A new year

Year 2014 was good but still weird and confusing!!!
All I wanted at the end of 2014, was a 'simple event free healthy year'

I am so happy to report that 2015 has been just that.

We completed 10 years of marital bliss.
Our kids are now 8 and 3 aka amazing young kids who are explorers at heart like us.
Our nearest and dearest families have had new additions to their families aka, making my joys quadrupled. And I get to play with all these little babies and pamper them silly!

Health wise, knock on wood, its been really good. Small maters continue to persist, but all in all I think compared to any of the recent years, I am so happy that my annuals gave me an almost clean bill of health.

As usual, we explored, some short trips, like camping an hour away,  some long trips, like our coastal break in Oregon; some quick last minute getaways, can you believe my CA trip was a 'quick getaway' and some elaborate holidays planned, aha, the Indian Exploration this year!!!!

We have had both sides of the family visiting form India, Dubai, Ethiopia which is all so wonderful since we get to reconnect, we bond, we fight and we just be ourselves however silly it may be!

For me, my friends are such important part of my life. I thrive, unwind and bitch with them. It's really nice to have a close knit of friends around me now. The edits in my relationship from last year have really helped me be more at peace with myself. I am coming to realize that I am more content now.

What do I hope for my next year: Well I am hoping, more of the same, more fun, more frolic, more travel and above all more happiness.

Wishing you and your family a Very Happy New Year!

Finally a good sign

Put on the dancing shoes... or may be the dancing dress.

If I could, I would somersault today. As vain as it may sound... I fit almost perfectly in my favorite pair of jeans today. Yippie Yeah!

No holding breath to button it up, no wearing larger t shirts to cover the bulge, no keeping it lowest in my stack of jeans!

Yay!!

I have been quiet diligent in my 'MyFitness Pal' journeythat’s about 8 weeks old now. I have been tracking it, weighing in and definitely working to follow through. I have not started 'working out' or made drastic adjustments to lifestyle yet. But the one thing I have been doing quiet diligently is 'portion control' and more protein and less carbs. 

If you read my first post or actually any post regarding this whole business: You know I love my carbs, The roti's, the bread's, the pasta's.They are my staple meal.

This tool classifies your meals in' 50% Carb, 30% Fat, 20% Protein. In all honesty, I am generally over in carb and less in protein. In the 'Fat' content depends on the day :-).

The toughest part of using the 'MyFitness Pal' is reducing the carb intake.

Regardless today is the day to celebrate, I am almost fitting in my favorite part of jeans. I will take that.

The really nice part of this tool (and the key reason I have been able to follow through this) is that it does not say: don’t do this, don’t do that. I can eat everything and still lose some of the weight and above all fit into my jeans!

I love my food and I love the fact that I can eat everything, enjoy the flavors and just manage controlling the portions. It so far has been sustainable. Of course I go over my 'recommended calorie' intake generally on weekends. There have been days where I have consumed twice the number of recommended calories (We just had Diwali season, I mean come on!!!).

But the good thing is weekdays it’s fairly easy to follow through. Brown bagging lunches, skipping on sugar in coffee, no eggs in desserts have all helped me a little bit.

The biggest help has been Sumit and his sweet compliments :-) It is quite a motivator I tell you.

So over all- Yippie Yeah

Do you know how I celebrated my fit in the jeans: Over a bowl of Sriracha Flavored Potato Chips!!!

First Goal: Continue using the tool till October Trip: Done

Second Goal: Increase protein and use the tool till December Trip: Almost There!

Third Goal: Re-start the tool after December trip and get to my target weight by end of first

quarter 2016: Hmm, Will report in 2016.

But I love the compliments and the confidence I have that I can get to my third goal as well.

Comparing kids with each other is blasphemy

Comparing kids with each other is blasphemy, or so they tell me.

But I do compare my own kids with each other. It's so natural, they are right in front of me! (All the time!) I turn up comparing my two daughters. I know, bad mom, etc etc, but hey I console myself by saying, at least I dont share results of my comparison with them...... but on the blog. I agree to pay for the trips to the shrink due to the result of them reading this stuff eventually!!

Here are my comparative notes.

Food

My older one is a natural foodie, she will attempt all foods, increase spice levels. Of course she is closer to 8, so maybe I am forgetting what she used to do at tiny toddler age. If memory serves me right, she was a good eater but a very slow eater. Very Very slow. And on that front nothing much has changed, even today she could spend an hour on dinner table and day dream her way through it if given a chance.

The little one, aha, is allergic to color 'green'. I kid you not! She will pull out the greens from anything unless of course it's a green M&M. How she ate the ‘Brussel Sprouts’ I have no clue! To her credit, its getting better and she eats regular spice levels of an Inidian House hold. ANything more, and her face turns red, and she screams 'Spicy' and will drink 5 glasses of water.

Clothes

The little one wears her dresses with pride. She will wear them, twirl, carry her purse and say 'Pretty Pretty' all day. It's a battle to get pants/ t-shirt (For Chicago winters, the only choice) on her.

The chatterbox, Miss 8 going on 18. Her favorite clothes: Jeans- T Shirt,  Shorts-T Shirt. I take great lengths to convince her to wear dresses for parties. She won't fuss about it, but if she had it her way, it would be jeans T all the way!

Hugs

Now here there is some commonality: Both are huggers and kissers. They both love to hug us, ask for a kiss on their fore head and are generally affectionate.

My little one has the most melodious voice I feel, she will wake up, go room to room and wish everyone Good Morning and greet us with the sweetest of her smiles. The older one would be the more quiet one in the mornings and will sneak in our bed and hug us till we wake up.

Similarities is also a form of comparison, right?

Both the girls can sit for extended period of time (age appropriate) and keep themselves busy. They both have a natural instinct in soccer and dancing. They both are daddies daughters, for all the 'show off things' they go to Sumit. For all the hugs, ideas and thoughts, they come to me.

It's wonderful to have these two beautiful creatures in my house. They remind me that life is joyous with the right glasses on!

I Love Brussel Sprouts

Remember my recipe of 'Roasted Brussel sprouts with apple'. It's been a while since I made it, so last evening, I went for it.

While the sprouts were in the oven, the kids had their dinner; they brushed their teeth and basically got ready for bed.

My little lady comes to the kitchen, point to my casserole and asks: 'What is that'

G: 'Its Brussel Sprouts honey'

LL: I want to eat it

(In my mind, yeah right, you see anything green, you run away from it unless its Green M&M)

I scooped out some in a dish and showed her

G: 'There you go; do you want to try it?

LL: Yes

(In my mind, yeah right, this is yet another excuse to not go to sleep)

To my surprise: 'Little Lady' sat, finished the bowl, asked for seconds!!!

I know you won't believe it, so here is a video of her enjoying and saying: 'I Love Brussel Sprouts!'

Quick Food Fix: Vegetable Tofu Stir Fry

It's so surprising that i have not written any new recipes here in a while now. There was a phase that I was only writing recipes and no updates and now its all about 'This and That'

So to break this barrier, here is the recipe of our 'Go to Meal' nowadays. First and foremost, the speed, its definitely a Quick Food Fix: From start to finish, it is about 15-20 minutes.

It's flavorful, high protein content and the kids love it. We love our 'Vegetable Tofu Fry' also because of its repeatability. Sumit has managed fixing this meal up quiet frequently on days I am running late, too tired or he is just in 'Pampering me mode'

Ingredients:

Organic Tofu: 1 packet: Chopped

Chopped Vegetables: 1/4 th cup each:

Onion, Celery, Pepper, Cabbage, Carrots, Kale, Spinach, Tomato, Bean Sprouts (if available)

Other Alternates: 1/2 cup frozen corn & Peas

Optional: 1 clove of garlic finely chopped

For Sauce/ Seasoning:

Soy Sauce: 3 tsp

Chili Oil- 1 tsp (Optional- we like our food spicy)

Ready Made Asian Sauce: Example: Iron Man Sesame/ Vegetable Stir Fry etc. Bottom line, any Asian flavor you may like

Salt: Per taste

For Garnishing:

Scallion -1/4 cup

Toasted Sesame Seed- 1 tsp

Process

1. Heat 1 tsp of olive oil

2. Add the garlic and all vegetables and Sautee them with half the soy sauce (Just remember, whatever vegetables you have at home work wonders!)

3. When tender remove from flame and cool'

4. Heat 1 tsp of olive oil

5. Add the tofu on low flame and the seasoning/ sauce and let it simmer

6. Now, if you like it crunchy, keep the flame high and make sure you turn the tofu over so it does not burn

 If you like it soft and tender, just keep turning it over and cook evenly.

7. Either way, the 'cooking of tofu' takes 5-10 minutes

8. When cooked, add all the prepared vegetables

9. Garnish, serve and enjoy!

10. Feel free to add lemon juice per your taste- Sumit like it a lot, me not so much

Voila.... Vegetable Tofu Stir Fry

The season for festivities....

 Diwali comes around and it's my favorite time of the year!

I get in a completely festive mood. What XMAS is to kids is what Diwali is to me! I reminisce about my Diwali celebrations back home in India. Highlights were buying new clothes, cleaning out closets, re-arranging books, decorating the house, helping mum with her sarees, buying new clothes etc. Like any other Indian Festival, The food was the highlight. My mom would slave for hours preparing our favorite dishes and the traditional food that goes with Diwali.

Firecrackers was definitely not my thing at all. Partly due to the environmental and noise pollution philosophies our schools imbibed in us and partly because papa said, whatever you spend on firecrackers we could use for something else. Which my enterprising brother would invest and well me, I would buy more clothes.

Fast forward to now, my kids are growing up here in US, in this melting pot of cultures. We celebrate Indian festivals, American Festivals, Hallmark festivals, basically anything and everything which makes it fun for the kids and involves sugary treats. But Diwali, I go above and beyond.

It's our annual tradition, we call it our 'Diwali Dhamaka' We have all our friends over, its one massive gathering with lots of food, lots of Indian finery, lots of pictures and pooja. Lighting up 'PhoolJhari's/ sparklers', Kids painting diya's and rangoli's and our new highlight: The kids practicing and performing a Diwali Dance with all our friends cheering along!

I love how My Chatterbox has been thinking of songs that she and her friends could dance to. I love how she is thinking of new ways to decorate the house, the clothes she would wear, the excitement of the days itself. I am seeing the wonder in my little lady's eyes as she sees this chaos around. I think she is just excited about the 'mithai'  and the 'dressing up'. I do hope that with time, they really do remember the festivities and the joys of this big gathering of friends and family.

Wishing you a very Happy Diwali and a Prosperous New Year.

I am feeling all better!

That's the mantra of my Little Lady, my almost 3 year old bundle of utter joy.

Chronicling a little of this little cute cheeks and her stories that enthrall her, make us laugh and forget of the world around us even for that little minute.

Story 1:
Any time her older sister, Miss Chatterbox V, has an ouchie or gets a band-aid. She needs one. Surprisingly Little Lady 'Pretends' to get hurt at the exact same place. She will do all the drama and ensure we give her bad-aid and it's quickly followed by 'I am feeling all better!'

It is adorable.

Story 2:
Halloween came and went and she was old enough to truly enjoy the same this year. Considering she is in a Montessori school, the whole make believe is not their philosophy aka, no Halloween in School.

So we made sure she enjoyed. My shy in public child went to every house, said 'Trick or Treat, her Thank You's and growled like a Tigger' I was so proud of her. Of course my sweet tooth would do anything for candy! I kid you not!

Story 3:
Little Lady goes back and forth for her favoritism with me and Sumit. Sometimes she is all about papa, and then for a small phase she will be 'Mummy do this and that'.
Current flavor of the season: Papa.
At pick up time she ran to Sumit instead of me and it broke my heart in a million pieces

Story 4:
Cake & Sweet Tooth.
I cant stress enough at how much my little one likes her sweets, it can be anything, candy, chocolates even sugar.
It was Sumit's birthday recently, and we pampered him. Sang Happy Birthday at every possible place, hugged him a lot and generally made him smile.
So every time we sang the 'Birthday Song' she asked us: Where is the cake?

It was adorable to see how association works for little minds. Birthday Song= Cake and yeah may be a hug!

My almost 3 year old bundle of joy, stay as sweet, melodious and unique as you are!
You make us smile and want to hug you all the time. You and your older sister make any worries go away with the adorable Good Morning's and I miss you Mummy :-)