Meeting in January 2014

Host : Bakul
Members attended : Soumya, Shaifali, Ashwini, Supraja
First meeting in the new year took place on the last Monday (January 27) of the month as decided.
It was a pleasure to meet Avni; Ashwini's daughter and Mahita; Supraja's daughter!! Both of them are so cute and adorable!
As we met after a gap of two months,it was nice to catch up with everyone.
One of the interesting topics discussed was about the book "Lean in" by Sheryl Sandberg.She is the COO of Facebook and is ranked on Fortune's list of 50 most powerful women in business and as one of the Time's 100 most influential people in the world!The book is about women, work and the will to lead. She offers compelling,commonsense solutions that can empower women to achieve their full potential.
After reading this book,I think,it can change the conversation from what women can't do to what they can!
All of us agreed to brainstorm about this topic and discuss it in more detail in the next meeting.
Here's the recipe for Khajur kheer ( Dates payasam)
Ingredients :
Dates -remove the seeds and cut into small pieces 1/2 cup
Milk - 2 cups, warm
Sugar - 4 to 5 tbsp
Ghee - 4 tsp
Almonds- thinly sliced 1 tsp
Rawa (sooji)- 2 tbsp
Water - 1 and half cup,boiling
How to :
Roast the sooji separately till it is golden in color. Keep aside.
In a pan, add ghee and roast the almond slices. Add dates and roast till soft. Add roasted sooji.
Then add boiling water to this mixture and let it cook. (3 to 4 min)
Add sugar once it is cooked. Lastly, add warm milk and let it simmer.
You can add nutmeg powder or cardamom powder for flavor.
Serve warm.
Enjoy..

September 2013

Host: Shaifali
Attended: Bakul, Sowmya Reddy, Prajakta
Absent: Ashwini, Supraja, Soumya Prakash

Minutes of the meeting:
Dates: October 21st, for anniversary meet. Details in mail.
Next meet idea by Prajakta: Out of this world pizza place meeting with kids.
November and December hosts to be decided, since its winter and people will be travelling.
Every last Monday to be Portland Sahelis meeting day for every month.
Since member count is low in winter, for November, the meeting will be held earlier.
Since, Portland Saheli is primarily for those women who are homemakers or students, the number of members in Portland Saheli will always be in flux.For instance, Students who finish their studies take up jobs.
Congratulations Nisha on your new job!

The topic of discussion was: whether extra curricular activities are required for preschoolers?
There were different viewpoints on this.Some said, exposing kids will expand their horizon, inculcate creativity in their minds, so that later on they can choose which path they would like to focus and pursue. Another viewpoint is to have playdates, or even small visit form neighbors is enough to occupy the child. My question is - what if we do not do much of the activities -is the child going to miss on stuff big time in his life? I myself did not have much exposure to a myriad of activities during my school year,as I did not have the time to do all these things. Where does one find time to do everything?

See you all at the anniversary meet.
Shaifali

July 2013 Events

Dear Sahelis, since the past one year, we me and my son have been waiting for the Washington County Fair to visit us again! And yes, its here! Next WE, both the airshow and the fair are happening in Hillsboro. My son enjoyed the monster truck show, the small farm and lots of rides at the fair. Its a must go for all kids. SO, I hope you have lots of fun this WE with the weather being at our side too.I have my doubts whether I will be able to spend two days at the fair this year like last time. I have this excruciating backpain, that is increasing in intensity day by day...:(

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.

March PS Meeting

March meeting was held at Shaifali's place.
People who attended were-
Ashwini, Sowmya P, Soumya R, Prajakta and Nisha.
Missing:
Supraja and Bakul

The topic of discussion was how strong should a woman be in stressful situations?
I invite all PS members who attended the meeting to pen down their reflections from the meeting in the blog to give this topic justice.
The next topic of "Stress" which will be taken at Soumya's house today is generated by this meeting.
We also had our PS members dinner at Wasabi. I hope it was a nice evening out for everyone.:) Prajakta did mention the issue of PS members getting late at PS meetings, which I hope will be taken into consideration for all future meetings. The general duration of any PS meeting is-
half an hour- warming up, people coming
next half an hour -discussion starts
next half an hour- snacks start along with discussion or activity.
Usually, the duration is of 1 n a half hours or maximum 2 hours.:)

Ashwini has taken a break and will be joining soon with little Ashwini:) Supraja gave birth to her second child in February too!

Possible topics for future meetings-
Family get together
Outside outings in Summer
New members
Saadi styling

Hope you all have a great Spring period!
Shaifali