2016 Week 18 Update

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Last sort of negative work post, I promise! Really, cross my heart. This is my last week in this company and I have decided to leave any negativity behind. Even when (not if, but when) I decide to start working again, I want to remain positive and not wallow in negativity.

The week started as usual with no work, especially since I already had handed over most of the stuff I do. So I very reluctantly went for the drinks cum team dinner. Earlier, we’d all go together, but this time everyone went on their own. When I left, I expected E, my oldest colleague express surprise that I was not leaving with him, but he just said he’ll see me there. I was the first one to reach, around 20 minutes before the time decided. Some of the others were supposed to have come earlier, but according to the wait staff, one did come before me, but when he realised he would be the first, he decamped! I waited for a while before the others turned up. I was not planning to stay long, but ended up staying till the end!

The week went by fast and soon it was Friday, my last day. A couple of people did come up to me during the week wishing me luck, so that was nice. My ex-boss also texted me on my last day and this was especially nice as he is no longer based in Singapore!

A lot of people wrote back when I sent out my farewell email, so that too felt good! I learnt that I have made some friends in this organisation.
A piece of good news – my sister-in-law (S’ sister) delivered a baby boy this week! I am so happy for her and her husband as they have been trying for a long time now and the procedure they did by which she got pregnant was their last chance. BB & GG are thrilled to have a new cousin and I expect them to go to their grandma’s place all through the holidays on one pretext or the other to play with the baby. The baby, who is unnamed yet is the cutest one I have seen in a while. Ooh, his cheeks are so big, they hid his eyes! I predict he is going to be quite spoilt by everyone!
On that note have a great week folks!

2016 Sec 1 Week 18 Update

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Exams started for both the children and they’ve been busy with that.

GG has been nominated by her form teacher to apply to be a school counselor and she’s happy at this chance. They need to fill up a form with examples of how they exemplify the values the school holds close to heart and get endorsements from 4 teachers! The teachers then debate among themselves to decide the counselors. But I am happy that she is even trying for the position and her teachers nominated her. 

Other than that, nothing much happend this week with the children. More probably next week onwards as we start our home adventures! Happy weekend everyone

In My Hands Today…

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Wife 22 – Melanie Gideon

Maybe it was those extra five pounds I’d gained. Maybe it was because I was about to turn the same age my mother was when I lost her. Maybe it was because after almost twenty years of marriage my husband and I seemed to be running out of things to say to each other.

But when the anonymous online study called “Marriage in the 21st Century” showed up in my inbox, I had no idea how profoundly it would change my life. It wasn’t long before I was assigned both a pseudonym (Wife 22) and a caseworker (Researcher 101).

And, just like that, I found myself answering questions.

7. Sometimes I tell him he’s snoring when he’s not snoring so he’ll sleep in the guest room and I can have the bed all to myself.
61. Chet Baker on the tape player. He was cutting peppers for the salad. I looked at those hands and thought, I am going to have this man’s children.
67. To not want what you don’t have. What you can’t have. What you shouldn’t have.
32. That if we weren’t careful, it was possible to forget one another.

Before the study, my life was an endless blur of school lunches and doctor’s appointments, family dinners, budgets, and trying to discern the fastest-moving line at the grocery store. I was Alice Buckle: spouse of William and mother to Zoe and Peter, drama teacher and Facebook chatter, downloader of memories and Googler of solutions.

But these days, I’m also Wife 22. And somehow, my anonymous correspondence with Researcher 101 has taken an unexpectedly personal turn. Soon, I’ll have to make a decision—one that will affect my family, my marriage, my whole life. But at the moment, I’m too busy answering questions.

As it turns out, confession can be a very powerful aphrodisiac.

Recipes: Roasted Vegetables, Indian Style

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Usually, Sundays, which is R’s weekly off is the one day in the week when I can cook what I want. Usually the Sunday lunch is some variation of an Indian meal – a rice or roti dish with a gravy dish and some salad or raita to accompany it.

This weekend, I was bored of cooking the same old food, week after week and so decided to do something different. I decided to pair a soup with some roasted vegetables and then to kick it up a notch, I decided to make it with an Indian twist. So here’s some roasted vegetables, cooked in Indian style and with Indian spices!

Roasted Vegetables, Indian Style

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Ingredients:

  • 1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
  • 1 capsicum (any colour) chopped into large pieces
  • 20 baby potatoes, chopped into half or quarters (depending on size)
  • 2 large sweet potatoes, chopped into large pieces
  • 2-3 carrots, chopped into large pieces
  • 2 onions, chopped into large pieces
  • 2-3 tbsps Oil

Spice Mixture

  • 1 tsp red chilli powder
  • ¼ tsp turmeric powder
  • 2 tsps cumin seed powder
  • 1 tsp coriander seed powder
  • 2 tsps dried methi (kasoori methi)
  • 2 tsps dried mint powder
  • 2 tsp chats chat masala
  • Salt to taste

Method:

  • Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celcius (392 degree Farenheit)
  • Mix the spices into a powder and keep aside.
  • Chop all the vegetables into bite-sized pieces, wash, dry and put into a large utensil which should be large enough to mix well.
  • Pour enough of the spice mixture and oil and mix the spices into the chopped vegetables, ensuring that every piece is coated with the spice and oil mixture.
  • Line a large baking tray with aluminium foil and pour the coated vegetables into it. Make sure the vegetables are even in the tray.
  • When the oven is heated, bake the vegetables for approximately between 40 – 60 minutes, depending on how crisp you want it or how much the quantity is. I found a full shallow tray of root vegetables needed 60 minutes while other vegetables were done in less than 40 minutes.
  • Let it cool and enjoy!

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I paired this with my carrot, coriander and pumpkin soup and it was a hit! We had this for both meals and nobody missed having rice or rotis with this meal!

In My Hands Today…

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The Hero’s Walk – Anita Rau Badami

The Hero’s Walk, explores the troubled life of Sripathi Rao, an unremarkable, middle-aged family man and advertising copywriter. As The Hero’s Walk opens, Sripathi’s life is already in a state of thorough disrepair. His mother, a domineering, half-senile octogenarian, sits like a tyrant at the top of his household, frightening off his sister’s suitors, chastising him for not having become a doctor, and brandishing her hypochondria and paranoia with sinister abandon. It is Sripathi’s children, however, who pose the biggest problems: Arun, his son, is becoming dangerously involved in political activism, and Maya, his daughter, broke off her arranged engagement to a local man in order to wed a white Canadian. Sripathi’s troubles come to a head when Maya and her husband are killed in an automobile accident, leaving their 7- year-old daughter, Nandana, without Canadian kin. Sripathi travels to Canada and brings his granddaughter home, while his family is shaken by a series of calamities that may, eventually, bring peace to their lives.