Just another Saturday!!

Woke up in the morning, blurry eyed and wishing my brains cells weren’t screaming at me to get up…..Rise and shine happens early every morning, unfortunately am not one of those who rise and “shine”…so not a morning person I can be my grumpiest  best specially on a weekend morning!  Anyways since my own body decided it wanted to wake up, I hadn’t a choice, no matter how much I tried to keep my eyes shut I guess I had enough of trying to fall back to sleep, and decided to open them eyes!!! Hubby walks in and asks “ did ya want a cup of tea? Sure I do, else my caffeine less body will remain slumped on the sheet. Nice to have bed tea…..and finally I feel “alive”.  So am sitting there thinking, ok what’s the drill today……in walks my baby gurl, “hey mom, can we go watch Breaking Dawn” and am like ok…..(back on my mind….lunch who’s gonna cook lunch for the boy’s) hubby comes in,  “dad and son are going swimming”… and suddenly I feel really good…………yippie….no cooking today!! As much as I love cooking, there are some days when I wish I didn’t enter a kitchen…..wish my maid was around to….ah well wishes can just stay wishes. So yeh kitchen still beckons….quick brekkie, quick tidy up of the home and its time to get ready to go to the movies. So I come to know , my daughter’s friend is coming along and so is her mom……hmnn Haven’t met her mom really……..movie with someone I haven’t met….awkward! anyways we’ll see!!

So 2 hours later, after a quick reschedule of movie timings….we meet up, buy our tickets and head to the movie. Julie…the lady I met, turned out to be lovely, couldn’t believe how similar we were. So chit chat later on comes the movie………you can hear all the teens in the hall, oohing and aahing at the sight of their favourite stars…ah in this I would agree, the guys are “hotties” for sure…am sure all my girlfriends would agree. Good movie, enjoyed every bit….from the story line, to the performance, from the actors to their costumes…..loved it all……..but the part that takes you to dream world is the little house on an island where they have their honeymoon. The place is to die for, would be a honeymooner’s paradise…..too beautiful and breathtaking…almost wants you to turn back time so you could get married again and honeymoon in that little paradise………hmnn sitting in the cinema my mind is transported to this beautiful place, maybe one day a honeymoon will take place for me….maybe!! Never know wishes could come true aye….no one ever lost just by wishing….maybe for that moment it just made you feel good!!Sure did for me!!

Movie was quickly over, left us wanting more!! The girls headed off shopping…and  the mom’s were left behind..........guess coffee and chat would be just right ……….didn’t really figure how that was going to turn out to be , but hey sometimes people you meet never turn out to be what you expect…..our coffees bought we settled down to a chat, and 2 hours later couldn’t believe how similar we were and how similar our girls were…..funny how people from different backgrounds can be so alike……..in saying that am guessing Italians and Indians have similar values in their upbringing…….felt good in a long time to be able to relax  with just a cup of coffee, whilst around us were a whole lot of boisterous kids and reveling shoppers around. Didn’t even feel the need to go shopping (damn, so unlike me) 

Soon the girls were back, so it was time to head home….my shopping list remained in my bag, till next time I guess!!


xoxo.....Serena

Shortest trip to the beach!

Hot summer days, make you long for a cool summer evening. Had another boring day at work on Friday so found myself wondering what I would do in the evening to just relax......movie marathon with the kiddies maybe......Was in no mood to cook dinner. Texted hubby, how does pizza's by the beach sound tonite??? Text back "awesome" so plans were made.


Did a quick shop at the Indian store, needed my weekly fix of Indian movies, sweets and snacks as well as my indian spices and the usual pantry stuff. Managed to pick up some yummy Laddoos and headed home! Had a cup of nice hot chai.....packed the car with beach chairs and the much loved esky with out drink...bag of chips, plates glasses etc etc. So off we were, nice long drive, headed to our famous Pizza joint...Uncle Gino's ..Authentic Italian wood fired pizza!!


There is something about the place, makes you feel at home. Small restaurant with old wooden tables and chairs laid out, nothing stand out, just simple furniture. The ordering counter, beside it the big glass counter with all the pizza dough and toppings neatly laid out, and a big roaring wood fire Oven..........the warmth of the people there and the oven warms your heart the minute you walk through that door. As you enter you find a very round italian man, with a twirled moustache, a white shirt, shorts sitting at the doorway.......we came to know his dad was called Uncle Gino......but hey the way he looked he became Uncle Gino for us!! He's a nice man, only wish he was a bit more cheery, but nonetheless, always gave the kids a 20 cent coin to turn the lolly machine so they could grab some lollies on their way out.Oh there is also a big picture of Uncle Gino on the wall.....he does look like a cheery, lovable Italian man!! 


So in I went and placed our order: Kids always had the meatlovers special.....perfect crust with heaps of cheese, pepperoni, salami, bacon, shredded ham...and ofcourse Fetta cheese on top, this is my daughter's fav cheese these days. She could live on it if she had too!


For us it was the "works"....you name it this pizza had it all: cheese, pepperoni, salami, bacon, shredded ham, pineapple, capsicum, tomato, cheese, olives, jalapenos etc.........and our famous additions of chilli flakes and anchovies........no pizza tastes as good without anchovies. Chilli flakes I guess is the Indian in me!!


Watching the men round up these pizza's, throw heaps of toppings and sliding them into the huge wood fired oven, these  pizza's are a treat to the eyes......they do it in perfect harmony, feels like the toppings are singing a song as they drop onto the pizza, ready to be popped in the oven, all the tastes come together to form a perfect crescendo when the taste hits your tongue with that first bite............transports you to pizza heaven...that's Uncle Gino's pizza for you.....I can definitely say the best in Perth!!


Pizzas handed over, off to the beach, which is hardly 2 minutes away.........our 4 man army, quickly got our gear out of the car.....and walked to our fav spot.........the wind was ferocious.......felt like we were going to be blown away......that's weird...didnt we just have a 37 degree day!! and now the weather's freezing...un bloody beleivable!!! 


Had a quick look out to the vast Indian ocean beside us........not far away we could see a ship docked........the waves breaking on the shore...........our bodies relaxed with the cold winds. I wondered if the ocean was warm, would have loved to walk on the beach, let the water kiss my toes............squish my feet in the sand...........but i stood there and realised that the winds were never going to let me get that far!! It was pushing us away....funny  that!!


So quick shift of our stuff from our fav spot to a walled area, just to keep the winds away.......quickly tucked into our pizzas. Kids were like , mom so glad we brought our jackets....hubs n me were like, wish we did the same..........quickly figured it's time to head back home, so 20 minutes of quick bites of pizza, soon we were back into the warm comfort of our car, music blaring we headed back home..........a quick stop over to the video store.............guess a movie marathon it was going to be....

xoxo.....Serena

Good Company and Baileys

Got a call from my cousin to say there's a dinner dance being held by the Anglo Indian Association in aid of a new Orphanage being run by the Missionaries in Kolkata, did we wanna go for it!! Hmnnn......as much as I love dancing, I tend to stay away from dinner dances as I find the music the most boring ever. The only places I'd go on a hop would be the clubs/pubs where the music is happening. I love love absofrickinglutely love dancing. It gives me such a high, I cannot describe!!  Anyways since I had my sister in law on holiday we decided we'd go!

So a week later, on sat the 20th we all started getting ready, in the evening I started frying some chicken pakodas (check my recipe blog for the recipe ) which we were going to take with us as snacks, a quarter of it was eaten even before it could be packed away ( courtesy hubby and daughter, who's comments were when are you gonna make these again ....ha ha that brings on a good feeling!) 

Anyways we reached the dance an hour late, ( i was frying pakodas remember) well am glad we did arrive late coz the party started late because of mass...see am good with timing my entrance hehehhehe!!

So walked in to the dance to see an elderly man was the DJ....to my shock horror .......I was like jeez this is gonna be one crazy boring nite, so out came the bottle of bailey's and we sat down to drinking and eating and mucking around, the music starts.........what was that song again??? never heard it before! OMG what was this nite gonna turn to....can we have dinner and leave (thoughts running through my mind) When the music turned " dancing queen" started blaring from the speakers right near us, and that was my cue to get on the floor so as usual Venu and me , up jumped and were shaking our booty right in front of the DJ....guess that did it ....and some good old numbers followed next.....so there we were ripping it up!! A good hour into dancing when a break was announced and it was time for my first glass of bailey's to be downed...........boy was I thirsty or what??

Munching on the snacks, downing some Bailey's, mucking around, checking out the dresses and the heels and the people around!! An announcement " time for some games and raffles" so here goes, our kids were called up to draw some lucky ticket numbers...one by one numbers called, people came up , shaking their hips, big smiles on their faces, to collect their prizes....whilst we're shouting out our numbers, momentarily my attention deviates to Venu when I hear my hubby shouting across the table, don't we have no.150?...and am like...yeah I think so....and suddenly realisation dawned.......we won a prize...woo hoo....a nice bottle of wine and a pretty picture frame!!  not bad eh!!

Then comes the games, we had to dance and when a number was called we had to form a group of that many....ha...that was gonna be tough.....so yeah we danced and danced, cheated and danced and were one of the last 2 groups left on the floor.....yes, we were one of them ofcourse!.....when they called group of 5, we were 6 , should have been 5 really, you cant call a 4 year old a whole person,can you?  He should be like quarter or maybe no number...(in our opinion ) would have been fun to win another prize...so the ladies won in the next group as they had 5 which included a 2 yr old...hmnnnn we had fun......cheating, laughing and dancing our asses off, pulling random people into our group. That was a better prize I reckon "having fun"

There were a couple of other games but not as fun as the one above and then we had dinner.......really nice dinner. There were puri's, pea pulao, a beef curry, some salad, shami kebab and a little sweet. For the price it was really good and the best part was it tasted delicious!! 

So back to the tables it was, enjoying the taste of  a yummy home made meal. Had this little bowl of the yummiest green tamarind pickle....( put it on my shopping list for this week, enjoyed it so much).  Had a glance of the people present, didn't know most of them.......all Anglo Indians from different states of India, come together to raise money for a worthy cause and have some fun. 

The DJ who we referred to as Mumbai Uncle, (he's from Mumbai) played some bhangra tunes, and joked away with us........As usual we ladies were back on the floor.......don't know what is with these men, they love to sit back and watch us dance it seems rather than partake in the best form of exercise ever. 

And so what I thought would be a boring evening turned out to be quite a fun one.......and all that was needed was some good company, music, dancing and good old Bailey's (did I mention we finished a whole bottle) ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh yes we did....and didn't even notice till the night ended. 

xoxo.....Serena

and Here's how I came to Blog!

I've been having a very quiet few days at work and honestly it's been the most boring couple of days of my life...........arrrrghhh!!

I know we all grumble about being busy everyday...so hectic so hectic , no time to breathe ....my daily rant! and then when I have a few glorious weeks of quiet work days......I grumble again...ha ha But honestly a few days of peace is  good but not too much....my colleague says, Serena enjoy it while it lasts, trust me it's gonna be over soon.....hmnnn the mining boom in WA.....Really?? where ??

Anyways so much for work, so while am sitting here Marina's words come into my mind, "why dont you start blogging about cooking since you love it so much so here I am......ready to start putting moments in my life, in my kitchen on this virtual paper .........hope it goes to plan and I get to share with you some tried and tested recipes you might like, and the odd here and there pages of stuff I might have done or some crazy, stupid, good, moments that I have had which I'd like to put down here as a memory which I can flip back too and maybe have a laugh or cry a tear.....so here goes!!


xoxo.....Serena