India on the Table with Mum's Masala

What's my favourite word to describe preparing dinner?
Drag!
My favourite phrases before I start preparing dinner?
Holy Crap, it's the time of day again- need to prepare dinner!
What shall I cook today?
Oh no, the pantry/fridge/freezer is empty!
Normal mood I'm usually in before preparing dinner?
Stressed!
Biggest wish once I started the dinner process?
Hope it cooks fast!
Biggest extravagance when I'm mega rich?
To hire a full time cook for the remaining days of my life!
Favourite meal to cook?
Anything that's fast!
Will I let me family eat packaged food?
Only if I'm really desperate or very, very sick (which, Thank God, I'm hardly ever). I may not like cooking, but these packages are scary. Especially Kraft Dinners. Have you ever read the ingredient labels?

I rather 'suffer' through peeling, scraping, cutting or snipping fresh veggies than letting my kids and The Best Man of All (aka husband) eat that crap.
Apart from the occasional can of soup, or can of ravioli that is...

I'm always on the lookout for easy peasy recipes. No surprise here! I'm a sucker for ready made sauces in a jar. These sauces are a life saver for me!

My family's favourite jars contain the flavours of India! The Best Man of All and our oldest boy love a spicy vindaloo, our youngest son prefers it mild and our middle boy travels in the middle of the road. For him and I medium is hot enough!

Sometimes we order in, most of the time I bring home the treasures from the supermarket!
The right curry sauce is this desperate's mother answer to "What shall we eat tonight?"
As long as I have meats, fish or vegetables in the fridge and a pack of basmati rice in the pantry, dinner is off to a good start!

Any new curry sauce on the market is mine. And we have tried them all, the good, bad and ugly.

Here is the newest brand I discovered: Mum's Masala.

Straight from England!
And how did I find these gems?

By accident! I found them in one of our small neighbourhood markets, MK Farm Market in Maple Ridge. A lovely place btw!

Owner Sukhi promised and guaranteed me taste and quality! How could I not believe him? He is from India himself. Even his wife (conveniently named Sukhi too) vouched for the sauces!

So, I took home these time savers and put them to the test:       

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= Happy faces all around!

An empty plate is always a good sign...

Of course you all know how to open a jar, bring it to a simmer and add pieces of cut chicken, fish or veggies!
However, you may not know about Mum's Masala though! But now you do!
And no, I'm not getting paid by the good folks of Mum's Masal or by MK Farm Market for this matter!
I strongly believe keeping these good news hidden from you would do you and me a dis-service. Sharing is caring!
There may be more mothers like me around- and isn't it nice to know about the new flavour in town?
Bon appetit!

Mum's Masala
MK Farm Market
20834 Lougheed Hwy,
Maple Ridge

A GLIMPSE OF MY FUTURE

When I was 24, I had my first 'real' glimpse of my future! I saw this:

and made it my goal to one day own a coffee lounge on a Caribbean Island.
What can I say, my dream came true! I had to tweak the above picture to see my vision happening (minus the beach, the water and the palm trees)- nevertheless, I operated my coffee lounge in the exotic location of Bussum in Holland-  I felt so excited, uplifted and motivated by my experience that I even wrote a book about it!

Yesterday, at the wrong end of 40, (that's how Jackie Collins would describe me) I had a glimpse of my 'other 'future- this one is definitely not a dream. This one is going to happen, sooner or later - and this 'bitch' is going to hit regardless of where I will be living!  There will be no escaping from it, the only question is , how hard, how sweaty and how uncomfortable will it be when it arrives?  THE MENOPAUSE!
And no, when I saw my future yesterday I wasn't motivated, inspired or excited about to prospect of writing a book about it.

During my Tuesday networking event in Mission I sat across Tracey.
The temperature in the coffee bar was just fine, not too cold, not too warm. All of a sudden Tracey pulled up her long hair and started fanning herself. As I was just making eye contact with my vis-a vis Randy, I only wondered why she was fanning herself. She kept on fanning, all red in her face by now- Like a good sport, with a smile on her face, she explained herself:  these flashes are merciless, they arrive without warning, stay as long as they want to and disappear again.

To me this sounds like a cruel joke of nature! If certain religions want us to believe that God created Man and Woman, he must have been tipsy when he created Eve- or at least didn't think his project through properly. Why does HE want to inconvenience us over and over again? We are the ones who carry and deliver the future!
We should have eternal beauty and wisdom- not stretch marks, wrinkly skin, over elasticated tummies or fat thighs.

Thank you Tracey though for the glimpse into my future! I know full well I am not getting any younger- but the menopause?  I just called my mom to find out when her flashes begun: With 55! Hurrah, I bought myself a few more years. In this instance I want to believe the old saying like mother, like daughter!