That time of the Year!

I love having guests at home. And when they are here, we make sure they feel extremely comfortable and feel at home. This holiday season we had a few friends and relatives who visited us and here is how we prepared ahead of time:

Since the guests this time was close family, it was very informal. In any case, we chalked out a rough plan.
Basics:
we got a pair of tooth brushes (incase they forget to bring, this will come in handy)
made sure we had enough fresh towels
enough number of tissue rolls
Tampons
Body wash/shampoo (Mine just got over when they arrived :-/ , learnt it this time
(quite embarrassing)!

Bedding was not a problem.  All of us  just crashed on a comforter in the living room for a couple of days and then my ever so popular neck/back pain kicked in and I had to sleep on the bed so that I can stay active the next day. But again there was absolutely no awkward situation because they were family.

Giving a token gift:
This is really optional. But I like to surprise ppl with small gifts. Since my cousins came during thanksgiving. I gave her a pretty trinket from swarovski and she loved it, She got me a surprise gift too :) She gave me a nice Tan leather  wallet from nine west and I Love it!!

Food:
Since they come from a place where they do not get good Indian food, we decided to go out for dinners to try different Indian restaurants in our city. For lunch, I cooked their favorite dishes. I planned and stocked the vegetables and had a rough menu for each day. We all enjoyed elaborate lunch at home! :)

Things to do:
My husband is a planner and he loves doing out door stuff. So obviously when we have guests we just keep the days packed. But unfortunately, this time there was heavy rains and the weather was not really favorable for outdoor stuff.. Nevertheless, we went to a few spots like the Mt Bonell for sunset.

A drive to Fredricksburg - This place is so lively and if you love shopping or even just window shopping you will certainly love this place. There are some shops that sell Fudges and they are so good! I loved the Hot fudge Sunday ice cream even on a relatively cold day. It had this lip smacking hot chocolate poured on nice and creamy icecream.. It was Yumm :)
We also went to a place called +OutOfTheBox  and we loved it. It was probably the best thing we could do during winter/rains. We solved puzzles and got our way out of the puzzle room. We even got few clicks with the props and actors in the puzzle room. Thumbs up to this entertainment room in Austin. This one is a must try!

Why I cut down on Milk!

Let me start by saying we used to buy 2 gallons of milk each week. We use milk on an average for drinking in the morning and  cereal.
I was out of milk on a particular day  I landed from India. I wanted something hot in the morning to feel fresh. I found some Pomegranate tea bags from +Trader Joe's . I poured some boiling water in a mug with a tea bag, let it steep for about 3 minutes and when I drank it, I felt very refreshed. Also that day I made oats in water with a dash of honey. I felt the oats that day had a smoother texture and seemed like it had absorbed a lot of water(which is good!).  And yes, did I tell you I felt so much more light on my stomach.   So the next day  again I  followed the same routine. I pushed buying milk for a few days and it worked. Now I happily have either Lipton green tea ,Trader Joe's pomegranate or ginger-pear tea in the morning and add milk occasionally to oats or use it on days I have cereal for breakfast. From buying 2 times a week. Now we buy once in two weeks. Am happy to be saving some money there and also I like how it feels to have a big mug full of hot refreshing  tea in the morning.
There are multiple flavors of white tea available in  +Trader Joe's  and I love most of them. I shall review some of the flavors in a separate post.

Pointers for your grocery shopping

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Grocery shopping is one activity my husband hates spending time on. So I almost have to do my shopping in a jiffy (really!) I don't like to stock up too many things and not use  them at all. So I always plan the grocery list well ahead of time. Growing up in a typical Indian household has gotten me used to a typical breakfast/lunch/Evening/ dinner routine. Being a vegetarian, we definitely include a minimum of 1 vegetable a day. Initially, when I started cooking and planning my own menu, I often used to buy more than what was required by the two of us for a week and ended up throwing away  rotten spinach and tomatoes after few weeks of not using them. Here are some ideas that I follow to cut down on wastage and spend for what is required:

1. Plan ahead : For example, I consider Tomatoes, onions and potatoes as staple so I pick up these 3 anyway. Other than this, I have (based on preference and ease of cooking/chopping etc) a select set of veggies that I alternate every week. Here is a table that I mostly follow:

So I choose 5 veggies from the weekday list for lunch and  2 veggies for dinner along with tofu/mushroom/paneer(I alternate this every week). Mostly for dinner we have light Indian Tiffin or pasta so I would not need more than a couple of veggies because I often use tomatoes and onions to make dip for dinner.

Break fast meal is also quite planned : 4 options- bread/egg/cereal in milk/oats. I alternate these week.

This kind of table makes it simple to pick and choose a variety of veggies and saves time in planning a weekly menu. Of course, This is just a guideline we will often end up throwing in a bunch of spinach  and  bell peppers  because I love them! But with this kind of a plan you will most likely not  buy too much in excess or too little for the week.

 Fruits:

We almost always buy banana and apples other than this I alternate between oranges,kiwi , watermelon,oranges, cantaloupe  based on season and what we feel like buying at that  point. I limit my self to not more than 3 varieties of fruits for one week(because they get spoilt real quick)

2. Stock Check:

I have a small note pad in the kitchen and when I notice any of the storage canisters half full I immediately note it down so that I can stock them back. This really helps and saves time for my weekend grocery shopping.

3. Add some pep :

Milk, buttermilk, water - My husband goes  around to pick these 3 up (heavy lifting, right!) :)

Its fun and faster when you divide the grocery list with family and see who gets to the checkout counter first!(i do this all the time):)

Work out can be fun- check out how!

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Hi!

If you are one of those girls who dream about the day when research proves just by saying the word "gym" you lose 20 pounds- Then here is my Hi-5 to you! You are so like me! :-) 

I honestly hate working out in a quite little gym room and its after effects like sore feet, sweaty hair, sticky face! Eeks I can just go on.   But on the other hand, my growing belly is definitely something I hate to see. All my dresses look so awkward in the middle when everything else about the dress is just so perfect! So I decided I got to work out but something has to motivate me to do it.  Good company, a running partner would have been just as good. But unfortunately, my running time does not match with my friends and  we don't live too close to meet for our running sessions. I thought music is something I love and I used to listen to my favorite albums back in India as I used to drive quite a bit between home and work. Since then, I have literally  not had my music time to sit back and enjoy it all by myself . So I downloaded some fast paced peppy songs for my work out time ( I noticed fast paced songs kind of has an effect on the speed at which I jog/walk :P). This has really helped me run for a longer time than usual and gives me an opportunity  to enjoy  my favorite music with no interruption. I also feel running in open is better than in the gym a) because its Free! b) You can feel some evening breeze swaying past your face! yes, its very refreshing and also because in the open  you get to enjoy the nature and do some bird watching as you run! :) I love watching birds and clicking away pictures of sky during sunset as I run. I do take it easy, I don't force myself to run if I don't feel like it, I rather do a fast paced  walk and then jog as and when I feel comfortable. I take small sips of water when I feel  thirsty that also helps me feel rejuvenated and  keep up the pace.  Right now I jog for about 2 miles each day. For some one like me who absolutely hates running, this definitely is an encouraging start!  I hope to  slowly but surely increase the distance and speed  , we' ll see! :) 

                                                               Pic courtesy:Google images