We are very excited to announce that we are going to have a baby!
As you've probably noticed, we haven't really traveled much in India. And that has everything to do with the fact that we were expecting a baby. Daniëlle had a tough first trimester and because of this we had to adjust our plans. She became very sensitive to smells and because of this also Indian food (which is normally her favorite). Therefore we decided to take it easy during this period and focus on finishing our upcoming cookbook. Amit was mainly in the kitchen with his mother to try out and make recipes, while Daniëlle helped develop all the recipes and take food photos (with a mask on, haha). In this blog we want to show you how the past 3 months have been for us in India and what our plans are for the future.
A few highlights from our past 3 months:
Writing an eBook on how to prepare your own Indian spice mixes
Working on our upcoming cookbook
Supporting some charities through The Jiven Project
And of course find out that we are expecting a baby!
Life is unpredictable.
We have been able to experience this in the past year. It's been almost a year since Amit stopped working and we started Hey Groentje. We couldn't have wished for a better start to our business and thankfully we are still growing. When we came to India, we had a lot of plans which involved quite some travelling, exploring food and culture from different parts of this beautiful country. We started with a visit to the North, first to Corbett National Park where we did a few Jungle safaris and then further north into the Himalayas.
After returning we found out that we are going to have a baby! We were overjoyed with the news and at the same time we knew we had to change our plans for the rest of our time in India, but beyond. We decided to focus on our upcoming cookbook first and put all the recipes on paper. During this time we also gave three live cooking workshops, and we unfortunately had to cancel one as Daniëlle wasn't feeling that well. We even published our first e-book, and supported various projects through The Jiven Project.
12 week ultrasound
After 3 months, Daniëlle started to feel better again and she can now enjoy the Indian cuisine a bit more. As during the first trimester she only ate fruit, nuts and bread with lettuce (she has also lost quite a bit of weight), she now enjoys dishes such as: pav bhaji, tofu tikka masala and mixed vegetables!
The 12 week ultrasound was a special moment! We had good contact with a gynaecologist (not obstetricians as is the case in Netherlands) and we had appointments for all kinds of tests and ultrasounds. We did find out that small things in India are just different compared to the Netherlands. For example, Danielle is not allowed to eat papaya (one of her favorite fruits), while that is not a problem in the Netherlands.
Daniëlle is currently 14 weeks pregnant and the reality that we will be parents within six months is really starting to sink in. We look forward to it with great anticipation and are grateful for all the little things in our lives. We couldn't have started this year better and we can't wait to spend quality time with our child later this year. We have to find a balance with Hey Groentje and are already talking about how we want to reorganize our schedules, although of course you never know if things really work out the way you plan!
For now we know that we will be back in the Netherlands in April (Amit cannot be outside Europe for more than 6 months, due to visa regulations...) So we will want to stay here for a while before we travel again. Not with two, but now with three! Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our newsletter for recent updates about us and our business. Thank you so much for reading this blog and supporting us.
Love from us!