Monday’s Here! #MondayBlogs

15 May 2017 31 Comments

by Ritu in Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: bitmoji, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Monday

It’s Monday!

The beginning of the week!

Bringing all sorts of thoughts to my mind.

Worry, because we have a bit of unrest at work in my department, and things happening this week may impact us in several ways. And we need to start the end of year assessments and report for my class, which is always a tough task!

Excitement, because I am awaiting some very exciting news in my personal life!

Stress, because we have a really manic week with Lil Man’s after school activities this week! Cricket training tonight, two cricket matches tomorrow, Parents evening on Wednesday, another cricket match on Thursday, and cricket training followed by the drum lesson on Friday! Phew! and that doesn’t include Lil Princess’s street dance class on Wednesday, and their badminton training on the weekend!

Sadness, because the weekend has gone ( I mourn that every Monday)!

Happy, because it’s the start of a new week, and there are always endless possibilities!

So I’ma jus’ gonna go out there and embrace the week, and whatever it brings!

Have a wonderful week Peeps! Happy Monday!

As always, thanks to Bitmoji for being amazing with their personalised emojis that I use regularly on this blog!

Spidey’s Serene Sunday – Part 117 – Mums…

14 May 2017 23 Comments

by Ritu in Spidey's Serene Sundays, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Calm, Mother, Mothers Day, Mums, Quotes, Serene, Spiderman, Spidey, Spidey's Serene Sunday

“A mother understands what a child does not say.” Proverb

Seeing as it’s Mother’s Day in many other parts of the world, including the US of A where Spidey hails from, we thought why not celebrate it again!

I think there aren’t enough days in the year to truly celebrate what a mother is to us all.

The proverb above couldn’t ring more true for me anyway.

No matter where I am, what I am doing or how old I am, my mum always knows.

Whether I am feeling high as a kite, but haven’t said anything, or so low that I feel the ground will just rise above me, she knows.

It’s that mother’s intuition.

And she wont go rushing in hammer and tongs, asking me “What’s up? Why? Who? What? When?”

She just has that knack of saying the right thing to either allow me to open up, or to soothe my feelings.

She knows there are things I can’t tell her sometimes, or that I won’t, yet she still won’t push for information.

No interrogation.

Just that silent support.

She’s there for me. She always is.

And just as she can read my silence, I can feel her silent support.

Thank you Mum! ❤

Happy Mother’s Day!

Enjoy your Sunday Peeps! If you’re a mum, I hope you get appreciated for all you do! If your mum is still with you , make sure you show her how much she is loved. If your mum is being your silent support from above, look up, and thank her for still caring, even though she isn’t here.

For mums everywhere 🙂

Sunday Lunch – Punjabi Style!

14 May 2017 84 Comments

by Ritu in Foodie Pics, Recipes, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Aloo Paratha, Blog, blog Posst, Blogger, Blogging, Recipe, Sunday Lunch

Much as I love a traditional English roast dinner, complete with golden, crispy roast potatoes, slices of lamb with mint sauce, and lashings of gravy, there is another Sunday meal that we Punjabi’s tend to try not to miss…

Aloo Parathas!

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These are a lightly fried potato filled bread which we eat traditionally with plain set yoghurt and pickle.

There are so many variations, stuffing them with different vegetables like cauliflour (gobi parathas), minced meat (keema parathas) or even paneer (paneer parathas). One favourite of mine is to have a plain one with fried egg! It seems to be a bit if a Kenyan Indian things!

20170423_122300 I thought I would share the simple recipe for these delicious treats! Again, as I have said before, it is really hard to give measurements as we Indians like to use andazaa, or approximations! If it looks right and tastes right, that is great… probably the reason why we can never cook for a few people but always have vats of curry on the boil!

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You’ll need:

A rolling pin

A tava/frying pan

A fish slice

An insulated container to collect them in.

loose flour

chapatti dough, made from chapatti flour mixed with water to create a firm dough

potato mix – boil potatoes, and drain fully. Mash then mix in salt, pepper, cumin seeds, a little finely chopped onion, a little grated ginger, finely chopped green chilli and chopped fenugreek leaves (methi)

Butter (Butter Fry light spray if you want to be as Slimming World friendly as you can!)

Method

Heat tava to a medium heat
Take a ball of dough and roll it in your hands.

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Coat in a little loose flour then create a flat circular patty using your hands.

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Roll into a circle approximately the size of a side plate
Take around a tablespoon of potato mix and place in centre

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Gently take each side of the dough and gather into a pouch.

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Flatten and cover with loose flour again.

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Carefully roll the larger patty out to the size of a dinner plate

Slowly pick up and place on the tava

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Allow the paratha to cook gently until the dough appears to change colour.

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Using a fish slice carefully turn over to cook on other side.

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Once browned, turn over again and apply butter to the paratha
Turn again and apply butter to other side
Allow to sizzle for a few seconds and then place paratha in your insulated container
Repeat from second step until you have as many parathas as you need

And Enjoy!

With Butter

With Frylight

TJ’s Household Haiku – Arch & Tree

13 May 2017 29 Comments

by Ritu in #tjshouseholdhaikuchallenge, Poems, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: #TJ's Household Haiku Challenge, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Haiku, Haiku Hub

TJ has another lovely prompt for us this week. The words

Arch & Tree

and/or the photo below

Tree Cathedral

So, the photo gave me this…

Branches bent over
Inviting you to walk down
The aisle of nature

Ritu 2017

The words inspired this…

Image result for hema malini then and now

Hema Malini, 68, a great Bollywood actress, ageing with grace. Image from Google

The curve of your brow
Belying your true lifetime
Evergreen Beauty

Ritu 2017

And my sneezing gave me this!

Image from Pixabay

My true arch enemy
Causing grief in summer months
The pollen from trees!

Ritu 2017

Proud member of TJ’s Haiku hub!

The Soundtrack Of My Life – International Edition

13 May 2017 16 Comments

by Ritu in Tags, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, International Music, Music, Soundtrack to my life

The lovely Em Linthorpe took part in a great music tag post and said that if we wanted to, we could join in!

soundtrack of my life

Simply, this tag is just picking 7 songs that could be described as forming “The Soundtrack Of My Life”.

You know me, I have a really rich, colourful and international background so it is hard to think of just seen songs, that you would all understand! So I decided to do to two posts! A previous one with western songs (click here for that!), and this with International songs, that have influenced my life!

So., here we go!

Bhabiye Ni Bhabiye – AlaapGoing to weddings, growing up there were no DJ’s but live bhangra bands performing, and one of the most popular was Alaap. This was a song that was played again and again. The meaning of the song was a young brother in law asking his sister in law (brother’s wife) to help him find a wife! Popular at all the weddings, then and now still! We also knew the singer so visited his house!

2. Yeh Dosti – Sholay

Bollywood has always played a HUGE part in my life and Sholay was a film that was released the year I was born. It is classed as a classic now (eek! Does that mean I am now in the ‘Classic’ Catergory?!) About friendship, it was played lots at gatherings, and you will still, to this day, find groups of drunken lads, grouped together singing it, celebrating their friendship! Picturized on Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra, who are two kings of Bollywood!

3. Roj Roj – Sardara Gill

Going back no weddings and my internationally placed family, when we would get together at a wedding, this was a popular song, as it means that we aren’t always going to be together, like this, so we need to enjoy our time, and sing, laugh, dance and be merry!

Sorry the video is not particularly great, but it was the only one I could find!

4. Jambo Bwana

Again, going back to weddings (yes, there were, and are, a lot in my family!) when the Kenyan contingency get together, a version of this song has to be played! Hakuna Matata!

5. Chura Liya – Bally Sagoo

When Brummy DJ Bally Sagoo remixed this old Hindi Bollywood classic, it ended up being an international hit! I love this song, the original, and his version, which again was a song that takes me back to my teen years! (Again, we knew him and his family, as my Pops was his dentist!)

6. – Hai Mera Dil – Josh

Another song from Bollywood, but a pretty important one, as it was our first dance at our wedding! Loosely translated it means that you only love once, and you, who have stolen my heart, will be my one forever.

7. Lambada – Kaoma

I had to include this in my list of international songs! I love the rhythm of the song, and so does my Pops! In fact when it was released, it was Pops who bought the vinyl!