GROW YOUR OWN FENUGREEK & MUSTARD GREENS

Skip LOVES gardening. He has his small, neon green and pink plastic rake and shovel and spends countless hours planting seeds of fruits and vegetables in the garden. When we had been to Thailand last year, I found a Durian and a Rambutan seed, neatly wrapped in a tissue paper, in his backpack. Skip was upset when i told him that we couldn't carry it back home.

I, on the other hand, clearly haven't been blessed with green fingers. I have a few potted plants in my balcony that I religiously water every morning. I can't say they are the healthiest looking plants but they are surviving because Skip ensures they do. 

Skip and I decdied to grow garlic in our pots but when I saw that it would take almost 3 months for the bulbs to grow , I dismissed the idea and suggested planting Fenugreek and Mustard seeds instead. 

This is a fun activity to do with your children. 

It doesn't require any effort at all. 

The materials are readily available at home. 

It is a satisfying experience to see those little leaves sprout out. 

The leaves may be used in your cooking. 

The internet has a whole range of videos and tutorials (there's also a page on wikiHow!) on how to grow these leaves. The process has been described at length. Let me just simplify that in our post.

Disclaimer: this DIY is for the purpose of keeping your children occupied. If you need to know the process for large scale harvesting, this may not be the tutorial for you. 

Take a pot. If you don't have one, take a plastic container(I used an ice cream tub and a takeaway container).

Punch holes on the bottom of the container. I heated a knife and sliced through the tub (wipe and clean knife immediately after this step) .

Fill it with soil. 

I randomly sprinkled the mustard and fenugreek seeds into the soil into their respective pots. You may plant them neatly a few inches apart. 

Top it with another inch of soil. As you can see from the image , some seeds are still on top. It doesn't matter. They'll sprout too. 

Gently water the soil. Don't put too much water else the seeds will rot. 

Cover the containers with a lid as that will help retain moisture. Also I'm pretty certain that a pigeon from the neighbouring apartment was eyeing us the whole time, waiting to peck at the seeds. Water the seeds twice a day. 

Voila the seeds begin to sprout in a day and the shoots will begin to appear by Day 3.Remove the lid once the shoots begin to grow.

Get your children to paint an ice cream stick and name the pots. 

When the shoots are at least one inch long (mustard)/ two inches long (Fenugreek) nip them and put them in a bowl of water. Mud, if any, will settle at the bottom.  We've used these leaves in our curries, stir fries, omelettes, salads and also on the pizza (insert link). 

Note : Fenugreek leaves ought to be nipped when they are tender. The more they mature, the bitter they get. 

Have fun growing these plants with your children and please do send us pictures of the same. We'll post them on our Facebook and Instagram pages. Skip and I plan to grow coriander and mint leaves next. 

Bored? Board game ?

27/03 -  With my legs propped up on my study desk and my back slid half way down the chair in a posture I knew my father would have clearly disapproved of, I was reading ‘The Weather of the Future' when I noticed my laptop acting funny and then just like that it crashed. As I kept staring into the screen and simultaneously messaging Archie in a state of panic, my eyes welled up. I wasn't sure if I would recover all my work related data, pictures of Skip and of our holidays together. I also thought of our blog and that made me sadder.

07/04 - I decided that I might as well start typing out the posts on my phone. I have enough typing practice thanks to WhatsApp. 

When we began with self-isolation, Skip and I made our own board game which Skip declared to be his most favourite game in the whole world. Inspired by Snakes and Ladders, this game will keep you occupied for long hours. It took us three days to complete a game, with Skip winning it. 

Materials required: sheet of paper, pencil, ruler, dice and pawns depending on the number of players. 

      

1. Choose a sheet/chart paper of any size. The bigger the sheet, the longer the game will go on for, keeping the little ones occupied. ;) 

• I didn't have chart paper, so I took two colourful pages from Skip's art book and taped them together. 

2. Draw squares on the chart paper and mark them with numbers as shown in the image above. We got 120 squares. Remember, more the number of squares, the longer the game goes on for. ;);) 

3.The goal is to reach the end of the game by crossing hurdles on the way. The roll of the dice determines the number of moves you can make. We have some standard instructions on the chart such as skip a turn, move up to a higher digit and slide down to a lower digit. 

• Let your creative juices flow now. On other random squares, you can write fun instructions and also instructions that will get you your much needed 10 min break. You can also get your children to help around with household chores, exercise, read books etc.  Involve your child and let them scribble instructions as well. You could zoom in onto our board and copy those instructions as is. 

4. We used a pencil to write on the board so that we could make changes as and when required. Feel free to "beautify" your board game by cutting out the sheet in any shape you like or using stickers/glitter or other artsy bits on it. 

5. Have fun creating your own game and playing it! 

When it's safe to step out of the house and if we happen to bump into each other, do not fail to notice my well-toned arms. Somehow, my pawn always ends up on 53 and 56, much to Skip's delight. 

Skip and I have been watching Ramayana. As Skip doesn't understand Hindi, I have to be his "tour guide" (I've explained to him it's a translator but he insists on calling me that).Sita has been abducted by Raavan and as she lay crying drenched in her own tears and the rains, Skip asked me why Raavan had captured her? I replied saying he wants her to be his Queen.  

Skip: Sita should agree to be his Queen instead of just crying all the time. 

Lulu: Why should she do that? 

Skip: Once she becomes the Queen, she can start giving orders and everyone will have to listen to her. She can then order to be taken back to Rama.  

Hmm… 

EGG PEEL-OFF MASK

Bob and I love testing DIYs and Hacks. We’ve had some passes and some fails and we are here to share our experiences and also review/test any requests that you may have.  

Bob and I love face masks and are always on the lookout for new homemade mask DIYs and we decided to try one that was all the rage some time back on YouTube.

This one had me literally end up with egg on my face. (Thankfully, not figuratively).

Though I eat eggs, the thought of using it on my face or hair, made me gag, until someone told me to discard the yolk as that was the smelly bit. I decided to try out the Egg Peel Off Mask.

If you can’t stand the smell of raw eggs, you could add a dash of vanilla to the egg and then add some butter, sugar and flour and bake it at 180C and eat it. Or you could add a little cinnamon or orange juice to the egg white and that should mask the smell.

INGREDIENTS:

Egg white (beaten) – 1

Brush to apply the egg white

Tissue paper – 6-7 sheets

METHOD

1.      Brush egg white on your face and stick the tissue paper on your face.

2.      Dab another layer of egg white gently (else the paper will peel) and stick another layer of paper on the face.

3.      Let it dry (30-40 minutes).

4.      Peel off the mask.

What I like:

It’s a homemade mask. So it’s SLS free, paraben free, SLES free, etc..... :D

Non-messy way of applying egg on your face.

Egg whites are good for your face – they shrink pores, tighten skin, control oil production, help in preventing acne, smooth fine lines.

This mask doesn’t hurt unlike most peel-offs.

Face looks glowy once you peel off the mask.

It’s fun!

What I don’t like: Since it doesn’t cling on to the face firmly, it doesn’t pull out the blackheads or fine hair.

Will I try it again ? Yep, I have some extra egg white remaining and prefer using it this way than mixing it with other ingredients and putting that slimy concoction on my face.

Will I recommend? Yes!

If all of this is too much of a chore for you, you can try a store bought peel off mask. We have posted a review of the MondSub Charcaol Peel Off Mask.

If you want to try out a homemade peel off mask but don’t want to use an egg on your face, we shall shortly put up the recipe for the Milk-Gelatine peel off mask.

Please do a patch test, if you are allergic to eggs.

Look what I found in my garden today ?

Could you spot Sylvester ?

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