15 Marbles

Moments.Musings.Memories. ❤️Gathering little marbles from ordinary days and keeping them for our memory jar. ❤️

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  • Diwali vibes

    Diwali is round the corner and it’s time to shake the lockdown fatigue and welcome some well deserved cheer. Restrictions in Melbourne have eased at the right time too. We were invited to a Diwali celebration last night and that put us all in a festive mood.

    I am still waiting for my Diwali-in-a-box from my dad & sister thanks to quarantine delays, it’s time to put on my adult hat on and bring some festive furor in my little home with little touches of decoration here and there, massive decluttering & yelling at everyone to help clean( I am not very popular right now) and of course preparing traditional treats – Diwalicha Faral . Faral is a mix of sweet and savoury snacks prepared lovingly at home.

    I grew up in a traditional Maharashtrian home and the delicious aroma of besan & ghee roasting wafting from the kitchen signalled that Diwali was here. I remember my mom and grandmother roasting 1-2 kgs of besan in a massive kadhai(wok) till their arms were about to fall off and then roll the laddus till their fingers were aching . There were big steel dabbas ( calling a dabba canister just doesn’t invoke those happy memories 😄) filled to the brim with laddus that we would sneak around to get our hands into.

    I had shared this recipe a few years ago, sharing again, if you want to attempt it.

    This morning, MsA’s smile when I told her what I was cooking reminded me of my own joy as a child. However, this time I had a little help from my newest kitchen toy, my Thermomix. The girls have named her Therma 😊 Therma did all the roasting for me & then I roasted the besan & ghee mix in the pan for another 5 minutes to get the colour of my choice.

    MsAn bantered on about how she doesn’t like laddu & I only cook what MsA likes. She wants Gulab Jamun. I have challenged myself to make some now – of course you will hear about it whether it’s a success or a failure 😄

    For now, my house smells beautiful.. Diwali vibes are on. Roasted besan, cardamom, incense… and my heart is happy! I hope to share some more recipes over the next couple of days 🙂

    Happy Diwali, you guys ❤️❤️❤️❤️

  • Hello

    Helloooo world!

    I have a day off today and had big plans to study but spent most of my morning hanging out in my room, staying out of the way of those who are studying and working. I had Mr.Mowgli for company and used my time wisely to make some phone calls that were long overdue .

    And now, it’s lunch time, I made myself a cup of packet soup (Asian Laksa, in case you are curious) and decided to settle down for some studying. But one child is using my laptop and another has occupied my office. I could use the work tablet to sign in but I try to keep work and school separate, so here I am 😊 Just stopping by to say hello and document a few things.

    So, we are in Lockdown 6.0 – it seems never ending and COVID fatigue or Lockdown fatigue has kicked in big time. It’s knocked me out for the sixes that’s for sure. The girls are unhappy about logging in from home as well. The only person that seems unaffected is SP. But, then he is an introvert and was also used to this style of working pre-COVID.

    Don’t worry, this post is not going to be all doom and gloom. Today is a bright sunny day and that’s making me smile. Last week I also started a new role professionally. And that is super exciting too. The only downer is that I had to do an online handover for the last role and do my own onboarding online. But my new team leader is lovely and set me up for one on one with all the members of the team through out the week, so that was nice.

    Usually on my day off, I am bustling around in the kitchen doing the laundry and any other mundane tasks that are pending from the week/weekend. Today, I just decided to give myself a break . And now I am trying to beat the iPad that has 15% battery left, to finish this post.

    Today reminds me of the time when I was a 20-something newly wed, living in Toronto or a suburban American town, not a care in the world. I would wake up, make myself a cup of tea and log in to chat with friends and family in India, write a blog post ( although I do regret not starting a blog in those early years) ,craft, watch a movie, go to the library- you get the idea. But obviously, that’s not an option now..working full time, having kids mean more responsibilities. But, every now and again,having a day like this helps.

    SP took a photo of MrMowgli and me this morning:) sharing it here to remind myself to take a break every now and again 🙂

    MsAn has returned my laptop, so I should try and get some studying done before they finish school for the day. Also in the time that it took me write this post, with interruptions, the weather has changed from sunny to cloudy and there was a quick hail shower too – that’s Melbourne weather for you. But my mood is cheery now 🙂

    If you are reading this, do stop and say hi 🙂

    ❤️ Trish

  • Stress cooking is a real thing.

    Today was a long day at work- long meetings, lot of firefighting behind the screens and I was exhausted by the time I logged off. I told the husband to order pizza and I was going to sit on the couch and stare at my phone. Another work call and I decided to cook- to unwind.

    I love the rhythm of slicing and dicing, the mixing of spices, marinades and finally watching it all come together. Tonight I cooked besan wali Capsicum & a quick kadhai paneer with daal fry and steamed rice.

    Quick paneer kadhai recipe :

    Marinate paneer cubes with yogurt, Chili powder,coriander powder, Kasuri methi and salt. Keep it aside for 15-20 minutes. Heat oil in a pan toss in diced onions and capsicum – cook for 2 minutes, dump the marinated paneer in the pan and let it sizzle. Lower the flame, add a little water, cover and cook on low flame for another 2-3 minutes. This whole dish took me about 15-20 minutes from start to finish.

    While the paneer was getting cooked, I chopped the onions for my daal fry , while talking to my dad and seasoned the daal- burnt the onions a little accidentally but in the end that made the daal tastier.

    While the daal was simmering away, I sliced up the red & yellow capsicums for ‘besan wali capsicum’ .

    My mom used to cook it for our school lunches and I have finally mastered it.

    For this dish: heat oil in a pan, add some cumin seeds. Once the cumin seeds start to splatter, add the diced capsicum and stir fry. Season with salt, turmeric powder, Chili powder.When the capsicum is semi cooked, add some besan (Chickpea flour) . Two large heaped teaspoons for 2 medium sized capsicums. Mix well, cover and cook on medium flame for 3-5 minutes. The idea is to cook the chickpea flour by steaming. Try to not add any water, while cooking this dish.

    It was a lovely meal to end the long day and there are enough leftovers for our lunches tomorrow . The only person not impressed with tonight’s offerings was MsAn, who ate a cheese toasty instead. Oh well, 3 out of 4 is not bad 🙂

    More later,

    Trish 💕

  • Ten!

    Ten- Double digits! MsAn is 10! I can’t believe it that my baby is 10! At the risk of sounding like a broken record, where did the time go? Wasn’t she just born yesterday.

    I remember waking up all groggy after my surgery around 11:30 pm or so and asking to see the baby. SP brought her to me and she just nuzzled her way into my heart in that very moment before settling in comfortably on my chest. It felt so effortless- just right.

    I still remember being worried if I would be able to love another baby as much as I love MsA. It turns out I was worried for nothing. Now sometimes MsA accuses me of loving MsAn more than her. Well, she follows me around like a puppy, smothers me with kisses and cuddles and talks my ear off – how , please tell me how can I resist the force that is Ananya!

    Here’s the little set up for her Iso birthday:)

    She is the loveliest little girl with a quirky sense of humour. She laughs easily, even at herself. The only time she gets annoyed is when her dad and sister try to tease her about anything. She loves telling stories, just about anything – it could be something that happened at school, something she read, or facts about animals.

    At school, she loves reading, art, Mandarin, food tech, Maths, PE, everything except writing. She is really good with technology & robotics. She has a lovely little group of friends and it makes me really happy that she may have found her tribe.

    She is a very sensitive, caring child and worries about those that she cares about. And as a result COVID-19 has been an emotional roller coaster for her. The anxiety of the virus, the loneliness caused by lockdowns and missing school has robbed a little piece of her spirit – I hope I can help her find it again.

    But, she is generally a happy little old soul. She loves cooking with me, loves reading, playing video games, basketball, piano & loves her doughnuts. She is very perceptive and aware of other’s feelings and it amazes me how much she takes in when I think she is not listening. She wants to be a vet when she grows up.

    Dear MsAn I hope you always remain this happy, bubbly, loud, funny, perceptive person as you find your place in life ❤️ As I tell you, always be yourself unless you can be a unicorn! You are as unique as your name and we would never change that for anything, even though sometime we may ask you to talk softly 😀 A, Papa & I love you soo much ..

    Love Mumma ❤️