A Beloved's Journey

I've been thinking that it's time for an update but each time I have thought of writing another post I struggle with knowing where to start. Not because so much has happened with adoption but just because... well Covid really. Who would have thought that a vast majority of the world would be stopped in their tracks in such a small amount of time? So I'll give you an adoption update and tell you a bit about what I have been up to over 4 1/2 weeks of lockdown. On Wednesday 5th February I received an email saying that I had been accepted by CARA (the Indian Authorities) to adopt from India. From here my papers will be sent to a region of India and over time will be matched to a child based, to some degree, on the conditions I have set. This waiting will take a minimum of two years. But the waiting is not taken from the 5th February 2020 when I was approved. Instead it is taken from when my papers entered India. I thought this date was 5th May 2019 but it turns out that the d...

I'm sitting in my lounge and there is a delicious aroma wafting through from the kitchen. Not because I am cooking something but because I have chopped up some ingredients ready to cook this evening. On Tuesday this week I went over to my neighbours house and had my first 'cooking class.' I still don't know what the curry is called but it was delicious and I learnt a lot about Indian cooking. My neighbours are from North India so their cooking is very different from curries found in Southern India. PJ showed me many of her spices kept in glass jars or Tupperware containers (no small cardboard boxes from the supermarket). She had star anise, black and green cardamon, bay leaf, turmeric, cumin seeds and the list goes on. I learned that black cardamon is used for a spicer flavour as are red onions whereas green cardamon and white onions are used for a sweeter flavour. I also learned that red chillies are not as good for you as green chillies as red chillies can burn your...

Things have been very quiet on the adoption front lately as my documents sit on someone's desk in India waiting to be looked at. I need to get used to this though. Once my documents are checked I will be waiting for months or even years to be matched. It's a lesson in patient waiting. So in the mean time lets talk cooking! I love creating delicious food. If it doesn't taste good why make it?! Near the beginning of this year I started what I thought would be a tradition of having pancakes at the start of every school holidays. A celebratory type thing. This has turned into pancakes every weekend because who doesn't like celebrating weekends?! But these aren't just any pancakes. I use the recipe in Chelsea Winter's book 'EAT'. I don't have the rights to share this recipe with you but I would suggest you buy this book anyway as the recipe is not available online and there are many great recipes in it. Trust me, I've cooked over 75% of the main...

Waiting is an interesting conundrum. How long will it take? What else could I be doing while I'm waiting or instead of waiting? Waiting is never easy. We are all waiting for something in life, a new job, children to leave home, a pay rise, getting married, the queue at the supermarket or the husband to fix something! Sometimes we wait with faith, not actually knowing if what we are waiting for will come about. Other times we wait, knowing that what we are waiting for will come to pass. The waiting for the latter is easier but we still require hope in our waiting. I'm not the best at waiting but I find it easier when I have something to do while I wait. The struggle that exists with waiting for Bunny is not having an end date. I don't know when the waiting will end, I'm in a limbo of waiting for something that I know will change my life with no idea when it will happen. In the meantime I have to live! So what do I do in my living and waiting? 7 years ago I started ...