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.

New Things

It is good to shake things time to time and i just did that !!! Here is my list :

• Started listening to PODCASTS - i have always heard about them but never got around listening. But having a Smart Phone does make your life easier.So far i have listened few TED Talks / Desert Island Discs and one Motivational Podcast.
• After deciding at the beginning of this year that i will drive more and to newer places - that is exactly i have been trying to fit in. Drove to as far as Feltham / Brentwood and drive to work in the morning and evenings.
• In May this year i was given FITBIT and i am addicted to it. Love to step up and my best so far has been 27k.
• Watched a Pakistani Drama " Zindagi Gulzar Hai" on You Tube.
• Visited the local Hindu Temple at Noak Hill - Big change from the usual Ilford temple.
• Restarted browsing BBC I player and watched " Eat Well For Less ".
• For my daily office lunches - i have now switched to eating salads / Bowl full of veggies and supergrains from my plain sandwiches for 3 years. Also stopped eating packet of crisps too.
• Travelled to Birmingham for an official trip - my first ever trip!!!

Pineapple Cucumber Salad

I always wanted to make a diary of my recipes which i have tried and tested from magazines/ cookbooks/ Food Blogs etc.. I have a Notebook of recipes too but i want pictures as well to remember how the recipe turned out. So from now on i will try and include recipes in this blog.

This is a Tarla Dalal salad which came in my email - Pineapple Cucumber Salad.I tweaked the recipe by adding sugar instead of honey and added mint leaves and omitted lettuce altogether as my mum is not very fond of that.

Recipe:-

1 Cup pineapple cut into small pieces

1 Cup cucumber cut into small pieces

6 Cherry tomatoes halved

2 Tbsp Chopped coriander

2 Tbsp lemon juice

1 1/2 tbsp roasted Chana Dal -Coarsely powdered

salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Method :-

• In a bowl combine the lemon juice ,honey,chana dal powder ,salt and pepper and mix well.


• Add the rest of the ingredients and toss lightly.


• Serve immediately.