Another Year, Another Trot Through Tedium & Thrill

Here we are. A new year. 2024.

This New Year's Day felt great. It was done right with a tier of osechi ryori at breakfast and turkey dum biryani at dinner. We had a quiet morning with breakfast mainly for the man and the floofs. Took them out to play and we all spent a rainy afternoon at home chilling out. 

We weren't going to go out to restaurants that would charge a bomb for a festive menu that sucked. I'm so done with that. NO. We also definitely needed a venue that would take two dogs. We weren't going to leave them alone if the weather is this unpredictable these monsoon months. We could just get a takeout, or do the next best thing — cook. It rained all day on January 1, 2024. Chose the option of assembling food and cooking.

Breakfast was made easy because of the ingredients the restaurant had prepped for me the night before. (Not going to name it since they don't do this for most diners, but since I asked...) I didn't need to 'cook-cook'. It was a bowl of turnips, tofu, mushrooms and gingko nuts with red prawns in dashi. We cooked dinner too. #ImpieCooks2024

For dinner, we couldn't be fussed with anything fancy. My culinary repertoire is limited. The man sorted out most of it. Literally a one-dish meal of turkey biryani with heirloom tomatoes and hard-boiled eggs. Since I had some time, I settled the sous vide herbed paprika chicken (if anyone needed extra protein) and dhal for the man to heat up the next day. Food was tasty for sure. It would fill our stomachs, but there was nothing 'gourmet' about the entire experience. 

I cannot bothered to host any sort of party at home. I don't have such urges. It's not my kind of thing. I'm forever too lazy to bother with any sort of 'festive hosting'. I'm not particularly enamoured about 'events' or 'dinners' at home. No festive decor, no decor anything. I also have to clean up after two floofs. I barely get time to sit down to read. When I don't have a helper or a part-time cleaner coming in, I'm not keen to clean up after a party; not even with two guests. It's terribly exhausting.