So Thursday evening, I attended my first bookclub meeting. It was through our moms group and was the very first one. So it was not like I was barging into a previously created group. It was fun meeting a group of women, and discussing the book and other things. It ended at 11 pm, went on for a good 3 hours and I came back all excited and happy. The husbadoo held down the fort at home with Bandar and put her to bed. He also made me a yummy pita wrap before I left and I am really blessed to have this guy in my life.
On Friday evening,the husbadoo picked up some Bubble tea for us. Ice tea with the little tapioca balls. This was a weekend staple in. Austin and I am glad we found a place on his way back from work. The price and volume are of course different from Austin, but at least we have a go-to spot for our favorite drink now. We then decided to go to the local Whole Foods store and get some fruits. I was highly skeptical as we have been to the flagship store in Austin a few times and though we loved the experience, it was more expensive than any other local store. I was pleasantly surprised to see fresh, organic produce at the same price or cheaper in some cases then our usual store. I think I shopped sensibly and only picked what I needed,but will be going back for sure. We also stayed clear of the cooked food as we had tons of leftovers at home. I am proud of us being able to control ourselves . A mere 6 months ago , we would have definitely eaten out given the option and food on display. As we are edging towards our 30s , we are getting really conscious of everything we put into our bodies and for that I am glad.
Speaking about ours 30s, it is the husbadoo’s 30th birthday in less than a months time. I am planning 30 small and big gifts but for that, I need to start buying/ ordering stuff. I am also doing this in secret and I had a few scary moments when I thought I let something slip. I guess he doesn’t read my blog , but I am not going to write more details until the plan is fully executed. It is fun though browsing stuff online, making lists , figuring out what he would like and imagining his face when he opens the stuff. So excited!
On Saturday, the husbadoo announced he had found a local cricket club and was going to go and check out a practice session. I am usually very grudging about cricket eating into our weekends but as he had been so graceful about my bookclub, I realized I need to be a good person too. So I was extremely supportive about him traveling 4 hours for a 3 hours practice. Living in NYC makes you so cut off from the suburban lifestyle that we were used to – be it cricket leagues, wholesale bulk grocery shopping, desi events and festivals etc. We do miss those things but are hoping this is temporary and plan on enjoying whatever the city has to over at this time. I actually had a lovely morning and afternoon with Bandar – we skyped with my folks, napped together for a few hours and made some delicious popcorn.
Our friend ( the one who actually introduced us to each other over 10 years ago in college) lives in NYC too and we had invited him for dinner. I had planned a Tex Mex menu of seriously awesome salsa, enchiladas and healthy baked chile rellanos .I spent a good part of the day cooking everything from scratch to find out at 4 pm that he was too sick to make it that day. So we instead dressed up and sat down to a fun family dinner at 7 pm. I want to cook one elaborate dinner like this each month and eat at the table with Bandar. Usually she eats early, we get her to bed and then start our dinner by the TV. The only part about the dinner I would surprisingly change was the wine. We both don’t really like alcohol much but did like the sweeter , dessert wines. However off late, we are starting to even dislike those and prefer iced tea or sweeter fruit juices for special occasions. We probably should not have opened the bottle yesterday and now I am planning to use the remaining half in cooking.
The evening was fun, relaxed and romantic (the romance part kicked in after we got Bandar to bed!) . A perfect end to the weekend.