HAPPY EASTER

Blessings of the risen Lord Jesus be with you all! l! Wishing you a very happy Easter!

Pesaha Appam and Pesaha Paal (Updating with better picture)

Today we celebrate "Pesaha Vyazhazhicha." I think "Pesaha" means Passover and "Pesaha" commemorates the Last Supper of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ before He was crucified for the remission of the sins of all human beings. After His death on the cross He rose again from the dead on Easter Sunday and because of this mind-boggling event we can all lead a life of amazing hope, true beauty and joy. Anyways on Pesaha we make Pesaha Appam and Pesaha Paal. I made both but only the paal turned out good. The Appam did not work out. Here is a picture of my Pesaha Appam and Paal. . And I did some research on Wikipedia about the significance of this tradition of making Pesaha Appam and Paal in my community. If you like history you can read on. Pesaha Appam From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Pesaha Appam (Passover unleavened bread) & Pesaha Pal (Passover milk) The Pesaha Appam (Passover unleavened bread) and Pesaha Pal (Passover drink) from Kerala, South India made during Passover by Saint Thomas Christians (Nasranis) Origin Creator(s) Jewish Diaspora [1] Details Serving temperature Served after dinner without any yeast[1] Main ingredient(s) Rice batter Variations Pal appam (fermented bread for festivities and other days), Injera (Ethiopian yeast risen flatbread), lahoh (לחוח) in Yemenite Jewish Cuisine Other information Cultural cuisine of the Nasrani[1] community and Malabar Jewish[1] community. It is not prepared on any other day except on Passover. The left overs are to be finished by the next day and any other left over on the third day if at all is to be burned according to the rules in leviticus Pesaha Appam is the unleavened Passover bread made by the Saint Thomas Christians (also known as Syrian Christians or Nasrani) of Kerala, India to be served on Passover night.[1] It is served on passover night of Maundy Thursday. Pesaha appam is made from rice batter like Palappam,[2] but it is not fermented with yeast in its preparation.[1] Traditionally, Pesaha Appam is served in a ceremonial manner on Passover night in Syrian Christian households. The head of the family cuts the appam, dips it in paalukurukku (syrup) or Pesaha Pal (Passover milk), and serves it to the other family members.[2] The Pesaha Appam is derived from the ancient bread of Jewish tradition.[1] It has survived and continued as a tradition by the Knanayas that migrated to Kerala from the levant in the early days of Jewish Christianity.[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] During Passover the Saint Thomas Nasrani Christian prepare bread without yeast in accordance with the Jewish commemoration of Pesaha or Passover. This unleavened bread is prepared only for Passover and is called as Pesaha Appam or Passover unleavened bread. This was also followed by the Malabar Yehuden or Malabar Jews of Kerala.[1] Pesaha pal (passover coconut milk [חלב קוקוס]) is served along with Pesaha Appam on the night of Passover.[9] Some families have the custom of singing traditional Kerala Nasrani Christian songs on passover night.[11] This tradition of Pesaha appam was observed by the entire Nasrani people until Portuguese persecution as well as the Cochin Jews.[9] Hope you have a blessed day!

Dessert Tables

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I really love dessert tables. I would love to make the desserts as well as decorate the tables for the desserts. How cute are these tables that I pinned.

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I want to make milkshake for my kids in glasses decorated like these. I have never had a milkshake in a glass rimmed with sprinkles. I would love to drink milkshake from a glass decorated like this.

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Do you like decorating dessert tables? Have a wonderful Monday!

Easter Mantel is Complete

I hope your weekend has been good. Mine was good. I feel a sense of accomplishment because I was able to finish my Easter mantel finally yesterday. If you have been following my blog, you might remember that I had made the paper tulips and the frame with the verse on it earlier. I made a garland of flowers with coffee filter paper, paint and yarn. The garland was hard to come together because I did not know on what to hang the flowers. Finally I decided on yarn and it worked okay. I cut out the letters for HAPPY EASTER on scrap book paper and hung it on yarn with coffee filter flowers between each letter. Here is a close up picture of the scrapbook paper letter. I picked this paper because of the purple bunny. And below that is a picture of the coffee filter flower. Have a great rest of your weekend!

The Beauty of the Sky

When I was three years old our family used to live in a two-story apartment building and our home was on the second floor. This apartment/flat had a balcony in the front. From the balcony you could look at the sky. Standing in the balcony and looking at the pretty clouds in the horizon there was something I always wanted to do. Walk all the way to the horizon, gather some pretty white clouds, put them in my pocket and bring it home. I really love looking at the sky. I love how the clear blue becomes a moody, smoky blue at times and then that changes to a smoky gray, and then a clear gray and and how it becomes velvety dark in the night and how it changes back to pale blue in the morning, not to mention the times with the fluffy white clouds, and the reds, pinks and purples of sunrise and sunset. Here is a view of the sky from my backyard. Do you like looking at the sky? I love the pictures of the parisian skies in the blog--parisinfourmonths. Seeing those pictures gave me the courage to document my own Iowan sky. Have a great weekend!

A Simple Tuna Casserole

It is spring break for our kids and so I wanted to make something simple for my kiddos for lunch. I found the recipe for a healthy Tuna Casserole in Every Day Food with Sarah Carey in the Martha Stewart website. It was very easy to make and turned out good in my opinion. It is tasty in a wholesome and happy way. It is creamy and the mixture of breadcrumbs and Parmesan on top is nice. This involves the making of white sauce and I have always wanted to make white sauce well. I have tried it a few times before but this time it turned out nice. And below are two pictures of the gift I wrapped yesterday. If you have been following my blog I sort of promised yesterday to share pics of how I wrapped the gifts I had to. I was not at all satisfied with the way this turned out but it is okay, I think. I made the flowers with coffee filter paper. I hope you have a great day!

Wrapping Gifts

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One thing I really like to do is to wrap gifts.Recently we had the opportunity to give some gifts and I was searching pinterest for ideas to wrap the gifts we bought. Here are some. This one with polka dots in black and white and paper flowers is cute, don't you think?

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Brown paper, lace and paper peonies.....gorgeous!

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This one is cute as well, know?

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This looks so happy. Recently when I went to Target I saw some pretty white paper with silver dots on it. I really liked it but did not buy it. I regret not buying that paper. Anyways, if I am able to, I will take pics of the gifts I wrap for this space tomorrow. Do you like wrapping gifts? Have a great Tuesday!

Trees

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Of all the homes I have lived in in my life such as my parent's home, my grandparent's home, my husband's parent's home, our first home in New Delhi, India, our Grad student apartment in Tallahassee, Florida, our rented home in Iowa, the first home we owned in the US, and our second and current home in the US, I love my grandfather's home on my Dad's side the best because of how many trees there were in the yard.

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There were mango trees, jackfruit trees, tamarind trees, cashew nut trees, plantain trees, neem trees, guava trees and so much more. When we were kids, we used to play on swings tied to the branches of trees.

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I think trees can look happy.

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I think trees can look sad too.

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I loooooove going on loooong road trips so I can just gaze at all the trees on either side of the road and at the sky. I love looking at the sky against the backdrop of a tree and also in fall and winter at the sky through the gnarled grid made by the branches of trees with no leaves.

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I love looking at the silhouettes of different trees. Some are shaped like a flame, some like praying hands, and some like a round fruit. Do you like trees?

Farmhouse Dining Tables

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When it comes to dining tables I like them to look a little bit rustic, with no gloss or shine. However, I don't like it to look too battered. I want it to look old, and worn but still elegant. This table from pottery barn looks somewhat like what I want mine to look like. I have seen a couple of DIY farmhouse dining tables in the blog world and I am seriously considering making a farmhouse table for us in the summer. What type of dining tables do you like? Have a great Thursday!

Flowering Tree -- Easter Flowers- Work in Progress

If you remember my post yesterday, I was trying to make paper dahlias. Here they are...all dried and pretty, (I think). While arranging these flowers I did not want to just put them in a vase or jar. I wanted to make them look like a flowering tree. In the spring, in Iowa City where we live, all the trees bloom and it seems that whereever I look there is a tree covered with flowers. I wanted to make this look look like a wild flowering tree with twisted branches weighed down with flowers. Unfortunately, it was not easy at all to make it look like a flowering tree. I used playdough to make the stems of the flowers look like a tree trunk since I did not have floral foam in my home. I covered the play dough with pebbles and the pebbles I covered with moss for a more natural look. I think I will need to work on it some more to make it look like a tree. I hope you have a wonderful Wednesday!

Flowers for Easter -- Work in Progress

First off, let me warn you that this is a work-in-progress post. Nothing looks or is finished. I am in the process of making paper flowers for Easter decoration. I wanted to make dahlias. I found a tutorial on marthastewart.com which involved the use of tissue paper. But I am using coffee filters. After cutting and shaping the flowers I dipped the flowers in purple paint,(a very enjoyable process). Why purple, you might ask. Well, somewhere in the back of my mind I have associated purple with Easter. But why, you ask again, do you associate purple with Easter. Well, largely because, I think, in Kerala, where I grew up, during Easter time the churches had crosses with a purple shawl/scarf draped on them. Maybe that is why I associate purple with Easter. I know that right now the flowers don't look very much like dahlias. I hope that is because they are wet with paint. My hope is when they are dry they will look like dahlias. Actually, it is fine with me if they resemble any flower at all for that matter. I am scaling down my expectations because that way if they do look like dahlias when they dry I will have a happy surprise. I love happy surprises. Do you? Have a great Tuesday!