Friday, November 14, 2014

Embracing motherhood....




Double the trouble, double the fun,
Our life with twins, has just begun

So, the title and picture says it all doesn't it? It gives me so much joy to finally announce to the world that I am mom to two beautiful fraternal twin girls. We were graced with this double blessing on 10th Nov 2014. Our precious angels, who we have named Anvitha and Navitha arrived exactly at 36 weeks measuring 47cm and weighing in at 2.1 and 2.0 kg respectively. 

I am recovering from (what I knew would be) an arduous hospital stay and looking forward to spending time with my little ones and settling into my new role as mommy. So, if you don't hear from me in a while, you will know the reason why. 

Despite being on the roller coaster ride that comes with a twin pregnancy and working full-time until well into my 8th month, I tried my best to keep my blog running these past few months. The temptation to take a break was overwhelming but I knew that a lull in posting new content would be inevitable once the babies arrived so I made up my mind to not neglect my blog (which in a lot of ways will always be my first baby 😊)

There are a lot of people whom I'd like to express my heartfelt appreciation - the brilliant team of doctors and nurses at NUH who took such excellent care of me from start to end, my dear colleagues and boss for being so supportive and looking out for me each day that I was at work, my friends in Singapore for taking care of me during the tail-end of my first trimester while my husband was away in India, all those near and dear ones who sent me home cooked food, family and friends who graced my baby shower and lavished us with generous gifts, loved ones who visited me and the girls after the delivery and last but not least, my dearest mum for tending to my every whim and fancy during the last few weeks of my pregnancy and who continues to help me everyday. I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank all those who called/texted/e-mailed/visited me to check on how I was doing and praying for the well-being of my "peanuts" (that is what I called them from the minute I got the first glimpse of them on my first sonogram). It is courtesy of your good wishes and blessings that the three of us made it through without a hitch despite mine being an extremely high-risk pregnancy from the start. I am eternally grateful to each and every one of you and I am touched by the genuine outpouring of love and warmth from all corners. 

I'm signing off now. I sincerely hope to make some time to blog once in a while and also give updates on how my girls are doing. So stay tuned and do keep visiting.


Cheers,
Megha


Disclaimer: The images in the title picture were obtained from Google images and have been used solely for illustrative purposes. 

Monday, November 3, 2014

Recipe of the month: Chitranna Shavige


Yes I know....I haven't been blogging as frequently as I usually do *sighs* but sometimes it is simply inevitable and I just brush aside the guilt and get on with my life. This is a post I had been saving for a rainy day. Sometimes, due to time constraints or prior commitments,  I find myself unable to post new content and those are the times that I frantically scour through my drafts folder for posts like these 😊

If you have been following my blog, you would probably remember that the last time I was holidaying in India, my atthe (MIL) had prepared Otthu Shavige/Semige (hand pressed rice noodles) for my blog. Preparing homemade shavige is a cumbersome procedure so whenever this task is undertaken, a gargantuan batch of shavige is prepared so that everyone gets almost a week's worth of it and thus, don't feel the need to demand it again for quite sometime *grins*

One of the popular makeovers of plain shavige is chitranna shavige, a simple preparation of shavige tossed with tempering, onions, chillies, lemon juice, curry leaves and nuts thrown in for crunch. Another one would be shavige oggarane which is shavige tossed with tempering and a coarse mixture of fresh coconut, mustard seeds and dry red chillies. The process of making chitranna shavige is exactly like the ubiquitous chitranna aka lemon rice, the only difference being that instead of cooked rice, we use prepared shavige....quite obvious no? This dish (which has also been prepared by my atthe), is really simple and you can get it ready on the table within 20 mins. It is light and flavourful and reheating it in a microwave makes it taste as good as freshly made so it makes for an ideal dish to pack in the lunch box too. 


Here is the recipe. This is how my atthe and my mom make it at home. Try it and you will be pleasantly surprised by how much this simple dish has to offer. 
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