Day 2 - Beach, Pizza, Talaash and Rajma Chawal!

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Yesterday was Saturday and a not a very windy day (like it typically is, here in Wellington)! We drove down to Paraparaumu beach and spent time there. There were fluffy white clouds in the sky. The Tasman Sea waves were lapping up against the shore one after the other. Was a beautiful sight, close-my-eyes-and-lie-down-here-types!

N had a lot of fun, trying to catch the water in his fists, running behind and then away from the waves, playing with the stuff the water brought along.

We even drew some hearts in the sand; one for each of us, sized to match our heights. 

This was followed by a much needed tummy filling pizza lunch at Hell's Pizza. Hell's is a locally owned chain started in NZ and now spread across Australia and UK. Loved their collection of veggie and chicken pizzas. 

From here we proceeded to a quaint li'l modern village square with local shops, a farmer's market and ice cream, candy and honey stores along with other stuff.
I was amused by this sign on the door to an art gallery and gift store. Usually stores have the opposite sign. I thought this was cute and a stand-out!! I did go into the store with my double cream and cookies cone :) 

S and I looked at each other and thought "What next?" I am a big watch-movies-in-the-theater buff and this activity had reduced in frequency for some time after N was born but now we are back in action. We decided to watch Talaash, the latest Aamir Khan flick. And as expected with almost any Aamir Khan movie, it was a treat. Loved the taut, well edited and directed thriller. Well done Reema Kagti, Bravo!!

Came back home, had rajma chawal - a favourite in our house. Was inspired by Archana's post about making this. Loaded the dishwasher and while the hubby put the kid to bed I started on this post. All in all, it was a day well spent!

We loooove Avocados!!

N and I... we both love our Avocados. In any form. We eat them cut-in-pieces-with-salt-sprinkled-over, as guacamole, in our sandwiches and our salads!

They are healthy, tasty and colourful. Here are some ways we use them -

Guacamole - We eat a lot of it, a LOT!! Give a lady her chips and dip and she will be very happy and grateful (the lady being me). I use a simple version of it - some diced onions (whichever ones I have at home - red or white), some diced tomato, crushed or finely diced garlic, chopped coriander, some paprika, salt and lemon. It is super fresh and flavorsome. Grab some chips - the fried, baked, unhealthy, healthy, any kinds and go dip!!

Photo from Flickr under a Creative Commons License from here

Sandwich - As a quick and healthy snack for those mid morning or evening hunger pangs. We use guacamole or plain fresh avocado smeared onto a slice of bread/toast, topped with a slice of tomato and sprinkled with salt and pepper on top.

Salad - A few red kidney beans, diced tomatoes, sweet corn, diced cucumber, and diced avocados.  Mix together, add some salt and pepper and a lil bit of balsamic or red wine vinegar and olive oil. Keep it in the fridge for a bit, tastes better cold. Perfect for those summer picnics too

Enjoy your veggies and go get some avocados!!!

My 2nd guest post at ShopHealthy.in

Here is the 2nd guest post I wrote for ShopHealthy.in's blog - 5+ A Day.
The 1st one was a recipe for Oatmeal and walnut cookies - mentioned here. This new post is about getting 5+ servings of fruits and veggies in your daily diet and using all the food colour groups!

I love colour in all aspects of life, except my wardrobe maybe... that has a lot of black, which I am desperately trying to change. Uh, well digressing aren't we? Let's get back to the point. I believe food should also be visually appealing to tickle those taste buds and get all the senses activated! Food well presented beckons to me, in a way I know and love.

So go on read the post and incorporate some colour into your meals!!
Leaving you with this vivid image of simple yet very flavorful ingredients for a quick pasta meal which covers 3 of your colour segments :)

Busy Bee

Busy is good. Busy is fun. Busy is tiring too! We have been up to a lot lately :) 

I wrote a guest post for ShopHealthy's blog. It is my recipe for Oatmeal and Walnut cookies, a slightly healthy-er version :) Check it out here! For the un-initiated, ShopHealthy.in is an online market place for all things healthy!! They deliver to almost everywhere in India. You can buy everything at one place, check out recipes and share yours too. It is a blogger friend's venture with her husband, in their quest to pay more attention to what they eat. Like they say, eat well, feel well and live well!

N has started a 5 day week at his school/kindy (kindergarten, as a lot of us call them). His earlier schedule of 3 days a week wasn't going too well with him or me. It was actually a bit unsettling. It feels much better now. He gets to play, learn and burn out the testosterone! I get time to clean, cook, read, write and watch Grey's Anatomy (we shall come to that in a bit!). Weekends seem to be a bit busy with trying to fit in the visit to the library, beach (summer is here in NZ), play area, skate park and hiking but that is good! 

I have started volunteering at a local community shelter. For now, once a week. Its a new experience and something I wanted to do some day. I have the time and perfect opportunity now. I look forward to learn something, to share and to broaden my horizons. I believe every time we do something new we learn a lot about ourselves too - our strengths, weaknesses. We test our beliefs, value system and even add a new skill to our repertoire! 

S started playing in a local cricket league, which I am very happy about. This way, he gets to play his fave sport, it helps him to stay fit, sometimes injured too (yes, when cricketers in their mid-30s try to take catches as if they were in their early-20s, they end up hurting themselves!!). He also gets some time away from me and N doing something that he likes which we all like to do in this family. 

I started watching this TV drama series - Grey's Anatomy which I have become hooked to ever since I saw Season 1, episode 1. Am totally loving it, finished Season 1 and on to the 2nd season now. 

I have been doing some fun cooking and a lot of cuisines - some new pastas, salads, pizzas,  frittatas, Mexican quesadillas and corn salad, desi gobhi parathas and dry choley veggie and grilled asparagus (yummy!). The husband says "I like it when you cook, keep at it." Why wouldn't he? He gets to eat all of it ;) 

N and I are doing pretty good this year in the 2012 PaperTigers Reading Challenge! Read details here... :) 

N has started reading and writing some words/letters. He is showing some great drawing skills too *Note the proud mommy effect*. He signed off Thank You cards for his birthday party with his name. 
He also co-relates things very well and has a fantastic memory in terms of things, places and people (but we do not r'ber mommy's instructions. Now that would make life so simple for mommy, and we wouldn't want it, would we?) 

Being busy is good, it makes vacations and days-off so much more fun!! Looking forward to a big, fun break in December with a lovely set of friends. 

Stay busy, stay happy!!

Chinese Checkers

N and his daddy decided to play some Checkers a few weekends ago (the game was one of the gifts for his 4th birthday).
I decided to play photographer :)

Little things in life are the big ones, don't miss 'em!!