A Date Night to plan and a giveaway

 
This giveaway is now closed. The winner is commenter No. 3 , Springbird. The winner has been contacted.Thanks to everybody who participated !

 

It would be fair to say that since the birth of my son about 4 years ago,
TH and I have had very few opportunities to have some alone time. 
Add to the fact that we come from a culture where dating was traditionally not prevalent and that we do not have family here to babysit our child - that makes planning for a date night even more difficult.But both of us agree that it is imperative to be able to spend time together, without any distractions, such as TV or attention hogging kids (no matter how well behaved your kids are , if they are 4 years old,they will definitely want to be the center of attention ! ) So to that end, we have been making efforts to free up time such that we can at least sit together and spend time,either watching a movie together or discussing favorite topics or even planning for the immediate future. We either let P watch his favorite show for 30 minutes, or made sure that he was engaged in an activity that would keep him engrossed for at least half an hour. We still couldn't go out together, since we both work and we haven't really found any babysitter that I would want to leave my child with.

When MyBlogSpark sent me a kit that would make Date Night In easier , I was excited..I made simple plans to send P to bed earlier and cook a meal using the Wanchai Ferry and Macaroni Grill kits that came with the prize pack. I was going to use the 30$ visa card that came with the kit to purchase some nice place mats and candles to make a romantic table setting. (So what if we couldn't go out by ourselves to a nice restaurant..) The dinner kits looked easy to prepare ...the instructions are easy to follow and you need to add just a few everyday ingredients to make a complete meal for two. Although the kits are intended to be made with meat, it would be easy to substitute vegetarian/vegan options like tofu or seitan or tempeh.

Well, all planning aside, hectic work schedules, pregnancy and an active preschooler made it difficult to bring this about.But I haven't given up my attempts to make this happen.We have found a babysitter with whom we are all comfortable. Its now a matter of carving out the time so that I can cook and set the table and have a nice relaxed meal with TH !
I will update this post once I do get to have that date night !!

MyBlogSpark ,Wanchai Ferry and Macaroni Grill want to give one of my readers a prize pack of their own, containing two dry dinner kits and a $25 visa card. All you need to do to enter is leave me a comment saying how you would plan for a date night with your significant other.
The giveaway ends on 01/07/2011 at 11.59 pm.  I will use a random generator to pick the winner.
Please note that the giveaway is open to US residents only.
Also, do enter your email address when you leave a comment. Otherwise I am left with no way to contact you in case you win !

(Disclaimer: The products, prize pack and the information was given to me from Wanchai Ferry and Macaroni Grill through MyBlogSpark.The opinions and post content are all my own ! )

Leisurely Sunday Mornings and My First Giveaway!

                  This giveaway is now closed ! The winner is Janie ! Congratulations Janie !! 

Please leave a comment with your contact details (email address and mailing address so that I can have your prize pack mailed to you ...Your details will not be published on the blog )

Growing up, in India, Sunday mornings were special.
Not in an spectacular kind of way, just in a kind of quiet, relaxing with your family kind of a way..
With no school to worry about, my brother and I had the entire day to do as we wished..
We didnt have a host of TV channels to choose from ..it was just one National channel and then too we had very select TV programmes that were actually interesting !
After breakfast, we would curl up on the living room couch, watch TV and then run off to play, read or whatever caught our fancy that day. Speaking of breakfasts, Sunday morning breakfasts would be quite elaborate. They would usually be savoury,  like lentil crepes (dosas) with a spicy potato mixture and a coconut chutney, or soft rice and lentil cakes served with chutney and a spicy lentil stew.
Sweet items would be reserved for special occasions only.
We would look forward to Sunday morning breakfasts, the whole family sitting around the breakfast table ,
talking and chatting about what each of us wanted to do for the rest of the day.
Now, almost 15 years later, I try to follow a similar pattern here in the US, with my own family.
Admittedly, it doesnt work out that way every single Sunday, what with weekends sometimes being even more hectic than weekdays..Some weekends, breakfast fare tends to be traditional and at other times, we enjoy pancakes and cereal and sandwiches !

Recently, I got the opportunity to try some Pillsbury sweet rolls courtesy Pillsbury and MyBlogSpark.

They also sent me scrapbooking supplies that I am pretty excited about !!
It will be a fun activity to do with my 4 year old on cold winter mornings  :)

Enjoying the rolls is as easy as opening the can, seperating the pieces and then baking according to instructions.The icing is also included in the can.
Now, if you are the bake from scratch type of a person, then you would probably scoff at anything that comes from a can. But if you dont mind giving into the convenience of baking out of a can and you enjoy sweet treats, then you can indulge in this once in a while.

Pillsbury and MyBlogSpark would like to give my readers the opportunity to try out the Pillsbury sweet rolls.
To win, all you have to do is leave a comment telling me how you like to make Sunday mornings special for your family !
I will use a random generator to pick out the winning comment amongst the ones left till Dec 13th, 12pm CST Happy Sundays !!

P.S. I was not compensated by either Pillsbury or MyBlogSpark for this post. The opinions are entirely mine.
I did receive a pack containing a free coupon for Pillsbury rolls and scrapbooking supplies.
Click on the link below to save $0.70 on one can of Pillsbury Flaky Cinnamon Rolls with Butter Cream Icing today!
http://www.myblogspark.com/uc/main/42b1/