Unforgettable dates

Following are a few dates in which some really significant events have happened in my life. Since most of the events are of a personal nature, I'm not going to list the events that occurred on these dates in this blog. This post is primarily for me to look up in case I ever forget the following dates in my life

01/22/1986
08/05/1991
07/29/1996
01/24/1997
05/07/1999
12/25/2001
04/07/2002
11/12/2003
07/28/2006
01/19/2008
03/13/2008
03/23/2008
04/02/2008
05/07/2008

I will try to update this post as long as either me or the blog is alive

First cut - It's over

Since

1) we missed the window of opportunity to cut Vishruth's hair at our kuladeivam during our last trip to India
2) we are not going to India this summer
3) Vishruth's hair (who is 20 months old) has grown so much
4) hot summer season in california is fast approaching

we decided to cut his hair here at our local vietnamese saloon. prior to that, i did cut a thin strip of hair (and ensured that i didn't even miss a single strand) and saved it in a ziploc bag to offer to our kuladeivam during our next India trip

since it was his first tryst with someone wielding a pair of scissors near his head, he didn't take it well and of course cried out loud. he calmed down after the first few mins as soon as he realized that it acutally didn't hurt

Anyways, after 15 minutes at the saloon, we got to see our "son" who has been looking like a "daughter" up until now....the long due haircut is finally over

Baking - Attempt number 2!!

After trying my hands at baking once here, I tried it again with a lot of zeal and enthusisam after getting a time tested recipe from my colleague at work.

This attempt was to bake a banana-walnut cake. The recipe was very straightforward and I followed it to a T.....well not exactly, I reduced the sugar so that L's dad could indulge without guilt. The cake actually came out pretty good and all of us enjoyed it

I hope to bake regularly in the future and do it in a way that will entice Vidyuth to ask for a piece, without us having to bribe him to eat the cake

"I Know" Raghuvaran passes on....RIP

http://www.rediff.com/movies/2008/mar/19rag.htm

This day, that age!!

This was the day in 2003 when L and I first found out that we were going to have our 1st child, whom we had already named Vidyuth. I still remember those joyous moments we had and the transformation of L from a daughter, wife to an expectant mother

Happy Birthday Ammi Jaan

Today is my mother's (I call her Ammi Jaan sometimes) 62nd birthday. Here's wishing her a very happy birthday. I really miss her very much and I wish I was with her on this special occassion.

Wine country day trip

We visited the world famous Napa valley this weekend. Equipped with snacks bought from the Indian grocery store and with the Puliyodharai, thayir saadham prepared by L's mom, we left in the morning around 9.00AM

Our first stop was the Sterling Vineyards. They have a short/scenic tram/cablecar ride from their parking lot to their winery, which is actually up in the hills. Vidyuth and Vishruth enjoyed this a lot. Once we got off, we took the self paced/guided tour of their winery. We also got to taste 6 different wines and each one of them was excellenet

After we got done here, we headed to Casa Neustra, which is along the scenic Silverado trail. We grabbed one of their picnic benches and had our home cooked lunch. They also had a petting zoo with their Llamas and the kids had fun watching/feeding them

We make a quick stop at a local grocery store to pick up some cheese for L who missed out on all the wine tasting part since she doesn't drink alcohol

From there we headed to Rutherford Grove to taste their wine. I had some free tasting discount coupons printed ahead of time and so we enjoyed some really good post-lunch wine for free. May be there is no free lunch, but there certainly is free wine after lunch..hehe

At this point it started raining, as per the forecast for that day. Thankfully the rain waited until we completed all our planned activities. We then drove back to Fremont (via Sonoma, Golden Gate Bridge). The detour was to mainly cater to L's dad desire to see Golden Gate Bridge. Overall we had a great time on this fun packed day trip