Cherry Blossom and Mario's Goa Sausage Masala!

 Trying to capture on film, the beauty of the pink cherry blossom carpet on Mr W's carefully manicured front garden, cant do justice without standing in his drive and using H's complicated camera.....this will have to do. Its gorgeous and lovely, on the tree and as a carpet on the grass. Next door's is even prettier but my pictures arent looking 10% as nice as reality.
The council have kindly planted a similar tree on our front grass, making it very difficult to mow around it, but hopefully will be as pretty in a few years.

Now, to my Sunday delight of Mario's Goa Sausage Masala! Its been marinating in the fridge for 2 weeks, the pic on the left is the raw version and the right is the cooked version - its much darker when fully done - there's about a teaspoon left so no point taking a pic, and, the conclusion is, its worth the effort of looking in Mapusa market, or Newtons in Candolim, where we bought this one, for.
Rs50 for the pack, used 2 tbsps, cut up some Costco pork and marinated.
Boiled it with some onions and potatoes and its, in H's words, a cross between vindaloo and Goa sausages.
For us, who have sausages only when in India, this will do for now,hopefully someone in Birmingham will start making the things soon......

Hatton Country World

 This is part of a review posted elsewhere...

Heard about Hatton's since our children were born, this was our first visit. Yes, the prices are steep, which was out first thought, however, there are 241 vouchers around with a good look online or booking in advance, and, with these vouchers, it was much better than expected.
We were there from opening 10am until 3pm and the kids didnt want to leave.

Their Easter thingie is lovely, lots of little choc eggs given out at the treasure hunt which kids thoroughly enjoyed finding the colours etc. Other than that, there was loads to see and do, for under 10's. Lots of toddlers around, funfair rides more suited to them. Our children loved the sheepdog running after the ducks demo, milking the cow, holding the guineapigs, stroking the goats who popped up over the fence, the tractor ride (bit of an anticlimax but still good), the magic show, the steep red slide in the indoor play area which was spotless etc.

All in all, lots to do, I think it was full value for what we paid.
Plan and follow the schedule given at the entrance, go on a sunny day (99% outdoors) and look for vouchers!

Happy Easter from a house with too many eggs!

All went good with my first set of events.......thank God. Now the rush to plan the next set soon and so on.
Anyway, no thoughts of work since the past couple and for the next couple of days, its Easter soon and there are way too many chocolate eggs in the house.......I remember the inlaws coming in summer and enjoying the leftover eggs.
We are fortunate to have lovely friends who spoil our children with lots of goodies.....below is a pic of the little goodies one of their special aunties here gave them, well the contents of two bags, one was hidden by the youngest, upset he couldnt eat chocolate on Good Friday.

BTW, the eldest carefully arranged the things 'because she was bored'. This is at 8:30am because she woke up too early.....
My hunt for non chocolate easter eggs with marzipan continues, I miss the big marzipan eggs with sweets inside my dad used to order from Delhi when we were little. All I've found for the past 10 years is chocolate and occassionally marshmallows in a bucket for Easter......Aldi do a marzipan and chocolate bar but no Easter eggs,......the hunt continues.....
Happy Easter to all, not posting for a few days.....

General Elections in India

Headline on an Indian website I visit occassionally www.sify.com - Gaping holes in  Congress ship and US scared of Modi......
I remember being in Bombay when the Gujarat riots happened and the wave of hatred for Narendra Modi, also remember the horror of seeing the poor victims. Also heard first hand, the stories of those poor poor people. I have goosebumps just typing this. And, for the past few months, I have been reading about the supposed perpetrator of the riots and much more worse becoming the next Prime Minister of India.
The Sunday Times (UK) had a piece on Modi yesterday, and described in full detail, the problems with him becoming PM.
All the headlines I read are pitying the Congress for sinking/how Sonia Gandhi is trying valiantly to show some face in the polls/what a fool Rahul Gandhi is etc....
So is the choice in such a huge country between Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi after all.............have you heard of the David Icke forums, they should do a section on Indian politics.....

Random musings again....

The Gruffalo is coming out of my eyes/ears/mouth now and I often reminf myself if I was working 9-5 full time, it would be harder. Hope all of this series goes well and the future events I have lined up.
Randomness of being in the new kitchen again......H away in Italy this week and I HATE being on my own, though there are three children and a list of friends who offered lots of help. Alarm not working, keys misplaced, a series of mishaps but all's well in the house now, all home safe.
First pic is of my first puris on the wooden chopping board one of the builders gave us - I kept asking for a square cut of the worktop and he got this bit from his car, sanded it for hours and gave it to us. I am delighted that for some reason, not sure what, I dont need as much flour while rolling puris out and its much easier to use. Its 99% the same as our worktop colour.No need for me to look for  aboard to roll out chapatis now, although some credit to the fantastic Pillsbury Atta. Wish it was cheaper though (compared to the £4 atta brands next to it).

This pic is of our very cluttered fridge - just how busy can two little children's lives get - full of school stuff and a calendar. The youngest has just one thing on there - a certificate for his Sport Relief jumps, reminder to give the money in.
No afterschool activities on there - will need a bigger surface when the youngest is in school this year.
The bonus is that I love having everything visible and not having to look in phones/diaries/computers for every little thing they need :)