Passion of travelling and a busy family

Being a full time Homemaker,  makes it difficult for me to travel whenever I wish. We as a family of a school going kid and a full time professional,  have carved some ways to fulfill our passion. And I know this is the problem with most of us, when the child has holidays, the husband has important projects to finish. When husband is somewhat relaxed!!!

child is having his tests and assignments. We don't want to disturb neither the studies and off course nor the important projects. In the past we missed some of our planned holidays due to this..... Not now, as we have found some ways. I am jotting down them the way we have devised

1. We have divided holidays in two parts.. Indian and Out of India... again Indian holidays into Mumbai and near Mumbai (as we live in Mumbai) and Others.

2. When there are 3-4 consecutive holidays, which happens at least once every year, we travel in Mumbai or to nearby places. There is lot to explore.

Eating well by color - Orange color of Pumpkin

As we are born out of Nature and we are part of Nature, I believe that Natural is the way of living. At least we can try.

The beauty of Nature lies in its various colors. Can we name all the colors found in nature??

Well I can't go too far...

I have read somewhere that if we eat food i.e. fruits and vegetables as per colors, we can get all the nutrients necessary for the body. Nature has found a clever way to highlight the nutrients in foods. Different nutrients actually impart different colors to the foods they’re in. There are Blue, Purple, Red, Orange, Yellow and Green colored fruits and vegetables with various nutrients.

Today I would like to talk about orange color. Mango, Oranges, Papaya etc, are of orange color when they are ripe. They can be eaten in their natural form. Sweet Potatoes taste best boiled or baked. Sweet Potato chips can be grilled too. Halwa and dry vegetable is also cooked with Sweet Potato during fast.

Pumpkin is the next vegetable rich in Alpha and Beta Carotene. The Phytochemicals found in them also operate as antioxidants, sweeping up disease-promoting free radicals, thus acting as anti aging agents. It is very popular in West but  in Indian Cooking pumpkin is eaten as dry vegetable or Halwa (a sweet) in Rasam etc. and sometimes we prepare soup also. I make paratha too, which my MIL likes a lot. Let us discuss the recipes of the same

 
 

Mumbai to Gir by car

In October 3rd week we planned travel from Mumbai to Gir, Somnath, Diu and Junagadh. When we were planning this trip, we could not find many details for road trip from Mumbai to Gir.

As can be found on the net, best time to visit Gir National Park is after Oct the 15th, as the National Park is opened after Monsoon. Better to book online for Permit to entry to the Forest in Gir Forest Online Booking as we have to reach half an hour earlier, if booked online. Here Booking for Devalia Safari can also be done, which is an Interpretation Zone to Gir National Park. Till now 50% permits for the three time slots for Safari are issued online and 50% are issued on the spot at Sinh Sadan in Sasan Gir. From Dec 2015, early morning permits will be given online only.

We have to book Gypsy with driver and a guide separately. The Gypsy and driver can be shared if you are a small family, because 6 passengers are permitted in one Gypsy. For sharing, you can ask the interested persons yourself or with the help of the Guide standing near the que in Sinh Sadan ( Gypsy and driver booking along with guide is done here and the Safari starts from here). We booked two separate times for Safari, to increase the probability of watching The Lion.