I crave for Indian food sometimes and especially Naan bread. I’ve tried other indian restaurants (can’t even remember the names on the top of my head, that’s how forgettable they were), but I really like Mumtaz because they have Chicken Tikka Masala and really good naan. They are also accomodating to us since we have kids, we ask for a milder CTM and they will make a smaller portion for us, they usually do this when we get the buffet.

The better thing about this place is that they have a monday night buffet for $5.99. Yes, $5.99 - it’s almost unimaginable for an Indian Restaurant or for most buffets that are actually pretty good. The selection isn’t a whole lot, since most Indian Restaurant have their normal Chicken Tikka Masala and other curry/spice type food, but it’s enough for me since I only eat CTM with Naan. A whole lot of Naan. I eat so much of the Naan that I think it’s probably over the $5.99!

The place itself is a sort of low light “family own” type of place and the people running it are nice since we do go there quiet often, even when it’s not mondays and we just want take-out. Come to think of it, maybe I remember the name of Mumtaz because my husband somehow just starting singing this “mumtaaaz” song hahaha so it’s stuck in my head!

Here is their info:

216 W Campbell Rd, Richardson, TX‎ - (214) 575-2100‎

– Providing individuals with the opportunity to manage and organize their busy lives; R2 Business Ventures announced today that it has launched the website http://www.groupusup.com.

The website www.GroupUsUp.com. is a social networking community site focused on allowing individuals to form groups for anything or join groups such as clubs, family, friends, neighbors, neighborhoods, HOA’s, organizations, teams, co-workers, alumni, non-profit, jobs & career, business, social, charities, nightlife, sports and more.

Managing Partner Rick Erling adds; “Our early market gap analysis uncovered a need for an easy to use community social networking site that is focused on groups, rather than individuals. We wanted a way for people to organize their lives by having a place to socialize with groups that they have a common interest with.”

With the Group Us Up! concept of “groups for anything”, there is no limit to the benefits of having an outlet to organize your members. You decide if your own profile and the groups you create are public or private and you also decide who to invite. Groups can have multiple discussion forums, photo albums, file attachments and your members can also post blogs, organize events and keep track of who’s attending those events.

Mr. Erling adds; “We have neighborhood and HOA groups that are staying connected and sharing information about their groups and organizing social events. Intramural sports teams and booster clubs are also using it to organize and provide updates on when practices are, where the games take place and plan fundraising events. Businesses are getting onboard for internal corporate communications and reaching out to new customers and partners. There is no limit to the benefits of having an outlet to organize right from your home or anywhere, anytime you have web connection.”

As Mr. Erling and his team grow Group Us Up! they will be depending on their members to provide input on functionality to make Group Us Up! as user friendly as their members desire.

Membership is FREE and signing up is quick and easy at http://www.groupusup.com/.

My friend told me Halloween night at Prestonwood (Baptist Church) previous years, but we never went because my husband feels it’s important to go around our own neighborhood even though not many kids (almost none) go around Trick or Treatin’ around here. She said there are rides and games and it’s really fun for kids. We’re likely going to go for other reasons, but you can check out the website for more info here.

There’s also a site that lists things to do for Halloween around Dallas.

It’s kind of sad because Halloween seem to be so different from what I remember when I was a kid. We use to be able to go out (by ourselves) and just have fun. Now everything has changed and it’s all so scary (not in the Halloween sense) and parents go with the kids and also goes to other neighborhood intead of their own.

So the Texas State Fair is here again. It will be from September 28th - October 21st at Fair Park, Dallas. I’ve been there once. I remember it was HOT. I didn’t mean Big Tex was hot, he was actually a little bit…(I’ll be nice) not so hot looking. This is what I remember about the fair - CORN DOGS!!! Why of course. I also remember animals and corn. We even got a picture of someone with big hair!

The good thing is - there’s so much to do for kids this time of year. The bad thing is - there’s so much to do for kids this time of year. Haha, well it’s tiresome as a parent to take the kids to all the events. It’s worth it of course for the kids to enjoy all these outdoor events rather than staying at home or playing games or watching tv (no tv for our kids…until they are 18 =)

Just check out the site yourself and see what else to expect at the State Fair. I’m still tired from the Plano Balloon Festival.

Ready or not, the pumpkins are already at the Dallas Arboretum. Starting now until October 31th, the Arboretum will have daily activities and also weekend activities. We’ve been there before and kids really enjoy the Pumpkin patch and Hay Maze. I like seeing pumpkins because it does mean Autumn is around the corner and hopefully we won’t have the heat and mosquitos anymore:

DAILY ACTIVITIES

Tom Thumb Pumpkin Patch
Pumpkin House
Hay Bale Maze
Hay Rides ($3 per person/ per ride)*
Piano Music on the Pergola
*10:30am - 3:30pm (weather permitting)

EVERY WEEKEND

Costume Parade - 1pm
Pumpkin Decorating Demonstrations - Noon, 2pm and 4pm
Face-painting - Saturdays: 11am - 4pm; Sundays: Noon - 4pm
Crafts - Saturdays: 11am - 4pm; Sundays: Noon - 4pm
Performances on the Martin Rutchik Concert Stage: Noon - 4pm

Check out the Dallas Arboretum Website for more information.

I just saw on Good Morning Texas a segment on the 12 years old jewelry designer, Kelly Alexandra. She custom designs and creates her own jewelry. You can check out her website at The Art Addict. The pricing of her peices range from $100-$300.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has issued a recall on various Thomas & Friends™ Wooden Railway Toys Due to Lead Poisoning Hazard. These were sold nationwide from January 2005 through June 2007 for $10-$70. It was manufactured in China.

“China by far leads the list of countries making products that are recalled in the United States, accounting for 65 percent of all the recalled products in this country this year, according to CPSC. In 2006, China accounted for 233 product recalls — nearly double the rate from the previous year, with lead a recurring cause among the recalls.” —-abcnews.go.com

“Made in China” usually has a negative feeling for some people and I was “Made in China” too, but I’m not THAT defected =). I actually do think that made in china = cheap. Oh wait, no I’m not cheap…no really! haha. I don’t think that everything from China is cheap or in bad quality. The reason of course is because the big companies want cheap labor and cheap material, so they mass produce it in China. Some things like the old antiques and things that were made not to satisfy big companies can be good. Basically if you think about it, the quality of homes in terms of material and thought put into a home in the U.S. has also suffered because of big developers coming in to make homes as quick and low cost as possible. This causes currently suburban homes to be not as good in quality and causes them all to look almost the same!

One more thing about China that I thought was funny but sad at the same time. I was watching Discovery Channel about Pandas. It said that if a Panda were to have two babies, it will have to abandon one. My husband was like, “see the one child policy effects pandas too”.

Speaking of the one child policy, it doesn’t seem to be implemented that well. The thing is that it seem that people are still having more than one. It’s just that if they have girls, they give it up for adoption. There was a segment on tv about how the boys who grew up since the start of this policy is having trouble finding girls and how some girls are taken/kidnapped to the villages for the guys. No duh, if you take away all the girls or let them all be adopted, then of course it’s gonna be a problem.

I’m not sure why Tuesday is THE day, but I just noticed a couple of places that offers kids free meal on tuesdays. One being Central Market on Coit - they sometimes have some children entertainment provided by Team Family on Tuesdays from around 5-8pm as well. So far, seem like everytime we go, they are there. Oh yes, back to the free meal. They have free meal for kids on Tuesdays. The other place was Cafe Brazil which is almost right next door to Central Market. They have pretty decent food. Better than I expected, but I do always order the French Toast with Seasonal Fruit on top along with the Peach italian cream soda…yum yum…So, why Tuesdays??