The Brief Pelican

We were walking by the bay near our house and we saw two beautiful birds gliding gracefully into the water...we realized they were two Orange Pelicans...

Watching their movements was like poetry in motion...in all too brief a minute they flew away...yet my Nokia E71 captured a glimpse of their flight...

Did you know that in medieval Europe...the pelican was thought to be particularly attentive to her young, to the point of providing her own blood when no other food was available....I didn't!

Hope you have a wonderfully relaxed weekend..

In-Laws or Out-Laws

Let me start this post with a fair warning - I was in an introspective mood today...

Did you know that the average time a blog surfer spends looking at a random blog is three minutes…three whole minutes to stumble across a random blog and read it for a while to see whether it tickles their fancy…a lot of blogs have consistent themes – Relationships, Food, Daily Happenings, Travel, Trivia…well this time around I hope you hang out in my space more than three minutes …This weekend has been introspective for me, thinking about relationships we are born into, relationships we inherit and relationships we cultivate. One interesting aspect of this is relationships we inherit – in-laws. This word brings multiple reactions in people – Joy, Neutrality, Grimaces, Annoyance and what-nots. I met an interesting guy let's call him G today who was talking about his chinese FIL who cooks dinner for him and how he was craving good ol' fashioned American Fare ;-)

Supposedly some people manage to marry into a family that is virtually the same as theirs and the transition into their new family is smooth as can be. I just don't know anyone like that myself ( I know for a fact my transition was not smooth…the saving grace was my husband and I were thousands of miles away on a different continent living our own isolated lives) . It seems like most of the time, becoming a member of a family you did not grow up in is a shock to the system that just keeps on shocking ...keep reading

I see huge differences in the relationship with my mother vs. my MIL. Yes yes, it is not fair to compare but I am human and I inherently have the tendency of comparing the familiar with the unfamiliar. My mother got married at the young age of 17 and our age difference is 19 years. She had graduated from College but for her Education ended where home life began…her world revolved around her family…must I say we were immensely spoilt with lots of love, sometimes too much quality time and supervision. My mother was pretty traditional in her views on how a girl should be bought up but was well balanced by my Dad who had more liberal views (my saving grace!!!). Both my parents were extremely simple in their living, not into material goods and not into comparisons of well I don’t have “X” item that my friend has and I need it or they did not have any expectations from anyone, what they could accomplish on their own they did, if they couldn’t well too bad…they did without. When it came to growing up I think I inculcated a lot of my parents values of Simple Living – I am not into flashy cars or clothes or throwing money around on wasteful expenditures to make sure I had/have what my friend/neighbor/acquaintance did or had…my logic is where does this want end…you never end up getting content. I see a marked difference in my MIL’s attitude towards material possessions, comparisons with others especially friends & relatives, expectations which lead her to be disappointed. My husband though has values very similar to mine which is why I think we gel well (wow I rhymed)

Don’t get me wrong…my MIL -she is a wonderful woman…but for me that relationship was one I married into…so one I have to work hard at establishing and keeping it going. With my mother, there is no talk about making it work…it works…if it doesn’t we yell and shout and scream at each other…sulk and pout for a couple days and then make up…but in the end it has to work…I have never had one of those raging screaming matches (or even a small fight) I have had with Ma with my MIL, I wonder why sometimes…if something hurts me or offends me I get ultra polite and distant but never lose my cool and let her know like I do Ma….anyone have similar experiences?

I think in the end, like Tom Hanks said in Forrest Gump – Life is a box of chocolates…you never know what you end up getting....some flavors are sweet, others bitter, others flavors you would adore while some you would detest…but if you like chocolates (read relationships )…you trudge ahead and are adventurous and you discover nuances to your relationships that you never knew existed…

Punjabi Choley and Saag Paneer....and it's raining shoes...

As I was mentioning before - There are people who eat to live and others who live to eat...I unfortunately fall in the second category of food obsessed divas...

My son is turning out to be a little bit of a food snob - scrambled eggs with pecorino is tolerable but scrambled eggs with cheddar...sacrilege...mango juice - Yes! Orange Juice - Boring!...Quinoa - Thumbs up...Millet - Thumbs Down....the list goes on and on. We ended this week on a sober note...what with my son still being sick and now he has a cold and a cough. I have been trying to feed him a lot more fluids and soups but at the back of my head I always feel like I am not doing enough.

We spent a quiet Friday at home...K1 went out for a happy hour with a friend. On Saturday, we took both our cars for servicing. We then had brunch at the IHOP place in San Jose (K2 loves strawberries and he had the strawberry french toast) after which we took him to the "Great Mall". My son's feet have grown from a size 5 to a size 7...in a matter of 4 months. We got him 5 pair of new shoes - 2 crocs (red, faded denim), one brown dress shoe, one sports shoe (with lights) and a cute pair of sandals...We picked up all the shoes at Osh Kosh and The Children's Place (trying very hard not to overdo it). The funny part was both K1 and I were so engrossed buying stuff for K2 that we didn't pick up anything for ourselves.

On Sunday I made some hot and spicy Sambhar Rice with Dry Potato Curry for lunch which hit a comfort spot for me. I also made Tomato and Barley Soup from scratch for Krish in the night and we had the same for dinner with Garlic Toast. We have a friend (colleague) from work over for dinner today, so dinner plans are paratha, saag paneer and choley. I am hoping Krish get's over his cough and cold soon...

I did just realize that we didn't really bbq on our brand new grill...maybe in a couple weekends...I am in Europe next week...how was your long weekend?

And the heat is on...

The weekend ended on a "hot" note what with an incessant heat advisory in our neck of the wood...we hid inside the house. I did make my customary trek down to the Farmer's Market after 5 weeks...unusual for me -- I scored some incredibly fresh chinese spinach, daikon radish,broccolli,okra, yams,squash, mandarins and strawberries. I am all set for my week's quota of vegetables ( I almost sound like a vegetable salad!).I cooked up a storm with an array of vegetarian lentils and vegetables and I also baked a cake (yum!)...

Monday was work as usual...Tuesday was fun in part and frustrating in others...frustrating because I am a creature of habits and I had to give up my office of 13 months and move to a new spot...I do stay light, so the move itself was painless nevertheless frustrating. Tuesday was fun because of a fun video the team shot...every now and then I realize what an incredibly fun team I work with and fun project I am on and things start looking up.

I got home about 7ish and my poor little tyke had a 102 fever ( I don't know what its with these kids and constant sickness), so I gave him some juice and some paracetemol and he is in bed watching Mickey Mouse...

I am hoping the hot weather lightens up to something more bearable but honestly the weather here is so amazing...where else do you get incredible views of the water, the romantic fogs, the woodsy hills...it is just amazing. The picture above is thanks to A, a colleague who shot this Turkey Vulture in her amazing backyard...WOW!

Around the world on five dollars...

This week was long and hectic. We had a work meeting that was 3 days long...so between the presentations, meetings, roadmap reviews, other miscellaneous reviews and team dinners, there wasn't much time left over to relax. I did get the chance to hang out with two ladies whom I really like E & M...and met some new colleagues face to face whom I really liked.

I had some really good food and some really bad...we were at this brewhouse called Tied House in Mountain View which had bar food -- greasy garlic fries, fried calamari, grilled chicken sausage...the list went on. I had a margharita and grilled Salmon and woke up in the night with a splitting headache....next day I hung out with my favorite ladies at Xanh...I stuck to a green tea and clay pot cod...great ambience and even better company. Next day saw me,M & D at Shana Thai brainstorming on our strategies for an upcoming presentation and I was so happy that it was time already for the weekend.

In the evening on Friday, I did some basic grocery shopping (organic milk, bread, Egg Whites etc), ate some spicy chaat (don't know what Chaat is ...check here), went for a relaxed walk and watched "Traitor" (yes, the one publicised by Michael Savage).

Today, K1 took K2 to the gym while I relaxed around the house and watched a recorded "Medium" episode. We went to the "Immigrants Festival" at the Redwood City Courthouse -- where they had food from China, Mexico, Japan, Philipinnes, Basque (Spain), Italian, Portugal and India. We got 2 tasting cards for $5 each (each worth 7 tastes) and began our vacation. I absolutely loved the Italian Sausage and Polenta, the cheese and custard tart from Portugal and the lamb stew at the Basque station. K2 loved the cheese, the breads, the lumpia...we filled our tummies, watched some cultural shows - Portuguese Singing, Basque and Mexican Dancing...the heat chased us away to Jamba Juice (it was 100 degrees outside)...I am lying in my cool soft bed watching Winnie the Pooh with K2...his idea of heaven. Here's to more adventures with food, family and friends....

p.s - this is a picture of the basque lamb stew from one of the wonderful food blogs

Anchors Away & an Award !!!

My definition of seventh heaven - A walk in the park with my toddler, watching him play with the almost tame ducks, watch him drawing uneven circles with sidewalk chalk...and having him steal half my icecream (Nestle, Triple Chocolate).

The last 2 weeks were hectic...what with a move, a toddler with bronchitis and 2 disorganized people trying to get organized. We did end up moving - I lost a couple pots and pans...and the famous pressure cooker I blogged about a month back...was I heart broken -- YES!!! I did have my friend P loan his trusty pressure pan to me and glad to report that things worked out.

Work wise things have been working out great. The service I launched 2 months back is slowly gaining popularity and the number of users on the service is growing leaps and bounds. We have won an internal award and are the finalist for another one...the team is motivated to make things happen...and in my dictionary -- that is a perfect 10.

Yet there is an inertia settling in and I need to shake it up...maybe it is the tired body rebelling from the move...Mother's Day was uneventful...no breakfast in bed...just a tired Product Manager surfing amazon for the best deals on weighing scales...no haven't gained weight...just lost my old weighing scale in the move.

Today my plan is to lay in bed and watch the past episodes of "Medium" that I recorded and relax with a cuppa of peppermint tea. Here's to new beginnings...