Menu Plan Mondays - September Week 3

It takes a LOT of my time to think what I should be cooking than actually cooking food everyday. And its not even like I have a family of 6 people with complicated agendas, its just 2 people with pretty fixed schedules. So for the past two weeks I have been trying out a weekly routine to actually write down a weekly menu plan, shop accordingly and stick to this plan as much as I can.

Taking it even one step further, I think joining I'm an Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Mondays gives a bit more inspiration!? Hoping so. Once again thanks to Mub for initiating me to these weekly blog activities all over!

So here goes my weekly plan:

Monday - 
Breakfast: Sabudana kitchdi (after a serious mess up the first time I tried it, it turned into a big joke and made rounds among my friends for a looong time...:(, way to start a Monday! :D)
Lunch: Roti + Aloo sabzi
Dinner: Spring onions, moong daal + Cabbage sabzi + rice
Snack: Banana Bread

Tuesday - 
Breakfast: Pesarattu + coconut chutney
Lunch: Roti + daal
Dinner: Cocunut brocolli stew + Kovakkai sabzi + rice
Snack: Channa dal sundal

Wednesday - 
Breakfast: Sooji rava upma
Lunch: Veggie burgers
Dinner: Bisibelabath + Raita
Snack: Mini Pita Pizza

Thursday - 
Breakfast: Pesarattu + tomato chutney
Lunch: Bisibelabath
Dinner: Rajma + gobi paratha
Snack: Tofu Tikki

Friday - 
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs
Lunch: Rajma + Roti
Dinner: Spinach Tofu + rice
Snack:  Veggie Cutlet

Friday Fragments - for the first time!

Inspired by fellow blogger at The Misadventures of Mub, I have started the Friday Fragments for the first time. It is a cool weekly feature initiated by Half - Past Kissin' Time which sort of recaps the past week's highlights. A neat way to keep track of life, I thought! :)

So here goes my week's highlights:

---) I finally completed my looong time on going crochet project. A simple scarf which I managed to mess up half through and had to undo all the way back and again knit it. I was so excited when I completed this, I tried it out several times even while the sun was shining ever so brightly :). Am thinking what to make next!

---) Being a new driver, I avoid driving on my own through highways as much as possible. After a strong pep talk from my husband and carefully tracing out a route which takes the highway for only few minutes, I managed to make it on my own for a needed car repair! Phew!

---) I joined swimming lessons. Again! It was oddly satisfying to see grown up people who all have some sort of water phobia and have hence not learnt swimming so far. Lets see if I get it this time around.

---) The weather changed dramatically from mid week here in NJ. It was as if the sun got bored and said a sudden brisk good bye. From turning the air-conditioning on one night, to taking out our warm blankies the next night, the "brrrrr.." season begins.

---) After some back and forth thoughts I finally started volunteering at the local library here. Just for a change. The lady there said while showing me how to label books that she found it therapeutic. And then she took me to a big stack of about 500 books. Ahem! Therapeutic, I don't know. Mind numbing, yes! :)

---) I have realized my favorite hangouts in general are two sorts of places - libraries and coffee shops (not the Dutch kind!). There is this cozy, warm, fuzzy feeling about them. After a wonderful Chai Tea Latte, me and hubby just took a walk along the Hudson river to this beautiful view of NYC skyline (above). Small pleasures are the best!

Anyone interested in joining Friday Fragments, please click at the button below! Thank you Mrs. 4444.

Hurircane Irene came and went

Hurricane Irene towards the east coast

"But, why?? you are preparing as if its war time" said my husband controlling his laughter when I told him that we would need to add a transistor to our hurricane shopping list. As he hung up the phone, I could snatch a bit of what he was telling his colleague "Man, my wife is freaking out watching CNN...." :)

Hurricane Irene came out of no where and forced us all to be at home last weekend. With 24x7 coverage on several news channels claiming that even the New York Stock Exchange would be closed, I was expecting something in lines of the movie "The Day After Tomorrow". We shopped extensively and am now quite familiar with the hurricane emergency kit: bottled water, torch and batteries, candles, food supplies, some medicines, filling up gas in the car and a transistor (The NJ Governor said we may need to listen to news when there is a power outage - then, of course we need to!). And thank God, we live above ground level. Oh yeah! We were all ready for the vicious Irene to hit us. My husband's only interest (apart from lazing around most of the two days spent at home) was on getting a day off on Monday.  Alas, the vicious category 3 hurricane Irene turned into a wimpy tropical storm as it hit NJ (No no, I am happy about it, really!).

We were fast asleep as it poured its worst rains on us and in the morning we got up to see even some sun shining on us. :). Better luck next time Irene! After resisting this intense urge to get out on Sunday itself, we all left to NYC on Monday (with a more than eager guest who also spent two looooong days watching the rains from our home), hoping that the city would be less crowded this one time. Ya..like that would ever happen...NYC was as crazy as always.

Hats off to the government though for carrying out such extensive precautionary measures! While a few felt that they overdid it, I think its always better to be safe than sorry.