Thursday, November 27, 2008

AZODICARBONAMIDE- what is that ??

Seems like a long name of some chemical and here is link to find out more about it ??? And ask yourself if you would like to eat something with this in it. My friend told me about this and I thought everyone should know about this. I have found it in so many whole grain and whole wheat breads that our kids and us eat everyday. I found that some Franz breads do not have it an ingredient but some of them do. You might want to read the label before going out and buying the bread next time. This is not to target one single company that makes bread but to let those companies know that they need to change the recipe.

My heart goes out to all who did not make it today and all those brave souls who are still out there fighting to save the rest

Today is one of the worst days of my life after 9/11. I cannot believe what I saw today on TV. My friend called me tell me what was going on in Mumbai and I wish I could do something about it. Every time something like this happens it shakes my faith in humanity and all the positive thoughts go out the window. Why does the world need so much pain and hatred ?? All the extremism has got to stop. So many people who thought were going home from work or those night-shifters who were starting work did not even have an inkling of the disaster that was about to happen. It is so easy for me to worry about all from so far away but inside my heart I feel like a coward who can do nothing but watch the news and sulk. I have so much guilt over being so far and not being able to do anything about what is going on out there in India ! My prayers are with all of those who didn't make it and to the rest who will make it and most of all to those who are being brave enough to face the situation. We need to have better armor for the police in India. The people who protect us need to be treated better.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Have you heard of BUGALOO ???

For all those who love Robeez, must know about this website. I think they have really good prices and I love those pretty designs for girls and believe me the boys' ones are not so boring either. GO and see it for yourself and right now they are having a 15% off special. I found out about it through grocerymama.com and their website is www.bugalookids.com.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Ikea ornaments as puppets

How about these christmas ornaments that the kids can use to put on their own puppet show ?? I like them ..of course because they are from Ikea!!!!!

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

HOPE+GRACE+COURAGE=OBAMA

I thought I had the flu yesterday and I was so crabby but I got an OBAMA pill when I heard he had won. I was hoping and I knew it in my heart that he would. I voted for the first time this year and I must say I felt for the first time that it mattered. It was amazing to see him on stage and his speech was so great. I cannot say enough about our new President-elect. I just have really high hopes for him and I am sure the whole country has so many expectations and if we can be patient enough for him to work for the good of all of us and our kids...and help him as much as we can...it will move our country forward.....and be the AMERICA we look hope we could be...I absolutely have that faith.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Welcome to Sajjanpur

I am no movie buff but this is a must-see movie for all desis. It is so well made. I loved it. Check it out when you can...

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Just thought of sharing what I found


Here is a pic of the bag that Ikea is selling...I thought it was neat looking and can be reused. the price is too good as well. Picture is from Ikea website.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Flying first class, playing the waiting game and falling

Hello, if there is anyone out there who still reads my blog since I am so insincere about posting. Just been lazy and busy both. So I had planned to take a trip to see my good friend on Friday and its a flight from one end of US to the other. Since we could not get a direct flight we booked a flight from my city to a second city and then to my destination and the date which we wanted was not available for the first lag of my travel so my dear husband upgraded my ticket to first class and boy was I excited that he did. Since I was only going to be gone for 48 hours and without the kids I thought it will be nice to have that time for myself even though I was traveling for the most part. I boarded my flight on time and my first ever journey in First class began. Did you know that the stewardesses are dressed in a different set of clothes in First class than those in EC. Also you are allowed to board first since you are in First class ( you knew that of course) . Then I was served a warm breakfast and I was planning to sleep but was too excited ( like a kid) and I did not. Instead I asked a bunch of nonsensical questions to the stewardess and she knew for sure that this lady has not traveled first class ever in her life before. So instead of sleeping I watched two movies and one of them was ok and one was not so good. But they were free and I could not say no to that. To my luck, my flight reached 10 minutes early and I was happy that I did not have to rush from gate to gate since I only had an hour between flights. But that was all about to end. The moment we touched down I got a call from my dear husband saying that our airline carrier had informed him that my next flight was delayed by an hour and a half. So I thought okay maybe I will have to wait longer than expected. Then I reached the gate and got a call from husband again who told me to ask if there were any other flights that were departing earlier. I asked and she said no. But I got a new flight number from my husband and went to that gate to see if I could get on a standby and they said that I was on number 10 on standby, that done I just saw their screen say that that flight was leaving after my previous (delayed) flight so I wondered if my delayed flight would be delayed too and sure enough it was by another half an hour. In between all this I am keeping my friend and my husband both informed about what is going on. The reason for the delay was MOTHER NATURE since she decided to bring in a tornado into the area I was flying into. So I waited till the flight I was on standby for left. I went to my original gate and saw that it was delayed by another hour and a half. So at this point my friend called me again and said you might need to ask if they could fly me into an airport nearby their place but not the one I was supposed to be on. I asked the gate agent and he said it is all up to you but I would suggest you stay put here in case we start boarding sooner than the posted time. But I wanted to get there soon so I went to customer service and asked and they said it would be three hundred dollars extra. That just put me back to my gate instantly...:) by the time I reached my gate I could see that the departure was delayed again by 45 more minutes so I started to think the bad thoughts that I would either have to spend the night there or at a hotel somewhere if the airline would pay for it ( not that it would happen in this recession). One gentleman asked me where I was going and I told him and he said that his wife was flying to India. So then a couple of other people also started sharing about where they were headed and so on an so forth. I must say that we made quite a group there. The flight time was delayed again by an hour and while all this was happening the Captain came out and announced everything ( which was really nice of him), the gate agent was really nice too. But there was this annoying female voice on the PA system that kept announcing every 15 minutes that there will be no food service on board and we were welcome to bring our own food and drinks. So finally we left after half an hour of the latest delayed time which was about 6 hours later and were told by the captain to keep our cell phones on until we actually took-off. I reached my destination about midnight and even though I was exhausted beyond my imagination I went to my friends place and we talked till 3 in the morning. The next day was busy and the day after that I was leaving for home.

So the day I leave was sunday and I left on time for the airport. My friends' husband dropped me off at the airport. I had done online check-in but need to print out the boarding pass. So off I went to print them at the airline kiosk but all four ( can you believe that ??) were not working so I went and asked one of the airline agent and she said since your screen said "Special handling required" you need to be in this line. So there I stood with my carry on bags. While I was there I noticed that there was a different line for people with no checked bags and I asked the agent lady again that am I supposed to be here and she said yes. But I thought that I should not be here and off I went to go join the other line. The line that I left was so long I thought it might delay me further. Now this was a direct flight and I was so lucky to be on that flight because I did not know how it would impact my trip. So when I was trying to sneak out of the previous line by going under the belt I tripped on something and FELL and it was the worst fall in the last 20 years of my life and I mean it. I just remember trying to balance myself and the next thing I knew I was on the floor with black spots in front of my eyes and me crying, tears falling down my eyes. The next thing I hear is people saying Oh Oh and then I hear this voice that asks me "Are you okay?" and I reply NO with a nod unable to see or speak. Then he asks " Can I help you ?" and I say YES. Then he said will you be able to get up and I say NO finally I could speak but still not see. I really could not see it was like a short blackout and I hear my friend's husband at the back saying what happened and I say I don't know. I was finally able to get up and see if I could walk. It was extremely painful. But he took me to where I was going and I got my boarding pass and he left me near the security check area and asked if I need a wheelchair and me being the brave soul said NO I wish I had said YES...the next few steps through security and my gate were grueling. If there is thing called punishing thy self I was guilty of it when I said no to the wheelchair offer. The moment I reached my gate my knee was swollen and I could feel it rubbing on my jean. I pulled out my ziploc bag ( coz I don't carry a toiletry bag all thanks to TSA) and thanked myself for putting Ibuprofen in it. I took all of the Ibuprofen I had ( 4 tablets-200 mg each) and thought to myself what was the hurry ??? how did I fall ??? I don't know but I did and because of that I won't be able to take my daughter to her summer camp and I will miss my tennis lesson. Yesterday I went to the doctor and he said the knee cap took the brunt of the fall and so there is some blood underneath it and will take two weeks to heal. The X-ray shows no fracture (phew!!!!) and I am still getting around the house limping but it feels good to know that there is no serious damage. So all that joy that I felt flying first class was followed by a lot of waiting and then the fall.

I am seriously reconsidering flying First Class ever...since I think its jinxed forever now. So I did learn a few things from this experience....

1. Make friends with your co-passengers since they can help you with the waiting game.
2. Always carry some sort of pain-reliever in case ...
3.Never ask the stewardess in First class...about how much will it cost to watch the movie or if you can use your own headphones since both of them are complimentary in First class.
4. Never try to hurry up because you could end up like me....hee hee..

Oh and thanks to that Angel Guy who helped me get up from my disastrous fall and to my friend's husband and to that sweet natured Gate agent Michael who actually bought some chicken from his own money and gave it to all the passengers that it could reach too. Can you believe that even in this poor economic times where the airlines are trying to cut back on costs by not providing any food for passengers, even though the flights are delayed by 6 hours or more sometimes this gate agent bought food for the passengers out of his own pocket. Even the captain said that he is one of the best gate agents they have. Indeed he is.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

The IKEA Home delivery saga

You know I have been such a big fan of Ikea that it used to literally make my day when I would go shopping there. First of all we did not have an Ikea in our town and now that it is there I was super excited about it since I did not have to drive down 200 miles to reach an Ikea store anymore. I had just posted about Ikea earlier and was so proud doing it. Really, I was in this haze over Ikea. Well they disappointed me greatly I must say. I still love the stuff they carry but let me tell you never never order Home Delivery from these guys. So here is my rant story, which is not made up but real. We wanted to buy a new sofa set for our family room and we decided to get it from Ikea. So off we went shopping there and the first time we went we actually ended up buying furniture for our kids ( I am sure it has not happened to any of you :)) anyways after spending a quarter of our sofa budget on the kids stuff we went again and finally found the VRETA sofa in a dark brown color but to our bad luck that was not in stock so my husband dear said we will order it online and get it delivered at our place. So I said why not order in store. That was left at that and when he tried to place an order online for delivery at home they were charging some outrageous amount of money for shipping so we went back to the store again and asked them if it was back in stock. It wasn't. So he placed an order at the store and they said since they did not have it in stock they would only charge 55 bucks for home delivery from their Southern California store. The estimated delivery date was June 13th and the order was placed on June 9th. So we kept waiting almost till the end of June and no sofa. So I called them and they said that it would arrive sometime around July 3rd or 4th since they were trying to get more trucks into their system ( whatever that means), then .........waiting and waiting till the 4th I called them again and the customer service rep said it won't be before the 6th of July now so we had to wait. I called again since the sofa did not show up on the 6th either. So I called again and after transfering my calls they hooked me up with this customer service rep who told me that they should have told me that it could take 3 to 4 weeks for the delivery ( a minor detail which they obviously missed telling us) and they cannot do anything about it. So she said that I would be getting a call from the delivery company that they contract to for furniture deliveries on the 7th and also gave me a special order number that I would need if they did not call. So on the afternoon of 7th somebody called our home and told me that they will deliver between the 2 pm to 6 pm window and they would call ( the drivers) would call 30 minutes ahead to confirm again. Then again, the same night someone else from the delivery company calls to see if the 8 am to 12 pm window will be okay and I told them that I had already been set up for the 2-6 pm window by someone and she had no idea what I was talking about and said they its not showing anything that like that on their "board". I waited for the 8 to 12 window phone call and that never arrived then I receive a call from the driver saying that they were running late and asked me if I was free all day ??? Can you believe that ??? So they said they would be at our place around 3 pm now. So the waiting game continued further...then no delivery until 3:30 pm so I called their delivery company and asked about my order. I was put on hold for sometime and the lady from the company told me that the drivers were stuck in traffic and would be there by 5 pm. So they called finally around 5 pm saying that they were close and they would be at our place soon. So finally we did get our sofa. But I will never order furniture from Ikea using their home delivery service. It was grossly disappointing on Ikea's part. Thanks for reading such a long post about my day yesterday but I think Ikea really does need to work on their delivery services...please anyone reading this who is even remotely connected to Ikea should bring this to their attention.

Friday, June 13, 2008

Orange is beautiful.


This is a necklace and earring set that I had put on ebay to sell it although I thought of keeping it for myself but secretly hoped it wouldn't sell and it did not so here it is.....

Sunday, June 8, 2008

A bag, a message

Photo courtesy : Walmart

I like this bag and the message it conveys and hence the post. We can all be a part of this movement one bag at a time, its a start.

Saturday, June 7, 2008

I love IKEA

I cannot get over how much I love Ikea and how much kids do too. Today we went furniture shopping at a local furniture store and the prices were so outrageous (high) that we didn't even stay for 10 minutes, I mean even the so-called clearance price was 2000 bucks for a sofa. I am a frugal shopper but we thought since we will keep the furniture for a long time it would be nice to get a quality piece. So even though we did not plan to go to Ikea we ended up there. We ended up buying two nightstands and placed an order online for home delivery for a queen bed, a sofa and a swivel/reclining/rocking chair and it did not cost us a paycheck. I mean I understand that buying locally can be a bit pricey but the store we went to was really not at all our budget. Maybe we made a bad choice. So our furniture is supposed to arrive within the next two weeks or so and I am excited already. We will get rid of our old futon which suffered a lot of abuse from our kids and their friends and I am going to miss it terribly. It made me feel sad for the futon but oh well there is a time for everything to go. Hopefully the colors we picked for our sofa will go with our drapes and the whole room in general since we still have white walls in that room. Besides that we went to eat out tonight and it was fun since we went with a couple of our friends and best of all with my brother who is visiting us from out of town.
Right now I am sitting with my left leg raised on a hopping ball (that my daughter plays with) since my dear brother just dropped his laptop on my left toe and it hurts. Other than that it was really a great day because we have been trying to accomplish this furniture shopping task for quite sometime now. I still would have loved to have more time at Ikea to buy all the accessories to decorate my guest bedroom and other rooms in our house but that is another day of shopping. Something to look forward to I guess.

Thursday, June 5, 2008

My recipe is on a food blog I am so excited.

Today I received an email from Pooja saying that she has posted my recipe on her blog for the food blog event that she is hosting (VoW -JFI-BELL PEPPERS). I was excited and had to post about it. To be new as a blogger and to receive such a welcome in the food blogging world is very exciting to me. I actually got this recipe from watching FOOD NETWORK as I normally do everyday. It was my favorite show EVERYDAY ITALIAN. Its my daughter's favorite too. I absolutely adore Giada. She makes recipes seem so effortless and she makes me want to make them. I was watching Friends and Family feast episode and there it was , she was making Rigatoni with Bolognese sauce. I liked it because it had bell peppers, mascarpone cheese and they both happen to be my favorite ingredients. Anything that ends with cheese had to be good .. right !!! So thank you Pooja for the opportunity. Although I did not follow the recipe to the dot and made a few changes to it, it still came out tasting very yummy. Now I want to try Giada's Hazelnut crunch cake with mascarpone and chocolate ( again two of my favorite ingredients) since it has a very semi-homemade touch.

My ebay endeavor

So here it is my first attempt at selling anything on ebay. Hope this works out I would really feel good about myself. This is not to get any new buyers for the stuff but as a new seller online on ebay I am very nervous. Also I have put some money into these beads when I bought them in hopes to sell them on ebay. I felt very useless for the past few months although running behind the kids and getting the housework done is one of my many uses :) ha ha ha. Anyways I put a couple of items on sale on ebay and I will be adding more if this works. I selected everything personally on my last trip to India since I loved the stuff myself and thought of selling it. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Friday, May 16, 2008

Recipe post

I am supposed to be fast asleep now but I am not since I am on a roll tonight or today whatever you call it since its 10 after midnight here. I am definitely not sane LOL. Anywho recently I made this dish well its a leftover dish that I made. So its really simple and I am sorry I don't have a photo to show you but next time maybe I will. I call it Idli gujjustyle. So I had about 8-10 leftover idlis in my fridge and I thought that let me just do something with them so I cubed them up and put a tablespoon of olive oil in a pan and added some mustard seeds and curry leaves and hing to it and then added the idlis and some salt and sugar ( just about half a tsp of sugar-and that is why the name) and sauteed it and let some idli stick to the bottom of my pan and voila you have leftover gujjustyle idli. My kids ( both of them) gobbled it up and I had the crumbs, the caked on crumbs and they tasted yummy. So if you like this you can try it too and see what you think of it. I can post the exact recipe if anyone would be interested. But tonight I really need to sleep. Good night and sweet yummy dreams to all.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Memories that will last a lifetime

I went to India for 4 and a half months and came back thinking I will write so much about the things I did and what I thought of what I observed there but that certainly has not happened. But one thing is for sure that I brought back with me so many wonderful memories and so did my kids. These are a few things that I miss, the everyday sunshine, the hustle and bustle of the streets, the packed markets, the sounds of the rickshaws and the most important being with my ma and pa. I am really sure that my kids specially my son misses them a lot. He had the hardest time of all because it was his first time and he took to India like fish to water. I never felt even once that he was not happy there. he never fell sick there, he had a roaring good time. He would just wake up early in the morning and be with my mom and I could sleep in ( Oh how I miss that) thanks ma !!!!!! I owe you big time for this and so much more. My dad was his best friend. You know I have started believing in this thing called past life attachments because they were so close to each other and I used to wonder how it could be. He used to be crazy about my dad running behind NANA ( that is what we call our maternal grandfather) and the reverse was true too. The best compliment I have received in my entire life was from my dad when he said " You add a few more years to my life when you let me be with your kids" I never knew I could make him so happy and I thought to myself that maybe this is a way I am making up for all the disappointments that I gave him when I was a child and believe me I did when I say so. I was quite a rebel in certain aspects. Here are a few things my son definitely misses other than being with NANI-NANA. He misses seeing the street dogs and cows for sure no matter how much a nuisance they are to us adults but it was like one of the wonders of the world to my little guy. So today I want to thank all those cows and dogs ( and pigs for that matter) who made my son's day better. He misses going in the rickshaws with my mummy. He misses hanging out with the birds on the terrace. He misses playing in the dirt on our terrace. He misses getting baths from Nani. He misses all the hugs and kisses from everyone he met. He misses the pigeons that used to sit on our neighbor's front balcony ( Our neighbor auntie used to get so annoyed with them and she used to say take them with you to America :)). He misses going to the end of the street fruitwala and grabbing a few oranges. I felt like he was reborn in India and found his new self there. In my next post I will write about my little girl and what she did in India. I miss all of it so much too.

Sunday, May 4, 2008

A few days lasted too long for me

Well so here I am back in the so-called few days..ha ha ha. I could not come back for a number of reasons but without being boring any further I must say that our comeback has not been a good one. I was so happy that I missed the dreaded winter with all that it brings with itself.....the rain, the clouds, the gloomy dark days, but I guess I celebrated too soon. The point I am trying to make is I was glad I was in India this whole winter and came back in March but two days after we came back my dear daughter comes down with a viral infection or as they call it here the stomach flu apparently she caught it on the plane or one of the airports. Then my son gets it and me and the hubby are left to fight it on our own too. It is a terrible thing to get. Then they both get a viral cold and come out of it and now I am so sick I can't tell you. Today I am feeling very tired, sore throat is taking its toll and so is my earache. I know, I know I am whining but I think I have a right to do that considering how I feel now. I am trying to keep the kids away from me so they don't get what I have and as I am typing this I hear my little boy at the stairs crying for mama.....I am feeling terrible. All that is left of me is a tired person but I wanted to type this just to get things out of my head. Yes, I am throwing myself a pityparty. So here is what I did for the past two days...nothing....nothing at all. I was thinking of doing laundry and going to Ikea and going to a park with the kids ....the weather has not been helping at all. They call it the El Nino effect. I don't know about that I just think that it just needs to go away. Maybe we need to be more earth-friendly and lessen the global warming. The viruses seem to be getting very potent each year. So many kids coming down with them and getting high fevers...I am feeeling very blah....