Category Archives: Musing

Looking back…..and Facing forward….

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As we start the first week of 2018, let me do a short recap of my year that was in 2017 as well as some ideas on how I want this year to work out for me.

 

2017 started as usual for me, with looking for a job which didn’t materialise until the middle of the year. But what a position it turned out to be! I was bullied in my second week there by a subordinate and that’s when I knew I had to get out. I started looking for positions immediately, but before I could leave, I was asked to leave. I hated it there and so when the shock of having this thrust on me abated, I was really relieved. I attribute this 100% to my manager, who approved decisions I took, but turned around and lied about those decisions, even though it was approved by email! This person is a very strong-willed person with a personality to match and when confronted, I didn’t push back, which was, in retrospect, something I am not very proud of. Anyway, karma worked and what this person did to me was done to them in less than two months time!

The children had good school years. GG did especially well and she managed to move to the better stream (after we managed to convince her school principal that she can do it). She now gets to do the subjects she enjoys and excels in and hopefully will continue to thrive in school. BB, on the other hand, managed to squeeze into his stream of choice by a whisker. I was mentally prepared that he will not get into the pure science stream as his science marks just about made the cut-off marks for the stream and was already psyching him for other science-related subjects, but when the streaming results were declared, both of us did a little jig on seeing his name in the pure science class.

 

That was 2017, what do I want to do in 2018?

 

For one, I want to lose 10% of my total body weight as on 01 January. I have checked my weight on Monday (and I am conscious enough of it that I don’t want to reveal it to the whole internet), and will be tracking it with an eagle’s eye!

Continuing on the health theme, my last HbA1C reading put me in the upper end of the acceptable range and I want to bring this down to the lower end and in the healthy range by the end of the year. I have my next test in February, just after the Chinese New Year and so want to have some positive news there.

Other health and beauty related resolutions are to meditate daily for at least 10 minutes, put on a face mask every day for 365 days and clock an average of 10,000 steps daily. These should be fairly doable I think, I just need to be consistent and not give in to laziness and complacency.

I also want to write more this year, both in this blog and elsewhere. I dream of being a published author and want to take steps to achieve this by perhaps submitting a short story. I am going to work on this dream too this year.

On the job front, I am going to be super discerning about where I apply jobs to and even after I interview, I will not accept any position just because I get offered one. I don’t want a repetition of what happened in 2017, so I rather am safe than sorry.

I also want to travel and we’ve already started planning our year-end holiday where I want to explore parts of India I’ve never been to. I also want to do a solo trip, but I am not sure if this will pan out this year, but it’s something I am putting here, in the hope that the universe will let it happen.

So that’s what my plans for 2018 are. What about you? Have you made any plans? Or are you someone who wings it? Do comment below and I’d love to hear from you.

Recipes: No Onion, No Garlic Mixed Vegetable Rice

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This is my take on a super easy my mum makes for my dad. My mum makes this very often at home and so I decided to tweak it a bit. I made it as a no onion, no garlic recipe, but feel free to add both to your version.

No Onion, No Garlic Mixed Vegetable Rice

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup cooked basmati rice
  • 1 carrot, chopped
  • 1 potato, chopped
  • 1/2 head cauliflower, chopped
  • 1/2 cup green peas
  • 1/2 cup chopped spinach
  • 1 green bell pepper, chopped
  • 1 inch piece ginger, julienned
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1/2 tsp carom seeds
  • 1 tsp chilli powder
  • 1 tsp coriander powder
  • 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
  • 1 tsp cumin powder
  • 1/2 tsp dry mango powder
  • 1.5 tsp biryani/pulao masala
  • Salt to taste
  • 2 tsp oil

Method:

  • Wash all the vegetables and keep aside
  • Cool the cooked rice and fluff it in a plate and keep aside
  • Heat a large pan and add the oil
  • When the oil heats up, put in the cumin seeds and let them pop. Then add the carom seeds and let that pop too.
  • Now add the ginger and let it fry for a few seconds before adding in the bell pepper.
  • Then add the turmeric, chilli, coriander and cumin powder and stir for a second
  • Now add all the vegetables (except for the spinach) and sauté well.
  • Cover and cook until the vegetables are almost done.
  • At this point, add the spinach, salt, mango powder, biryani/pulao masala and cook till the spinach wilts and the spices are well incorporated
  • Now add the cooled and fluffed rice and mix well, so the rice and vegetables are mixed thoroughly
  • Check for seasoning and serve with a raita of your choice

Notes

  • You can serve the recipe at the point before adding the rice as a sabzi which goes very well with Indian breads
  • If you want to add onions and/or garlic, add them at the point when you put the ginger in the oil

Secondary 2 Week 45 Update

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Last week I was super frustrated that GG’s school did not confirm her subject combination. On Monday we went to both schools to buy uniforms and books, but again I could not speak to the teacher who was handling this issue since they were all out. She later called me and asked me to wait till Thursday since they were doing the appeals for the cohort. I waited and waited for her to call me and then when I called her on Friday it was to know that GG had to go to school that day! We didn’t know about this, but the news was good – GG got the subject combination she wanted! So she will be doing English, Mother Tongue, E Maths, Combined Science, Pure History, Social Studies with Geography, Principles of Accounts (7 subjects in total). We should go tomorrow to school to confirm these subjects and finally buy the books!

Have a lovely Sunday folks!

2017 Week 43 Update

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The same old week. There’s literally nothing to add to last week.

With the great week we had with regards to the children doing well in school and getting the subjects of their choice, I really wanted the week to end on a high with some good news on my job search front too. Unfortunately that didn’t happen. Aah well, I’ll take what happiness I get!

I am hoping this week will have some positive news for me!

Have a wonderfully blessed week everyone!!

Secondary 2 Week 42 Update

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School’s out for the year and it has ended with a bang for GG!

We went to GG’s school on Friday for the Meet the Parents session and learned that she came second in class again this year. Unfortunately, she was not given the lateral transfer we were looking for. We spoke to her Teachers who only had lovely things to say about her.

I wanted the transfer because the subjects offered in her stream were not the ones she wanted. She is interested in Humanities, but there were not many options in her stream. When I asked her Teachers if she could cope with a more intense stream, I was assured by almost every one of them that she had a very positive attitude to studying and could easily cope with the increased pace.

As a last resort I decided to see if I could speak to her principal to see if we could appeal for the transfer. Initially her principal was quite resistant to the idea as she had not achieved the minimum overall grade the school sets (this is higher than the grade set my the ministry of education, which was below the grade that GG had gotten). Apparently her name did come up when they discussed promotions, but for some reason she was not offered it. When I persisted, the principal cited her lower science marks as a reason for not transferring her. At that point I told him that she is not interested in science at all and is a humanities student at heart. The subjects she wanted to do (Pure humanities) was only offered at the higher level. When he heard that she wanted the transfer to do humanities, he immediately relented and called her year head and told him to prepare the letter to conditionally transfer her to the better stream! We will get the letter next week and then it’ll be official! Till then it’s all fingers and toes crossed. GG is ecstatic and is over the moon. She’s all fired up to do her favourite subjects and wants to prove to the school that they took a good decision in letting her transfer.

BB, what to say! His year end results have been very average and I am now worried that he would not get the subject combination of his choice. He does seem resigned to it, but I am still hopeful. The results come out next week and we can also appeal for a better result. Please pray for us.

This is as our eventful week this week. Happy Sunday everyone!