GRACE OF GOD

 For Mummy....         Red Benz Convertible   

By the GRACE OF GOD...
One dream fulfilled!

LOVE YOU & Miss YOU, mummy!

I am my mothers' daughter,
Copyright©VeerajaR 2015

Ureka! Uduvil Style -Hoppers!

Hoppers (Appam) have been and are the favorite breakfast/dinner of children growing up in Ceylon. It's healthy and easily digestible. It is also popular, tourists' pick as well.

Making hoppers is kind of like bread making... and involves fermentation, but  a much more intricate process with tropical ingredients such as coconut milk & coconut water. Requires lots of attention and patience. I consider it one of my greatest achievements to have mastered this process. Thanks to my mum-in-law for teaching the standard method and giving me my first Appam pan, a crucial and essential part of the equation for success, nearly eighteen years ago.

Thanks to my own mummy for choosing to live and be a teacher in the town which was famous for Hoppers. There were lanes/roadside boutiques side by side, making and selling the best hoppers ever... every evening!

Hoppers are so unique and unlike bread, pancakes or rotti, hoppers (Appam) have a thinner crusty winged edge and a soft center. It is best eating them fresh off the pan as they come out, made with eggs or coconut milk or plain centered with the crunchy winged outer edge.

Each child's choice and hopper pick often differ. As a child you get such a satisfaction when a hopper is made, even if at a boutique---specially for you, at your request perfectly as your requested; with an egg center (pepper/salted if you wanted) or coconut centered and jaggery or brown sugar added as you wish! The plain centered aren't lacking choices either... as they can be eaten dipped in the custard soft yolk of egg hoppers or with maldive fish vs coconut sambol for side. As a mother I felt such pride in making them to each of my kid's preference.  It's such a blissful family bonding nostalgic moment... every single time.

For the past fifteen years or so I had been improvising and my kitchen had become my experimental lab to making every food I loved, a little more healthier each time as it can be... The Red rice Hoppers had been a "Healthier Hopper" project I had been working on remembering my grandmother's Uduvil-style red-rice hoppers which were pinkish in color. As you can see in these pictures I have finally mastered the red-rice hoppers which are actually darker red because of higher bran content, but, yet... came out fermented just right with soft center and perfectly crunch winged outer edge! I do wish mummy is here to taste it and give her approval of excellence!!!

Ureka moment, indeed!

I am my Mother's proud daughter...!

Copyright©2013VeerajaR






 









Copyright©2013VeerajaR

Cedar Grilled by J

Proud dad enjoying Cedar Grilled Salmon and Asparagus dinner prepared from scratch by son J.




I'm a proud mother 

and

my mother's daughter,
Copyright©2012VeerajaR

Power of Prayer: St. Anthony's Feast!

When we traveled in 2010, we happened to have missed St. Anthony's feast day--in the air, literally! My husband was sad, but was quiet about it.

Miraculously, we were saved! When we visited Manipay St. Anthony's church--the one where mummy used to go and pray for me--we were in for a surprise. They were having the St. Anthony's feast parade that morning and we were there without even knowing it. You can imagine how happy and blessed we felt.

We learned that they could not have parade on the actual St. Anthony's feast day and had postponed the festival which happened to fall on the day we visited. Too many factors had to come together for this near miracle to occur. It can not be a mere coincidence.

Once again we were reminded that there is someone who hears our sincere prayers and can make things happen. I am a believer married to a believer... who is the answer to mummy's prayers for me.

Love YOU mummy!

I am your daughter,

VeerajaR

Copyright ©2012VeerajaR

Bountiful Blessings

As children me and my brother were blessed to have our grandma feed us with Mangoes, Pomegranates,Papaya, Annamunna & Jack fruits from her bountiful garden. She kept watch over the Papayas very closely, because at the slightest sign of yellow they would be pecked by many a fruit-loving birds and squirrels. Believe me these Papayas were the best.

I feel blessed to have witnessed this exotic woodpecker feasting on the bountiful papaya tree in mummy's Jessie Villa backyard. It has been so long seeing an actual Papaya tree with lushes fruits. A whole day I had been watching wood pecker, Song birds, squirrel & crows having a feast on the smallest of the bunch. I didn't get to taste these, but I can tell from the crowd that came to feed, it must have been very tasty. This smallest fruit seemed to stretch so much to feed so many hungry souls; hard not to be in awe of GOD's Grace...!

I am my mother's daughter!

Copyright©veerajaR2012

Queen Elizabeth & Lady Bug!

Who wove those petals silkier than the best Indian silk

Who perfected the curves smooth as China porcelain

Why any maiden's cheeks turn pale against my Queen Elizabeth

Whose touch turns any red Ladybug golden!

I am my mother's daughter, VeerajaR

Poetry:Copyright by ©2011VeerajaR

Christ's Own- Literally!

Blessed be the Lord! I am a proud mother... immersed in tears of JOY!

I am sure mummy is VERY proud of her "Aerospace Engineer" grandson, especially, for choosing to be Christ's own!

I am my mother's daughter,

VeerajaR

Life Is A Bowl of Clam Chowder!

This is home made clam chowder. I am sure Mummy would have loved it. My husband loved it and asked me to write down how I made it.

Like my mummy-in-law says, kitchen is my other lab--I experiment; come up with great new findings. But, unlike in the lab, I hate to write down my cooking steps. I hope I can reinvent my own clam chowder or even better, come up entirely with new flavors. I guess this keeps my interest in cooking alive!

I am my mother's daughter,

VeerajaR

Copyright©2011 VeerajaR

Mummy's Blessing!

I am my mother's daughter!

Copyright©2010VeerajaR

Mummy Had Only Praise!

My pretty mother's

Very handsome brother

Was the most eligible bachelor

Intelligent compared to no other!

He saw a fair lady

At the tennis court daily

And chose her instantly-for

He was smart and very lucky!

Falling in love upside down

Vast dowries around town

He did turn them all down

Making grandma Lily frown!

Manel aunty may be Sinhalese,

Mummy- but had only praise.

She joined them in endless bliss- with

A knot tied in countless blessing!

Poetry © by VeerajaR 2010. All Rights Reserved.

P.S._ Thank YOU Manel Aunty; M... mama is so lucky!!!

I am my-mother's daughter-VeerajaR

Happy Valentine's Day

I am my-mother's Daughter!

-by VeerajaR

Doves: Mummy's Favorite!

On forlorn icy branches...

Of the resilient trees, the

Doves await miracle-with

Hope... and pray!

While it lasts...enjoy-the

Whitest snow pedestal.

Water's frozen... now, but

Will... in time be a puddle!

Photos & Poetry ©by VeerajaR

-My mother's daughter

Just for YOU

Egg Hoppers... with crunchy wings

Copyright © VeerajaR 2009