Midweek Rambles

This week so far

• Read about Ann Lee Hussey  - on her personal mission to eradicate Polio ( Real Simple June 2012) 
• Set a reminder for myself - relax and enjoy simple rituals. 
• Browsed LinkedIn Daily Rundowns - love bite size news specially “ Idea of the Day”. 
• Cooked and eaten Matar Paneer, Dahi wale Aloo, Mushrooms with Cashews curry, yellow lentils ( my fav) 
• Indulged in back massage and a facial at my local beauty academy.
• Dreaming about my holiday to India and making mental notes about what to shop and eat. Following Instagrammers for inspiration... 
• Researching on restaurants which i can book for As birthday in August this year. 

Weekend do’s

• This friday i was working from home and so like usual i do school drop off and pick up of kids. Once i dropped them to school i prepared our lunch which was chole tikki ( tikki was store bought of Haldirams).
• After cleaning up kitchen and intermittently checking my work emails i headed off to Gym. I did 1 hour and 20 minutes of cardio and burnt 1200 calories. 
• Straight after gym i finished my lunch and got ready to pick up kids from school.
• Came home and after an hour everyone except me and Ni left for Brentwood for evening cricket and i headed to Starbucks coffee shop. We finished reading and spellings in between sipping hot chocolate / americano and eating a very light and tasty salad of couscous / courgette / brocolli smeared with tomato sauce. Ni had a sticky marshmellow twizzle. 
• Prepared for next day’s outfits for Nishka and myself - all neatly laid on the bed. 
• Saturday morning i quickly made Bread Upma in flat 20 mts. A & A left for Shenfield and i dropped Ni to her Art Class for two hours.
• I headed straight to do my gym session for 1 hour and 30 mts and burnt 1000 calories. 
• Picked up Ni from her art class and went home to finish lunch / get ready for birthday party / lay out the outfits for evening pooja and also putting a load in the washing machine and dishwasher.
• It was Ni’s very close friend Si’s 6th Birthday party. Sipped black coffee and chatted away time with other mums. 
• Dashed off to home to change for the pooja for all of us and reached Mandir on time at 6 pm.
• After dinner at temple we all came home and kids went to sleep straightafter.
• Me and A watched Dirty Money documentary on Netflix. 
• Sunday i woke up to finish ironing for the week and then we all went out for brunch at Healthy Roots in Upminster where kids had pancakes topped with Syrup along with hot chocolate. Me and A had the same Avocado smash with poached egg and brown toast.
• A & A then headed to their cricket coaching and me and Ni came home to finish homework and then went out for another birthday party of one of her classmates. 
• Finished my evening with 60 mts of gym and laying outfits for school / work.

Nishka turns 6

Birthday Month and Diwali 2013

• Had a very busy past month and it does not seem to be slowing down in any way. Apparently i feel that though i want my " free time" and some time to reflect and ponder i actually prefer to be busy and on my toes all the time.
• Since October starts with my Birthday - i celebrated it with going out for lunch with Ashish to Jamie Oliver Restaurant at 
•  Canary Wharf. Since i go out so less to eat out i think whenever i go out i like them all.
• This month also saw Nishka making multiple trips to GP for an infection which took a month to go away.
• We became proud owners of an apartment in a Taylor Wimpey development and rented it out to one of Ashish's colleague.
• Aayush has discovered that he loves playing with tools and has now multiple sets of tool sets. He spent his entire sunday with his dad helping him out and the flooring guy in the new apartment.
• Couple of friends ( Richa/Nikhil and Manu/ Kapil invited us for dinner/ lunch at their homes with my parents. Had couple of lunch rendezvous with friends in Canary Wharf- With Smriti at HSBC Mezz Restaurant and also with Baljit / Ashish and Fabino at GBK. Ruchi/ Mayank bhaiya also invited us for Pre Diwali Dinner at their place.
• My mother also made Diwali Snacks - Besan Laddoo, Chivda and Namak Paare.
• First time ever we ordered food from a Bangladeshi eatery " Spices" for Karwachauth. The food consisted of Paneer Tikka,Chatpate Aloo,Chana Paneer,Kulcha,Daal Tadka, Vegetable Biryani and Naan.The food was not bad and Paneer Tikka and Chana Paneer were good.
• My mom made an excellent Diwali Dinner - A typical Rajasthani fare - Daal Baati / Gatte ki sabzi / Rice and Baigan Bhartha ( a punjabi addition ) and Jeera Aloo. My contribution was Shrikhand for dessert.
• We had quite a few get togethers this month - which takes a lot of planning and energy and time but i guess at the end it is all worth it.

 

 

 

Week Ramblings

• This year my birthday was special as now i have Little A in my life.Also Little A completed his first month in this world.A wanted to go out and treat me to a lavish Indian Dinner but i decided that it would be best for all of us to order food from outside and have it at home.As our baby completed his 1st month - we took him to temple.We performed a little puja for the baby.The most amazing thing was Baby A also folded hands while he was shown around the temple.I also got my haircut done that day.After a very long time i was quite happy with my haircut- exactly what i wanted.
  In the evening A got a Pineapple cake (photo above) and ordered from London Darbar. We had Dal Makhani/Tadka Daal/Baigan Bharta/Paneer Makhani/Malai Kofta and rotis.
• Baby A has become extremely fussy while he takes his milk. He hates to burp and wants to sleep as soon as he finishes his bottle.I never knew that feeding will be so difficult.Now i don't look forward to feed him as he cries a lot which breaks my heart at times.
• Celebrated Karwa Chauth with my mom for the first time - she made Malai Koftas/Chole/Aloo Bhindi / Boondi salad and Tandoori Rotis.Weather was extremely bad and we hardly could do any puja outside.It was raining all day which made things difficult as well.
• I am meeting one of my office colleagues this weekend.I think it will be a good change and will get to know office gossip as well.She has an 8 yr old daughter for which i am taking a 15 Book Box Set of Roald Dahl Stories.
• I thrive on routine and that i what i want to do with my baby as well.So far he sleeps all through night which is a boon as i have heard that babies tend to be awake all through night.He gets his massage and bath after me and my mom finish our work.I hate when things don't turn out the way i want and with a month old baby you can expect this to happen frequently.
• I have gained approx 9 kg after my pregnancy.Loosing weight is the most difficult thing.One has to be really focused and have immense self control. I have started doing simple Yoga and some light Aerobics but i have a long way to go.I am taking care of my diet as well and have decided on no more Dinners outside.

27 weeks

......Had an extremely relaxing Bank Holiday weekend. Saturday - I stayed at home and finished household chores of cleaning and washing.Sunday- A and i ventured out to Regents Park and just walked around.Made Aloo Parathas that evening which turned out fabulous.Sunday- A had to work whole day in office. Had Pakoras and Spring Rolls at my Brother-In Law's place.

......This week London had the best sunshine ever and temperatures went up to 27C.It did get very hot at home but i think walking outside was lovely.
......I feel extremely tired once i come back from office - need rest for an hour and then can start my cooking routine for the evening.
......I crave for some dessert after dinner - had Haldiram Rasgullas last evening and wishing to make Shrikhand this weekend.
......Almost decided on my starting date for Maternity Leave. Plan to take whole of August off and take some last minute much needed rest.
......This week i made my Hospital Bag Checklist and Hospital essentials for the baby. Now the only job to do is to start buying the things and take them off list.
......Tomorrow i am taking off and will complete my chores for the week as busy this coming Saturday in attending a Bday Party of a 4 year old.

Birthday Weekend

Friday- Started with a quick and easy dinner of Rice Noodles inspired by Sunita's World Food Blog. After that we both settled down to watch the opening ceremony of Beijing Olympics 2008.

Saturday- started leisurely with cleaning and pottering around the house.Around noon i rushed to the city to get the cake for A's birthday.And then we proceeded to check in at the Marriott in Epping. A was oblivious to the fact that this was all arranged to give him his 30Th Bday surprise.
Once checked in we indulged ourselves into Steam Bath/ Sauna and Swimming.It was very relaxing and uplifting to our moods.Evening dinner was a spontaneous one at a Thai place in Chingford and luckily we got a table despite being busy to the maximum.We stuffed ourselves with Spring rolls/ Tempura / Green curry/ Pad Thai and fried rice. After that all of us settled down to midnight chatter and was waiting for the clock to strike 12.Cake was duly cut at that hour despite some glitches like tissue catching fire while trying to light bday candles.

Sunday - Woke up late and finished breakfast around noon. Checked out of the hotel and headed back to home and completed trips to Tesco and IKEA in between.Got ready for the evening dinner at a very posh Veeraswamy for a lavish dinner of Chicken Biryani/ Paneer Butter Masala/Vegetable Koftas/Baigan Bhartha/ Dal and assorted breads.That brought to an end of 2 day celebration of A's Bday by eating, relaxing,laughing, gossiping and overall doing nothing.