When did 2018 happen?!!

And so much happened- don't know where to begin...its Cinco de Mayo today and its a gorgeous day outside, smelling the roses :)

My garden and city in bloom below ....

Orange plant in full bloom.

Pink jasmine with their heady scent.

Look what I found!

Lush green after the rains

Blue skies, rolling green hills....

Sneaking in a pic of the lake :)

Gems worth saving on a blog

A new series to capture writings that help me express my life :)

An excerpt from http://gretchenrubin.com/

One obstacle to happiness? Feeling resentful when another person won’t do his or her share of work. Consider these facts about shared work:

Fact 1: Work done by others sounds easy. How hard can it be to take care of a newborn baby who sleeps twenty hours a day? To return a few phone calls? To fill out some forms? Often, daily work by other people sounds easy. This fact leads us to under-estimate how onerous a particular task is, and that makes it easy to assume that we don’t need to help or provide support.

Fact 2: When you’re doing a job that benefits others, it’s easy to assume that they’re aware of your work—that they should feel grateful, and that they feel guilty about not helping you.
But no! Often, the more reliably you perform a task, the less likely it is for someone to notice that you’re doing it, and to feel grateful, and to feel any impulse to help or to take a turn. You think, “I’ve been taking out the garbage for weeks! When do I get a break?” In fact, the longer you take out the garbage, the less likely it is that someone will do it.

Fact 3: If you care more about a task being done, you’re more likely to end up doing it–and just because you care about it doesn’t mean that others feel the same way. You think it’s important to clean out the basement, and you expect your spouse to share the work, but your spouse thinks, “We never use the basement anyway, so why bother?” People are much less likely to share work they deem unimportant. At least not without a lot of nagging.

Fact 4. If you want someone else to do a task, don’t do it yourself. This sounds obvious, but think about it. If you think you shouldn’t have to do it—don’t. Someone else is a lot more likely to do it if you don’t do it first. Of course, this doesn’t always work. Someone must get the kids ready for school. But many tasks are optional.
So resolve to “Consider the hard facts about shared work,” and see if these points alter the way you think about work you share with others.

Gretchen Rubin

A look back on 2016.....

Highlights of 2016:

1. Met all our near and dear ones all over the world 
2. Lost 2 very dear uncles (A & A)
3. Chased simplicity, created systems.
4. First timer highschooler and middle schooler
5. Presidents Award to the high schooler.
6. 2 brand new 2nd Dan Black belts in the family
7. Celebrated a 50th Wedding Anniversary!
8. A brand new car and the many trips in it!
9. And so many many wonderful trips from Lake Tahoe to Toronto to India and Houston

The days are long but the years are short-  The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

Pollock Pines- a cute little town tucked away

Sierra At Tahoe

Palli Perunal 

Tropical plants

Clicks captured during Feb- Mar Kerala trip

too many funerals...

Spring in Downtown Sunnyvale , and burgers at Nom Burger

Really good!

Sierra At Tahoe - another trip, another beautiful day!

And all the way to Toronto to celebrate a very special 84th birthday!

Back in warmer climes - Fragrant Nature Kollam

 View with my morning coffee- pure bliss!

Lush greenery- very restorative for the soul....

Another great trip @FN Kochi

Immersed ourselves in some art and culture :)

Back home...

Running...

Rock Climbing..

Back in India- another trip 

A view of the final resting place of my favorite Uncle :(

And Christmas in Houston :)

Lovely sights on a wintry day in Houston

And rounding out the year with our favorite place...

Lake Tahoe!!

Happy New Year!

Gastronomic Journeys

From home cooked to street food to fine dining and everything in between....

Uttapam from Aryaas - nothing in the bay area comes close! 

Thali lunch at Aaryas-Unbelievably good for less than $2!!

 Dosas from my all time favorite haunt- Gokul Oottupura! The whole gang piling into a 5 seater and off to Oottupura for breakfast most mornings- unforgettable memories :)

Food at Fragrant nature Kollam, pricey but awesome! Another great outing, though the scenery is what I remember this trip most for. Will have another blog on the sights and sounds of 'Gods own country' soon....

Seafood soup @ Fragrant Nature Kochi- beautiful flavors all coming together!

Italian for the Italians in the group :) Pasta and Chicken salad.FN Kochi was an all round hit with continental and Indian cuisine, everything was finger licking good!

Fried plantains, pakoras and limitless hot masala chai, served on the rooftop with a sweeping view of the coastline of the 'Queen of the Arabian sea'- absolutely the highlight of this stay!

Naadan food at FN Kochi, did not quite hit the spot...

But the desserts more than made up for it! Bitter gourd and green papaya desserts in milk , was truly out of the world. Just barely managed a click before it disappeared! Never had anything like this before, just melts in your mouth and leaves you slightly dazed at the exquisite taste bud experience.

And now for the home cooked- saving the best for last! 

Pearlspot fried to perfection!

And a whole dinner prepared and served by my favorite S Auntie 

Sweet corn chicken soup

Chilly chicken

Chicken fried rice......

Feeling blessed at all the memories this blog post is bringing back and feeling an acute sense of nostalgia for all past trips.