Career options

Every day I drive past this shop and I wonder how the owner came to this choice of career. He must have woken up one day and thought: I will be a coconut merchant!
A great choice in India, since coconuts are easy to find and easy to sell. Coconuts are used to quench a thirst, to eat the sweet 'meat' inside, for cooking and for Pudjaa (offering). So Mr. Tiptur started his business.
After a while he must have gone bored with the single produce to sell and found an addition to his coconuts: real estate.... makes sense doesn't it?

"Good morning sir, would you like a coconut or a house?"

Proud owner with friend

By the looks of it neither the coconuts nor the real estate are selling well, so again Mr. Tiptur found an addition to his produce: onions and garlic!

Most of the days Mr. Tiptur opens his shop after lunch time and just sits there playing chess with a friend, no coconut, real estate, onion or garlic in sight.

What do you think his story is?



The Real Expat House Wife

Last Wednesday, in the car on the way to a (work) dinner party, Adriaan told me colleague W. was over from NL and could he ask him over for dinner the next night?
"Sure honey, why not?!" {How am I going to organise that with all the arrangements I have already made for tomorrow?????} But then the light bulb came on: I can be a Real Expat House Wife!

On Thursday morning I wrote the menu down for Kavitha and a shopping list for Baburaj. Babu dropped me of at a friend's house to get some Sinterklaas things organised, then I picked up another friend to go to a mall. We had a great time shopping for Christmas outfits and found some very nice clothes.
At 13:00 hr. we had a lunch at a very nice Italian restaurant to celebrate a friends birthday.
When I came home around 16:00 hr. the house was clean, the dinner cooked and the kitchen spotless. I had pulled it off! I had been a Real Expat House Wife for a day!!!
I have to say it was great to have all the cake AND eat it, it won't become my everyday routine but it might happen again in future ;-) Maybe I should go and find my pearl necklace to match my new life style....

How many words?

A few weeks ago I volunteered to write an article for the Shell Expat magazine Destinations. The theme of the second issue in 2012 will be India. Shell Outpost here in Bangalore sent an email to all the Shellies to ask for contributions and I put up my hand (=replied to the mail) to write about being new to Bangalore. Then I sort of forgot about it, just to Realise this week that it has to be in before the end of the year....

So I am working on the article rather than this Blog (sorry) right now, but I will post it as soon as it is finished (i.e. I have written the right amount of words) and have found the photographs to go with it.

Yesterday my status on FB said I am having a hard time getting into the Sinterklaas-mood without pepernoten etc. My friends(?) commented that I should bake pepernoten myself (meaning by Kavitha others commented) and that was perceived as hilarious by "friend" that know my lack of baking qualities.....
Somehow nobody seems to take me serious when it comes to cooking and baking....I wonder why....would it have something to do with the fact that I emphasise my love for food but absence of enthusiasm for the preparation of it????

For Sinterklaas-recipes check out the link Cowroad sent me in her comment on my last post.

Sinterklaas

I had planned to write about day to day things that I notice here in Bangalore and that surprise me or leave me wondering 'Why?', but then I read Cowroad (Blog) and saw this:

An old postcard of Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet (st. Nicolas and Black Pete).

Sinterklaas is a big thing in The Netherlands and the Dutch speaking part of Belgium. We don't give eachother presents at Christmas, but at Sinterklaas. We have special treats we eat, like pepernoten and taai-taai, and it is a real family thing. Like with Santa, small children believe it is really Sinterklaas that brings the gifts with the help of his Zwarte Pieten. Unlike Santa, Sinterklaas has been a real bishop a few centuries ago. The Zwarte Pieten are based on the Moors that used to be his helpers (maybe even slaves).

Just this morning I got 5 envelopes, filled them with 1000,= roepees each (just over 15,= Euros) and a piece of paper with a name. Tonight we will each pick one envelope and we will have to buy a Sinterklaas present for the person who's name is on the paper (not allowed to be yourself). The present needs to be wrapped nicely and preferably inside a 'surprise' and it needs to come with a poem about the person the gift is for.
On the 3rd of December we will celebrate Sinterklaas at home. The original date is the 5th of December, St. Nicolas' birthday, but that is a Monday this year. On the 4th Adriaan will play Sinterklaas for the children of the Dutch community here and my boys will be Black Peters (if they fit in the costumes).

It is hard to get into the Sinterklaas-mood here, without my Sinteklaas-cd's (all lost in Libya) and without the shops being decorated and children's programmes on tv. Maybe I can find some music online to download.

Cake for breakfast? If not, Pringles maybe??? PLEASE!

Ruben saw my blog this morning and commented on the fact that I have never asked his permission to add photos with him in them. As a repercussion he wanted chocolate cake (a second piece!) for breakfast. When I said "No", as you do as a good mum that wants her children to have a balanced and healthy diet, he said "Why not?" several times in case that might change my mind and when I stuck with NO he asked to have Pringles instead. Hmmmmm, NO again. I am a bad mother.......{Ruben: "Thats completely true"}.

Over the weekend we are usually not too organised. We do some shopping on Saturdays or go for lunch, but Sundays are usually spent at home, lounging around, reading, playing computer games and going to the pool. The boys prefer to wear their PJ's all day (much to Adriaan's disgust).
The whole week is based on a set routine so it is nice to have less strickt time keeping over the weekends. Pity there is still a pile of washing to be done and dishes to be cleaned.....

Flying home for Christmas

Today Adriaan and I went into town to book our tickets for the Xmas holiday in NL, with Emirates. After that we went for lunch. Lovely start of the weekend!

Cooking up a storm

You don't have to know me well to know I don't like cooking. I see it as my duty to cook tasty and mostly healthy meals for my family, but I don't enjoy it.
So how did I end up in a cooking-group? I was asked and it is a great bunch of women and we have a lot of fun!
Last night we had dinner at my house and the theme was 'family recipes'. Everyone of the 7 members of the group makes a dish and you can make it as easy or as complicated as you want. I made my mum's tomato-soup (from scratch, NOT from a pack) and it came out well TG.

Today I will be baking chocolate cakes with Kavitha. My sister in law gave me a great recipe so we are going to try it. It is Kavitha's youngest daughter's birthday today, that's why we make more than 1 cake.

A yummie start to the weekend.