15 Marbles

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

  • Every week,we start eating healthy/clean.But by the time its Friday evening,all good intentions fly out the window.Weekend mood kicks in and that’s it..who really wants to cook then. And then starts my downward spin :Eat-out on Friday night,followed by eat-out on saturday afternoon,may be cook something or else,eat out on Saturday night.Sunday morning starts out good-I cook a big breakfast and then we go for swimming at 2..But by the time we finish,everyone is starving and the first stop before home is fast-food!!There I have said it all now!
    I work so hard to lose weight during the week- I workout,I walk,eat healthy..and then I go and ruin it all in the the 2.5 days,that is the weekend.This weekend,I was feeling horrible and told SD that something needs to change.
    Hence the cookout today.
    For my cookout menu today,I am making-

    A big batch of chapati dough-ready,
    Chicken curry-chicken is getting marinated,
    sprouts curry – ready and
    Cabbage-mixed vegetable stir-fry- Cabbage is chopped.

    While I cooked the Sprouts curry,I did my 25 squats for the day.I had a big workout this morning,one that involved a lot of punching on a punching bag..I am sore all over and I have to tell you the squats hurt like H.E.L.L!!! SD was sitting right there,as I grunted my way through them..Oh!Dear God! The man has seen me in every form now!!LOL!

    I leave you with a recipe for the sprouts curry:

    705283_439398619455064_156675878_o

    Ingredients:

    3 cups of mixed sprouts(mung,chickpeas,peas,lentils)
    1 medium onion( fined chopped in the chopper)- Very fine,but not just puree’ed yet!
    1 small tomato (fine chopped in the chopper)
    1 tbspn ginger-garlic paste.
    salt ( to taste)
    1/2 tsp turmeric powder
    2 tsp cumin powder
    2 tsp red chili powder
    1 tsp garam masala/curry powder
    3 cups water.
    oil( 2 tsp)
    1 tsp cumin seeds
    Fresh Coriander& grated fresh coconut(optional) for garnish

    Heat oil in a pan and and add cumin seeds.When they start to splatter,add the chopped onions and fry till they turn translucent.
    Add ginger garlic paste and fry for one minute,and add the tomatoes,fry well till all the water from the tomatoes has dried up.
    Add the sprouts and add the spice powders and the salt and toss it all together,gently.
    And lastly add the water.Bring it to a boil and then cover and let it cook on a low flame till the beans are soft.If the water is drying up and the beans are still not stop,add a little more water.But you don’t want the curry to be too watery.

    Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and grated coconut.Serve hot with Chapati or steamed rice.

    This dish tastes good even with plain bread slices to dunk in.At least that’s how it was served in our college canteen.It was the most sold item and so wholesome,specially for those days,when you were slogging in a chemistry lab from 7:30 am to 11:00 am and only had an hour or so before the lectures began.I can tell you,I had wolfed down food that fast,before or after those wonder years!

    Oh and I am so excited!! My blog just crossed the 10,000 visitors.I am especially thrilled because its been a year since I bought this domain,but I actually migrated all my blogs here and started blogging regularly only since August.So,A big Thank you to all of you,who didn’t give up on me through all those url-changes..and A big thank you to ALL of you,who take the time to visit,read and comment.
    Thank you!thank you!thank you!!!
    And if you are just a lurker,why not leave me a comment ..Go on..don’t be shy 🙂

    fe40a893fbf25385d3472de0e7f939fe

  • 21767_432549790126922_1982573095_n

    Our Christmas tree is up,tinseled,decorated and lit up :)We all love looking it at it:) Ms.Aadya was the chief decorator this time and I had to literally sit on top of my OCD-side to re-arrange the colors..:D But this year,she was so excited,I didn’t want to play spoilsports.She didn’t stop chattering all the time.She put all the decorations in a box and carried it around,as she hung the ornaments on the tree.
    Ms.Ananya took a fancy to the glittery baubles.And no she didn’t just look at them,she wanted to taste them..and she even tasted the smooth ones,but didn’t particularly like those.Her favorite job was trying to stick ornaments on the tree..but she didn’t quite get it why didi’s stayed on and hers didn’t.That frustrated her a lot and there was a moment of mini-destruction,where she lashed out at the lowest branches! But she got distracted soon enough and left the tree alone.
    When we were decorating the tree,we played some Christmas songs on you-tube and were generally talking,laughing..I loveeeee that atmosphere…when we laughed,Nanhi laughed along!!Aadi wanted to know if she kept running away with the baubles too and we told her that we had decorated the tree while she was sleeping..But this time,I really wanted Nanhi to be a part of this family tradition too. But keeping Aadi away from the tree was so easy..Read here,if you don’t believe me..and she was only 2 months older than Nanhi is now!But Nanhi..OMG!She couldn’t care less..she does what she wants..she listens,when it suits her and seeing her sister move the decorations around,makes her believe like she has the licence for doing the same..:)
    In other news,we were going to have a long day today.And I didn’t want to skip on my xmas25squat challenge,so I did my squats,while brewing our morning cuppa.. 🙂
    2 days of Marathon Blogging and 2 days of squats done and dusted…!
    Have a good week!

    fe40a893fbf25385d3472de0e7f939fe

  • SD has started playing cricket again since the last 2 weeks and our Saturday routine has changed.While previously it was-Me-Go to work,come home,eat a late lunch- frozen Haldiram Thali or leftovers from the previous night,flop on the couch,cuddle the babies..take a little nap,go out for dinner/takeout,watch a movie in PJs 🙂
    Now SD brings the girls to my workplace and then we go to drop him at his cricket ground,and then we have a girls afternoon of shopping/window shopping & food court meals.Then we come home and sleep/play/read,depending on how tired we are.Showers,cooking and then pick up SD,followed by dinner and movie in PJs.
    When Aadi was little and SD first joined this cricket club,I was so angry and upset,because it meant that we(Aadi and I ) were trapped at home.I wasn’t driving then and we were at the weather’s mercy!But now its a different ball game all together.
    I have two more weekends of work and then 7 weekends free..So looking forward to sleeping in on Saturday mornings and planning a whole weekend with SD and the girls.
    I am doing the 25squat challenge and did the first day of the challenge,while cooking dinner. Nanhi didn’t want me to have all the fun,alone,so I did 10 squats carrying her!And that made Aadi angry,so I did the other 15 holding hands with her!And then she got mad at me,that I stopped!! The kid has no mercy! LOL!
    I hope to get through the next 24 days and see some results!:)
    I guess I’ll stop now..
    fe40a893fbf25385d3472de0e7f939fe

  • 30 days of non-stop blogging..yayyy I did it!And I have to admit,it was quite effortless..I think I must have struggled with what to write,may be once or twice..but all good otherwise.
    We woke this morning to see a dead Sparkle 😦 I don’t know if they had a fight or she just got sick.We were worried about Aadi’s reaction..but she was pretty good.She did keep saying that the big sister died..and I winced every time she said it.. Oh she was very upset that we didn’t wait for her to flush Sparkle down the toilet..I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
    In other news I had a fab killer workout this morning..but it was too hot for comfort..I was ready to throw up at one point..but some cool air from the fan and sips of water made me feel better..
    Its movie-night here-we finished watching Brave and now are watching the Dark Knight Rises..I better stop typing,SD is frowning at me!
    But before I go,I want to ask you..do you want to read more daily posts..or just sporadic ones??
    Leave me a comment..come on!make a girl happy 🙂
    fe40a893fbf25385d3472de0e7f939fe