Happy Dusshera

~Happy Dusshera ~

Vijaydashmi commonly known as Dusshera is one of the 

most important festivals celebrated with great enthusiasm 

throughout India. The day  is celebrated to commemorate the

 victory of Lord Rama over the ten headed demon king Ravana.

 Besides this, the day also marks the victory of Goddess Durga

 over the demons. The festival of Dusshera spreads the 

message of victory of truth and goodness over evil. 

Ravana - the ten headed demon 

As per the Hindu mythology king Rama along with his 

younger brother Laxman  and a huge army of monkeys headed

by monkey deity Hanuman fought a great battle to get Sita, his 

abducted wife back from the demon. The entire narrative is 

beautifully  recorded in the religious epic Ramayana. Several 

plays and performances known as Ramleela are performed

 throughout the fortnight. Actors dress up in colorful masks and 

attire and beautifully enact the life and chivalry of Rama.

Ravana, the primary antagonist of epic Ramayana was a great

 scholar, his ten heads depict his immense knowledge and power

but his unethical desires and proud transformed  him to a demon. 

His 10 heads depict lust, anger, delusion, greed, pride , envy ,

 destructive mind and intellect ,  ill will and ego. Huge effigies of 

Ravana are burnt to remind the mortals that it is very necessary 

to channelize our five senses and five bodily instruments into 

the right direction. 

The share of Dusshera ...... 

We are currently enjoying a Dusshera break here !! While my 

daughter was busy playing with her friends I decided to 

treat them the Little Food Junction way. Watching the tiny hands 

sharing ,eating and laughing is definitely festivity at its best. 

 Garlic and white bean dip ,crackers and veggies.

Eyes- cheese and capers ( use a small piece of straw to cut tiny 

circles), moustache and brow- radish greens, hands- carrot and olives , 

dress - red bell pepper, ground - cucumber shavings (using a peeler)

May Almighty keep showering his blessings upon you, 

To make  your life  prosperous and trouble free throughout.

Happy Dusshera to all my dear readers !!!  

Facts ref - Wikipedia.org , goindia.about.com, indiadivine.org   

Preserve Ozone Day

~World Ozone Day ~

The International Day for the Preservation of Ozone layer

 is celebrated on 16th of September each year. This date has

 been designated by the United Nations General Assembly to 

commemorate the signing of the protocol on substances that

 deplete the ozone layer. Few days back my lil one and I 

were working on a Save the Ozone project for her school, while 

explaining her how the ozone layer protects us from the harmful

 UV radiation from the sun and how we can save our planet 
we thought about doing some weekend activities. We scribbled
out some ideas and finally lil one made an informative poster. 

Today on the Preservation of Ozone layer day I decided to 

transform her poster into an edible version. 

Save the Ozone layer 

Earth- Brown bread topped with mayo mixed with a drop 

of blue food color, greens ,cheese, olives ,carrot and bean. 

Sun - Orange with cheese, olive and cucumber.  

 We contribute to protect the ozone layer by keeping our 
air conditioner clean, walking for short distances, maintaining
 our shopping list to reduce the use  of vehicles,by buying energy
 saving bulbs and gadgets & taking care of our plants after all 
 each drop in an ocean counts 

Toon food

Little Toon Junction

I've never met a kid who doesn't like cartoons !!!

These days the little ones seem to be obsessed with the

cartoons.Besides enjoying their favorites on the television

they are constantly searching for their favorite character

accessories too .......Spongebob Squarepants n Doraemon

are my little one's all time favorites. Although I have

restricted the TV viewing time but still the crazy toon

mania has engulfed her too . After picking up the

Doraemon cuddle toy from the mall last month , it was

time for Spongebob ..... Anyways here goes the sandwich

that I made yesterday for Nandika n her best chum ..

I'm sure you would love the colorful dices too

( salt n pepper shakers ) ..............

Platetoons ( Spongebob & Doraemon)

Brown bread , cheese, olives, tomato, spinach

( use a wavy/ crinkle knife to cut the wavy cheese ends)

Fun Shakes

~ Milk- n - Shake ~

Making yummy lip smacking shakes is a lot

of fun . Calcium n nutrient loaded recipes like

milkshakes & smoothies are a great way to get

our lil ones cooking . Besides having great fun

in the kitchen n learning the initial lessons of

healthy cooking they 'l definately love to relish

their wonderful creations too :) :) :)

Surely gives we mommies a reason to sit

back n relax (pondering over the amount of

nutrients the lil ones just had )

Mango Funshake

Mango milkshake - topped with Watermelon

balls (for eyes ), cucumber n cheerios / honey

loops ( for nose) , shoestring licorice or jelly

sticks for smiley mouth .

Friendshake

What do u call a shake that marks the

celebration at a close friend's blog ????

Ha Ha !!! I call it Friend Shake indeed ....

Blogging has not only been a platform for my

creative displays it is also a great place for

meeting new friends .This shake is dedicated to my

friendship with Nachiketa of TheVariable-Nachiketa

the creative baker behind all those yummy

droolicious cakes n cookies for her upcoming

200th posts celebrations

Do go thru her blog for yummy cakes n

bakes ,leave her a comment n

be eligible for a great giveaway prize !!!

**************

Artsy Crafty Challenge - Aug '10

My lil one & I are great fans of creating art stuff

from leaves .Sending our creations for the Aug

Artsy Crafty Challenge at Mindful Meanderings ...

My Family

Peacock

Bird

Elmo Fruitoon

~ Elmo's World ~

These days my lil one is deeply in love with her

new cuddle toy - the furry little orange nosed monster

Elmo from the Sesame Street (aka Gali Gali Sim Sim).

Elmo- the fire engine red dynamo with positive

attitude & infectious giggle is one of her favorite

cartoon characters, so while downloading some

Sesame Street coloring pages , a foody rather fruity

idea clicked my mind n I decided to treat her

on some Elmo Fruitoon too ................

Elmo Fruitoon

Watermelon slice ,cucumbers, olives & carrot

See previous post on Sesame Street too-

link

*******

Artsy Crafty Challenge ( July'10)

Kids Crafts esp Crafts made from trash

are a great way to teach our tiny tots

about recycling and re-using. Sending our

entry Junk Ceramic planter for Artsy crafty

Challenge at Mindful meanderings .

Junk Ceramic planter

( While walking down the road a couple of days back ,

a junk ceramic insulator ( the brown one which is widely

used on electric poles) lying at a junk shop caught my

attention .I somehow found it so attractive that I got it home

unaware of how we will transform this mundane object into an

object d' art After removing all the dirt n grime i planted

a small creeper in it. Aloha !!!! My recycled planter was ready,

with some stones arranged around it it simply adorns my terrace !)

Award Time

A very warm thanks to Sumathi of

Ammavin- adupankarai for this lovely award .

I'm so happy to receive it n with all love I pass

it on to all my blogger buddies .......

Women's Day

~ Happy Women's Day ~

When God sat down to make a woman

he gave her empathy love & compassion,

By the time he finished her

He had no more left for the man ......

- Mamta Agarwal

Little Food Junction wishes a very

Happy Women's Day to all the women

across the globe . Everyday, remind

yourself that .......

You are the Best !!!!

Bread , noodles in soy sauce , spinach circles & white sesame

( for eyes ) , tomato sauce, halved olive slice ( mouth )

tossed baby corn slices

Kindergarten Days

~ Kindergarten Days ~

Kindergarten ( or playschool ) is a world

of fun & learning . Owing to the fun n frolic-

lovely colorful toys , fun activities , melodious

songs , action poems n loving teachers the

kindergarten becomes our lil ones home

away from home. A recent visit to my

daughter's school was the inspiration

behind these creations ........

The Fruity Abacus

Skewered Red n green grapes mounted

on a banana

Hickory Dickory Dock

The mouse went up the clock ....

Clock - Orange slice, pieces of grape peels , celery

Mouse- Strawberry , sliced grapes for ears , mini mint

candies for eyes , black grape slice for nose

C is for Clown

Bread ( cut with a circular cookie cutter ) , lettuce, red cabbage ,

carrot,capsicum , olives, chocolate coated candy gems , corn .

Dum dum dum says the Drum

orange, grapes

With Love-2

~ With Love - 2 ~

Lets celebrate Love by making some cute

little treats for our little cupids. The season

of Valentine has begun ,so heart shape yummy n

healthy foods are the best way to to say

' I love u my little sweetheart '

Fun Lollies

carrots, black n green grapes , bananas

Gadgets- heart shape cookie cutter , toothpicks.

Tiffin Treat

Heart shape cookies ( i've used Britannia Little Hearts ),

carved apple , grapes on a toothpick n lettuce

Love u baby

Girl's face - Bread , lightly tossed green n purple cabbage

( for hair ) , bow pasta ( farfalle) , spinach hearts

The Sun Festival

~ The Sun Festival ~

The Sun Festival or Makar Sankranti is one

of the most auspicious festivals of India. This harvest

festival marks the entry of the sun to the Northern

Hemisphere and is a symbol of prosperity n growth.

In the evening friends and family get together and

have a bonfire . Gajaks n rewri ( sesame seed cookies ) ,

Popcorns , Sweetened Rice flakes, Jaggery ,Roasted

potatoes are the main delicacies of this festival .

(Also known as Pongal or Lohri in some parts of the country)

Ode to the Sun God

Gram flour chilla (crepe) - small papads ( fryums)

spinach, red bell pepper , whole black pepper

Bonfire on my plate !

A closer look :-

Julienned Carrots n bell pepper , roasted potatoes scooped

n filled with curd / tomato dip, popcorns

A very warm thanks to Sailaja Damodaran of

Sailaja Kitchen

for this wonderful -Beautiful Blogger Award !!

Its surely an encouragement n really drives me

towards more creations .