What a week…and I can’t believe it is only Wednesday. I am only posting this tonight because I need a break from the madness. Yes, there has been some serious madness going on this week. I have probably two of the most important meetings I will have all year – tomorrow. Isn’t that always the way things go?
And just when I didn’t think I could take anymore – tonight my daughter went to her new middle school she was redistricted to next year. We have all been trying to look on the bright side of this move, but seriously, I see very little positives at all. The worst part of all is that the majority of her friends will not be joining her. Tonight they invited current 6th and 7th graders to come and talk about their new school, and what electives they would like to see. This will be the first of a series of meetings with the kids – because at this point, they still have nothing but a Principal and a couple of teachers. When she got in the car, she started telling me about how depressing it was. The school is horribly old and run down, the science classrooms are from the dark ages (unlike her current school that was renovated a few years ago, and is beautiful) – and there won’t be an orchestra room (we are still crossing our fingers for an orchestra – there are 5 in her current school). She said at one point the principal asked them to write down what they like about their current school – and one of her friends wrote this:
MY FRIENDS
Thanks for taking them away from me
I almost burst into tears. I guess the principal saw this, and told the girl that they were supposed to be focusing on the positives, and to please turn that piece of paper over. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? My daughter said they are just looking for a way to get out their feelings – and I completely agree with her. They need to be a little sensitive about this change…geez.
So – as you can see, I am in fine form right now, and trying to get out of this funk in preparation for tomorrow. So now it is time to switch gears and talk about something that puts a smile on my face. Indian Parantha. The other week I took a class at my favorite Community Kitchen – all about making Indian breads. One of my very good friends is from India and when I was pregnant she would bring me to her house so she could cook for me. This was one of the things she would make – and she make them so easily – and beautifully. I have to admit – they were not that difficult to make, and boy did they taste delicious – particularly with some ghee brushed on top. Maybe if I can get through tomorrow, this will be my treat afterwards. Personally, I think I will need something a little stronger, but this will be a nice accompaniment…
Ingredients
- 2 cups white whole wheat flour (Chapatti Atta in the indian grocery stores)
- 3/4 cup cool water
Preparation
Using your hands, bring this together in a large mixing bowl to form a ball. Knead it in the bowl for a minute until the dough comes off your hands. Let the dough rest at room temperature for 5 minutes.
Preheat a cast iron griddle on medium low. You will have to adjust the heat after the first roti depending on how fast or slow it is cooking, every stove is different.
Divide the dough into 10 equal portions. Place one portion of dough in the palm of your hand and knead it with your other hand 10 times, roll it into a ball and flatten it slightly. Pinch it into a flat disk about 3″ in diameter, lightly dust it in dry flour. On a lightly floured wooden cutting board or smooth countertop roll out to a 6″ diameter circle. If it starts to stick, pick it up and dust with more flour. Place the roti between the palm of your hands and shake off any extra flour. Place the roti on the grill for approximately one minute. When the color of the roti has changed to a slightly deep tan flip the roti. There should be no brown spots on the other side. If there is, lower the heat until light brown spots appear all over the other side. Cook for another minute gently pressing down on the roti with a folded tea towel until light brown spots appear all over the other side. Flip roti one more
time and cook for another minute gently pressing down with a tea towel slightly turning the roti. The roti should fill with hot air. Continue pressing gently, remove from heat and serve immediately with a dab of butter.
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First Look, Then Cook 
What about homeschooling your daughter? If you do that, she can go to the school she likes to take part in the orchestra and sports if she wants to, and she will learn a ton more at home. I don’t know where you live but in California a lot of moms are doing homeschooling now and it works out perfect and they have the highest scores. There is so much waste of time in school now days and they are trying to dumb down the class to the lowest so the lowest won’t feel bad. This does not help the kids at all. I know this is a cooking blog but I just had to express my feelings. I hope this works out for your daughter. Why does she have to change schools in the first place? You could go to her school and see if that could change. Oh well I had to blow off steam when I read that about your daughter, it is hard enough now days to be a kids let alone to change them here and there.
Thanks for your email – homeschooling is really not the right decision for my daughter – she is very social, and also in a highly capable program. She needs to structure and social aspects of school. The academics are not the issue – it is the district, and that they keep changing the boundaries – particularly with this gifted program.
Sorry, they keep changing the boundaries. I am sure it will all work out in time.
I’m definitely going to try this recipe! We’ve been on such an Indian food kick lately. This is the perfect accompaniment to our meals.
I’m so sorry about the redistricting. That is definitely not easy and I agree – they should be handling the transition with a bit more sensitivity. It’s never easy to change schools, but I would think this would be a particularly difficult age group to disrupt. I hope your meetings both went well and I’ll be thinking of you all with the school issues. Hopefully things will be better than expected.