The "cooking day"

So Tuesday rolls around here and that was my chosen "cooking day". Remember, I was talking about how I was going to cook up 3 to 4 dishes and freeze 'em? Well, anyways I chose Tuesday because it is Shakil's day off and I could get it done because he could watch Sara. I was up the entire night Monday night and was awake when Shakil got home from work at 4 a.m. I knew I was going to start cooking early but I never thought I'd start at 4 a.m. You see, these days if you choose to cook here it's better to do it bright and early in the morning. Why you might ask? Well, because of the heat. It's hot in the morning too don't get me wrong but it's not nearly as hot as it is in the afternoon.

I started to prep everything first. I knew that I was going to cook the Chicken Biryani first. I cut up all the onions I'd need for 2 of the dishes, then the tomatoes, ginger and garlic, etc. It made it easier - well somewhat easier to have the prepping done first instead of prepping again and again for each dish. Make sense?

Shakil stayed downstairs in my in-laws bedroom and turned the a/c on so I could just go chill in there while the cooking was going on. It worked out pretty well because I'd just get up every 10 minutes or so - go stir it, etc. When I finished cooking the Biryani, I proceeded onto cooking the Chicken Masala which is basically chicken cooked with a masala packet - very simple and very self explanatory, eh? I also cooked the Haleem at the same time as the Chicken Masala.

I didn't get done with everything until well after 12 p.m. and I was exhausted!! I had decided to do the downstairs cleaning while the food was cooking and I was miserably hot. I will bitch a lot about being hot because I'm just not used to such extreme heat and I do mean EXTREME!

We've been eating on the Biryani and I froze the Chicken Masala and the Haleem. I separated the Chicken Masala into 2 plastic containers and I did the same with the Haleem. So I just have to thaw one of them when we're ready to start on a new dish. The only thing I don't really like about cooking this way is that I'm getting pretty tired eating on the Biryani for lunch, dinner, etc. everyday until it finishes. I did break it up today and we went to pick up some McDonald's. Pretty tasty! Never knew McDonald's could taste so good. Funny how when I was in the U.S. I rarely went there and now it's like the best thing since sliced bread!! ha ha.

Went over to the in-laws and I did laundry. You know what pisses me off? Pisses me off when we go over there and everyone just speaks Urdu. Now I do understand how Urdu comes naturally for them, but still. It's not fun to sit in a room with my MIL and hubby and all that is being spoken is Urdu. They'll laugh, chuckle, etc. and hey, I'd like to enjoy too ya know? I have told Shakil to speak English and he's very good about it. He'll speak to his mom in English but she ALWAYS responds in Urdu. She will never speak English to Shakil. I do understand some Urdu but I definitely can't carry on a conversation or anything. I just think it's rude that MIL does this. My FIL does it too. I guess I shouldn't be bitching considering Shakil speaks English so I can understand what is going on, etc.

Well, today MIL calls and says that the money we paid for the servant for the year has been returned. I really never expected them to return the money. So K is not returning and we're out a servant. Shakil still says he's trying to get someone else but now he's thinking that he might not get anyone considering I have only 6 wks until I go to the U.S. and a week of that we'll be out of town in Murree. Today, I put my foot down again and told him I was not going to do the cleaning in the rest of the house. I don't mind cleaning our bedroom/bathroom because it's a/c'd. I'm not used to this heat and when I was doing it on Tuesday I literally felt as if I was going to just drop.

Today Shakil is back at work and is off on Sunday. We're wanting to head to Murree on the 24th but his work is giving him shit about taking a week off. They've said that too many are wanting to take off. Well, he has been there over a year now and has not once taken a week off. We'll know in a couple of days if he's getting that week off. Shakil called me tonight and told me that he thinks they're going to give him the week off. We'll see. I'm so ready for some cooler weather. However, today it's been pretty nice weather here. It rained alllllll day and it was considerably cooler. Bad thing is the humidity after the rains. Ughhhh!!

Ahhhh, just found out that Shakil's work approved the week off!! Yea!! So we'll be heading to Murree for a week!!

Ok, that's all for now!

Until later...

Bye for now.