Merry Merry Month of May

So blue so green 

In the beginning of the year, I had written that 2013 is the year of hope on my blog. So far it has not turned out the way I have planned. But then I remember one of my favorite verses from Gita to keep me going

“In this endeavor there is no loss or diminution, and a little advancement on this path can protect one from the most dangerous type of fear.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 2.40)

Most unnerving question:
Often times during the interview process, I have been asked about my leadership skills. Most people think that the “Tell me about yourself” question is a curveball for them, however for me it’s the leadership question. They (the interviewers) typically ask me “What do you think are the qualities of a true leader?”. Thank God I came across this sensible article summarizing what it takes to be a true leader. This is what the article says:

1. Share Authentically— Unlock The Power of Vulnerability

2.  Express Authentically— Unlock The Power of Individuality

3. Listen Authentically— Unlock The Power of Presence

4.  Acknowledge Authentically—  Unlock The Power of Appreciation

5.  Serve Authentically—  Unlock The Power of Other-Centeredness 

If you want to read the entire article, please click here. 

Last week:

Most of last week went in attending one seminar or sessions after another. There were quite a few interesting sessions going on climate change and urban resilience in the wake of Sandy. I made sure to be a part of as many as possible. 

Climate Change event @ Asia Society, NYC

It’s interesting to see how people perceive the issue of climate change coming from different walks of life. Personally ultimately it boils down to being all about money and politics. 
I also attended an interesting event at Accenture in NYC for building up skill sets in US for jobseekers like me. This was organized by my favorite organization Upwardly Global.

Cooking at home:

One thing that I did was to cook a lot at home all of last week. I am really hooked on to breakfast smoothies these days.  Like I mentioned earlier, the beauty of the smoothies is that you can add any and everything edible that suits your palatte and give it a whirl. Voila smoothie is ready! To make things extra healthy, at times I throw in almonds and dried figs for protein.

Breakfast staple now

I also made aaloo aur hare pyaaz ki sabzi (scallion/spring onions dnd potatoes curry) after a very long time. I paired it with ghiye/lauki ki sabzi (bottle gourd’s curry). Mimi and Juhi’s recipes never fail!

As good as it gets.

Rohith was in mood for some aaloo ghobhi ki sabzi (cauliflower and potatoes curry), so this also featured one of the evenings for dinner.

Here you go

Rohith volunteered to make pasta for dinner as I had backache last week after beginning my 21 days challenge. It was as good as the last time.

Labor of love

With all the leftover veggies at home, I quickly assembled the mixed vegetable stuffed sandwich for breakfast one of the morning last week. I will share the picture of the ingenious gadget that I have got from India for making sandwiches in my next blog post.

Product of an ingenious gadget

Over the weekend, Rohith again displayed his culinary skills while making breakfast for us. He also threw in some authentic has browns!

Restaurant style

Juhi teased me over the weekend with this cook off pic, which she made and shared on Saturday. 

Masterchef Stmaford, MA: Mrs. Juhi Gupta!

To curb our taste buds, we decided to settle on something doable. Since we had not given the baigan ka bhartaa (Indian eggplant/brinjal curry) a try in a while that featured on one of the evenings over the weekend at the Roy’s household.

Mouthwatering. Isn’t it?

That green paint like stuff in the bowels is yogurt in hare dhaniye ki chutney (cilantro/coriander’s chutney). Don’t be turned off by it’s look. It tasted wonderful when paired with the bharta.

Mangoes appeared in our local neighborhood market, so here you go.

Dessert, Indian style

I told Rohith about one of my childhood stories. During the summer vacation at our Nana Ji’s (Maternal grandpa’s) place in Delhi we used to choose the number mangoes equal to the number of cousins for making the mangoshake as dessert. The reason being the pits of those mangoes were later equally distributed between us. Those were the days my friends!

Workout at home:

I have been pretty disciplined all along to continue my 21 days Best Body (BB) challenge so far. This is what I am doing all along if you would like to try too

• Get rid of muffin tops in 5 easy moves
• Battle of the bulge: Yoga sequence to get rid of muffin top
• Get rid of muffin top and get 6 pack abs.

It takes me a total of 45 minutes to do the entire routine. I have divided it between morning and evening sessions to stay motivated. 

I have ache in hamstrings, gluts and back, however I am not backing down for sure.

Weekend ahead:

We have a long weekend coming up as it’s  Memorial Day in the US. The plans are not yet concrete as there are two or three options to spend it. I will let you guys know next week what we did. 

Have a rocking weekend ahead folks! xxxx

Question of the day:

• Do you have any plans for the long weekend?
• Is there any unnerving question that you faced and what was your answer?

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

Mother’s day weekend 2013

Sunday, May 12 was Mother’s day this year. Being away from my own mother (and mother in law) made me realize the importance of an iconic and legendary person in my life, who is so far away. I am not trying to be soapy here but on mother’s day I specially remember my aunt (Mami Ji), who is no longer with us now. I used to ask this question to myself (and my Mumma) often that how my cousins have lived without their mother growing up when I cannot stomach the idea of staying away from my own mother even for a few days.  Now I know why my mother never replied to me.

The flip side of this is that now my sister is also a Mom of the most adorable kid in the world, who is growing at a rapid pace :)

Apple of our eyes

Mother’s day celebration:

So what if our Moms are not here, the spirit is certainly there. To alleviate the missing, we headed over to Rohith’s aunt’s (Bua Ji) place. Rohith’s twin cousins have decided to cook up some finger food and order pizza. Midway there was a change of plans and all three of them (Rohith, Runa and Pia) decided on making the all american staple, mac and cheese for dinner. 

To make or not to make, that is the question!

The feast: Sinful but yummy ;)

In the midst of all the chaos around the making of mac and cheese, I took a chill pill and enjoyed my time with this new sauvigon blanc that Rohith’s aunt introduced to me last evening.

Heavenly

Last week:

The entire week went in the planning and preparation of a spring benefit that I helped organize being on the Host Committee. It was for a wonderful organization supporting and promoting the potable water access in Africa. It is called thewatercollective and they are soon planning to launch in India too. Exciting!          

From the spring benefit I helped organize last week

I also did some prep work on myself for getting ready for the event. It has been more than eight months since I have actually visited my hairdresser! Incredible but true :P

This is how I looked that evening. 

Candid posing. LoL!

I had no idea how long my hair have grown in all these months. It was my hairstylist who said that she didn’t have the heart to shorten the lengths of my locks that me realize this. I have such curly and fuzzy hair that the length is eclipsed because of the curls and fuzz always. 

Not so bad. Right?

I also invited Rohith’s cousin’s to the benefit event. Later, we met Rohith for dinner at a very nice burger joint in the neighborhood called Bill’s burgers. I was a little disappointed as they charged us a fortune for the special drinks pitcher that night. I hate to give bad reviews on yelp, however for this one I will have to make an exception sadly :(

Brunch yesterday:
I made some stuffed sandwiches for brunch yesterday, which we had with dhaniye ki chutney and tomato ketchup. They were lip smacking!

Restaurant like

Later, we headed for Coney Island for some much needed sand and sun!

Just the right thing for a sunny afternoon

Workout:

Workout has been off and on, I have to confess to you all. I have only been able to do my yoga regimen along with the Sun Salutations 1 and 2 but no cardio.

I am beginning a three week long regimen tomorrow and will keep you guys posted on it.

Question of the evening:

• How did you celebrate Mother’s day this year? Were you lucky enough to be with your Mum?
• Have you tried any short -term-result-yeilding workout regimen lately to get ready for summers just in time?

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

                                                   
           

      

Spring is here? Maybe not.

The sunset casts shadow on a 100 year old beautiful building in our neighborhood 

This past week we had some extremely beautiful weather in NYC and believed that spring is here to stay.

Weekend begins:

On Friday, I met someone in SoHo in a really cute cafe called Housing Works bookstore cafe. You can grab a book for free and cup of coffee (paid of course) and read or work there for hours, undisturbed and undiscovered.  Experiences like these make me fall in love with NYC over and over again.

Later, I went to grab some margaritas at one of the bars in Chelsea, Pounds and Ounces. They were having a special 2-for-1 cocktails, perfect for Spring Fridays! I heard that Billy Joel’s original sax player was also performing there as it was their one year anniversary and that added to the attraction. 

I was waiting for Rohith and ordered these two drinks.

Island Breeze

Chelsea strawberry squeezer

Billy’s original sax player, Richie Cannata

Afterwards, there was a change of plans. We visited the Whitney Museum uptown instead. It was very nice as it was my first time to be there and on Fridays they have pay what you wish going on.

After visiting the museum we had burgers at a cute neighborhood diner, Soup Burg. I thought their name was funny and my veggie burger delicious! 

We also spotted a Pick a Bagel shop and decided to pick some fresh bagels and muffins for breakfast on Saturday. 

Saturday:

As Rohith was not at home, I prepared my bagel with some peanut butter and jelly for breakfast.

Yum yum: Sweet and slaty together

I spent the rest of Saturday working around the house mostly. I also happened to catch and old flick of my favorite actor, Will Smith called I am legend in the evening.

Sunday:

We decided to have aaloo k paranthe (potato stuffed Indian bread) for lunch yesterday, before heading out for a long walk along the water.

Heavy and filling lunch 

We had the paranthes with bharwaan baigan  (stuffed indian eggplants), dhaniye ki chutney (cilantro chutney), aam ka achaar (Indian mango pickle), yogurt and homemade butter. 

It was a beautiful day and we strolled for around 4 hours or so in our neighborhood. We also sat in the Sun for the first time after a long and cold winter. 

The Sun was so balmy

Dinner last night:

For dinner, I made a quick vegetable and beans soup with all the leftover veggies and we had it with bread. I ate it for lunch today too and it tasted equally scrumptious as last night.

So healthy, quick and filling

Breakfast this morning:

I made a quick smoothie for myself with veggies, fruits, juice and dry figs.

It tasted very different but nice

Workout:

All week long, I continued with my yoga sequence for lower back pain and muffin top after the Sun Salutation 1 and 2.

This week:

I have a number of networking events and informational sessions lined up all week long. I am also going for  a haircut tomorrow. Will let you know how it goes.

Have a rocking week ahead folks!

Question for the day:

• How did you celebrate the arrival of spring (not counting the spring cleaning)?
• What is the most interesting place or building in your neighborhood that you have discovered/visited recently?

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