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Manu

Review: Anex Monkey Smart Watch

Hello Readers, Welcome back. While browsing through a weekly flyer by Canadian Tire, my eyes got hold of a smart watch, primarily for its name - Monkey Smart Watch. It's original price was $89.99. On account of Father's Day, the price was slashed 70% and offered for just $24.99 (from June 9th to June 16th). As it was listed on Canadian Tire website, I thought the product should be genuine and googled to know more about the product. But there weren't sufficient reviews online. So I decided to try it myself and booked it online. This smart watch was launched in the last quarter of 2021 as Anex Monkey Smart Watch. Last year, it had been sold for just $19.99 as part of Black Friday deal. Even after 5 days of waiting, Canadian Tire didn't process my order. On the other hand, the stock was vanishing real quick and only 80 watches were available in our near by store. When checked with their customer service executive, I was told to cancel my online order or wait until they p...

Book: First They Killed My Father

"First They Killed My Father" was on my To Be Read (TBR) list for sometime. Finally, I read it as part of my book goals for the year 2021. It is a heart wrenching memoir written by Loung Ung, who survived the Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge Regime in Cambodia. The story starts off with Loung narrating her family and life at Phnom Penh before communists took over Cambodia; their family fleeing Phnom Penh due to Khmer Rouge’s attack; the struggles their family encounters while travelling from one village to the other, concealing their identity for survival; their ordeal working for Khmer Rouge. In the due course, Loung’s father gets killed, her family gets separated with Loung ending up in the Khmer Rouge troop as a child soldier. By the time Cambodia is liberated, Loung also loses her mother, 2 sisters and finally unites with rest of her siblings. The books ends with Loung migrating to the United States along with her elder brother and sister-in-law. It is a very well written book ...

Keep Rutabaga Fresh! Storage Tips & 2 Indian Recipes You'll Love

Stepping beyond our usual choices in kitchen can open up a world of exciting flavors and nutrients. All it takes is to try a new vegetable or a cooking style to add novelty to our daily meals. Rutabaga, a vegetable I haven't explored before turned out to be a delightful discovery. If you haven't read my previous article on rutabaga, be sure to check it out here . It gives you a wholistic look at this underrated super vegetable along with a lip smacking Indian-style Rutabaga fry recipe you won't want to miss. Apart from the fry, I prepared a flavorful Andhra-style karam pulusu and a comforting Tamil-style kootu using rutabaga. Surprisingly, both dishes turned out even more delicious than the fry! If I had to rank all the three recipes, the rutabaga pulusu would easily take the top spot—it was simply irresistible! How to store rutabaga for weeks? Rutabagas come in all sizes, but the smaller ones can be more bitter and the bigger ones could be woody and tough to cut. So go fo...

Red Kurta and Tamarind Rice

It was 6am and the sky was pitch dark outside. I woke up to another lazy and gloomy day. For those who are wondering why, it is currently fall season here at Canada, followed by winter. So the upcoming 4 to 5 months will be so, except for a very few sunny days in between. If it had been India, by now I will be in the kitchen helping out mom for Durga Pooja!! Since it is Vijayadasami at Canada today (though we are nine and half hrs behind India, almost all the festivals arrived a day in advance at Canada this year) per astro-calendar, I pushed myself out of the bedroom and got ready. Initial plan was to make a small portion of sweet for prasadam and pav bhaji for lunch (as it is quick to make). Another reason is the guilt of eating lot of sweets and cakes over the last couple of months. Before entering the kitchen, I texted my friends at Canada and US. Surprisingly everyone responded the same - "Thank you. But it is tmrw". We exchanged couple of texts, mostly me explaining t...

Gearing up for First day of School

The day you first held your little one, the first time he smiled at you, those first steps, first tears, first words, first bike ride... You would have experienced countless firsts with your child so far. Before you knew it, your kid is just few days away from a very important milestone - his first day of school. If your kid is starting kindergarten this academic year, I totally feel you. I was in the same state of mind, exactly an year ago. After tending to my son for more than 3 years, that too as a stay at home mom, he is very attached to me. I was with him literally 24 x 7, except for those very few minutes I sneak into the washroom. The thought of how he would survive those 7 hours of school without me, haunted me for days. Next his preparedness to face the whole new world (without us) was dreadful. I had infinite questions/ doubts in my head. It is quite natural if you have an endless loop going on in your head. In this post, I sum up my experience of preparing my child and ...

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