This is one of these quick and easy recipe I keep handy for a busy day. You know those days you can't be bothered with a lot of complicated prep time and staying in front of the stove for an hour.

The kind of meal I can quickly toss in a sauce pan while attending to my daughter's homeworks and evening routine.
It can be served with any steamed vegetables or a side salad, and I usually cook either some pasta or some pearl barley on the side.

If you buy the chicken already cubed, your work is going to be pretty much to heat oil, toss it in and season, this is THAT easy.
The bonus is that there is usually enough leftover for me to eat the next day for lunch, can we say "Yay"?


You'll need:

- 500g of diced boneless chicken breast (without skin)
- 200ml Fresh cream (I used one small carton of Amul Fresh Cream)
- 1-2 tbsp of mustard (I used 2 tbsp Dijon Mustard)
- 1 tbsp of dried basil
- 1 tsp of garlic powder
- salt to taste
- mustard oil for cooking

What to do :

1) Heat mustard oil in a big saucepan or dutch oven. DO NOT use a wok or Kadai, it dries out the chicken too much in that recipe.

2) Add the chicken cubes to the oil and stir occasionally until the chicken starts to brown.

3) Reduce the heat and add 1 or 2 table spoon of mustard to the chicken along with the garlic powder and dried basil. Stir for a minute.

4) Add the cream, stir and cover. Let it simmer for about 5 minutes or until the chicken is cooked to the center.

5) Remove from the stove. Serve hot with your choice of vegetables and carbs on the side.

This is IT!

Isn't it nice when cooking doesn't tie you to the stove more than 15 minutes? 

Doodlers of the world raise your hand! Non-doodlers...hear us out!

I have been a doodler for as long as I can remember. I've doodled at home, doodled during classes, boring lectures, presentations, on holiday...
There has been doodles on my worksheets, notebooks, day planner, in a sketch book, on scraps of paper, in scrapbooks.

Doodles that were silly, some good, some in colours, some in black and white. With special pens, or a good old ball points.


The doodles that mean something, and those that don't.

Doodles doodles everywhere.

Doodles always had one purpose though, a purpose that many of my teachers over the year never really fully took seriously: It helps my mind connect the dots and retain more info from those lectures that seemed to have no end.

My teachers back in the days didn't understand it, they dismissed it as a distraction and a sign of disregard for their lecture.
They were wrong, oh so VERY wrong! Science and many serious researches are on our side, the side of us doodlers that is! Don't believe me? Read this article!

Doodling increase focus, and helps the brain make new connections and retain more informations.

Doodle power I tell you!


For me, doodling not only provides the visual support my highly visual memory needs to simply keep focus in a lecture that is all speech and not much else. It also helps me make brand new connections and come up with new associations to help me retain even more content.

My teachers never understood what the link between historical dates and tribal tattoo design was. Or what swirls and curls had in common with Voltaire or why Rousseau deserved nothing more than a few angry lines and grids (the guy was a pompous jerk, he doesn't deserve fancy doodles).

I doodled my way through every topics that didn't provide any visual aid, and saved myself countless horrible marks doing so.
A glance at my twirls and curls and pretty flowers scribbled in the margin of a xeroxed worksheet was all I needed to access those powerful connections and cut my exam study time in half.

But, oh yes! Those doodles got me in a small amount of trouble. There has been warnings, punishment homework, and even notes sent to my parents. Followed almost inevitably by the teachers bafflement when my parents brushed it off and my marks kept going strong.

They were dead certain I was not paying attention. Nobody serous about studies doodle a "Taz vs Vader" comic strip in her school diary.
But "Mrs P - Vader" (my history teacher if you must know) throwing replicas of Columbus' ships at Taz to stop him from going "Bugna prrrrrt" had a great amount of logic.

I kid you not, I still remember those 4 ships: Santa Maria, La Nina, La Pinta and Santa Clara...they hurt Taz.
But only until Taz made a secret alliance with "Mr R-Vader" (math teacher) and unleashed the "perfect circle" and a bunch of equation at Mrs P precious ships.

This helped me ace Trigonometry making the parallel between Trig and geographical navigation.

Stupid doodles? I don't think so, not when my school diaries contained more usable content than my class specific notebooks and brought all topics together and connected them.


Then there are the times when my doodles end up looking like "mind maps", a technique that put on paper what goes through your mind in an organic way that mimic how brain cells connect.

I use it when I am confused, or have too much going on my mind. The mind map above is one I made recently to flush my mind before bedtime as I knew sleep would not come until I had it all out in front of me.

The bonus? It looks funky and quirky enough to display as art, share on Instagram or....solve that dilemma about blog post ideas I put on said mind map (go read it and find it out).
Because yes, that mind map doodle prompted me to write this post about doodles...HA!

Sorry, I have been a bit quiet on the blog, even though my daughter went back to school. The truth is that I found myself quite busy tackling a very sensitive matter :

My weight. 

Some of you may already know the fact I have been insulin resistant and a PCOS sufferer for years. You may or may not know that despite my leading a fairly active lifestyle and watching what I eat I still struggle to loose weight.

What you definitely not know because it is kind of news, is that my insulin resistance, while still being controlled in itself has cause me to develop Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver disease (often called NASH disease).
I would not even have known about it if it weren't for a severe UTI infection that felt like Kidney stone (but wasn't) didn't lend me in the emergency room on July 1st.

Tons of pain killers in an IV and an abdominal scan later, we found out there was no stones, just a super inflamed bladder and as an ad-on : A grade 2 fatty liver. Wha-aat???

This prompted me to go see my regular doctor (who is a diabetologist) to check if my Insulin resistance problem was not getting out of control (fatty liver and insulin resistance go hand in hand in the long term).

The good new is that my Insulin resistance is still under control, there are no signs of it turning into full blown diabetes (relief).
The bad new is obviously that my liver is not working how it is supposed to work and my Triglyceride levels have shot up (thankfully the good and bad cholesterol are still within normal).

This prompted my doctor to suggest the medical weight-loss management programme in the hospital to really find out HOW I could loose weight.




As I said, I lead a fairly active lifestyle and I really don't eat much junk food or even refined carbs. My diet is high in fiber and proteins in the form of fresh fruits and veggies and lean meat.
Basically the way I lead my life is by far not unhealthy, and yet I managed to gain weight in the past year. Forget the fact all my best attempt at loosing any weight in the past 7-8 years have gone nowhere.

But now with what is labelled metabolic syndrome, we really can't just ignore it anymore.


So, I went for my weight-loss assessment. I saw my regular doctor, a dietetician, a cardio-rehab doctor and a psychologist.

In two hours I found out that I am perfectly well on the psychological level, that my diet is exemplary and that I have the stamina of an endurance athlete.

The problem with my attempt to loose weight was not in what I eat, or how active I am. But HOW my body dealt with my being active.
Basically I could walk all day long over long distances at a brisk pace and my body would still not burn much calories or fat from it. Simply because my heart is not getting the cardio workout it is supposed to get when you walk at a pace of 1 kilometre per 10-11 minutes. My heart rate does not elevate high enough doing so.
The catch, is because of a congenital bad knee problem and high arched feet, high impact activities like running aren't really recommended either.

To have a shot at loosing the 15kg I need to loose, I need to step up, and vary my workout regimen very often as my body adapt quickly to a change.

I have been told to keep my heart rate above 120 beat a minute, but closer to 130 during my workout. A challenge in itself since my resting rate is at about 53 beat per minutes and can sink below 50 while I sleep.


This bit of news came as no surprise, I just was relieved that I was incredibly fit cardio-wise and to be told I am one of those who are very energy efficient when they work out.
It's great, because it proves once and for all that I am indeed FIT, but it also kind of sucks because it will make my tackling my metabolic issues that much harder.


You'd think I would have also noticed my really getting "fat" too? WRONG!

I still have my hour glass figure, and most people, including myself, would make the assessment that I am just a little bit overweight. Even my BMI would agree to that statement.
Sadly, it isn't what the Body Mass Analysing machine said, I may have the BMI of an overweight person, but the total fat analysis and the percentage of visceral fat (deep tummy fat) places me in the OBESE category.
And all I did was gain 1 or 2 pants size at the most. Heck some of my pre-baby clothes of when I was 10kg lighter still fit!

This is sadly what happens when you are insulin resistant, the fat is the vicious type that is deep inside and not on the surface. It invaded the tummy area, creeps into the liver with no tell tale signs for you or the world to see, and bam, before you know it, a machine labels you as obese.

It doesn't feel that great, and it is kind of frustrating, especially when your body itself doesn't seem to want to loose that sinister fat unless you run all day long and eat almost nothing.

But hey! Now I have a plan I can work with

I love my Fitbit! 

I still walk, a lot

I have my support team

If your body is against you when it comes to weight-loss, these are the things you should do : 

Golden accents has been the trend for a while when it comes to home decor and all for the right reasons.

Metallic accents lend a touch of luxury and class to almost any decor effortlessly and blends in naturally with any theme, be it minimalistic, bold and colourful, eclectic, or even boho.
Simply put, you can't go wrong with golden, copper or silver accents.

The problem is that home decor stores and brands have seized the opportunity to sell you these accent at...well...the price of gold (even if it is fake gold).

The good new, is that it doesn't have to cost you an arm and leg. Let me introduce you to one of the simplest of Home Cyn Home's project since the Golden lamp makeover:


The best way to set vignettes in your decor or add an interesting centrepiece to your table is to display objects on a tray or pretty plate.
To not have to worry about your items clashing with the tray or plate is to use neutral colors and let the display objects be the star of the show (in this instance, my oh so adorable felt cacti).

Since I really didn't want to go out to buy a display tray, and certainly not pay premium for a fashionable golden tray, I made my own.

From scraps...literally:


I had spray paint left over from my golden lamp project (not to mention my January decor cookie jars), and the rectangle wooden tray was the package in which Ishita's Melissa and Doug Princess Wand craft project.

I kept the tray thinking it could come in handy one day, beside, you don't just throw wooden packaging like that!

I covered my well ventilated (very important with spray paints) work area and generously sprayed my tray to cover all the pink and blue stains it had.
The longest part of that project was to let it dry. It took less than an hour to be dry to the touch but I left it be for a couple of hours more before putting it to good decorating use.

Right now, it is home to my felt cacti, as shown in the first picture, but the uses for that kind of tray are endless.
Here, I staged a little tea time tray that I could totally take to bed (and probably will one day):




If you don't have a scrap wooden box around for your convenient use, the beauty of spray paint is that it can be applied to almost every surface.
The perfect occasion to turn those ugly melamine plate into a stunning piece of home decor (don't use them for food though), or buy an inexpensive steel plate from your local market and give it the golden touch.

It's your pick really. Isn't it nice when you stumble upon such an easy DIY project?

This account is high in bright colours. She favours bright coloured walls or doors as a background. A reminder that colour and cheerfulness can be found all around you if you care to look for it.
This purple wall above is my current favourite.

trumatter

I made it no secret that we were not happy with  Ishita's previous school, this is what resulted in this super long Summer break we just ended.

In the past week that Ishita got back to school, I heard her talk more about what she did and how exiting it was than I did the past year in her old school.
This simply nailed the last nail in my long reflection about what a school should be about, for both children AND parents.

I will leave the whole curriculum and board alphabet soup out of the equation here, simply because there are options that work better for different people. But, I will focus on how a school should treat you parents (and money provider) and how it treats kids.

Our former school is a textbook example of what should NOT happen, and what parents across India should start going against. Sadly, our old school was not an isolated case, there are many just like it in our area. We chose it on the promises made by the school and it's curriculum, and we felt cheated on that front, but what pissed us up the most was the unprofessionalism and blatant disrespect for parent's time and human value (not to mention the kids).

I decided to make a list of all the things that drove us crazy there, and how sadly, I was the only one among the parents having an issue with, or at least being vocal about.

Communication

Parents aren't walking money purse

Keep your promises

Maintain a certain level of hygiene and SAFETY in the school premises

Parents have lives outside the school

Shocking, but schools that respect parents and kids exist. 

August! The months which in Europe and US usually means the Summer is about to near its end very soon has a whole different meaning in India.

For us, this marks the return of the multiple public holidays and the nearing of the festive season. It starts with India's Independence Day on August 15th. Then it is followed by Rakshabandhan, a festival during which sisters tie a bracelet around their brother's wrist and ask for their protection. And before you know it Janmastami is here before we get sucked into September and the full start of the festive season.

For parents, this is the time of the year the kids will be at home on a holiday at least once a week until Diwali, some schools going far more overboard in the holiday department than others.

To reflect this month of festivities in the most secular way possible I decided to go with a saffron, white and green palette to honour the Indian flag, and drew a rakhi, the bracelet tied during Rakshabandhan.

Here are a few tid-bits you might want to know about August in India:

- The first two weeks of the months mark the end of the Monsoon sales in most shops, department stores and malls. It usually ends on August 15th.

- August 15th, while being India's Independence day is usually a day during which people go shopping to strike the last bargains of the season before all the prices gets inflated again during the festive period.
This is the Indian equivalent of US's Black Friday, and if you are sane enough you stay home, and if you need to shop, you shop online.
Malls are usually super crowded, and in a few of them in Mumbai there is a queue to get in at the security check point. If you enjoy crowd baths and being stampeded, then by all mean join the folly. I myself stay home and away from any commercial area.

- Rakhi make their appearance in shops by the end of July so that ladies with out of town brothers can  send them by post, it's to my knowledge the only festival where people will shop more than a week in advance for.

- Over the years, August also came to be about Friendship, and friendship bracelets are often sold along with Rakhi during that time of the year, probably to that those who have no brothers to exchange bracelets with can still do so with their friends.

Now remember to brace yourself :

The Festive Season is coming!

2016 has come and gone, and I removed the links to the files. If you are looking for a calendar printable know that my 2017 edition is up for download, find it out in this blog post.