Red toadstools

~ The Little Red Toadstool  ~

Since my childhood days I had an unusual  fascination 

towards the bright red  toadstools with hovering butterflies .

The stories of toadstools  as goblin houses and butterflies as their

 guardian angels  always enchanted me, thus year after year during 

the rainy season when other kids were busy making origami paper boats

or catching dragonflies  I would quietly sneak out and wander all over 

my aunt's huge garden to find a glimpse of these red booties. 

Watermelon, cheese (use a bottle cap for circles), cucumber, 

lettuce & mung sprouts

During lunch break at school, my eyes would eagerly search for the same-

 in the school field, garden , the damp corners of the old pathways.....

..but the truth was that lady luck  never happened to be by my side during 

these toadstool hunts .I could spot dozens of butterflies but not even a single

colorful toadstool. 

For days and days I spent much of spare time in the

 library till I came to know that these red Fly Agarics are not found  in the 

plains. The rains on  plains are synonymous to just slender white capped 

delicate mushrooms or some smelly rugged medium sized toadstools which 

are absolutely incapable of attracting butterflies !!

My fascination towards these crimson beauties now knew its boundaries!! 

I couldn't find these in plains ,but being a creative addict I could always 

create some toadstool & butterfly charisma around me. Thus while

 working over fun ideas for my book Fun Food for Fussy Little Eaters

 an edible version was bound to happen. You can find a similar 

version of watermelon toadstool with a fruity butterfly in the book too. 

Few days back I made a tiny DIY recycled art toadstool for my 

balcony garden. Just cut a plastic ball in half, painted with some red and

 white waterproof  acrylic colors and glued it to a small piece of scrap 

hose pipe. Of course these fake goblin homes do not attract any butterflies,

but a hanging planter with a butterfly mini stake surely pampers

 my childhood memories !!

Tribute to Tricolor
(an excerpt from Child magazine) 

I love to play with recipes,patterns and colors. Do check out my 

tribute to the tricolor in  Aug '14 issue of Child magazine (India) 

(pg. 70-71) . Easy to make, these delicious recipes are perfect to try 

out with your kiddos too !!