Indian times
This weekend is Vaisakhi, the festival in which Sikhs party like it's 1699, aka the year that Sikhism coalesced.
A big part of Vaisakhi for Sikhs is serving people free food. For Sikhs this is about "seva", or "selfless service". It's sort of akin to the Catholic idea of the corporal works of mercy. The local "gurdwara" or temple serves free food from 6am to 8pm every weekday all year.
One thing that is different IME about Sikh (and seemingly other Indian religions too) expressions of charity like this is that there isn't any expectation on the givers end that this is for "the poor" (the way that Christianity has typically focused giving). In fact, from what I understand, most of the people who eat at the Ross Street Temple every day are actually just people who are there to worship anyway--ordinary Sikhs, not poor ones. The donation area and the eating area aren't even in the same area in the temple, so no one will know if you donated or not.
I took Pippa out to the parade last year and while you couldn't say the food is gourmet, it's still pretty tasty. It's pretty much all vegetarian, understandably--you can feed more people that way. Lots of dals, rice, bread, etc. Most of the stuff comes from various local businesses. I remember a produce store was handing out bananas when we came by (which was good for Pip). There are also booths from politicians and non-Indian businesses, but they generally give out stuff like balloons, not food.
This year if possible I'd like to see the actual procession--last year I missed it.
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Today I was grocery shopping and one of the stores I stopped at was an Indian grocer, because they usually have good produce and also I needed some spices I knew they carried. I decided to pick up some naan and roti because I am planning on making curry tomorrow.
Well the naan didn't make it to tomorrow. Gordon ate one with his chili at lunch, Pippa ate half of one as a snack with almond butter, and over the course of lunch, snack, dinner, and bedtime snack, I ate the other 3.5 naan. A half with some ghee, one with a sprinkle of feta, and two of them plain. I don't know why, they just tasted soooo good. I checked the ingredients list and they don't list cocaine so I trust the addictive quality is just psychological.
According to my weight gain at the visit today, using BabyCenter's weight gain tracker, I am gaining weight too fast. But I'm not going to worry about it. I didn't gain any weight in the three weeks between my last visit and the one before, which was bad; now in the three weeks from that visit to now, I've gained 7 pounds, which is also bad; I think I just shouldn't obsess over it either way. The big thing I need to watch out for is when I'm feeling nauseated and stressed and lack of appetite, so I just eat any old junk because I know I should eat something. I catch myself all the time giving Pippa a healthy snack of fruit etc and meanwhile I wait until she's in bed and then eat a bunch of gummy bears. My new resolution is to eat fruit whenever she is eating fruit. I think this will satisfy a lot of the sweet cravings I have more healthily.
I bought a bunch of bananas and mango at the market so that'll be good.
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I am going to try the Anupy Singla slow cooker Black Chickpea Curry tomorrow. The one thing I am going to change is to add some mango powder, because I just bought some at the market today and I'm curious to try it; another Black Chickpea Curry recipe (for the stovetop) I read used mango powder.
For lunch I don't know what I'm going to do though. Probably pasta frittata (I have some leftover pasta).
A big part of Vaisakhi for Sikhs is serving people free food. For Sikhs this is about "seva", or "selfless service". It's sort of akin to the Catholic idea of the corporal works of mercy. The local "gurdwara" or temple serves free food from 6am to 8pm every weekday all year.
One thing that is different IME about Sikh (and seemingly other Indian religions too) expressions of charity like this is that there isn't any expectation on the givers end that this is for "the poor" (the way that Christianity has typically focused giving). In fact, from what I understand, most of the people who eat at the Ross Street Temple every day are actually just people who are there to worship anyway--ordinary Sikhs, not poor ones. The donation area and the eating area aren't even in the same area in the temple, so no one will know if you donated or not.
I took Pippa out to the parade last year and while you couldn't say the food is gourmet, it's still pretty tasty. It's pretty much all vegetarian, understandably--you can feed more people that way. Lots of dals, rice, bread, etc. Most of the stuff comes from various local businesses. I remember a produce store was handing out bananas when we came by (which was good for Pip). There are also booths from politicians and non-Indian businesses, but they generally give out stuff like balloons, not food.
This year if possible I'd like to see the actual procession--last year I missed it.
---
Today I was grocery shopping and one of the stores I stopped at was an Indian grocer, because they usually have good produce and also I needed some spices I knew they carried. I decided to pick up some naan and roti because I am planning on making curry tomorrow.
Well the naan didn't make it to tomorrow. Gordon ate one with his chili at lunch, Pippa ate half of one as a snack with almond butter, and over the course of lunch, snack, dinner, and bedtime snack, I ate the other 3.5 naan. A half with some ghee, one with a sprinkle of feta, and two of them plain. I don't know why, they just tasted soooo good. I checked the ingredients list and they don't list cocaine so I trust the addictive quality is just psychological.
According to my weight gain at the visit today, using BabyCenter's weight gain tracker, I am gaining weight too fast. But I'm not going to worry about it. I didn't gain any weight in the three weeks between my last visit and the one before, which was bad; now in the three weeks from that visit to now, I've gained 7 pounds, which is also bad; I think I just shouldn't obsess over it either way. The big thing I need to watch out for is when I'm feeling nauseated and stressed and lack of appetite, so I just eat any old junk because I know I should eat something. I catch myself all the time giving Pippa a healthy snack of fruit etc and meanwhile I wait until she's in bed and then eat a bunch of gummy bears. My new resolution is to eat fruit whenever she is eating fruit. I think this will satisfy a lot of the sweet cravings I have more healthily.
I bought a bunch of bananas and mango at the market so that'll be good.
---
I am going to try the Anupy Singla slow cooker Black Chickpea Curry tomorrow. The one thing I am going to change is to add some mango powder, because I just bought some at the market today and I'm curious to try it; another Black Chickpea Curry recipe (for the stovetop) I read used mango powder.
For lunch I don't know what I'm going to do though. Probably pasta frittata (I have some leftover pasta).