May 23, 2013.
Host : Bakul
Members who attended the meeting : Shaifali, Soumya and Sowmya

Thank you for making it on a cold and rainy morning ! We missed you Prajakta and Nisha..even though Nisha came for a little while to meet us.
We talked and a covered a range of topics. Everyone agreed on how they have come to like and enjoy Portland ! We thought about different ideas for topics and spreading the word about Portland saheli.
As suggested by Sowmya, the agenda of the meeting was to learn how to make soft chapatis.
Here are some tips on how to make and keep the chapatis soft !
* Allow the dough to rest for at least 15 min. before making chapatis.
* While preparing the chapati/ poli, use as little atta as you can for dusting to avoid sticking.
* When you roast the chapati, flip the chapati only twice. First when you see the bubbles on top and second time, when the other side has little brown spots.
* To store the chapati, use tissue paper in the dabba to avoid excess moisture.
* To keep the chapati softer, you can apply a drop of ghee to each roasted chapati.
Hope this helps and all of you can enjoy softer chapati !
The next meeting will be at Sowmya's place and we will learn how to drape a saree.
Wish you all a very happy Memorial day and long weekend !

Summer 2013 activities to do in Portland

Iris flower festival - may 10th to june9th

http://www.schreinersgardens.com/bloom-season-may-10-june-9-2013

Picking season details 

http://www.tricountyfarm.org/files/2012guide.pdf

http://www.tricountyfarm.org/

http://www.sauvieislandfarms.com/

Strawberry picking may end

http://whiz.to/~ungerwp/

Berry picking - late june

http://www.westuniongardens.com/

Rose festival - june 1st week

http://www.rosefestival.org/

Sand Castle - Cannon beach fest - June 14 to 16th

http://www.seasideor.com/item.asp?iid=19&eid=175

Balloon Festival and carnival - June 21st to 23rd

http://www.tigardballoon.org/

Kite Festival - Lincoln city June 22nd- 23rd

http://www.oregoncoast.org/summer-kite-festival/

1st week of  july - fruit loop

cherry picking

blue berry picking

lavendar festival

Sand in the city - July 19 to 21st

http://sandinthecitypdx.org/

August - 

Dhalia Festival

Sept - Sept

Grape stompping

http://wvv.com/

Host : Soumya Reddy

Members Attended :  Soumya Prakash, Shaifali, Nisha, Prajakta, Bakul  

Guest :Ruchi

First of all, thank you folks for making it on time early in the morning.

I would also like to thank Ruchi for joining us this time.

The topic of the day was  "How to manage stress".

With my son going from full time to half day school, his activities,

getting back to my volunteering and gym activity; things looked very chaotic to me.

I felt wondering what is keeping me so busy that I am not able to feel good about myself

and/or keep my house organised. The more I thought about it, the more I was stressed.

This was the time after Hema and Trupti  moved out of here and I didn't start play-dates

with other friends. Not having a play-date can be very hard on us, let alone the kids.

They were much more than a play-date for us. But I am sure all of us move on somehow.

All of you gave that kind of support to deal with that kind of stress. Each one of you had

your own approach to the issues I was dealing with. Doing one thing at a time, informing

the spouse that you are stressed out, taking things a little easy when you don't feel like it,

not comparing myself with other friends. The assurance that you are all available when I

need someone is very valuable. I didn't get a chance to inform all of you that my husband

was pleasantly surprised/very happy when he got back because the house was perfectly clean.

Yes I gave up my TV time for that day to do that. 

I would like to add my tips to reduce stress:

Selfcare. Now this can mean a lot of things.

I wanted to start a game day every month where we can play some board games

or card games. I would like to solicit all your inputs on this.