Retail therapy

My year-end audit is done for 2012 and I am completely in a celebratory mood today. Unfortunately, T has to work late today. That's the story of our lives - My busy week ends and T's starts. T's busy week ends and mine starts.

But anyways, I was longing to go and check some winter sales in the stores and so I went and got some retail therapy for myself :-)

I found some gorgeous silk scarves and some more....

 I fell in love with the Christmas tree pin, and absolutely had to buy it! I cant wait for next Xmas already to wear it! :D

How many birds can you count?

As I was finishing my Saturday morning chores of cleaning the house (which is a never-ending process), I stared blankly out of the window completely oblivious of the fact that there were so many birds sitting on the tree. I paused to take a closer look at the cloudy weather outside and saw 7 birds waiting to greet me good morning!

Here is a closer look at the native dove.

Ginger Chutney

My eldest aunt gave me the recipe for ginger pickle last time I spoke to her and I tried it out this week. It came out okay but I think I had an overdose of 'methi' seeds in the recipe. I will have to try it again, specially since its so easy to make!

Recipe -
Make a tadka of red chillies, methi seeds (use 1/4th of a spoon or even less), chana daal (1/2 spoon), mustard seeds and a few curry leaves.
Grind the tadka in magic bullet.  Add 1 cup of diced ginger pieces, 2 spoons of tamarind paste, salt to taste and 1/4th a spoon of jaggery and grind it all till it becomes a fine paste.

And voila - it's done!
I love simple recipes! :D

Lazy Weekend

I am finally catching-up with all the books that I bought from India. I wanted to read some Indian authors and here is what I got in my collection:

Having a books-and-chai weekend after a long time!

Board Games

Last weekend we had visitors in town and we had endless get-togethers, food, games and laughter.
We were all into board-games last weekend which took us back in time to our childhood fun. It also kept everyone busy bargaining, expanding their kingdom, hiding the stack of cash, a couple of rejected offers for bank bail-outs and a few rental property losses. 

This is tempting me to go and buy some board-games and play them more often. Thank you B for all the fun. :-) 

DIY Project Update

And this is how the bedroom decor idea shaped up:

I think the room is still missing something - maybe some tall green plants?

New beginnings!

Welcome 2013 - To new beginnings and new resolutions!

2013 resolutions are:
1) Read more non-fiction books
2) Start taking pictures in RAW format
3) Master a photo-editing software
4) Meet one old friend from the college days or visit the campus
5) Visit one national park in Colorado

Looking forward to the year....