'tis the season of giving... and going...

Everyone, especially the people that really celebrate christmas, are excited for this time of the year. It's time to give and receive presents and eat large amounts of foods. For me, it's a commercialized holiday that I am part of, sort of. Everyone around me has the holiday excitement so rather than be a party pooper, I go along for the ride. The shopping spree has begun, malls are busy, and people's blood pressures are running high. It's ho ho ho season.... I find such pleasure in knowing I will be one of the few that won't shop for christmas gifts. I will purposely use a day after Christmas to buy presents for my loved ones. Why, you may ask, because that's me. I can't handle large spaces, let alone large crowded spaces. That with the kids running wild and the grandparents taking up all the couch seating from the rest of us is a bad combination for me.

Fortunately I'll have a chance to avoid the rush and shop in India for my loved ones. Not that Christmas or ANY kind of shopping in India is any better. If anything it's worse- all year around; there are people, lots of them, crammed in the small spaces, busy shopping for this and that holiday and the traffic ringing their horns always on the go.

Regardless of the crowds and the traffic, I am excited for the trip; to spend time with family, eat homemade meals, see the changes India has made to enhance cultural, social and economic development, experience life in a changed society and most importantly appreciate its true beauty. I am proud of my country for rising from the upheavel (though it's not over) and enduring the turbulences. It has achieved a lot and is on it's way to more improvements. And we're not the only ones going... Majority of the Indian foreginers travel to India around this time to elude the cold weather and to enjoy the holiday season which starts around October.

last night's simple dinner

last night's dinner was omelette and biscuits. The hubby and I weren't sure what we would make for dinner though we knew we wanted something quick and easy. I repeatedly told him I wanted breakfast for dinner, something along the lines of eggs, bacon and biscuit. After much thought, we decided on baked omelette with biscuits.

You need, approximately:
Turkey Bacon
onion, thinly sliced
garlic, finely chopped
roasted Turkey, sliced or cubed (great way to use leftovers)
kale (any kind of greens work)
salt & pepper
ground cumin
ground coriander
red chili flakes
1/2 bunch Green onions
8 eggs - beaten
1/4 cup milk, optional
cheddar cheese (any cheese would do, but I was going with a latin themed dinner)

Preheat oven to 350F degrees. In a seperate bowl, beat eggs with salt, pepper and milk. On medium-low heat, sauté bacon in a medium or large sauce pan for 5 minutes. Then add garlic and onions and let the mixture cook until onions are translucent. Then add turkey to the mixture and allow to cook for 6-8 minutes, or until Turkey absorbs the mixture flavor. Add kale to the pan and stir well. Allow kale to wilt down, season with salt, pepper, ground cumin and coriander and chili flakes. Add the egg mixture to the pan and sprinkle green onion and cheese on top and cook for 5-8 minutes, until it's set on the bottom. Cover and cook for few more minutes. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes or until it reaches preferred consistency.
*side note, milk provided for a creamier tasting omelette.

Cook the pre made biscuits based on instructions on the back.
Enjoy

post thanksgiving break

what a weekend.... a well needed vacation dissappeared in no time. It is the 4 day away from work and busy hectic life that I am talking about that I wanted to cherish and treasure. Unfortunately time flew by real fast and I am left wondering where time went. My dad came to visit from New Jersey as well as my sister, nephew and brother in law from Virginia. Weeks prior to the vacation, I was counting down days until everyone flew into town... I was yearning to see familiar faces and to hear gossip on family members.... and juicy gossip, I heard. a cousin that went to India for a year for volunteering and another that had a grand wedding. So grand that just the cocktail hour had couple dozen varieties of appetizers.

My turkey day was just perfect. I prepared roasted pepper dip (a marvelous recipe MG forwarded to me) and sun dried tomato dip , -omitted roasted peppers because I didn't want it to be redundant. I also made my pumpkin pie crust on Tuesday evening and cut up the green beans on Wednesday night. I was as prepared as I could be for Thursday and spent minimal time in the kitchen.

Speaking of my nephew, he is the joy of my life. Even though he lives hours and hours away, when I have the opportunity to see him- it's delightful. He started talking few months ago and now tries his hardest to speak in full sentences. My favorite was on late Friday his dad asked him to change into his pajamas, he went searching for my sister through the entire house, figured she was in the bathroom, came running to tell us all that she was in the bathroom for a long potty break. Now I know that may not sound so pleasant but his broken language combined with out of order noun and verb structure made it very cute.

My first thanksgiving feast included the dips, nuts, roasted 15 lb turkey, green beans with almonds, vegetarian stuffing, shepherd's pie with soy ground meat because my sister and brother in law are vegetarians and pumpkin pie. I managed to do it all and have some time to spend with the family. I admit, I was very impressed with myself. My sister tried to help me but unfortunately the little one was distracting her enough to keep her out of the kitchen. I was glad I planned in advance and prepared things prior to allow some down time on Thursday.

My dad left early Monday morning and I was really happy. We were able to spend some time with him and discuss important (financial, are you able to survive?) matters. I am not sure why but my parents always worry about my sister and I and wonder if we're living okay. Of course we are. If we weren't we wouldn't plan a big Thanksgiving feast for all.

If last weekend didn't have enough gorging day and night, we planned a Cooking club for Saturday the 2nd. The theme is holidays of the world. It's hard to find Christmas recipes from around the world and/or holidays in December that have delicious foods.

walk, walk for the children

Today was a wonderful day for a brisk walk, though it wasn't brisk per say. It was 5 miles all in all for Cincinnati Children's Hospital. It was enjoyable because friends like V, K and of course MG were there. A month ago I donated money to the fund raiser through A's email and didn't think much of it. Thereafter I received a pleasant email from MG asking for a donation and/or to walk for the event. The email was very inspiring as anything that MG is involved in usually is, so I decided to walk. I asked K and as always she was a good sport, as per V and the husband they were hard to convince. I had to guilt trip V into coming and he agreed. The husband was planning to come and "support" the walkers by standing on the sidelines. When he realized he would be the only one, he reconsidered. Thankfully the weather was also nice for a November weekend. Chilly at first but we all warmed up from the walking and the sun came out. We walked 5 miles, ate pizza, munched on some cookies and socialized. I had a great time and will plan to do it again next year, maybe. I have a feeling both the husband and I (as well as everyone else) will be sore tomorrow due to the lack of exercise in our daily routine. Regardless it was well worth it.

We met MG's mom that's visiting from the Philippines. She's tinier than MG if that's possible but has a big personality. MG's planning a dinner for Friday so it'll be fun to spend some one on one time with her.

After the walk, I came home and crashed. E and I were planning to go clothes shopping but D took her mattress shopping. (uhh, who does that on a saturday?) I napped for 3 hours and felt refreshed. We just finished Monster-in-law, the movie; don't watch it! I expected it to be a so-so movie because it didn't have great reviews but I still had a dash of hope. Next movie will be Mr. and Mrs. Smith (one of those other movies that I don't care to see but since the husband brought it, I won't complain).

For now it's time to get some food ready for the table and our hungry bellies.

It's November 1st, already

So this morning, I woke up freaking out because it's already November. Not bad freaking out though freaking out isn't good either. Just shocked that so much time has passed so fast. I can't say that I recall staying home any weekends in August, September and October. It was a lot of fun while it lasted though now we have to start getting busy with overdue work. November means it's close to our anniversary, thanksgiving and our trip to India............ yikes. oh the shopping... let the dreaded shopping re-begin..

I still have so much shopping and packing left for the trip. I am already overwhelmed. I love shopping but shopping for others is definitely not my forte b/c I don't know what to get for people. My in laws told me to get anything and everything for the kids. well that sounds like a great way to pack couple bags, if I knew what kids liked or wanted. I don't have kids and haven't spent more than couple hours with them to know what to get; let alone fill 2 giant suitcases for India. We bought clothes and toys, the obvious answers but now we're stuck. I told them to send me a list but unfortunately they don't know what America has to offer kids so they can't come up with a specific list.... what a dilemma...

I must say, I am really excited to spend some time with his family. The weather isn't so great these past few days. It's cloudy, rainy at times, kinda ewwy which never makes for a good work week. I am really glad it's Wednesday and not Monday. Work's been ehhhhh... A lot of pressure from here and there, with this and that deadlines but I'm managing, I think. A little stressed and overwhelmed at times but it wouldn't be work without it.