Some fillup required

From you guys!

Please post. With the exception of melee, no one is posting. Please help me get on a higher plane.

Help me help myself.

Crib time

I am sick and tired of visiting docs and getting tests done.

My schedule for the week starting today :

Friday : Went to the hospital to meet a diabetologist. Waited for 2 hours for an appointment which took exactly 2 mins

Saturday : Need to go to my doc to show reports

Sunday : More tests involving drinking glucose. And not just once ...Uggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhh .. and a half day process, there goes my weekend. :((

Tuesday : Go to diabetologist again in the hospital

Saturday : Meet the doc for a regular check up

And in between all this, I need to meet 2 docs. They have been referred by my doc who is retiring. So I now need to figure out who will take me through the next 3.5 months.

No wonder am pissed off.

And did I tell you how I hate hospitals! I had forgotten about it - today's visit brought it all back to me :(

A million ad breaks

Now I know why there are ad breaks during any show. A combination of MC Aus and HD made me realise why there are these 5 min breaks between the show and why it is a heaven sent.. for people like me!!!!

I have HD on my Tata Sky. And watching anything without a break is quite a treat really. It attracts you like never before. You don't need to channel surf, you can just watch a programme in its entirety together!! No cuts in between.

Come MC Australia, I have changed my mind. While I would love to watch the show without any break, the problem is the timing. It is on air between 9 and 10pm and that's the time I have my dinner.

So many a days, while watching MC on HD, I would sit with a plate in my hand.. loath to get up for a second helping.. even worse, sit with a plate that goes totally dry waiting for the show to end. I didn't want to miss a minute you see. And one thing I hate, is a drying plate, a drying hand. The minute I finish eating, I get up to wash my hand.s I really hate sitting around. Even during breakfast, if I finish eating but am still having my tea, I first go and wash my hands and then have tea. You get the drift, am sure.

And now am back to watching MC on regular TV. I need the breaks. The first break to heat my food, another one for second helping, a 3rd one to wash up and a 4th one to clean up.

Never thought would say this - cheers to the million ad breaks!! :))

Cooking ahoy

This weekend I am on my own. I remember having posted earlier on the joys of being alone for a change, the fun in shopping alone. In this situation, remove the driver from the equation and things turn on its head.

Actually the driver was present yesterday, but I had to get tests done. Thankfully, it didnt take too much time. I wanted to go to a bookstore and sit there for a while but these days, I get tired out quickly and run back home.

I ate, read, slept, put some clothes in the washing machine. And then asked myself - now what. So I made a lemon pickle for myself.

And today it was a cake.. a plain vanilla cake. I have no idea of how it has turned out. It is cooling in the kitchen.

When you dont have company, 2 days really stretch in front of you!!

In my free time, I figured out a good site for Indian recipes - NDTV cooks. They seem to have nice chicken recipes.

And a nice place to stay at Coorg - Rainforest retreat it is called, I think. It is a farm basically and is run by an NGO. There is no electricity at the plantation. Seems like an ideal place to switch off and relax. For whenever, I can travel next!

And now I again find myself at a loose end. Thankfully, a friend is visiting soon.

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Anyone caught MC India? Yesterday's episode was not bad at all. The challenge was similar to MC Aus though I thought that Indian one was tougher. They had to mix and match a core ingredient and a cooking instrument. In the Indian context, they got ingredients like marigold, grapes, thai aubergines (which are bitter), tinda etc. Some of the instruments were old things used in pre historic times - a tawa, a stone thing (looks like a pestle, used to be used in Kerala apparently), a steaming instrument etc. One pair of contestants made tarts.. on a tawa!!!!!!!!! Another one made chicken stuffed with crab meat, a berry sauce and a pomegranate couscous. I thought these guys were very innovative.. a far cry from last year's MC where they would stick to what they know.

Time to check on the cake!

Update: Cake is rock hard! When microwaving, I checked using a knife. Though it came out clean, the top was moist. I microwaved it again and now it is like a stone. :((

Maternity wear.. pah!!!!!!!!

It really is.. pah!

I want to wear nice clothes. I DO NOT want to wear a sack or some ridiculously insipid clothes.

Can someone please go and tell Mom & Me stores that! It was the most upsetting...my visit to the store. The thing is I am quite happy wearing my old nice Cotton World tops - I don't want to hide my belly or anything.  Cotton World has lovely cotton tees, which is really thin and comfortable to wear. They just stretch over you, the right way.. without making you feel constricted.

Then I have pairs of shorts, Abercombie & Fitch and Cotton World again - which I love wearing. What I am missing is my pair of jeans. I have 4 pairs and 2 are redundant now. There are 2 I can wear but the doc has now advised me to give it up. She was the one who asked me to go buy maternity wear.

So I went to the Mom & Me store. I was really upset, I cannot tell you how much. Not only are the bottoms ugly, they are ridiculously overpriced!!!! 2K for a pair of this baggy green 3/4ths. Can you imagine! Even higher than beautifully fitted Levis!!! Just because you don't get maternity wear in India.

Even worse - if I say Mothercare, what comes to your mind? I walk into Shoppers Stop with the same intent of picking up nice maternity wear. There is this big giant board that announces in capital letters MOTHERCARE. And I find only baby stuff there. Dude, who named this store Mothercare. Go check a dictionary. It is mothercare and not babycare. There was not a single thing for a woman in that part of the store. And if that is Shopper Stop's doing, of not stocking stuff related to moms, then WELL!!!!!

As you can see - its incredibly frustrating. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.........I don't want to wear drab bedsheets. I want to wear nice stuff. Why doesn't anyone understand this. Stupid companies.

Someone I know bought material and got it all stitched.. the dresses. I, for one, don't have so much patience.

I think I will stick to M size at Cotton World.. soft soft comfortable beautiful material I want against my skin. Had I seen any company person there, I would have slapped them hard. Silly asses.

Pictures as promised

A few pictures of Fisherman's Cove, Chennai. A beautiful property, and am sure you will agree!

Bay of Bengal

The sea changed colours everyday. The first day, it was the colour of ink, deep blue. And the next day, when it was cloudy, it became steel grey. Just gorgeous. I can actually sit in front of the sea for hours at end.. without even a book in hand!

A pathway within the property

This was a path running through a certain stretch. You cant see it, but there is a framework on top that covers this path and there are bougainvillas planted on the side. Seems like they would be covering the entire roof with flowers. It will be even more beautiful soon! Or will it? I liked the night lit sky as well.



White flowers, dont know which ones

A part of the butterfly garden within the property. It looked beautiful and I couldnt resist taking a picture.



Remains of a fort

And right somewhere in the middle of the hotel grounds, besides the pool, in the midst of the garden, is this wall. Apparently the only remains of an 18th century dutch fort, that used to exist where this hotel was. They say it was possibly a small armory. I, for one, am extremely fascinated with history!!!



Post the rains

I dont know what plant this is. But it was a bright green in the midst of all greenery. And this picture was taken right after it rained.