This will cure your pains and aches

Slow cooked Bone Broth

Beef bones( ideally veal) 1lbs

Add 1tsp ghee, 1tsp cumin, 6-8 black pepper, 1 inch cinnamon stick, 1 inch ginger, 6-8 garlic cloves and a medium onion. Stir it for 5-7 minutes till it gets slightly brown or loses its raw colour.

Add 8-10 cups water, let it simmer over low flame for 2-3 hour or till the water reduces to half.

Your broth is rich, serve it hot either before dinner or an accompaniment to any meal.

A useful tip: If you are short on time, prepare it over the weekend, cook longer so the water is reduced to 2 cups. Store it in ice tray. Take one cube out, add boiling water and you have broth on the go.

Green Pea rice

Caramelise one medium to large onion in 4tbs oil

Once brown, add half a cup water and cover to let the juices come out. After 5 minutes add one large tomato, one cinnamon stick, 6-8 pepper pods, 1tsp ginger and garlic paste. Salt and pepper according to taste. I used 2tsp salt and half tsp pepper. This dish is prepared to serve 4-6 persons. You can reduce or increase quantity accordingly.

Let it stir for 5 minutes, add 1 1/2 cup green peas and 4 cups of water. Bring it to boil

Add 2 cups of pre soaked rice( 60 minutes) and cook on high flame (without the lid on )till the water dries.

Once the water is dried up, cook it for 10 minutes on extremely low flame with the lid on. Tadaa! Fluffy and yummy rice is ready to serve. Its a complete meal on its on and can be paired with a curry or veggie dish. A light meal for summer

A useful tip: Always used double the amount of water to rice. For two cups rice I used 4 cups water.

A tribute to mothers

I am a woman! Skinny or curvy? Well! It’s behind me

What is the perfect image of a woman? Does her weight define her personality? This debate has been going on forever, in some cultures the meatier the merrier and in some size 0 is idealized. If you ask women, opinions vary, some plump women would be happy and comfortable in their skin, yet the skinny ones would be unhappy with their image.

I personally fell for this trap ages ago, being a middle child and born in a relatively skinny household, I had always been conscious about my image. Anything I wore, I was never happy with the image I saw in the mirror. Though I am a woman of an average frame or rather say, the most common size i.e. 10. I never was skinny; I had broad bones. I envied skinny girls at school who would buy all fried stuff at the cafeteria and still manage to stay skinny. Throughout my school life I suffered comparisons with my siblings, classmates and all those who weighed little less than I did. Though I was not big or obese but these comparisons turned me into an obsessive freak. My struggle started way too early than most people can even think. I remember going for morning walks with my mom in grade six whilst my siblings enjoyed sound sleep during summer holidays.

I never participated in sports out of shyness as I would constantly fear I would lose, I never played games that required running or achieving a task. I could never run and catch a bus. Now that I sit and look back, I realize it all happened because of what they made me believe and think of myself. I could never learn how to dance due to fear of being laughed at. I could never learn how to swim out of shyness. My self-created paradigms turned out to be my obstacles. The struggle that started in my tweens lasted until recently I was invited to my 4 years olds sports day at school. At the event, first part comprised of a series of races/events for children and 2nd part was for parents. It was kind of voluntary, but I chose to participate, as I didn’t want my son to see mama not racing. It was a moment of a triumph for someone like me, who never participated in any sort of sports/physical activity (the only activity I have been doing at home is following a home dvd of exercise videos). There was no fear; only thing that was going in my mind was even if I lost, I would teach my son that losing, too, is a part of the game. This was so empowering that I ran on top of my lungs, jumped over one obstacle and under the other one. I was back in the ring long before I knew it. My team and my sons entire class clapped, I don’t remember my heart beating so fast in my entire life. 2^nd race was a little difficult to look at; participants were to run with a racket and a tennis ball, without letting the ball fall. I surprised myself again. My realization has come a bit late, my fears started at 8, It took me 30 years to realize that what you think of yourself becomes you. Your fears don’t let you do things you long for, my strength has come through my son. He unknowingly made me realize my potential. I feel so light; it is such a load off to shed my fears. It’s been two weeks since I have started treating my self differently. Body image is the last thing on my mind while I eat, dress up or go out. I have finally accepted myself, and am proud of it. I am proud that I am fit enough to carry my son and spin him around when he asks me to, I can run after him and for him. In other words I am not unkind to myself anymore. I love myself; love my body and everything that is Me! ( I penned this post some 4 and half years ago, meanwhile I learnt to swim, climb on monkey bars)

3 minute coconut flour+psyllium husk flat bread.

1- Two table spoons coconut flour

2- Two tbs psyllium husk( Ispaghol)

3- a pinch of baking soda

4- one egg( if you are a vegetarian you can skip the egg and use water)

5- olive or coconut oil 1tsp

Mix all dry ingredients into a microwave friendly dinner plate

Make a well in the middle and break an egg

Mix well till a sticky paste forms

Glaze the plate around that paste and spread with a fork , working towards the outer edges of the plate till you get a thin flat shape.

Microwave for 90seconds for the shape to hold.

Gently glide it on a hot plate (tawa) and cook from both sides.

Mine was for breakfast so I had it with fried egg, you can enjoy it with all kinds of curries or make a wrap with your favourite filling.

I am on a new diet!

The internet is full of weight loss advice, all of them telling the same thing, eat less carbs and more protein. Only problem I have with that lifestyle is, there are a few options for South East Asians, who, like to eat a lot of spices or the other staples like rice and wheat.

It is easier said than done, you eat protein rich foods and avoid carbs for a few days before you go back to your old eating habits. It is not a rocket science and I do not want to hammer in the done to death mantra, by saying we must make lifestyle changes or do not diet for good health. Yo you eating and dieting would only lead to re-bounding effect, you will lose some and gain an a lot back.

What is it that we can do that we gradually lose it all and keep it all off? There is home/work balance, a lot of socializing, eating out over the weekend and at times emotional eating. Sometimes we find ourselves hanging between two extremes, there are super skinny babes, who, would either be found at the gym or the Organic food aisle. What about us?

We have families to feed, can we cook multiple meals after coming back home for each one of the family member to enjoy? Shall we cook over the weekend? Bake those frozen rubbery chicken breast and freeze it again, reheat and eat every day? Hang on? Is this the way our ancestors ate? Some argue that, they were poor so had rice and wheat as staple food. Good they were poor and did not have access to hormone laden eggs and chicken.

They ate fresh, they ate whatever they liked and stayed healthy. Every other girl/woman I come across is suffering from PCOS (polycystic overlain syndrome) Impaired thyroid function and is deficient in vitamin D. What is it that we are doing differently? No mass produced food, no junk, fresh air, lots of walk/physical activity etc we all know that don’t we? It’s practically impossible to go back and eat the way they did? But there is one thing we all can easily do, without getting into hassle of following these mindless dieting fads, without spending hours in the gym.

Is that even possible? Yes it is if you dedicate yourself to shut your system by 6pm and reopen it at am. Eat before dark? Sounds like Hollywood yeah? There was a life before Hollywood and all humans followed natural body clock. How can I do that? I am still on the road by 6-30 pm and sometimes 7, so how can I make these changes? Well! You can start small … have your last meal 3 hours before you hit the sack, and say no to bedtime snacking. There will be only one change in the first week, you will feel extremely hungry around bedtime but then you will get used to it. You will follow your body’s natural circadian rhythm and wake up fresh … so let’s get started. Let’s not get trapped into cheat meals and make each meal a treat.

Hung curd

1- Take a muslin cloth and spread it in a pot.

2. Add 500 grams plain unsweetened yogurt.

3. Tie a knot and hang it somewhere higher. I chose the kitchen sink tap to avoid mess.

4. Leave it overnight, you will get 140 grams hung curd out of it.

5- This is how it looks, best source of protein and calcium. Makes a great substitute for dips and creams minus the guilt.

OMG…My Kids are gone!!!!

My daughter is going abroad to study and my son left some 8 years ago. When my son left I had my daughter with me. We would go on shopping trips, binge watch serials and enjoy attending weddings. These were the words of 54 year old Jaya, who, gave up her career to raise kids 15 years ago.

This was a big decision for me, as I could no longer trust anyone for my kids after my sons ailment prolonged and no one could figure out why? It turned out that it was poor health hygiene that wreaked havoc on his immune system. Long story short, now that her kids are settled or on their way to independence, she suddenly finds herself out of work. She feels lost most of the time, down and useless.

This is not only Jaya, it is every mother who had a career and chose to become a homemaker, or was a homemaker to start with. Atiqa shares the same story, she had three daughters, after they finished education and got married one by one, Atiqa has started having panic attacks. She feels lonely in the middle of the night and is scared to sleep. She would have palpitations and cold spells that would keep her awake all night. This has gotten worse after the demise of her husband a couple of years ago.

Despite being from diverse backgrounds, what is common between these two women? Why is that they felt empty and useless out of a sudden? The similarity is called “empty nest Syndrome”. The lonely feeling that won’t let you go through the day without constantly thinking about kids and the activities that made the kids and parents bond, especially mothers. Though it is not a clinical condition and may improve overtime, but for some parents this can turn into depression. Here are some ways to cope;

1-Stay in touch with your children at the time of their connivance (WhatsApp has made life easy) or send voice message so they can listen to it at the time of their convenience.

2– Get a hobby

3- Learn a new skill (It’s never too late to learn)

4- Meditate

5- Have a support system/ friends circle that you can trust.

6- Join Toastmasters (A public speaking platform that does not judge you on your confidence or grammar)http://www.toastmastersinternational.com

Try n look at the positive side of it, you have all the time in the world to join that Yoga class you have been postponing on account of having no time. Invest in yourself, get that skin care regimen back. Book regular massages sessions or coffee dates with friends. Accept and embrace it as a next stage of life.

Accept, surrender, reinvent.

The Journey Begins

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton

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