Settling into married life.

Blog friends,

So here we are, nearly a month of being married and it's definitely different. I feel like it shouldn't be since we lived together prior-to, but it is. It's sweeter, we're married. I can see that we are definitely in a "Honeymoon phase", or perhaps its just the fact that the stress of the wedding isn't impairing our judgement and pestering us anymore. We are relaxed, happy and things feel light again. I'm beginning to feel closer to normal, but the new pressures of marriage and my own personal goals for 2012 are definitely keeping me on my toes.

The gorgeous weather in SoCal is helping our transition into married life and giving us our daily dose of Vitamin D, but my mind is pondering the thoughts of moving away some place new for another great adventure. The Hard Rock Hotel & Resort, Punta Cana was a beautiful honeymoon destination, but we could have used a couple more days there to fully de-stress and enjoy the island, but a fantastic getaway nonetheless and our first time in the Caribbean.

Well...now we're back on our feet and preparing for the next big thing. I'm not quite sure what that is yet. We still need to situate little things like monthly chores, who's responsible for what, stuff like that. I hate organizational conversations, they feel like a business meeting, but are necessary for US to maintain a sort of balance. We've become pretty good at that already, so its not too taxing to figure out. More soon, I'm sure he'll do something very husbandly that I'll need to talk about.

Cheers,

Mrs. Ronjini Joshua

The end of an era!

As you may know, the last year of my life pretty much revolved around planning a wedding day, one single day that would be imprinted in my mind forever. I LOVE thinking about this day and finally realize why people say that it is the most important day in a girl's life...probably a man's too, depending on if he's a jerk or not.

My wedding day was the most strangely tranquil, magical and happy day of my entire life. It is just an indescribable experience to have everyone you love and that loves you, to share a ceremony that is magnifically (<--new word) important with the most important person in your life.

To make a long story short, it was a great ceremony and crazy fun party. I feel like everyone really had a great time, which was my main goal. It wouldn't have been as great without someone handling all the day-of details. (NOTE TO BRIDES: you MUST have a day-of coordinator if nothing else.) I am so excited to begin my life with my new husband. We are taking the month of January to organize and situate ourselves and plan for the rest of the year and set timelines and goals. I love January for that reason, I end up feeling so organized.

Oh yes, we got great wedding gifts and I have enlisted the help of my new CrockPot to make this Chili recipe, as my very first slow-cooker recipe. Wish me luck, 4.5 hours to go.

Married life, here we go.

The Cusp of Insanity...4 days before the 'big' one.

What enormous stress and pressure a wedding is. The more sane your family is the less you have to deal with. However, the more crazy your family is....an event like this creates a colossal tornado of stress and emotion. I don't know who in my family hasn't cried during the past month.

Last Friday, I came at the cusp of the madness and broke completely down. My fantastic fiance realized it was time to sober me up (no, I wasn't drunk) and snap me back into normalcy. After a lot of yelling and more crying, I am finally in a place where I'm focused on getting tasks accomplished and just letting go mentally.

I think this has been one of the hardest obstacles in my life so far, it just contains so many aspects and hidden emotional issues. I can imagine why so many brides go crazy. It's hard to plan a day that you expect to be perfect and then let go and be a guest, especially the guest of honor.

I'm okay now and am trying to stay as serene as possible until the big day approaches (a nice massage will help with that). Being around my family tightens me up immediately, not knowing what to expect, what they will say or even what will happen. At this point there is nothing you can do, I wish I could have realized this earlier, but I think it was just inevitable.

At one point, I even wondered if it was all worth it, but I know when we hit the dance floor on New Year's Eve and we see the smiling faces of all of our closest loved ones, it will be a memory that we will NEVER EVER forget.

Cheers to everyone and Happy New Year!

It's December 2011, arguably one of the most important months of my life.

So It's now December 2nd. I took time yesterday and this morning to reflect and to really think about what this all means. I've been trying to reflect more these days, given I just dove into my thirties and now...29 days away, I will become Mrs. Beno Joshua. Wow...what a big step in life. I realize now, that everything has been practice and preparation up to this point.

The stress has definitely reached a high (not in a good way), with the most minute and crazy amount of details coming to fruition with the nearing of our nuptials. We have also agreed to do a prenuptial agreement, so that takes time too. The hardest part of this whole thing is figuring out the cultural stuff without the help of other more knowledgeable people (cough cough, MOM). It would have been very nice to have some help and support there, especially because I am so amped to have a Hindu ceremony. At this point, getting too many people involved is just more organizing and time, than I have the patience to deal with.

Needless to say, I am handling things the best that I can, trying to be organized and getting increasingly nervous and excited as the wedding day approaches. The last thing I'm worried about...a crucial thing...the honeymoon. B's supposed to be on it, I'll hope for the best with some suggestive noodling. Above all, this should be a smashing party, but I can foresee some extreme moodiness this month...So be on the lookout!

Wish me luck, I'll report back soon.

I am 30.

So, this is now my reality. I am 30. I have hit the third decade of my life. Everyone insists that this one is the best one that I'll have. I have an inkling that its true.

This birthday, I was pretty overwhelmed with emotion, stress and even relief. I remember when I was 25, thinking of what I would accomplish in the next five years and my plans have not gone the way I thought. I had plans for my career, my personal life, my recreation, my self. Things did not turn out that way.

In the overall scheme of things, it all turned out much better. Maybe because it's reality. At the same time, there are so many things that have happened that I didn't expect and didn't want. The truth is, 30 makes me nervous. With this new business and my pending nuptials, the real responsibility and adulthood begins. I am nervous and excited. In a way this feels like the beginning of my life. I'm hoping for the best, but who knows what's gonna happen. Here's to the next three decades. Cheers!

Good Recipes - Salmon Tacos

Trying new recipes for my bday week this week, I never really need an excuse, as I'm sure you've seen in previous blogs. So, this week I took a week 'off' which has not quite been successful so far. I have yet to actually not work.

Nevertheless, I will make time and relax, eventually. I've decided that everyday I will try a new recipe until I hit the big mark on Thursday. Today's recipe is the simple, yet delisiou Dry-Rubbed Salmon Tacos With Tomatillo-Avocado Slaw. I've never cooked with tomatillos before, but I feel much more confident after making this.

I loved cooking this simple recipe for a dinner surprise. Check out my technique below.

**note** - you may want to add a bit of salt or even cajun seasoning to the rub, it's pretty bland.

And who could forget dessert? While I was at the store I saw these and realized we had to have them. I was right these are SOoooooo bomb. Bon Apetit!

My adventures in baking -> pumpkin bread pudding

If you know me, you know that I just adore bread pudding. More recently, I have become addicted to pumpkin spice lattes and I've always love pumpkin pie. So when I saw this recent blog post on pumpkin bread pudding, I just had to try the recipe. It is probably one of the easiest recipes I've ever made and of course...I had to add my own variation to it by

adding chocolate chips. So this is really Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread Pudding, a mouthful I know... Check out my step-by-step creation in photos below, yummm! A great easy recipe for the holidays.

Quick note: I had trouble finding the canned pumpkin, not really being the baking type an all. It's in the cake section.

Take day old baguette and chop it into 1" squares

Preheat oven to 350, let 3/4 stick unsalted butter melt in 8" pan

Mix together 1 1/2 cups whole milk (or cream), 2 large eggs + 1 egg yolk, 1 pinch ground cloves, 1/8 tsp allspice, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 tsp ground ginger, 2 tbls maker's mark (that's right), 3/4 cup packed canned pumpkin.

Pour your bread bits into the melted butter and coat evenly. I used a glove so that my hand wouldn't get all greasy. Toss the bread and get the butter all over the pieces.

Pour your mixture over the bread, making sure that it is evenly coated. This is also when I added the chocolate chips, be generous, about 1/2 cup throughout.

After 25-30 minutes in the oven, you should have something delicious like this.