Thursday, January 31, 2013

Blessing in disguise



The week was a blessing in disguise and I got to stay at home. I am all set to burn myself out in the latest professional assignment I am beginning tomorrow so I needed the break before. 

Workout:
Wednesday:
  • Full body workout
  • Core workout and cool down
  • Beginner core strengthening workout
  • Bootcamp workout by Jeanette Jenikens 
As always, I did my regular Sun  salutations 1 and 2 post shower. 

Change of plans:

Dinner:
Dinner on Tuesday night comprised of not so exciting aaloo-gaajar ki sabzi (potato-carrot curry). I tried my luck by making this one, as Rohith hates carrot except for in Gajar ka halwa (Indian carrot pudding). As expected, he ate at McD and I ate at home. It’s surprising how many people detest carrots including my beloved friend Juhi. For me the aaloo-gaajar ki sabzi brings back childhood memories. My nani (Granny: world’s most amazing cook ever) used to make this in winters and served it with fresh chapattis. We used to loose count of how many chapattis we ate back then. No kidding there.
Sadly, my attempt though was not so successful. 

Not a success :(
For making things up later, I whipped up this quick blueberry and brown sugar in yogurt dessert. That lifted Rohith’s mood but only slightly :P

Ingredients and equipment 

TaDa!
Yesterday:

I was not feeling up to it, so I made a change of plans, for the lunch with my friend yesterday. It was leftovers with freshly made chapatis, which she and I ate heartily. Accompanied with all the condiments like the hari chutney and home made butter, it was a home run with my friend. She loved the curry (which was not even explored by someone a night before) so much that she even took the remaining with her!
I wanted to make up for serving the leftovers (which by the way she didn’t mind) and whipped up this strawberry, blueberry and brown sugar yogurt topped with home grown mint. It was a HIT! I think I am improving at making these delectable yogurts with every new attempt. 


This one rocks!
The misadventure:
We planned to take a break during the day and went to do the laundry. On our way out of the apartment, we somehow accidentally put the safety lock on. When we returned it wouldn’t open! My poor friend and I had to wait for more than hour in the stairwell for Rohith to come home and get us into the apartment. I promised her that I will treat her to the yummy authentic pizza from our neighborhood's La Bella pizza and here is what we ordered. 
Half and half pie. Yum!
 Workout today:
I went a little overboard as I am beginning my professional assignment from tomorrow and have an upcoming trip over the weekend.
This is what I accomplished.
  • Tiffany Roth’s workouts
  • Hot body warm up routine
  • Bikini body workout
  • Bootcamp workout by Jeanette Jenikens 
  • 6 pack abs and get rid of those love handles
  • Bikini ready abs
The day progressed:
I had an appointment which got cancelled so I got a few hours on my hand to research some more for my assignment. 

Dinner tonight:

I am thinking of making the Indian rice (tahiri/pulao) for dinner tonight. Will tell you next week how it was.

Weekend ahead:
We are meeting the cutest baby girl in the US of A, who has just turned an year old on Wednesday. Can’t wait to see her!

Question of the day:
  • What is your strategy(s) to make up for your missed working out sessions?
  • Who is the cutest baby that you have met in the recent past? (your relationship and baby’s name)
Have a rocking weekend ahead!

I will be rooting for you all xxxxx

Do write to me at pallavibhar at gmail dot com or comment in the post below.

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

PallaviThinks: The week(end) in view

PallaviThinks: The week(end) in view: This weekend I decided to take a break from workout. Why you ask? Just like that. I know that too much of a good thing is bad. This is my ...

The week(end) in view


This weekend I decided to take a break from workout. Why you ask? Just like that. I know that too much of a good thing is bad. This is my first ever severe winter in the US and I wanted to take in the whole experience over the weekend.
This is what we woke up to on Saturday morning
The rooftop after a light dusting. Almost surreal!
Breakfast on Saturday morning:
Breakfast came along rather quickly on Saturday morning. Thanks to the preparation on Friday night and the tips from my dear friend Juhi.The saboodaanaa/saago/ tapioca khichudi was so yummy that Rohith polished off the entire pan :)
I also have an alternate recipe to try soon, which requires even lesser prep time and never fails. Do let me know if you would like to try the recipe(s).
You just can’t get enough of a good thing
The birthday party:
I guess my cousins didn’t envision the cold before organizing the birthday party on Saturday night. We were all set to brave the weather and headed into the city around evening.
We had a few hours on hands to kill for switching trains at Times Square/Bryant Park and between the party . The queue to get in at Carmine’s was scary, so Virgil’s won instead. If you are ever in the Times Square area, then definitely give Carmine’s a try. I promise you that you won’t be disappointed. To know more about my experiences at Carmine’s do visit my yelp profile. I shall write about it here soon, so watch out.
Question: What does a vegetarian/vegan eats inside a real barbecue place. Obviously leaves (salads). LoL! What else?
This is what we had

Strawberry margarita(mine) and classic mojito(Rohith’s)
Interesting table top covers. You guessed it right we didn’t have those ;)
These are called the 'Train wreck fries' LoL!
The ‘Train wreck fries' were sinfully loaded with cheese and jalapenos. Now I know why they are called by that name. Once you have them, you need at least a day’s time to process them inside your system. Rohith was almost full too! So to wash it all down, he ordered the watermelon mojito. It was very refreshing on an otherwise cold cold evening.
Watermelon mojito
After washing this all down, we decided to brave the cold once again. On our way out we stopped to buy ear muffs for me; gloves and scarf for Rohith, as we have underestimated the weather. Oh yes it was freezing! That reminded me of our trip to Paris in Janaury 2010 :)
The party was in midtown Manhattan and was a great opportunity to see all my cousins at the same time. This usually happens only once or twice a year. The place was conveniently located and the space was private and very well organized.
Beautiful decoration
Sunday:
Sunday came and went in a blur. Rohith decided to give me a break from cooking breakfast and got these instead.
I really liked the newly introduced multigrain bagel from Dunkin Donuts and the Blond Roast coffee from Starbucks. It would probably attract people who do not have a taste for dark roast coffee from Starbucks for instance Rohith’s aunt. We might actually try this one at home soon. 



Multigrain bagel
Blond raost copyright Starbucks

Typical american breakfast: Bagel with blond roast coffee



Dinner Monday night:
I tried to cook dinner last night at home as I began an antibiotics regimen this week.  I went veggie shopping yesterday and brought some of the most boring vegetables possible in the market. Believe you me, if you combine these with something exciting, you can reap the benefits of these along with the taste from the side dishes. This is what I had in mind last night.

I stand corrected. There are other things, which are as taxing as cleaning fenugreek leaves. Peeling and slicing raw papaya is as gruesome as doing the same with butternut squash. It took me around an hour to prepare for this simple curry :(
Raw papaya

Preparation for the curry: Raw papaya, potatoes and tomatoes




The curry itself came together in less than a half hour; All thanks to pressure cooking!
To make dinner exciting enough for Rohith I whipped this up on the side


Cherry tomatoes and kirbies/cucumbers


Raita/Yogurt
Raita comprised of cherry tomatoes, diced cucumber whipped in yogurt and cilantro chutney (from last week) with a squeeze of half a lemon and topped with cilantro/corriander. It spiced up the dinner for us. 

Workout:
As expected, I went a little overboard yesterday and today with the workout after a relaxing weekend. This is what I did:
Monday:
Tuesday:
  • Blast away belly fat with workout from Janette Jenkins 
  •  Zumba toning full-body workout
  • Get your Cardio on: Dance with the Jabbawockeez
  • Define your waist line with 10 minutes pilates series
  • Get Victoria Secret model’s abs 
You can look up all these videos online at fitsugartv.com.  Click on one and all other shall pop up on the right hand scroll down menu.
All my life I have known that the workout that I enjoy the most comprises of dance moves in one form or the other. So be it Zumba, aerobics or Dancing with the stars, I am up for it.

Afterwards as always I did my usual Sun salutation 1 and 2 post shower. 

Breakfast lately:
It seems to be all about sandwichs in Roy household lately. Rohith had sandwiches for breakfast on both days yesterday and today. He sure likes to spruce up his with ham and other cold cuts of his choice. A twist to my otherwise healthy and veggie version.

Tomato, cream cheese and hari chutney sandwich
Lunch today:
Lunch was leftovers today. I had the curry from last night and the raita/yogurt ingredients with store bought methi ka parantha. 

I am making methi k paranthe myself tomorrow for brunch, as one of my friends is coming over. Do let me know which ones do you like better (I mean from the photos) and I will let you know which ones tasted better (though it’s obvious ;) )
I shall be rooting for you all xxxxx


Questions of the day:
  • Where have you experienced the severest of the winters in your lifetime? Name the city. 
  • Do you have a method of easily peeling and cutting hard gourds like the butternut squash and raw papaya?
Write to me at pallavibhar@gmail.com or comment below.

Friday, January 25, 2013

When a short work week seems longer than usual


This is what happens when you start believing that all good things might not necessarily come to an end. 

The work week started on a very late note. 

Workout this week (Tuesday to Friday)

Tuesday
Get a victoria's secret abs workout from one of their trainers!
Fat blasting 10-minute workout video with jeanette jenkins
Total-body 10-minute workout video with holly perkins

Wednesday
At home zumba workout: get fit while getting down
Bikini abs in 10 minutes, teddy bass workout, class fitsugar

Blast fat with this 10-minute workout from r.i.p.p.e.d


Thursday
Upper body workout | 10-minute workout | class fitsugar

Define your waistline with this 10-minute pilates series

Dance your way to fitness with this 10-minute workout


Friday

10-minute workout to get the blood pumping
7 
Jump rope moves that will leave you feeling the burn!
Pilates workout, boost your metabolism, class fitsugar

Not to mention that I did the sun salutations 1 and 2 post shower everyday. 


Breakfast: 
This week breakfast was off and on. I know that it’s sin to skip the breakfast after a workout. I also had brunch on Tuesday and Thursday mornings as I had to leave really early for volunteering assignments.
Tomato, hari cutney and home made butter sandwich


Home made butter and fuji apple jelly sandwich

Cooking dinner at home this week
It was off and on. This is what all I was able to accomplish. 

Karele (bitter gourd) ki sabzi (curry)

Anaar (pomegranate) ka raita (yogurt) with brown sugar


Bharwaan Baigan (Stuffed baby eggplants)







Hare dhaniye (cilantro) ki chutney 

Volunteer assignments this week:

The freezing weather outdoors didn’t discourage me to keep my commitment to the two volunteering assignments that I have made. This is how it looked most of the evenings all this week. The temperature plummeted between 10 to -5 degrees this week.



Brooklyn in the evening
Be social change: Future of education part 1
The reward:
It was freezing on Wednesday and  Rohith suggested that we go out for a nice brick oven pizza after my volunteer assignment was over. The choice was obvious as I was in the Chelsea. Tappo (oh how the name is music to my ears!) is 
my latest discovery and I am so proud to show it to my friends and family. This is what we had

Meatlovers pizza for Rohith: It was ok

Half and half pie shroomtown and farmigio bianca: to die for!

The week ends:

I cannot believe how quickly this week has passed and boy have I raced against time to accomplish so much this week, including three volunteering assignments in the evenings from Tuesday to Thursday straight. Read about those if you are curious on my other blog http://theflipsideofdevelopment.wordpress.com/

Weekend ahead: 

I tried to accomplish the toughest task of all today. Sorting out the Indian leafy vegetable methi, fenugreek, and make it for dinner tonight. I can tell you from my own experience that this is by far the toughest cooking chore that I have come across. It should be made a punishment for the kids when they are grounded for doing something mischievous. No exaggeration there. I timed it today and three bunches took me 45 minutes! What a waste of time :P
But the end result if rewarding. Today I tried Mimi's (my friend and now sis-in-law in London) recipe and I can’t tell you how delicious it came out. 
For the recipe write to me and it will be sent right in to your inbox.  



The punishment of sorting the methi leaves

The reward: lip smacking methi paneer
 
The heat is on:
Australian open is going on these days and I can’t tell you how the men’s semi-final between Federer and Murray put me at the edge of my seat time and again this afternoon. Lawn tennis is my most favorite sport and I am set on picking up that racquet in the near future.
I was skipping a heartbeat at every set-point and tiebreaker. Murray won!

Plan for the weekend: 

I plan to make saaboodanaa/saago (tapioca) khichudi tomorrow. Thanks to my dear friend Juhi for the no mess, no fuss recipe. If you are intrigued then watch out next week how it was.  I shall be taking a break over the weekend from my Mac. 
Have a birthday party to attend tomorrow!
Have a lovely weekend people!  I will be rooting for all of you xxxxx

Question for the day:

What is your strategy for a day when you are racing against the time?

Do you know of a neat trick to sort the methi leaves quickly?

 Write to me at pallavibhar@gmail.com or you can also comment below. Thanks!

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Weekend at Jackson Heights


Once we have decided to go to some place over the weekend, consider it to be a commitment. This weekend it was to Jackson Heights.

Workout on Sunday morning 

Comprised of the following

Step 1:  Full Body Workout
Step 2:  Lower body straightening workout 
Step 3: Sun salutation 1 and 2.

I am yet to try the 45 minutes and 25 minutes treadmill challenge. I have heard that these are killer so have not been able to gather enough courage to do so.

Breakfast on Sunday morning

Breakfast was on the go, mushrooms and peppers in egg whites on a whole wheat roll from a neighborhood cafe. I accompanied it with a green apple, ginger and lime fat blaster juice.

Sandwich and fat blaster juice



First stop in the Queens

The first stop that we made was at the Ganesh temple at Jackson Heights. Obviously Rohith had to be lured by the south Indian fare at the Dosa Hutt and here is what he had.

Rohith’s Mysore Masala dosa

My onion rava masala dosa


pyaaz (onion) k pakode


In addition to all the above, Rohith has also ordered idli-saambhar, as appetizer, which he polished off before I could click a photograph.
After the gastronomical satisfaction, we headed for the temple. The temple is still under construction. Once you enter the premise you are quickly transferred back to India. There is so much peace and quite inside and the atmosphere is welcoming.

After spending an hour or so at the temple, we headed for Jackson Heights. 

 Our first stop was at Sabzi Mandi for Indian vegetables. Later we snacked at Maharaj sweets which was not a pleasant experience as the snacks were all stale. The tea was also a let down as it was a machine made. I believe that it’s a sin to serve something so ghastly in an Indian restaurant.

Coffee machine tea. Yuk!

Only saving grace: Papdi chaat

Looks are deceptive: a let down for aaloo tikki

It gave Rohith some discomfort. The sweets on the other hand are phenomenal though. No doubt about that. We got a pound of 'Maharaja special kalakand'.

After taking a whirlwind trip of the Patel brothers we came back. 

Monday this week:

Despite a holiday I got an early start on Monday morning as Jackson Heights was calling once again. So I just did the sun salutations quickly and left. The brunch was buffet at Jackson Diner in Jackson Heights. I got six months’ supply of groceries at Patel brothers. In addition to that I also got a pound of 'coconut barfi' from Maharja sweets

The UPS guys finally came for the pick up of lap trays on Monday evening after 10 phone calls and three days wait time. This has been the most sour experience we had with the UPS so far.  We left for the city after that.

Times Square in the evening:
We were deliberating which movie to watch and finally Django Unchained won. It is a nice movie starring my most favorite actor Leonardo De Caprio!  A must watch for any fan of his. 

Dinner was at Red Lobster as one I have never been and two there is a promotion going on for shrimps.

Our drinks: Strawberry margarita on the rocks and classic mojito in the background ;)
Bar harbor salad; just average

Shrimp deal: This is a rip off

The experience at Red Lobster left a lot to be desired. I will update about it on my review at Yelp, so don’t forget to read it there.

Thus the weekend ended on a late note on Monday night :)

All in all it was fun!

I will be rooting for you all xxxxxx

Question for the day:

Which is the most recent movie that you have watched and really liked? It can be a Hollywood or a Bollywood flick.
Which is a large food chain restaurant you would never recommend to anyone? It can be a national or international chain.
 Do write to me at pallavibhar@gmail.com or comment below. 




Saturday, January 19, 2013

Weekend begins early this week








The (early) weekend started on a good note on Friday evening. Rohith decided that he wanted to have khichudi* (his favorite meal of all) for dinner, which made my life very easy. I just soaked some rice and lentils (moong chhilke waali) in the pressure cooker with all standard Indian spices and voila! khichudi was done in less than ten minutes.  We devoured it with aam ka achaar (mango pickle), paapad, dhaniye ki chutni (cilantro/coriander), ghee (clarified butter) and dahi (plain yogurt). It’s a saying in our region in India that goes as “khichudi k paanch yaar; paapad, chatni, ghee, dahi aur achaar” translated it means that khichudi has five companions as listed above. So true!

Useful utensil:

By far, the pressure cooker I got from India has been my savior in testing times here. As much as Rohith detests it, I cannot thank my mother enough to pack it for me on my way to NY. I am able to prepare almost any and every curry or lentil in this ingenious utensil in less than half and hour.

Workout:
Workout yesterday shifted to the kitchen space and comprised of the following.
Step 1:  10 minutes no equipment Cardio warm up
Step 2: 10 minutes rigorous lower body workout
Step 3:  10 minutes fat blasting workout
Step 4: Sun salutation (Surya namaskar) 1 and 2

Breakfast:
Breakfast was a repeat as I still had half an avocado left. Rohith whipped up his own sandwich and decided to give me a break from cooking all day yesterday.


You win some, you loose some:
We have been lucky to get rid of a lot of old stuff from our apartment in the recent past. All thanks to Craigslist! The latest to go was Rohith’s favorite and old time pal Apple G4 Mac desktop computer. He was truly heart broken to give it away as they have been buddy’s since 2001 but we absolutely do not have any room for it right now.

3Le3Md3F55Ie5Nd5Gbd1ce0e6140d94b41b15.jpg


The things that you buy online are a hit or a miss depending on your luck. Our latest find was not so useful after all and we are returning it. 


These folding portable lap trays are not as handy and easy to use as the ad claims. Be on a lookout and review everything carefully on amazon.com before going ahead and ordering it. We have learned it the hard way.
We waited very patiently all evening at home for the UPS guy to come and pick them up. However, he messed up with the address and never came. An evening wasted......

Last evening movements:
I decided to give yoga a skip today. Instead, I tried these crazy moves to get rid of saddle. They are killer  moves and I am still feeling the effect in my hamstrings and glut. I was not able to do the ones with the chair and exercise ball, as I do not have them right now. I used the modified versions instead and went an extra mile, as I knew dinner would be an order in.

Pizza night:
After much deliberation we decided to go subway for dinner tonight. On our way, we had a sudden change of heart and went to our neighboring pizzeria Lenny’s Pizza instead. All the slices were heavenly and the potato croquettes were sinful but yum!



Question for today:

  • How do you guys plan to do for staying on fitness track if a long weekend or inevitable binging sessions are coming up?
  • Have you ever had an experience of buying something online and then returning it later?
Do write to me at pallavibhar@gmail.com. I would love to hear from you. xxxx