The glorification of being busy

The aliens are landing! LoL!

Recently, I came across a very useful article online about the increasing glorification of being busy by everyone around us. The opening lines are “If you live in America in the 21st century you’ve probably had to listen to a lot of people tell you how busy they are.” I can go a step further and generalize it by changing the lines slightly “If you live in any metro (or second tier) city in the world......”

I very strongly believe that all of us are not created equal. We have different families, cultural and educational backgrounds, career aspirations, interests and hobbies. Even after being so different from one another, the one and only thing we have in common is the amount of  time everyday. All of us have 24 hours in a day and it’s entirely up to us how to make the best use of this equally allocated time. People who know me well can confirm that this is something that I never use as an excuse for not reaching out or getting together with them. I have heard people complain about not having a single minute on hand during the day. People complain of being engaged in the daily chores and taking care of their families that it makes me wonder about my own future. On the other hand, I know a lot of people who have taken care of all of their daily tasks, including the kids, household chores and even taking vacation, within the same time frame as all of us have single handedly. This scenario confuses me a lot!

In my personal experience I have heard people complain about not having time, well all the time. 

I would encourage you to read the full length article here and decide for yourself.

Holi festival:
Our Hindu/Indian festival of colors, Holi, was celebrated this week. Living in NYC, I have become acquainted to celebrating all the festivals over the weekend irrespective of the date when they are celebrated in India. As I was not able to do much during the week, I did the necessary worship at home and made some mouth watering sweet to offer as prasad.

Laddoos: 100% home made

Juhi teased me by sharing her way of celebrating Holi at home yesterday. 

Masterpiece created by the master herself

These chhole bhature with masale wale aaloo must have been out of this world I can only imagine. Nevertheless, I am highly inspired to give these a try over this weekend with a few secrets from my Masterchef friend. 

Since I did not have the time (or the guts as of now) to prepare for the above shown treat, I settled for palak paneer. Rohith had been meaning to have it for a long time. It turned out just right.

Dinner was yum!

Just add the dhaniya launka (indian green chilies) and fresh lemon on the side and you have yourself a winner.

Cooking at home:

Ever heard of buying a shoe for the shoelace? That’s the way it is in our household. Rohith is so fond of trying new condiments that every time we visit the Indian grocery store he plays hide and seek with me while picking up new pickles and chutneys. As expected, I was geared up to make aaloo and ghobhi k paranthey (potato and cauliflower paranthas) for him to try out his latest finds at breakfast next morning. 

The latest finds

This is more like the condiment than the main dish for Rohith

I also tried to make idlis over the last weekend but the project failed miserably. Maybe, I did not know about the water content in the batter appropriately. The idlis came out dense and inedible. Not appetizing at all!

As they rightly say, you learn from your mistakes and something good might come out of them. That’s what happened exactly after the idli showdown. The batter turned out to be just right for making utthappams. I made some for the dinner and then continued to enjoy them for breakfast most of this week. 

Not so bad after all

It all fell into place

As my wise friend, Juhi, told me, the batter started to get better as the time passed and the utthappams came out even better the next morning. I went the whole nine yards this time and made sambhar from scratch, (including the sambhar powder at home). I also made the pyaaz tamatar (onions, tomatoes) ki chutney and coconut chutney, as condiments on the side. I used shallots for the pyaaz tamatar ki chutney this time and it catapulted the taste to a whole new level.

Picture and breakfast perfect!

I had the pyaaz tamatar ki chutney left and some baby eggplant (Indian baigan/brinjal) from last week. I stuffed the baigan with the leftover chutney and added some more masala with ground peanuts. They turned out just super!

Bharwaan baigan served for dinner

Today:

It was crazy. I was suppose to attend an event on water at the University of Columbia’s water center but I did not get a second of shuteye last night. Change of plans and I decided to attend it virtually through live webinar. I made dalia for myself for breakfast and had it with my personal favorite blueberry jewels while attending the webinar. It was not a bad day after all! 

Healthy yummy goodness

For lunch, I simply had the leftovers of palak paneer from last night. 

Weekend ahead:

There are no plans in particular however, I shall make a good faith effort to start our jogging regimen over this weekend. Maybe I will be able to find my feet, which I believe have become lazy from all the lack of the exercise this week. 

I will be rooting for you all. xxxx

Question of the day:

• Did you celebrate Holi outside your hometown this year? What did you do?
• Do you like to experiment and try making new dishes over the weekend? If yes, then do let me know one that you have in the recent past.

I would love to hear from you. Do write to me at pallavibhar at gmail dot com or comment below. 

Ides of March have passed

©RohithRoy

Six things that I realized this month:

1. I can still do the booty shake and twist
2. I can go on drinking my coffee without any sugar
3. Reading is by far the best time pass in any boring situation besides listening to music
4. Starting an exercise regimen after a long break makes your body sore
5. Workouts might not be the only thing that sore and tighten your muscles after all. Your lifestyle takes the cake. 
6. The only way to fail, is not to try

I would like to elaborate on the last point in my realizations, a little bit.
Do you fear failure? Do you fear not achieving some goal, hope, or a dream? Does that fear, keeps you from even trying sometimes? Do your procrastinate often? When you think about it, it’s true that the only way you can guarantee you will not achieve something is to never even try for it in the first place.
It can be easy to view failure as trying and coming up short. However, at least in that process, we have the chance to learn something and to grow from it. In my experience, that is not a failure. It is a process to improve and enhance your strength. Step out and go for it! Even if you do not do what you originally set out to accomplish, you will still learn something along the way during the process. You will be taking strides forward rather than standing still. Go for it! You cannot be a failure if you do. At the very least, you learn something and grown in some way just in case things do not turn out the way you hoped. Who knows? Maybe they will turn out.

Cooking at home for the remainder of the week:
I had bought raw papaya also along with the bottle gourd so decided to make it for dinner on Wednesday night. I also decided to give it a kick by making dhaniye aur pudine (cilantro and mint) ka raita (yogurt) with spcies and green chilly to give the curry a kick.

Raita

Sabzi

Khana

The challenge to make Rohith eat healthy is to lure him with spicy (a lot) and sweet (in moderation) items. For dessert it was besan k laddoo (Indian dessert made from gram flour, clarified butter and sugar).

Ghoos (bribe) for Rohith

Last evening:

It was freezing as most of the week. Thankfully there were no showers. Rohith and I decided to meet in the city for some Afghani Fare at Khyber Pass after my event at NYAS. We heard that they are giving away free baklawa (now where have I heard that name before) and custard when you buy dinner, to celebrate the Afghani new year throughout March at Khyber Pass. 

When I arrived at Astor Place station, I noticed the taco el idolo food truck and my mouth watered instantly. Change of plans and we decided to give it a try instead. I had two veggie tacos and Rohith tried a variety of tacos and burritos from them. We really enjoyed our food. Apologies that it was so cold that our hands froze while eating the dinner and we skipped clicking pictures. Next time I promise for sure. 

Later we decided to thaw out for sometime in Starbucks. I had my all time favorite tazo chai  and Rohith had his tall coffee with an extra espresso shot. 

Upon our way back to Brooklyn, we caught a brilliant performance inside the Broadway-Laffayette street subway station. That guy was playing on his Cello (violoncello)  so beautifully that we missed our train once to listen to him play. It sounded a lot like the 70s music of Bolly movies like those of Sh. Hrishikesh Mukherjee’ movies. 

So on a weeknight, I treated Rohith to his favorite street food, a live performance along with his favorite drink and all for under $20 for both of us! Pretty thoughtful. Isn’t it? Those are the perks of living in a city as great as New York!

Today:

Again I had all the energy of a used tea bag. I procrastinated for a long time before starting to workout.  Prior to that I made myself America’s favorite peanut butter and jelly sandwich for some additional energy.

The unusual course

Workout:

Since I was feeling so dull, I decided to skip the cardio and gave only yogasan a try. I performed a mix of yoga sequence to get rid of muffin tops and weekend warrior yoga sequence. 

As usual I did my Sun Salutation 1 and 2.

Lunch:

It was leftover from Wednesday.

Leftovers

I made myself fresh raita and this time I added cucumber to give it a crunch.

Yum yum

I also had some chilly pickle from India which my sister Ketaki has given me. I am sure to regret the decision to eat it later, however it was simply irresistible during lunchtime today. 

Dangerous goodness

The weekend ahead:

We are having dinner with Karen and Naz tonight as Naz is leaving for a four month long trip on Monday. Rohith and I are also planning to attend the ArtExpo tomorrow, besides the usual weekend chores that we have to take care of. I am planning to give either microwave idli or bhature chana making at home a try. Will let you all know if they ever took off from the ground.

Last but not the least:

I am going to do my bit. Will you?

Earth Hour 2013 is tomorrow from 08:30 to 09:30 pm. So do not forget to turn off all the lights and appliances at your household, which are not in use during that hour, especially the energy monsters. 

Questions for the weekend:

• What is your strategy towards achieving a goal that you have set for yourself generally?
• Do you contribute your bit to save the planet on a daily basis. If yes, then what do you do?

Have a fun filled weekend ahead guys and stay warm!

I will be rooting for you all. xxxx

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

Happy first day of the spring 2013!

"If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together." African Proverb

©NirupamChandrBharadwaj

On the very first day of spring this year, I got to speak to my brother in India after a very long time. These are the lines, which came to my mind after I concluded my call with him. 

"You have goals. You want to achieve them. They may feel forever away. You may think you will never make it. You may wonder if it will all be worth it.

Instead of using your energy with all of that, focus on TODAY. Just today. What can you do TODAY to take steps towards your goals? What active choices can you make that affirm what you wish to achieve?

Take things day by day. Otherwise, it’s only natural that things shall seem overwhelming. Keep the big picture in mind, but when it comes to the decisions you make – take it one at a time. Just today. That is all you need to focus on. The here and now. The tasks you can fit in and accomplish today. The choices you can make when you have a minute to think. The positive words you can speak to yourself and to others. It all adds up with time and it starts today. Put all your energy there. Just today.

So these are my goals for 2013 for staying grounded even if I am having a less than normal day. I made them at the beginning of the year and today seemed like a great day to revisit them.

• Walk to work: I try to get out of a station before my destination or walk to a station further than my usual station. Whenever Rohith says it’s a long walk, I try to convince him that we will be alright.
• Observe your thoughts: Whenever I am on the train, I try to collect my thoughts and observe them for a few minutes everyday.
• Eat healthy: This we have been able to accomplish, as a couple, by making little choices everyday. Buying fresh and locally made stuff for our daily meals being one.
• Enjoy a long foot soak: Ok. So this is something that I try to do only once a week at home. When we are out in the city during summertime, I make sure to take my shoes off and soak my feet in the fountain or river for a long time.
• Workout: If I don’t then I feel guilty. That is a good indicator of where I stand with this resolution. Isn’t it?
• Pack breakfast and lunch: Have been able to keep this up for more than 4 days a week for almost all along this year. 

• Home garden: We started our basil and mint plants last summer and this time we plan to add 2-3 more herbs and flowering plants to our little home garden.
• Stick with routines: This is more or less fix for me. Rohith is trying his best to turn over a new leaf now.
• Keep your space clean: This really drives me nuts. Maybe it’s some kind of post 30s eccentricities. If there are unwashed utensils in the sink, unwashed laundry, unclean stove top it really bothers me.
• Volunteer: Anybody who knows me, knows this thing about me.
• Explore a hobby: Blogging has taken the lead in comparison to most. Reading and listening to music, anytime and every time  are all time favorite. This has never changed since the beginning of times.
• Spend time by yourself: I really relish the days when I am at home and Rohith is at work. I am able to plan my days in a better manner for sure when I am all by myself
• Say no: So far this has been my biggest challenge and weakness. I am making a conscious effort for ridding myself of this bad habit.
• Be gracious: I never forget to be this one.

Sorry to have bombarded you guys with such heavy dose today, however I believe that I need to pen down my thoughts via my own blog every once in a while.

Dinner at home:

Since I was still suffering from the aftermaths of the sambhar attack on Sunday, I decided to remain light handed on Monday night’s dinner. I made bottle gourd’s curry (ghiya/lauki ki sabzi) from my friend Juhi’s recipe. What a change that was!

Here for the rescue

I had the sabzi with rice and Rohith had it with strore bought pita bread. I also chopped up some cucumber with lemon, mint, rock salt and roasted cumin powder on the side. It was really tangy and tasty to go along with the simple bottle gourd curry.

Yesterday:

It was downright nasty in the morning. A day when you just don’t want to step outside your home. Despite that I went to my internship. To perk myself up, I wore the red houndstooth dress for the first time, the one I have bought last month from ideeli dirt cheap. The day started to unfold and I got a positive update on my most important project. The sun also came out and it was time celebrate. We went for drinks at Vig Bar and then had dinner at a very nice mexican restaurant in the same neighborhood called Barrio Chino. It was very nice and the food was great too (minus the wait time, which was well over half an hour despite the server telling us that it would only be 15 minutes). I am going to review it on yelp soon, so look out. It was so dark inside the restaurant that I did not take any pictures cause you all know that I hate flash photos. The only pic I took was of their much raved about jalapenos and grapefruit margarita. It was a bomb! Whoooo! I couldn’t even take a proper sip as it was  too spicy for me. 

This was a bomb!

Breakfast and lunch today:

Although it’s a pleasant sunny day outside, I was feeling a little less energetic than ususal this morning (maybe from of the small late night celebration in the city last night). I fixed myself roll with hummus, parmesan, home made butter, tomato, avocado and lots and lots of masculine salad leaves. It was nice to bring me up to speed for the day. I had it with a glass of cranberry juice. 

The usual

I was not feeling up for lunch so I fixed this quick smoothie for myself. 

Spring's freshness

Home grown happiness

Looks are deceptive: This rocked!

Workout today:

I tried to celebrate the spirit of spring by stretching myself more than usual. This is what all I accomplished.

• Full body cardio warm up
• How to get 6 pack abs and get rid of love handles.

I did my usual Sun salutations 1 and 2 post shower.

Rest of the week:

Lots of coffees and dinners are planned for the remainder of the week. Rohith and I are also planning to attend an artexpo on Saturday this weekend. Will let you know how it was!

Question of the afternoon:

• What steps are you taking towards your goal that you might have set for yourself?
• How are you marking your first day of spring?

Have a great remainder of the week!

I will be rooting for you folks. xxx

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

St. Patty’s day weekend

The color green is associated with St. Patrick’s Day, which was yesterday.

From our Boston trip

Here in the US, St. Patricks’s day or St. Patty’s day, resonates with wearing green colored attire and drinking green beer. I am being told that it is strikingly opposite to how it is celebrated in Ireland. There the Irish stay at home, eat and pray with their families and do not drink any alcohol at all!

Friday night:

After not moving a muscle for the whole day, we decided to try out this new sushi bar that has opened in our neighborhood called Nagoya. The ambiance was great, the sushi and veggie rolls fresh and the service was spot on.

Left hand corner one was mine: AAC rolls (Avocado, some chinese leafy veg and cucumber) 

So beautiful!

Fried ice cream: Downright yummy!

I really liked the place and have reviewed it on yelp. It is nice to have a place to dine once in a while in your immediate neighborhood.

Saturday rolled in:

It was a beautiful and lovely day on Saturday in the morning. Rohith and I decided to go veggie shopping at Vuccuria in our neighborhood for the week.  That was when the weather turned for the worst. 

Nasty snowstorm

We took refuge into our favorite Turkish restaurant, Sofra, and incidentally it was lunch time too :)

Lentil soup is to die for!

Our entrees: So healthy and so appetizing! 

Baklawa: my most favorite part of the entire meal

We continued on our way to shop for the veggies, as Rohith had his taste buds set to have saambhar on Sunday.

St. Patty’s day celebration:

Our way to celebrate this festival was by eating something green cooked at home. On Saturday night, Rohith came up with this dinner idea and volunteered to execute it. 

Oh what a treat it was!

He single handedly made the broccoli raab and cherry tomatoes, onions and parm cheese salad with balsamic vinnegerate. We had it with toasted whole wheat bread and celebrated St. Patty’s day in our own way!

Roy household went South Indian on Sunday:

Since I have already made arrangements for making sambhar over the weekend, I did not want to go big on the lunch. Rohith agreed to have rava upma for breakfast. 

Quick and filling!

I did not have lunch and Rohith fixed himself a sandwich. Instead, I had a bhuna bhuttaa (roasted corn cob). I am really surprised that no one eats corn cob like Indians that is by roasting it and then slathering it in a lot of lime juice, salt and chili flakes.

Yum yum for a rainy day

I also fixed a mock-tail for myself by mixing cranberry and orange juice.

Cran+O.J- tasty

Finally, after preparing and cooking for a total of 2-3 hours, we were able to get the sambhar together. It made me have smoke out of my ears and tears in my eyes as it was so spicy. I made it especially from the scratch this time, even made fresh sambhar powder to go in this time. Rohith made rawa dosa to go along with it.

Spicy goodness for Rohith; teary and smoky for me!

Give it a try if you please

We made the entire sambhar and dosa from coconut oil this time and really liked it. I think I am going to start cooking more with the extra virgin coconut oil that I picked up at Marshalls a while ago. It is odorless and grease free, which is the best!

Breakfast this morning:

Rohith had to leave pretty early this morning, so we got up at 06:30 am. I packed a big breakfast for him along with the left over sambhar and rice (which I made for him early in the morning). For myself, I made dalia topped with blueberry jewels and a sandwich with home made butter, tomatoes, masculine salad leaves, parmesan cheese, avocado and hummus on whole wheat toast.  

Breakfast was perfect!

Don’t worry about the size of the sandwich, the dalia was filling enough. 

The rest of the day went like a breeze and I tried to race against the time to accomplish all the errands and chores before heading out of home tomorrow.

The workout:

I continued my yoga all weekend long with Sun salutation 1 and 2 post shower and the yoga sequence for getting rid of muffin top and weekend warrior yoga sequence. 

The week ahead:

It seems pretty packed and hectic. I will keep you guys posted in case there is some development on my special project’s front. I have a few deadlines to meet this week. Wish me luck!

Have a rocking week ahead folks.

I will be rooting for you all. xxx

 

Question of the day:

Is there a festival/holiday which you like to celebrate in your own way than the common way?

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

Sehej pake so meetha hoye

From our Boston trip

"That which grows fast, withers as rapidly. That which grows slow, endures.- J.G. Holland, which my Mum translates to “Sehej pake so meetha hoye”. 

My Mum is full of idioms from Hindi and Sanskrit languages (her being a teacher of both the languages for more than two decades helps) and this has slowly seeped into my everyday vocabulary as well. 

Rohith often tries to imitate me and combines two Hindi idioms together. The end result is more than hilarious without fail. 

Midweek:

Weather has sure been unpredictable all week long. It suddenly became overcasted on Wednesday evening when I peeped out of my window.

About to pour?

Dinner at home:

I had a lot of colored peppers lying in the refrigerator from last week along with a cabbage. This is what I came up with  for dinner on Wednesday night.

Medley of vegetables

I also threw in the leftover scallions and potato curry in the mixed vegetables. The end result was thrilling. I also made chapatis at home and this little one with the last bit of dough left :) This brought back another one of my childhood memories. My Mum used to make these tiny chapatis for the three of us when we were growing up. Continuing the tradition now, Monal makes the same for Kanha everyday.

Home made delight

Rohith also had some berries for dessert later. This is his favorite idea for dessert when nothing else is available readily.

Quick and conveniently healthy dessert

Yesterday:

It was a crazy day. I was on my toes all day long. First I went and met one of my professional connections at Starbucks. I packed my breakfast of homemade sandwich and availed the Starbucks coupon for a free tall Hazel Maccachiato, which was downright yummy!

Later, I was at my internship for only a few hours, however I achieved a lot. I learned two new MS Office applications, Infoshare and Sharepoint, in one day. In the evening my friend, Laura, dropped by and we had our much awaited girls happy hour over coffee. She brought back a cute memento for me from her recent trip back home to Columbia along with a few goodies.

Dinner last evening:

As it has been an entire week of eating at home, I knew that Rohith was craving for something different. We decided to meet at West 4 Street train station and headed out to look for a place to eat. Boy was it cold last evening!

Without much deliberation, we decided to settle down at the Waverly Diner just outside the train station. Rohith had his favorite breakfast for dinner. 

Breakfast for dinner

I ordered their Veggie Burger Delux, which they burned real good upon my request.

Yum yum

Weekend begins:

Rohith did not go into work today and decided to take the day off. The breakfast as expected was grand. Rohith made a sandwich out of all the possible ingredients that we have inside the refrigerator. I gobbled it down with the smoked chipotle salsa and cranberry juice.

Breakfast has been served

Later we spoke to Juhi for sometime and she mentioned about having homemade lassi today. Of course we went ahead and followed suite. Rohith made salty lassi for our afternoon beverage with kala namak (rock salt), sookhaa pudina (dried and ground mint leaves) and bhuna zeera (roasted and ground cumin seeds).

Summertime is almost here

It was downright tasty and relaxing. I even dozed off for a few minutes after consuming the lassi.

Workout this morning:

I am still sore from the cardio workout on Wednesday morning, therefore I continued my Sun Salutation 1 and 2 post shower yesterday and today. I also did the yoga sequence for muffin top today.

Have a rocking weekend ahead folks! 

I will be rooting for you all. xxx

Question for the day:

• Do you have a favorite idiom/(muhavara or kahawat in Hindi/Sanskrit) or in your mother tongue that you use frequently?
• What is the one tradition that you continue to do while cooking for your kid that your Mum did when you were little?

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