!

It was the most perfect way of spending the summers - after all, how many of us can claim to go to a place and start with a temperature of 20 degree Fahrenheit and end with 90 degrees!!