Leela's Garden & Kitchen

There has been a lot happening since I last posted. I celebrated my 60th birthday and received lots of flowers, plants, and trees from my family and friends. We have been busy planting all the plants and trees in the garden.  There is a robin that made a nest in our gazebo. Shilpa climbed up to take a photo of the eggs and we have been seeing the robin sitting on them. We are excited for baby birds.  I have had lots of visitors. Sushma and Shilpa's friends brought their babies and I really enjoyed seeing them. Shilpa's friend Lavina and her husband Luke drove from Pontotoc, MS so that I could meet their baby and I could not believe they did that for me. Most recently, my siblings came along with some of my nieces and nephews. On the day this photo was taken we all wore two braids, even my mom, which made me laugh.  This past Sunday, Sushma and Shilpa's mentors came to our house for a small PhD graduation ceremony because it was too difficult for me to attend their graduat...

We meant to post earlier but have been busy enjoying all the beautiful blooms in our garden. Today the weather was so great, we spent almost 4 hours gardening! We did some weeding, brought all of the plants back outside from their winter hiding places, and planted some blueberry bushes. We had blueberry bushes before but Suresh got rid of them during the garden remodeling. We didn't even plan to get the blueberry bushes but got excited when we saw them at Lowe's. We accidentally bought a variety called Pink Lemonade Blueberries, so we'll see how they turn out!  Hopefully, we get some yummy blueberries from our garden!   Our new blueberry bushes  Our bushes planted in their new homes We are loving all the flowers in our garden and around town. My favorite that is blooming now is our pink dogwood tree. So beautiful! We also have white dogwood, yellow irises, and the daffodils are still blooming. Our apple tree is blooming, but apparently you have to have at least 2 apple tr...

 Last weekend, we escaped to a farm in Tennessee for some rest and relaxation! It was nice to get away for a few days, and the Airbnb we stayed at was very wheelchair-accessible, which was great. Friday, Shilpa and Sushma and I drove up just the three of us. We had a girls night with pizza. I love pizza. I could eat it everyday. The place that we stayed was a small farm. They had alpacas, chickens, dogs, and cats. They also had goats, including some baby goats! In fact, two more baby goats were born while we were there! Shilpa loved the goats so much, she wants to get one as a pet now. The alpacas were fun to watch through the window, but we were careful to stay far away because we were told they spit when upset. On Saturday, Suresh and Sal drove up and joined us. We watched some movies, including the new Disney movie Raya. The kids loved it, but I fell asleep during it. We also watched Minari, which I really enjoyed.  Watching the alpacas graze from our porch The 4 alpacas Di...

We have been enjoying our warm weather lots. Sushma and I have been spending hours and hours outside. I even am doing a lot of my exercises outside, and I love being able to look at my garden. Doing some weeding on the porch Doing my exercises is more fun with a view! We are still getting lots of daffodils. And, our pink cherry blossom tree has fully bloomed already! So happy to see our cherry blossoms blooming! In full bloom We are starting to get all of our seedlings going. Our water spinach is looking great! We also sprouted and planted some garlic, which is growing so fast. Next, we are going to plant some green onions that my friend, Judy, brought over.   Sprouting garlic cloves Our garlic is growing so fast All our baby plants getting some sunlight Green onion that's going to be planted next! Today we got a surprise, special delivery of eggs from Lavina, Shilpa's friend in Pontotoc, MS. We love how they are all different colors, and we are so excited to make some omelets...

We had a snow day today! The last time we got snow was 2014, which was a disaster. Suresh got stuck at work overnight! This time, we all stayed home, and we enjoyed together. Even Sushma and her husband, Sal, stayed with us! It was pretty cold, but we still went outside for a little bit. Beautiful icicles on the gazebo! I really enjoyed knocking the icicles down! Sushma made me some ice antlers! But, they were too cold to keep for long. Some big ones from the gazebo roof! We also did some cooking today - we made dal curry with some greens from the backyard. And, we baked pecan bars , which turned out good. Cooking with snow in the background Our dahl curry Vegan pecan bars! I hope everyone stays safe and warm!

We have been enjoying the great weather the last few days. Sushma and I relaxed on the deck in the afternoons, where she practiced reading Telugu. The weather is so nice, some of the flowers think it is already Spring! But, it is going to freeze this weekend, so we brought in a lot of the daffodil buds.  Sometimes it's funny when Sushma struggles to read Telugu. All our daffodil buds! So excited for them to bloom. Our Chinese Fringe Flower tree is also blooming and is very beautiful. I bought it a long time ago at Lowe's on sale.  Chinese Fringe Flower Chinese Fringe Flower tree This week we also made a trip to get some free donuts from Heavenly Donut Company! Sushma had a coupon for a half dozen donuts - it was so hard to decide which ones to get. I love donuts, and I love them even more when they are free! I used to be scared to eat things like donuts, but now I realize life is short so I should enjoy. So happy about donuts!

 The other day we noticed that we are finally getting some broccoli! They are still small, but hopefully they will keep growing. We still are not getting any cabbage or cauliflower but we are using the leaves in omelets. Baby broccoli! We have started planting more. We sprouted some menthulu (fenugreek) and are excited to use it in curries and chapatis (bread). We are planning to plant more every few weeks to have a continuous supply.  Menthulu We have also planted some seeds for spinach, carrots, and round squash. Some spinach seedlings have already come up! Baby spinach! Sushma and I have also been busy cooking. Today we had fresh idli with sambar for lunch and made almond barfi sweet. Almond barfi 

 Today, Shilpa found some unexpected carrots in the garden! It was a really nice surprise, and they taste really good. We bought some biodegradable cups online to grow seedlings and are planning for the Spring. But other than that, not too much to report in the garden. Surprise carrots! They taste great! Like I mentioned last time, Sushma is at home with me more now, and we are doing lots of cooking. I always loved to cook, so I'm really happy that I can keep cooking even though I have limited mobility. We prepare all the ingredients before starting, and I can add them each to the Instant Pot right from my chair.  Today, we made mamidikaya pappu (green mango and dal curry)!  All the ingredients, prepped and ready to go! At my cooking station Final product!