pallavithinksandwrites: Pics that make my day

Everyday might not be good but there is something good in everyday-Unkown.

The good for me in everyday is to look at a picture of anyone of my nephews or niece on my phone.

Like this recent picture that I took of Suhasini, when I visited Juhi this month. She came to me and quietly leaned on the futon, where I was sitting. The timing for the picture could not have been better. She looks like strawberry syrup on snowball in this one.

Our fairy Suhasini

Or this one of our nephew, Rohan, in London, which his mum, Mimi, shared on fb recently.

Rohan: Our cheeky monkey

Another one of my favorites, is the picture is of my nephew in India. Apparently, he is taking after his mother when it comes to cleaning the house. So my sister, Ketaki (Monal), said that we can borrow him, should we need a maid in the near future. LoL!

Our adorable Kanha in his latest avatar

Whenever I am glum or feeling really down, I just take a look at these photos and it is a surefire way to light up my day!

Rohith’s culinary adventures:

I received this recipe for the vegetable bean soup in an email last week and thought about giving it a try this week. Rohith volunteered to make it. I played the sous chef and made the preparations. He made a slight variation to the original recipe as he mixed red and black beans instead of all black as the recipe called for. The result was phenomenal, not only aesthetically for our eyes but also a delight for our taste buds. I take my words back for I was quick to comment that he was simply making our desi rajma. It was nothing like our punjabi rajma that Juhi, Ketaki and my father (the best) and Rohith (close second) make.

A must try and to die for dish

I wanted to give it a try as the winters are over and this is really comforting on a chilly, wet and cold evening. I had my soup with the leftover simple veggie pulao (typical desi way) and Rohith had his with toasted multigrain toast (Amereekheyn). I topped the soup with freshly sliced avocado and our home made butter instead of the sour cream or yogurt as mentioned in the original recipe.

I am yet to give sambhar a try before it gets too warm for the dish.

Yesterday:

It looked like doomsday from the beginning. We woke up to a cold, wet, gray (actually downright depressing) day. I went to my internship only to discover that my reporting coordinator is working from home. Bummer! Just when I thought it could not get worse, I heard news from two my closest friends that sank my mood even further. I left earlier than usual and came home. When I came back the sun was out and things were looking shinier. What better way to uplift my mood further than to make one of Rohith's all time favorite aaloo aur hare pyaaz ki sabzi (scallions/spring onions and potatoes curry). I make it the Bengali way, which Mimi taught me when I have visited her in London back in 2010. Her formula never fails.

Yum yum

It was so spicy and hot in the end that it opened my sinus and I had a sneezing fit,which lasted for around an hour :)

To balance the heat and spices from the sabzi, I whipped up pomegranate yogurt on the side.

Swimming jewels

To bring a little texture, I added resins as to it.

No exaggeration, Rohith licked the last drop of this healthy and tasty yogurt.

Today:
It is just opposite to yesterday. Sunny, bright and uplifting. One of those days when you are happy to be alive.

Workout:
I finally felt motivated enough to get back to my cardio routine. This is what I accomplished.

Full body cardio warm up
Full body cardio circuit workout

I also did my usual Sun Salutations 1 and 2 post shower and continued my yoga sequence to get rid of muffin tops.

Breakfast:

It was just fair to treat myself after the killer workout in a long time. I assembled this whole wheat roll with hummus, home made butter, well done egg whites and tomatoes. I also had a glass of cranberry juice to go along.