When we first arrived in Hyderabad, my driver from the airport told me that mango season was just starting. Now, mangoes are my absolute favorite tropical fruit. Bill and I have the bar set pretty high when it comes to mangoes: they are all compared to "the ones we bought on the side of the road in St. Thomas." Just the mention of them causes a Pavlovian response for me. My first trip to the grocery store made me realize that were more kinds of mangoes than I had ever anticipated. There are some that are best for eating, best for pickling, best for chutneys, best for this and that, and best for juice.
The other day, our friend, Bill's co-worker, and Hyderabad native, Anjali brought us some mangoes that her dad had picked for us. One type was for eating, the other was for juice. Not realizing that there were 'juice' mangoes, I was very intrigued. The instructions were to wash the outside of the mango really well, massage it, pull off the stem, hold the mango up to your mouth and drink. Wow oh wow. Nectar from the gods! I started making sounds like my buddy Carmine does when he eats a meatball sub: Mmm...oh...MMM..ohhh... Not wanting to overdose on enjoyment I squeezed the remaining pulp from the pit, and squeezed another full mango into a cereal bowl. The bowl was full(!) from the juice of 2 mangoes. Heaven...I'm in heaven... Then to save it for later, I poured my sweet mango elixir into popsicle molds, dropped in some craft sticks and popped the molds into the freezer. Frozen fresh squeezed mango-pops...life is good.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Play imitates Life
I had some chuckles last night and this afternoon watching the girls play. Last night Cory decided that she would clean the apartment, and play 'Maid'. This afternoon Doctor Cory & Doctor Sammy were tending the wounds of their stuffed animals. Then they'd rush into another room with the cry "she's bleeding she's bleeding" (meaning a stuffed kitten/dog/monkey and tend another one.
I guess the things that have made an impression on them is the frequency of seeing someone else come to clean, and our urgent trip to the hospital for Cory's knife wound.
I guess the things that have made an impression on them is the frequency of seeing someone else come to clean, and our urgent trip to the hospital for Cory's knife wound.
Monday, May 11, 2009
I need it now...
During the past few months I have gotten into the mindset to bargain shop. I have a few friends who are experts at finding the best bargains by using coupons, store reward dollars, outright research, and anything else they can think of. They'll get the best deals on groceries even if it means going to several grocery stores in one day. I was certainly awed by their success and had made attempts to economize as well. most notably at CVS where I would make purchases to maximize the ExtraCare Bucks I'd receive as well as using the register coupons to save money.
Fast forward to Hyderabad. We moved into a furnished apartment. It has furniture but no dishes, cookware, glasses, cutlery, utensils, etc. So when I went out shopping, it was almost a relief to know that I was only going to go to one store, and if I needed something, it was going in the cart.
That being said, nothing I have found has been expensive. I bought a darker set of curtains for 2 of the bedrooms and sheets for the girls' beds. I did look at the prices and decided that they were still cheaper than they'd be if I were purchasing them at home, so to the checkout I went. Then when everything was rung up...50% off everything. Woo Hoo!
So even though I got lucky, hopefully the lessons I've learned from my frugal friends won't be forgotten. For all of you who are still in the mindset of bargain hunting, check out my friends' blogs:
http://www.frugalinvirginia.com
http://www.madamedeal.wordpress.com
http://www.funfabulousandfrugal.com
Fast forward to Hyderabad. We moved into a furnished apartment. It has furniture but no dishes, cookware, glasses, cutlery, utensils, etc. So when I went out shopping, it was almost a relief to know that I was only going to go to one store, and if I needed something, it was going in the cart.
That being said, nothing I have found has been expensive. I bought a darker set of curtains for 2 of the bedrooms and sheets for the girls' beds. I did look at the prices and decided that they were still cheaper than they'd be if I were purchasing them at home, so to the checkout I went. Then when everything was rung up...50% off everything. Woo Hoo!
So even though I got lucky, hopefully the lessons I've learned from my frugal friends won't be forgotten. For all of you who are still in the mindset of bargain hunting, check out my friends' blogs:
http://www.frugalinvirginia.com
http://www.madamedeal.wordpress.com
http://www.funfabulousandfrugal.com
Thursday, May 7, 2009
A little Quiz
What do the following songs have in common?
Camptown Races
Dixieland
The Lone Ranger
When the Saints go Marching in
Love Me Tender
She'll be Coming 'round the Mountain
Clementine
Three Blind Mice
The Toreador Song
There's no Place Like Home
America the Beautiful
Give up? Well all of these songs are played by our Doorbell! Yes, you read that right. No boring old 'ding-dong' here; the Sullivans get serenaded every time someone comes to the door. It's becoming a game: what song is next???
Camptown Races
Dixieland
The Lone Ranger
When the Saints go Marching in
Love Me Tender
She'll be Coming 'round the Mountain
Clementine
Three Blind Mice
The Toreador Song
There's no Place Like Home
America the Beautiful
Give up? Well all of these songs are played by our Doorbell! Yes, you read that right. No boring old 'ding-dong' here; the Sullivans get serenaded every time someone comes to the door. It's becoming a game: what song is next???
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
How do we sleep? Let me count the ways...
Jet lag has been rough, especially for Cory. The first few days we were here, we all were napping whenever we could, but Cory would fall asleep whenever and wherever she was. Here are a few photos. Words don't do some of these justice.
Cinco de My-oh-my-o
The girls refused to go down for naps today so I had the not so brilliant idea to go out and do some errands. We went to HomeTown (as close to a Home Depot that you can find in India) so I could buy a mattress. Once in the car I knew that this idea was going to be a big mistake. The girls kept saying “A Motorcycle, another motorcycle, a motorcycle!” Every time they saw one. Keep in mind that whenever on a road in Hyderabad, you can see several dozen motorcycles no matter where you look. My head was pounding by the time we arrived.
We went up to the 2nd floor where I looked at mattresses. The girls, instead, ran ON the display beds bouncing from one to another, first with their shoes on and then with their shoes off. I was having a hard time figuring out what I had written down as to the mattress measurements I needed (there's no such thing as a standard size here), I was sweating profusely, trying to keep the girls from both destroying merchandise and cracking their heads open, and preventing the salesman from thinking I was a complete idiot for thinking I needed a mattress 116cm (less than 4ft) in length. Once I decided to ignore the girls a little, I realized that I had written 196cm which made much more sense. To top it off there was an Indian family there who were also mattress shopping. They had a young boy of ~8years old who came up to me several times and said (in perfect English) “You need to control your children” and "you should be ashamed." What can you possibly say to that? Yes he was 100% right, even though it was impossible to control them, and yet it was completely rude and obnoxious to say. In hindsight, I should have asked him for some parenting tips. (I’ll file that away for the next time).
Unfortunately the check-out process was not much more fun for me. There was more sweating, more feeling stupid (didn’t know my cell#), and more little blonde girls running around out of control. We definitely should have stayed home.
Once we finally fled the store, and were in the relative sanctuary of the car, we saw the coming of something that we hadn’t even seen a trace of yet: rain. The clouds were pouring in, there was both noticeable humidity and the tingling of electricity in the air. If this storm was a preview of the coming monsoons, we are in for some really good ones! After these 100+ degree days, I can't wait to sit on the balcony (covered of course), watch the rain come down, and feel the temperatures drop.
Cinco de Mayo was celebrated at the Novotel hotel's Mexican restaurant having dinner with some new expat friends. My beverage of choice was a fruity little number called "Heaven", something that sounded great after my miserable day out.
We went up to the 2nd floor where I looked at mattresses. The girls, instead, ran ON the display beds bouncing from one to another, first with their shoes on and then with their shoes off. I was having a hard time figuring out what I had written down as to the mattress measurements I needed (there's no such thing as a standard size here), I was sweating profusely, trying to keep the girls from both destroying merchandise and cracking their heads open, and preventing the salesman from thinking I was a complete idiot for thinking I needed a mattress 116cm (less than 4ft) in length. Once I decided to ignore the girls a little, I realized that I had written 196cm which made much more sense. To top it off there was an Indian family there who were also mattress shopping. They had a young boy of ~8years old who came up to me several times and said (in perfect English) “You need to control your children” and "you should be ashamed." What can you possibly say to that? Yes he was 100% right, even though it was impossible to control them, and yet it was completely rude and obnoxious to say. In hindsight, I should have asked him for some parenting tips. (I’ll file that away for the next time).
Unfortunately the check-out process was not much more fun for me. There was more sweating, more feeling stupid (didn’t know my cell#), and more little blonde girls running around out of control. We definitely should have stayed home.
Once we finally fled the store, and were in the relative sanctuary of the car, we saw the coming of something that we hadn’t even seen a trace of yet: rain. The clouds were pouring in, there was both noticeable humidity and the tingling of electricity in the air. If this storm was a preview of the coming monsoons, we are in for some really good ones! After these 100+ degree days, I can't wait to sit on the balcony (covered of course), watch the rain come down, and feel the temperatures drop.
Cinco de Mayo was celebrated at the Novotel hotel's Mexican restaurant having dinner with some new expat friends. My beverage of choice was a fruity little number called "Heaven", something that sounded great after my miserable day out.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Good News...
We had a good experience at the Emergency room today...bad news is that we needed to GO to the emergency room. Cory learned a good lesson. She's not going to pick up sharp knives and try to cut cantaloupes or anything else with them again. Her finger got in the way. :( Poor girl, she was bleeding like crazy, so I wrapped her finger up in a wet wash cloth, got everyone's shoes on and headed off to the children's hospital. Yet another benefit of having a driver is that I didn't have to concentrate on driving and being a little panicked, I could just sit next to Cory and hug her.
Other than that, we're getting settled in pretty well. We have a maid coming every morning for 2-3 hours, we found out where the fuse box is, the new washing machine is hooked up, internet should be hooked up tomorrow (they were supposed to come today), bottled water should be delivered tomorrow as well. Maybe the best outcome of the day was that I finally bought a coffee maker. I haven't had any coffee since the plane, and Bill had his first cup today at work. Now watch...it'll be so hot tomorrow that I won't want a cup of hot coffee. I can always chill it down I guess!
Other than that, we're getting settled in pretty well. We have a maid coming every morning for 2-3 hours, we found out where the fuse box is, the new washing machine is hooked up, internet should be hooked up tomorrow (they were supposed to come today), bottled water should be delivered tomorrow as well. Maybe the best outcome of the day was that I finally bought a coffee maker. I haven't had any coffee since the plane, and Bill had his first cup today at work. Now watch...it'll be so hot tomorrow that I won't want a cup of hot coffee. I can always chill it down I guess!
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