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I dreamed your dream for you and now your dream is real, how can you look at me as if I was just another one of your deals?


Here are my two little grumblers in the Japanese Garden on Good Friday. The blanket that you can see them sitting on is a little project completed by my lovely wife for Ezra. It's a counterpart to one that has made numerous appearances already that was made for Henry (here is a good one that Ezra has modelled). I should also mention that Ez's jumper is also the handiwork of the talented Jen. I chose the buttons, which in many respects is the most difficult part.

Continuing our endeavour to ensure that Henry and I managed to traverse the world of cuisine before he hits five, this evening we made our very first kugel. For the uninitiated, the kugel is a traditional baked Jewish side dish that comes in all manner of flavours, sweet and savoury. We turned to the humble kugel in an attempt to broaden Henry's mind to vegetables. Our attempt featured sweet potato, carrot, potato and apple. It goes all right. Well worth a crack if they refuse the veggies.

If anyone has any similar tips to make vegetables more appetising for the bairns, or has an idea for our next culinary journey, leave them in the comments!

Comments

yamini said…
It is the perfect tender moment photograph.
They both look so CUuuuuuuuuuuuute together, touchwood!!
The carpet on which both are sitting is pretty colourful.
Ez seems to be listening hard to what the big bro Henry has to say...
Thanks for sharing this with us.
Candie said…
I've missed lots of pictures those past 3 days.They are all very nice especially that one!Very cute.
:)
Roddy said…
What can I say. Perfect!!!
KL said…
Aw so adorable photos...it seems like Ez is a bit crying and Henry is trying to comfort him. I can tell you about recipes :-D. What sort of dishes do they prefer - sweet? I guess Henry doesn't like spicy ones :-).
1. Take potatoes. Boil them. Then cut them up into triangular bite size pieces. Also now take beets, carrots, peas and cut them up into pieces. Put some olive oil and heat. Put all these veggies together, salt and pepper and starts frying. It should not be fried though. But just by sizzling them in hot oil with salt and pepper gives it a fantastic taste and very good to eat.

2. There is a lovely dish called Pao-Bhaji, a signature dish of Bombay. If there is any Indian store, get the powder known as Pao-Bhaji masala. Boil potato. Smash them. Then start frying this potato, put the powder, tomato, tomato-puree, peas and any other finely chopped vegetables you like, water, tumeric and salt. Just by mixing all these and constantly stirring, it gives nice flavor and taste. Healthy to eat but no one will know that it is vegetable.

3. Take big corns. Roast them. When you roast them on gas-top, they sizzle and make all sorts of noises - very fun - then rub salt and lemon juice on it thouroughly and give them to eat. It seems like you are eating ice-cream, but special corn ice-cream with salt and lemon rubbed in it.

4. Roast vegetables like eggplant (brinjal in UK English), bell-peppers (Capsicum in UK/India English), garlic, onions. Then take them out and cut them into smaller pieces, mix together along with raw onion, tomatoes, finely chopped, coriander (or cilantro) finely chopped, boiled potatoes, finely chopped, corns and some peas. Mix them all together along with salt and lemon juice much like salsa. Now serve them with some vegetable chips (chips as used in American English; not British chips where they mean fried potatoes).

5. There are great dishes with daal, especially the green-mung daal. Then dishes with cabbages and cauliflowers, cooked with a bit sugar to make it taste more sweeter for little ones to like, ghughni (made with cheak-peas), fried vegetables, dahi-bara (made with youghurt, boiled potatoes), maatar-paneer, sambar.

All the above dishes are Indian. But you don't have to make them spicy if you don't want to. Just using salt, tumeric, coriander (fresh green coriander or cilantro), onion, garlic and ginger, you can make any vegetable dish as tasteful as possible. Heat oil, put onions, ginger and garlic and start frying. As they sizzle and become translucent, put tomatoes (or puree, I prefer whole ones as they are more healthy), some water and constantly move it around. They become and consistent creating the base paste for any dish. Then, add tumeric and salt and little more and continue creating the paste. Then put any vegetables you want - small cut is always preferred as they absorb the sauce quickly - keep on moving them around. After a while (based on your taste preference. Also heating vegetables for too long spoils their nutrients, so I take them off quickly), take them out from the heat. Sprinkel chopped herbs on top (coriander is my fav), little bit of lemon juice, some very finely chopped onions and eat with toasted bread.

Oh Dear...I am hungry....
KL said…
Jen can create really awesome handiwork. She should start her own blog showcasing them and discussing about them. Or perhaps you should do more in your blog (yeah, I know! choosing the buttons is really difficult :-P).
Kris McCracken said…
Yamini, they do adore each other.
Kris McCracken said…
Candie, the pictures aren’t going anywhere. I’ve only removed one, and cropped Jen out because she vetoed it!
Kris McCracken said…
Roddy, Ezra is very good at sitting up. Henry helps him too.
Kris McCracken said…
KL, we LOVE Indian food. I can guarantee you that I will give each of these a run over the next month and report back.

I am so hungry now.
Kris McCracken said…
KL, she is TERRIBLY good at it. If she wants to write the posts, I’ll put them up. Only so much time in the day! She does post them on her own knitting-related group thing.
Priyanka Khot said…
I loved the pic... they are so cute together...

I loved the recipes KL has put up!!! I love roasted corn.. er get it on the strees of Delhi :-) Its a must try if you like spicy snacks!
Kris McCracken said…
Priyanka, it's spicy snacks all the way for me!
Dina said…
Brotherly love, so sweet.
Mazal tov on your kugel making. Next you boys could try rolling some matza balls.
KL said…
Kris, if you like Indian, then I am guessing you must have tried Thai, Malaysian, Vietnamese and Indonesian. They all are absolutely fantastic. In fact, I would say that Thai tops Indian food. Thai and Malaysian - the best. Only difference is India has more veggie dishes which these countries don't have that much.

Thank you :-) for liking those recipes. I have many more. Send Henry and Ezra to me - they will start eating all sorts of veggie dishes :-). And also egg, chicken and fish.
Kris McCracken said…
Dina, I will give them a go!
Kris McCracken said…
KL, I love Thai, but will admit to be wary of Indonesian because I have a nut allergy.
freefalling said…
OOOeee - Love that blanket!

KL is making me hungry.
Kris McCracken said…
FF, it is a great blanket.

I made a curried cauliflower and eggplant the other night that was lovely.

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