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Valentine’s Day 2016

It was V day a few days ago; and I got around to doing the post a bit late.

Anyway hope all of you had a great day with your loved ones.

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This year, it was Chhori’s first V day so we made it special for her by taking a few photos. I always want her to remember this day as a happy time shared with family. I also want her to know that we love her a lot and will be there for her no matter what.

Here are some photos from the day with Chhori. I hope these photos will tell her many stories in the years to come.

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Also in the morning, AS made a very yummy breakfast. I have to give him A+ for his effort and the result. He made this nice round pancake with a red heart in the middle accompanied with mixed berry smoothies. It took him quite some time in the kitchen though 🙂

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Chhori was very excited and happy about everything. When we put her in front of the breakfast tray, she was so excited that we couldn’t stop her from trying to grab everything.

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This year for Valentine’s we became 3 from 2 and I love it so much. Hope one day in a few years, it will be 4 from 3 and we have a complete family 🙂

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Take care everyone and hope to see you with another post very soon.

from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

My Valentine’s Day 2015

Normally I love Valentine’s Day and as you know from my previous posts from past here , here and here, I plan things for the day in advance.  But when you are as heavily pregnant as I am, you are not as excited about Valentine’s Day. All I want these days is to get a good night’s rest and for baby to come to this world safely.

So when AS asked a few days ago, what I wanted to do for Valentine’s Day which fell on a Saturday this year, my answer was to stay home and rest. I did get my wish and lots more for sure.

I know Valentine’s Day doesn’t mean just red roses, cards, chocolates or gifts but it means love, care, hugs and affection and I am so glad to have a partner who showers me with all that and lots more.

As I told you before, I keep waking up in the middle of the night, these days and it is so hard to go back to sleep. So on the morning of 14th, I woke up early (4am) and was struggling to go back to sleep. I was so thirsty as well and to my dismay, the bottle next to my bed was empty so I woke AS and ask if he could get me some water.

What he came back with took my sleep and tiredness away and made me so happy for rest of the day. He had a bouquet of roses and a wonderful card. I am not sure how he manged it but every year he manages to surprise me and make me so happy. He makes me feel like a Princess and he is definitely the best man a woman could ever wish to have by her side.

valentine's day (3)The roses were just perfect and card was heart touching.

It read:

To You,

My Lover, Partner and Friend

on Valentine’s Day

I wish one special word

could describe

all you mean to me…

1 word that would say

parent, friend,lover

all in one

…but since a word like that

doesn’t exist.

I hope you know that

when I say “I love you”,

I mean all that and more…

because you mean

everything ti me.

Happy Valentine’s Day

Anyway after that, he made sure I was comfortable and OK and put something on the TV for me (normally this helps me go back to sleep). I must have drifted back to sleep soon after as I don’t know when I fall asleep.

In the morning, we had a nice home cooked breakfast and had a great-relaxed day.

valentine's day (1)This pregnancy is getting to me for sure because, by afternoon I was sleepy again so decided to take a nap. I was awakened by the nice aroma of food. I really did not know what was happening so I went to the kitchen.

My hubby was busy preparing lunch for us and he was almost done. He asked me to relax and served me homed cooked yummy lunch. It was a really great idea than going out this year for sure. The rest of the day we enjoyed each other’s company. My day was so perfect that sometimes I couldn’t believe what I have done to deserve a husband like him. Seriously, I couldn’t have asked anything more.

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I fall deeper in love with him and he is definitely one of the most caring and handsome man that ever walked on Earth. I have to say he is the most important man in my life on this day and he always knows how to make me feel precious and beautiful and I am so blissfully happy to have found the perfect man.

Can you believe this is the last valentine’s day that will be between two of us only, then for rest of our life, we will have another addition to our family, our daughter to make our love even stronger,

So how was your Valentine’s Day? Hope you all had a blissful day too.

Take care,

from nepaliaustralian

XOXO 

Anniversary dinner @ARIA

As I mentioned in my last post, we went for dinner yesterday to Aria Restaurant at Circular Quay.  As it is winter here it was cold and the rain didn’t help either but it wasn’t able to dampen our spirit.

aria (1)Aria is owned by celebrity chef Matt Moran who has been a guest chef on Masterchefs TV series and other TV shows; and restaurateur, Peter Sullivan.  Aria is one of Sydney’s most established fine dining restaurants and was awarded 2 Chef’s Hats in 2012, cementing its position at the higher end of the dining scene. Apart from its reputation for superb food, it also boasts a postcard perfect view of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge through its glass windows, providing a very scenic backdrop for our meal.

aria (2)We were working yesterday so we went to the restaurant after work. We walked in and a waiter took us to our table. We were the first ones in the restaurant so we got the table with the best view.

aria (7)As I looked around, I found that the decor inside isn’t particularly eye-catching but I suppose that’s to avoid detracting from the gorgeous view of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge . We had the view of both Opera House and Harbour Bridge.

aria (8)We were swiftly handed menus but both AS and I kind of already knew what we wanted. We decided to go for the three-course meal and we order our meals and drinks.

aria (3)As soon as the waiter who took our orders left, another waiter came with a shot of soup. It was cabbage and potatoes soup with goat’s cheese and walnut. I am not a big fan of soup but this was just delicious and both of us enjoyed it. The taste was just right with a creamy texture.

aria (4)While we were having the soup, another waiter came with sour bought bread and butter. He explained that that the sour dough bread was locally made in Bondi and the butter was Australian made too.  After the soup, we both had the bread and butter while waiting for entrée to arrive. I have to say I have never tasted such a good butter and with sour dough bread it was just perfect.

aria (5) aria (6)By that time, both of us were really impressed with the waiters as they were very professional. They knew exactly what they were doing and they made us feel very comfortable, explaining what each dish was. I guess you need to be the best to work at 2 Chef’s Hats restaurant.

Anyway then came our entrée. I had ordered Pork belly, which was Kurobkta pork belly with chestnut puree and poached persimmons and AS ordered Peking duck consommé with duck dumplings, shaved abalone and mushrooms.

aria (9) aria (10) The consommé was pure brilliance with its broth bursting with the rich flavours of shitake and abalone and a hint of duck. The duck filling for the dumpling was also quite flavoursome and had a nice soft texture. And my pork belly was just awesome with the meat perfectly cooked and the crackling top just yummy.

aria (11) At that point, both of us were happy that we picked Aria to celebrate our anniversary. I was almost full with our entrée. Then the main came. I had ordered roasted lamb rump with crushed borlotti beans, eggplant and nettle pesto while AS had Blue eye roasted fillet with Jerusalem artichoke, Jamon and witlof.

aria (12) aria (13) My lamb was just perfectly cooked and every bite was heaven and borlotti beans and eggplant equally delicious. AS’s blue eye was yummy as well but he didn’t like Jamon (ham) on the plate. When I was finishing my main, I told AS I may not have room for dessert in my tummy so he helped me finish the main.

By that time I was so full that I wished I haven’t ordered dessert. But as we had already ordered them so it came. I ordered roasted almond pannacotta with honey infused mandarins, blackcurrant and almond crumble and AS had Valrhona Jivara chocolate tart with caramelised hazelnuts and vanilla choc ice.

aria (14) aria (15) Both the plates looked so delicious that I forgot I was full. I dug into my dessert and I was very happy with what I had on my plate. The pannacotta was perfectly sweetened and every item on the plate went so well together. I was telling AS that I felt like I was trying food on master chef’s TV show :). AS’s plate was equally delicious. I was really happy to taste some of the chocolate from his plate. It took a while for us to finish the dessert and finally we were done.

aria (16)After dessert, we enjoyed the view for a while and spent some time talking before asking for the bill. Before the bill, they served us with some chocolate plate consisting of Chocolate ball, passionfruit sweet and burnt sugar thins.

aria (18)They looked so delicious but both of us were so full that we tasted one of each item and left the rest on the plate. I wished I had more room on my tummy but I knew I had to stop. Overall, all the dishes were flawless and all beautifully plated. It was the perfect evening.

We had a great celebration and when I looked at my husband next to me, I was thanking god for sending him to my life . I love my husband more each passing day.

 Thank you everyone for your anniversary wishes and blessings. It means a lot to us.

Take care everyone,

XOXO

M from nepaliaustralian

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Valentine’s day 2013

Like every year, Valentine’s Day, the day for love, has arrived this year as well. I am sure you know I am crazy about love from my previous posts here and here.

If you don’t know, I am telling you that I am a hopelessly romantic person and my husband knows that. It is not that I want him to spend lots of money and spoil me rotten on this day but at the same time I don’t want not to celebrate this day like many of my friends who think it is too commercialised to care about. I know Hallmark and florists are making lots of money on this day by selling emotions but I really don’t need roses, romantic cards or heart shaped chocolate to feel spoilt.  Simple gestures like breakfast or home-made dinner will make me super happy for sure. I will even be happy with just a big hug and cuddle.

I am really happy to have a hubby who is so caring and loving in my life. He always makes me feel very special and I am so incredibly blessed to have him as my partner and my best friend. He has endured so much, including leaving everything that he has known his entire life behind and moving to Australia just for me and that means more to me than I can express in words. I treasure the good as well as the difficult moments we have shared together.

This year, as I was still very unsettled from my recent holiday and with a mid-week Valentine’s Day we didn’t really plan what we were going to do. We just thought it will be nice to have a dinner out and that was it.

So like every other day, on 14 Feb 2013, my alarm woke me up at 6:00 am. Lazily I work up and went to the bathroom. I was half asleep when I came back to the room and I saw there was something on my bedside table. When I went closer, I realised that it was a bunch of red roses! I turned around and he was lying there with a big smile, the smile that I fell in love with.

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I kind of knew I would be getting some red roses that day. Normally he comes home with it in the evening. I have always told him not to spend too much on Valentine’s Day roses. I know that it is a big waste of money as they are super expensive that day.

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Anyway, back to Valentine’s Day morning, I was so happy seeing the flowers that I was lost for words. All I could do was hug him tight. I don’t know how he smuggled flowers to our place the day before but he did a damn good job. Even though I didn’t expect this it was such a great feeling to be loved. To top it off, he told me that we were going for a massage after dinner and that was all that I had wished for.

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I really wished it had been a day off but I needed to get out of bed to go to work. As we were going straight from work to dinner, I wore a red dress with matching red shoes.

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Work hours felt long but finally it was time for me to meet my baby again. We met and went for dinner. We chose a low key place over big fancy ones as most of these places would be too crowded. The Thai restaurant we went to was not very busy so we were served quickly. We had Satay Chicken for entrée followed by some curries and special fried rice for main. We skipped desert as we were going for a massage and didn’t want to be too full.

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Also I had bought some really cute cupcakes for my hubby (he didn’t know I had them in the car).

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The massage place was a few blocks walk away from the restaurant so we strolled hand in hand until we reached the place. We had been there before and AS knew I had loved it. I just love the vibe of this place because even as you walk in, you can feel very relaxed because of the ambiance and of the sweet aromas. We waited for a few minutes and it was our time to relax under competent hands.

Valentine (1)

We always go for Aromatherapy Thai massage and we went for the same this time as well. As the lady massaged each part of my body; my stress reduced and my body was relaxing. I just loved the feeling you have when you get a good massage. An hour passed so quickly and we were done. But my body was thankful for every minute of the awesome massage.

We drove home and when we got to our apartment, I gave AS his Valentine’s gift; lots of mini cupcakes which were beautifully decorated with a cupid, hearts, and romantic words. He was really pleased with his cakes and enjoyed his desert. I am really happy that he loved it as it tasted so fresh and soft.

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And this is how I spent my Valentine’s day this year. Do share how yours was?

P.S I think I am more romantic than I care to admit as I just realised today that I have a special category called Valentine’s day in my blog. Seriously, who does that!

Celebrating AS birthday in Nepal

I always wanted to celebrate AS’s birthday in a special way but last few years we were never in Sydney to have a lavish birthday party for him. AS’s birthday falls at the end of December and we always have a holiday around that time and so we are away from Sydney. I always feel guilty that I celebrate my birthday with a bunch of friends invited while his last two birthdays were celebrated by just the two of us if we don’t count the random strangers in the restaurant.

But this year he had a very special birthday and I am really happy about it. First of all we were in Nepal during his birthday which made it extra special.

On 28 December, me and AS went to a restaurant called Transit and celebrated his birthday. It was a special dinner for both of us and we indulge in snacks and pizzas. They had a live band playing some nice classic English songs so we had a great time.

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As the owner of the restaurant was someone I knew, I arranged a surprised cake for him and he was really happy. It was just a piece of his favourite double chocolate cake.  Also he got complimentary drinks on the house. And that was just a start of his birthday celebrations.

Celebrating AS's Birthday

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As I have mentioned many times before, Nepali calendar is different than English calendar. In Nepal, birthdays are not celebrated by date but by teethi (according to position of moon and planets). So he had his teethi birthday again after a week of his birthday as per the English calendar. That day, we celebrated his birthday in the traditional manner.

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His mum prepared puja and sagun for the birthday. In the morning, he sat down and his mum performed the janmadin (birthday) puja. First gods including Lord Ganesh were worshipped. Then, tika was put on AS’s forehead as blessing. It was followed by sagun (egg, bara, chicken, fish) and gifts from his family. It had been more than a decade since AS got to celebrate his birthday according to Nepali tradition so it was a happy moment for all of us.

AS birthday (2)AS birthday (3)

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That evening, we had ordered a cake. So with his brothers and parents we cut the cake. It was his favourite rich chocolate and we all loved it too 🙂

Then, we went to a restaurant, 8 degrees with his family to enjoy the rest of the evening. The place was not too busy so we enjoyed our time there. The food was flavoursome. It was a great day for AS as he was spoiled with gifts and wishes the whole day.

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Then the next day, we went out again to celebrate his birthday and this time with my family. We took my parents, my brother, SIL and little nephew for lunch to celebrate in a Newari restaurant called Falcha. The food was hot and spicy there but all of us were happy to enjoy each other’s company. My nephew enjoyed his outing as well. We had a good time and my parents and my brother also had a gift for him.

treat for my family (1)-tile treat for my family (2)

Overall I am super happy since AS got to have a great birthday in Nepal. I also spoiled him with many gifts and I feel good that he enjoyed his time here in Nepal with our families.

I wish him all the best for rest of his life. Love you dear.