Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Skirting Around

I love skirts..long skirts particularly. I can't seem to get enough of them - literally. 

Here are few of my favorites , don't say I didn't warn you ...They are beautiful ! 

Mermaid Wrap Skirt via thaitee


Fairy Long Skirt via qiujuer

Wilma via vaisto



Wind of Change via aftershowershop
Yes, the last one is a dress, but its so beautiful and dainty , I had to include it  !


Monday, March 21, 2011

Rainy day cuteness share

What's this ? Two posts in one day ? Yes, it is :)
This one is a small one..because the picture definitely speaks a thousand words :)

We've had a rainy wet wet weekend , with the skies threatening a bigger downpour , even as I type this post.
I stumbled upon these cute rainy day themed magnets by Stuck Together. So apt for the wet weather . Enjoy !

Interesting Friday morning

Couple of interesting things happened last friday . I volunteered to help in my son's school canteen. He had asked if I would help out because he said he would come over and say hi to me ! And thats what he did ... his class passed by the canteen to go to the assembly hall and he waved to me, pointed me out to his friends. It made my day that he would be so excited to see me working in his school canteen.

Since it was my first time helping out , I learnt a lot about what goes on backstage in the canteen. I have the utmost respect for those who volunteer their time to do this on a regular basis. It is a LOT of work , to say the least.

I helped out with cutting ,slicing, washing veggies. Got all the burgers, patties etc in the oven . Filled up lunch orders in the bags. Got a lot done with the 4 other ladies..I felt great ...till the lunch bell rang. The real work began after the bell rang. Getting the lunches out to the class monitors was nothing compared to the real rush after they ate lunch. I was on my toes, literally . I felt like I was on a reality show ! Yes, watching the cooking shows is starting to play tricks on my mind !!

Anyway, kids thronged at the windows to get snacks , jelly snacks, yogurt babies (!) , frozen animals (!!) and stuff with names that I don't remember. The crowd pleaser is clearly frozen animals... the kids are allowed a maximum of 5 at a time. Each costs 20 cents. I kid you not, they love it !! They are crazy for the frozen animals. Its basically some kind of mild sugary solution frozen in a plastic container - shaped like , yes you guessed it - animals. Check the picture of the sugary culprits below ... Not the best shot, but it gives you an idea.


Yes, my son loves it too . He was supposed to get his 20 cents to the canteen to get his frozen animal. He mentioned earlier in the morning, that he wanted me to attend to him at the window ..:) I just find his requests so adorable ! But, as it turns out, I was at the window and I did get him his animal. He came back for more one more time. And then he came back for one more , this time to get one more for a friend, who joined him, by the way ! Apparently , the kids do this if their mom is at the canteen. I was told by one of the other moms that her daughter showed up with her entourage - for the free stuff !! Free stuff , hah ! Volunteering at the canteen is turning out to be expensive !

Would I do it again ? In a heart beat .

Just to see the look on my son's face when he sees me . Just to see his excitement as he proudly shows off to his friends that his mom is in the canteen. Just to see him come running to get ' free stuff ' from me.
Just to have him ask me after school , how my day was in the canteen , what I did in the canteen , did I put stuff in the oven, what was the stuff I put in the bag , who were the other ladies with me , when I would be back in the canteen ., how did I get into the canteen (!) .

No, I don't look forward to my son's entourage each time. But the positives outweigh the one teeny tiny negative.

Alright I am done with this sappy post, but it was so much fun doing it and getting to know the other lovely women who help running the canteen smoothly. And,  I loved that I made my son's tiny wish come true , that I had to share this.

Stayed tuned for the following post - about the Disco party later that friday evening at his school ..:)


Wednesday, March 16, 2011

More food

On monday I whipped up a classic Mumbai dish . If you have visited Mumbai , there is a fair bit of chance, you would have eaten this dish. Its called Pav Bhaji . In english its simply translated into Bread & Vegetables.
As simple as it sounds, I'll have you know, the dish is simple to cook but is packed with flavour. Its vegetarian and its simply delightful.

The  best part of this dish is that,  you can use as many vegetables in it or as few as you fancy. There are many versions of it out there , but  here is a very simple recipe  that I have used. I modified the recipe a bit ..so here is my version ...

Ingredients :

3-4 medium sized potatoes
1/2 cup peas
1/2 cup corn
1 red capsicum
1 -2 carrots
2-3 tablespoons of butter
1 onion
3-4 garlic cloves
1 green chilli
4-5 medium tomatoes

For garnishing :
1 onion - finely chopped
1/2 bunch corriander
Lemon juice

Directions :
1) Chop the potatoes and carrots into small cubes.
2) Boil the vegetables in water . Throw away excess water .
3) Heat a pan , and sautee the onions, chilli, garlic , capsicum in the butter.
4) Add diced tomatoes once the onions and capsicum are cooked.
5) Add the vegetables in the mixture . Add salt, Pav bhaji masala, turmeric powder . Mix it up well and mash the vegetables .
6) Squeeze some lemon juice onto the mashed vegetables and garnish with corriander.

Cooking the bread :
Apply butter on both sides of the bread and cook it on the pan . Any bread is fairly suitable . I used hamburger buns and sliced them into halves for each serving.

Serving Pav Bhaji : Serve some bhaji ( vegetables ) with the bread on individual plates . Garnish the vegetables with some chopped onions and a lemon wedge.

I decided to cook this , since my son enjoyed it so much when he had it a few weeks ago . He's been asking me to cook it and he even invited my sister over, from the U.S to eat it with us ! For the record, he wolfed it down and declared it as his favourite dinner ! yay, I am sooo happy !

While I am on the subject of food- on Monday, on My Kitchen Rules, the contestants had to cook for kids and their parents . As usual, there were some amazing dishes whipped up and the kids loved them .  Check out the picture below of my Pav Bhaji .. it looks really colourful , don't you think ? I could've given the MKR contestants a run for their money, me thinks ...;-)


Also, the recipe cards will be showing up in the shop very soon.. I listed one today ..check it out , will ya ? 




Friday, March 11, 2011

I have food on my mind ...

...and My Kitchen Rules or MKR is to be blamed ! I am captivated by that show . I love the challenges and the concept behind the show. Its very intriguing watching the contestants battle it out. I am big fan of Manu and Pete. Maybe more Manu ..the french accent might have something to do with it .
Rhubarb & Roasted Strawberry Cheesecakes via MKR 
Since I have been watching the show regularly - it airs Monday thru Wednesday evenings , I am obviously very enraptured by the artistic creations of food . Lo and behold, I have been drawing up illustrations relating to the kitchen . I have been having so much fun with it . Who knew, drawing food could be so much fun ?!
Check out the works in the pipeline ...what do you think ?





Friday, March 4, 2011

Its Autumn !

It is my favourite season of the year ! Its finally upon us :) I love everything about it. The cool crisp air, the colours of the leaves , grey skies, acorns .... the scarves, the boots!

I don't think I am going to miss summer anytime soon . Maybe I'll miss wearing sundresses and the beautiful blue skies a bit . But like I mentioned this post, I don't like the heat . Period.

Some may think the sky is too boring and dull . But I think,  nature has a way of adding colour when it feels like the skies are too dull. Look around and you'll see the riot of colours with the leaves changing colour. I always draw inspiration from this aspect. It fascinates me to no end that leaves change from lush green to orange/ yellow/red.

Image via papermoth

Oh and another thing, as I was typing my post on Autumn  yesterday, I read this post by Laura from Moags and Smeet . I just found it a bit funny that we feel completely different about summer and autumn !  Hope you enjoyed the nice warm day today , Laura :)