last week

A week gone by, slowly but surely. A weekend gone by, racing away. And now, it's time to face another week. Time to do the same thing all over again, the routine, the repetition, the repetition, again and again. Yes, it sometimes gets to me. Doing the daily thing, again and again. But what else is there to do, everyone has some sort of routine to their lives, and so we must carry on.

What will make this past week more memorable for me is the lovely little getogether we hosted a few days back. Some of my favorite guests had come over, people whom I love, people who love me, and we all sat and chatted, put our feet up, chilled, ate, drank and had a good time. When ever we host a dinner, I try to do as much prep before hand, so that I can relax with the guests, instead of running around. And with modern apartments and open kitchens, you really can't afford to be making a mess or a racket, so it's all best done beforehand.

I never take photos when I entertain....so no shots of the food or drinks etc, but here are some other shots from my week.

A shot of one of my favorite spots on my walks. The gulmohar trees opposite is where I love to sit when we stop to have something to eat on our early morning walks. 

Leftover dessert from our dinner...dark chocolate tart with a gingersnap crust. I've made this several times before, and decided to make this again since its a dessert that works well when made a day in advance. So, that's less for me to do on the actual day!

Out on an evening walk. The bougainvillea's are flowering everywhere...and here they have lots of new growth too. And that's E in the bg :-) Yup, these days, she's always running away from me!

early morning in the neighbourhood!

Even though it's getting hot, the mornings and evenings are still somewhat pleasant. When you live in the desert, you have to make do with the heat, or stay cooped up inside for 6 months of the year. It's hard and really makes me claustrophobic, so we head out, even for a short while, it just makes a difference.

My daughter E has been waking up early, so that's a great excuse or rather push that I need to head out in the morning. The other day she woke up at 550am! What am I going to do, I thought. For a while, we just snuggled and she lay on me, which I have to say is the most sweetest thing ever. When we were at home-home and sharing a bed (since she outgrew her crib), she would love to fall asleep lying on me, which she now misses since she's back in her own crib!

At 620am I thought, lets just go out. I needed to buy some yogurt and better to go and buy it when the weather is still nice, so off we went. And yes, there's a small Carrefour Market nearby which is open 24/7. By the time we reached there, I was hungry, so I decided to buy some banana's too, which we ate while sitting under a flowering gulmohar tree! It was like a little impromptu picnic of sorts!

Enjoying the morning quiet and taking photos while E runs around. That's her in the background, in the pale blue pants!


It's been really lovely to see so many trees and shrubs come up in our area in the past year. Desert or not, they grow fast! I just wish that they would plant more trees along the sidewalks and paths, so that one could be totally protected in the shade in the heat of the summer! They usually plant palm trees, which are great to look at, but just don't have much shade.

A new-soon-to-be-opening gelato place which has chairs and tables shaped like ice cream cones! It's quite hilarious and monstrous at the same time, which is why I didn't focus on them. What I did focus on is the side of a date plam tree. I love the pattern the trunk takes on as it grows. These are where the old fronds have been cut away.

Greenery, freshness for the eyes! I don't know what this is, but it always smells incredible as one walks past it. It's my favorite spot to pass by every day!

from around the house

Scenes from around the house from the past week. The settling in took some time, but it's nice to feel like its home again. Don't you love it when you have your own little routines for doing things, simple things like sitting down with a cup of tea and the newspaper, finishing off in the kitchen at night and so on.

A window by my bedside. We get afternoon and evening light from this window, very warm and welcoming.

The oldest recipe book I have which was gifted to me by a dear friend called Rosalie, with whom I worked in a bakery when I was in college. She taught me how to roll pastry dough, how to make pies and so much more.

Night time lights.

I've been growing green onions in water. It's super simple and they grow really fast. Just chop off the green bit and plonk them in water, and voila, they'll grow! I know that they're so cheap to buy, but it's nice to 'grow' something on your own too, isn't it?

photos from my home town

I've been back over a week, but I still don't feel settled in. It's taken me much longer this time around, maybe because my trip was so much longer than normal...3 months! Looking back sorting photos and here are some from Chandigarh, the city where I grew up, my hometown. I realize that as I'm getting older, I'm growing fonder of it.

Walking in Bougainvilla garden in Sector 3. That's my mother and my daughter!

A garden full of these beauties! 

Looking up at the sky and seeing beautiful pods and seeds.

A stranger at the embankment on Sukhna Lake.

A little kitty that I found in the kitchen at home-home....it has a mama version too. I thought it was a place mat, but it's actually thicker and to be displayed on the wall.

and the pool beckons!

Well, it might only be May, but summer is here! I'm quite amazed at how long the nice weather has lasted. I wonder if this means that it's going to last longer this year. Usually, by September it starts getting a hint cooler and by October it starts becoming quite nice. I do hope it's not going to be an extra long summer, since it just gets too claustrophobic after a while. But, on the other hand, when it's too hot, all one can do is laze in or by the pool! We've got a pool on the rooftop, and even though the temperatures are so hot, one does need to use a pool heater at times. The other day, someone had come around with some hayward pool heater parts to our building, and that's when I realized that even though the outside temperatures are so high, since our pool is semi-enclosed, it does need to be heated. So odd, but true!