Wandering Feet

We're off to NYC on Saturday morning. Nothing better than having three awesome days to spend in the Big Apple - the Christmas tree at Rockefeller, the tiny trains at Grand Central (apart from the big ones), tramping around Manhattan's stores and scenes, Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn...the works!

I'm still trying to focus on the sights part and not so much the food but that's just proving impossible. Have made a list: Katz's, Schimmel's bakery for knishes, Lombardi's Pizzeria... but still haven't managed to fill in my food schedule as much as I did before in Boston - probably coz I let my husband take me around his fave places from the time he'd lived there. And the food did not disappoint!

We're not meeting as many friends this time round. My cousins who I expected to hang around with in the city are travelling elsewhere, and I only have two evenings booked, one with a couple we've hung out with before, one to meet a cousin who I'd grown up with but drifted from once college took over our lives. We managed to connect twice since I moved here and I was pleasantly surprised to pick up where we left off, like all those years didn't happen.

I'm looking for a nice spot where I could meet her; my husband's meeting her for the first time and we really need to catch up on more than family news.

I'm also trawling through my aunt's pics to pick out a few good places, Chelsea's Market seems promising. I dont know if Coney Island's going to be a good idea given the horrible windy weather.

So, any tips for me? Any cool, hip places that do not need reservations on Christmas eve?

The Gift of Sisters

We spent almost an hour talking yesterday, longer than we've talked after her wedding. She told me about her job and that she is planning to leave it after six months given the stress of it. She might again settle to her freelancing from home but as of now, I'm pleasantly surprised that she finds equal amounts of joy as she does stress in this new job. She works in a tiny little, half-residential building owned by the people employing her. She takes a rickshaw to work and comes back home in a tum tum which is like a six seater vehicle - the kinds we've seen in the most remote villages outside Mumbai. During the day, she takes turns with the other employees to make twice-a-day tea or coffee. Her days are quite busy and when she comes back home, she often has an assignment or two, something her husband doesn't like but puts up with. She tries hard to juggle home life - they're temporarily living with in-laws until their new home is ready - and work as well as snatch a few days so she could visit our parents in Mumbai.

The one thing L is that I'm not is methodical. Her finances have a tighter rein and she always knows her bank balance to the last penny despite a healthy interest in shopping for clothes, shoes, books, etc. Even while cooking, it's a snap for her to learn technique, while I'm often slow and bumbling even while learning how to cup or spread dough to make a paratha. Our maid at my mother's home taught us both the same thing and yet, she picked it up so much faster. She is always precise and whatever she makes a few times will always have the consistency I can only dream about.

On this visit to my mother's, she made buns that are a speciality in Konkani cuisine. That is something both our MILs make yet, L could replicate the same thing at my mom's place while I know that I will master it only if I make it on my own a few times. These are flat, spongy buns deep-fried to a golden brown - a bit like a deflated doughnut. She will pass me the recipe and I'm sure I'm going to take my own time until I muster up enough energy and courage to make a batch myself.

I love to indulge in a new recipe every now and then - it doesnt matter if its complicated or simple and earthy. At times, even the games I play online inspire me to make a particular dish - it's all these cooking games with the recipes that I wonder were made just for the game but the idea of some of them is amazing. But I take my time - gather recipes, then look for ingredients and make do if I don't have some of them. I remember the first time I cooked a pasta in white sauce (mushroom alfredo) - it took my breath away to realise I made a dish that I'd always ordered in restaurants.

But my sister's accomplishments remind me that I could try and develop some techniques while I'm living here. There's a great oven, enough for casseroles, quiches, breads and all the puddings in the world. This weekend I might make a roast chicken or lamb (doesn't hurt to dream), get boules or baguettes from the only French bakery in town and make a mocha pudding richer than an emperor. If I do forget, just remind me that I said I would. Or merely whisper "buns" and I might just start at once.

Sharing some pictures of Boston...

Couldnt wait a whole day before sharing these wonderful memories of Boston.

Weeping willows at the Boston Public Garden

Boston Common - a view of the state house at Beacon hill

The picturesque streets of North End



The quaint Copley Square T station

The beautiful architecture

The steaming teapot (or coffee pot) outside Starbucks late one night...

My first Thanksgiving meal (turkey with stuffing and gravy, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, beans and mushrooms and butternut squash) washed down with two glasses of Pinot Noir

Getting serious...

We spent Thanksgiving in Boston. Pushed our boundaries a lot - went travelling all around the city to get to know it more intimately than we have all these months. For the first time, we chose to walk a couple of miles from the center of the city to Charlestown and spend a few minutes on the USS Constitution. It was such a wonderful experience to do nothing but walk all across town and see parts of the city that I'd never have seen on an ordinary tour - self-guided or not. My hubby had lived in Boston for five years, which made it easier to navigate through. But the walk into Charlestown amazed him too.

The ferry ride back into the city, a train ride to Lechmere to mingle with the crowd shopping on Black Friday, snatching short naps in Copley, long walks across Boston Commons, Huntington to look at my hubby's bachelor pad, sharing a bottle of wine at Cambridge MIT with his old friends, eating out at an Indian restaurant at Central Square - each moment was sprinkled with a dash of adventure and the feeling of just having touched the tip of the iceberg.

Back home on Saturday evening, we engaged in housework with renewed energy and interest, shopped for supplies and as a commemoration of our prolonged engagement in Hartford bought a new coffeemaker online. That seemed to say, yes, we're here for a while longer in our Charlotte house and we're getting serious about household necessities. No longer making microwaved coffee for the two of us and also ensuring we're equipped enough for at least two or three more people at the same time. We also bought enough pasta and olive oil to last us a month if not longer. Perhaps next weekend, we'll experiment a bit more - fry a fish or bake chicken in our oven. Maybe I'll actually use the recipe books I'm hoarding from the library and actually bake a Gateau Chocolat Framboise or a Brioche aux Amandes or Pain d'Epice.

P is right when he says food means everything to me. His exact words were "Everything about you has to do with food..." something at which I took offense initially but found true. You can read most of these posts and say the same. I readily pick any book that has to do with food and it really speaks to me more than most other books do. I get excited more about exploring the local cuisines than making a list of all the places to see. Each time, my husband's smile gets wider as he can predict the exact moment that I thumb through Fodor's and pick out the places while saying appeasingly "These are close to good restaurants..." or "It's right next door to Chinatown..." as if I'm trying to include him in my gastronomic fantasies.

It's a marriage of foodies but I mix my love with a wish for adventure. This visit, I managed to focus on the city as much as its food and sometimes even push food on the backburner. My making a home more homey is to have something tantalising cooking on the stove or baking in the oven. We made a shrimp thai curry (sour yellow paste which is spicyyyy!) on rice tonight and I boiled a little pasta on the side for his lunch tomorrow. I am working on an assignment while flipping through Chocolate and Zucchini - the book not the blog, although I do once in a while go back and catch up on the news on her blog too.

There's wine in the bottom shelf and food in the pantry and a constant hum in my head - the adventure isn't over yet.

I Heart Avocado

Just saw Au Bon Pain's ad for a Chicken Cobb Salad with Avocado and a Grilled Chicken Avocado sandwich and my mouth couldn't stop watering. I'm already making plans in my head to go and pick both up for my lunch but will not happen. After a great, restful, non-working weekend my eyes can barely focus on anything except reruns of Becker playing in the background of my blogging, work, life... Mondays are soooo hard on the body and mind after a blissed weekend out in the country. I even sampled some Greek food - spinakopita and some wonderfully grilled lamb and chicken and a Greek-style lasagna. Even tried gyros while watching a wonderful back to back Travel channel episodes on a huge-screen TV.

Avocado sounds so perfect right now, especially on Monday. Soft, green and mushy with peppers and soft, white grilled chicken with the tiniest sprinkling of bacon on top nestled between crisp lettuce leaves. Sighs. It might just turn out to be a great Saturday lunch. Perhaps with a cup of bean soup or good strong, black coffee.

Yummm.

Thoughts...

1. Need to finish my assignments by Thursday. Hope there isn't any work on Friday that I can't finish by 4 pm. Fridays are my kick-off-my-imaginary-heels day and end the work day early - even if I'm working from home all the time.

2. I don't know why we have overly cinnamony pumpkin muffins and powdered-sugar-on-top apple strudel muffins. They are horrible to taste and if I'm getting all the extra cals, might as well get them from a chocolate chip muffin.

3. I don't know why we don't have soup and sandwich days more often. I love the idea of heating up Campbell's chunky or lite and toast bread slices, splash on mustard and smoked bacon dressing and lovingly arrange sliced ham, shredded lettuce and onion in between. Then, taking the tray to the couch, put up my feet or fold them and eat contentedly without having to get up for seconds or get my hands messy (Indian food).

4. I wish I could eat pizza and not put on the kind of weight I do. I eat 2 slices for dinner. What harm can that do? It shows the next morning when I'm heaving on my brisk walk.

5. I wish friends would be friends with you for only that reason we had during childhood - friendship. Now, I can see 'friends' being substituted for 'acquaintances' - being more for business contacts, for sharing a room or a house on vacations, for having a diverse group at a party, for currying favours with the boss, for subsituting family chatter with some kind of chatter in the house (compensation for my husband not talking to me - at least we get to have a conversation when you guys are around). It gets exhausting when you realise that of most friends you have in your surroundings, you're the only one in it for the friendship.

6. I love the heart symbol that appears on Facebook. I love it just as much as the smiley but much more than the stupid emoticons (the non-clever ones). I don't even like the red beating heart as much as the tiny little black heart - I feel a pang when I see it on my screen, like it's a very tiny whisper of 'I love you'.

7. I must use the cottage cheese in my fridge today!! I have ideas for a lip-smacking curry with a coconut milk gravy.

8. It's making me hungry already. I love the raisin cinnamon bread better than all the muffins on my counter. Perhaps it will help me resist the allure of muffins with coffee.

9. I've hit upon a trick that will make me avoid buying a Dunkin' hot coffee with extra cream and sugar on very cold mornings on my trips to the library. Savour the cold air outside and come back to a microwaved creamy coffee in my brown mug - less guilt, more of a sense of accomplishment and warmth.

10. Need to stop thinking about things in a numbered format. Because there is no sequence to them. Yet, love items more than paragraphs sometimes. They're simple, I don't need to structure them like a story and they're shorter.

Love, Love, Love! Hope Connecticut is hooked back to power soon. Hate that all the Hartford kids missed Halloween.

What's your favourite Halloween candy?

1. Mini Kit Kats
2. M and Ms - regular or peanut butter
3. Gobstoppers
4. Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans
5. Pretzel-filled M n Ms
6. Lindt creamy centre chocolates - for adults
7. Mars bars
8. Snickers
9. Reese's
10. Tootsie Rolls

And I'm not talking about the Wonka candies or the cute candy that comes in pumpkin and other shapes but I know will ruin my teeth the minute I bite into one. What's your top candy? Where do you hide it?

Happy Halloween everyone!

Festivities away from India

Dassera holds a special significance - I was born on that day. It is a festival of the Goddess Durga, of good over evil, of nine nights of fasting and dancing and the tenth day, Dassera, which is holy and pure and quiet. Today is Diwali, the festival of lights. It is more glamorous, one gives thanks to gods and goddesses, especially Goddess Lakshmi, the bringer of prosperity. Every street is lit up, every home has a shimmering or quietly glowing lantern strung up on windows or balconies. Firecrackers light up the dusky, smoky skies. Everyone enjoys it in his or her own way. Children are taught the importance of traditions, of praying quietly for the well-being and happiness of others, of sharing sweets and love, of visiting temples or observing God lit up by the glow of the oil lamps, of pouring bright powdered colour in various shapes and patterns at the doorstep, of mingling with relatives and learning to converse with people older than them, of enjoying the festival the way that their grown-ups have for generations. This festival is filled with sweet memories - of childhood meshing with adulthood: of having demanded things from their parents and of handling demands from their own young children. Of a three or two-day holiday for everyone, whether working in a private sector or not. Of savouring every moment like one savours the ghee-dripping motichur laddoo, made from fried bengal gram flour and garnished with expensive almond and pistachio bits.

Some of us experience it every year. Some of us carry that lamp of love in our heart and soul.

Happy Diwali everyone. May peace and prosperity fill your lives.

I like it when...

...Charlotte's open to visitors. I love the excitement of planning their visit - the food, the entertainment, the walks across the park to introduce them to Hartford, showing them places around Hartford - Mark Twain's house, pretty, fashionable West Hartford (with an actual French bakery!), the mall hopping, pub hopping, Thai food takeout round the corner, etc. Most times, we don't do any of the above, the first people who came to visit wanted to play at the Casino, the second lot had just stayed the night before we all travelled to New Hampshire for the fall colours, the third time I made a lot of plans with my cousin but he wasn't feeling too well by Saturday night, we ended up staying home most of his long weekend.

I made a lot of food during this time - sometimes Indian, or a piping hot red shrimp Thai curry with white rice, a rich chocolate cake with mousse icing (Betty Crocker!), the home-cooked comfort food my cousin relishes... I flitted around making this and that, helping my guests and ensuring they were comfortable. If I had the balls to manage a BnB or a house in the Adirondacks I would do it... I think it's what I do best. Of course, there's always downtime after they leave when I feel super glad to have my home to myself - no need to cook so frequently or get busy shopping for groceries or just sometimes not have a room to myself.

Which is when I appreciate weekends at my husband's cousin's place. She lives in a beautiful wooden five bedroom house, she doesnt have a time-table but ensures you're never going hungry, she has an energetic two-year old and seems to still make enough time to read a book or engage you in some interesting conversation, or watch DVDs after dinner, or drive us all out to the beach. I love her life whether I'm there or not, it doesnt change much. It's like you're included in her life when you're in her house, and when you leave you know exactly that's the way she's going to be even if you're not around next weekend.

That's secretly how I'd like to be but perhaps, it'll take me longer to get there. I loved going out last evening in the crisp autumn chill to Blue Back Square - the swanky part of town - with dead leaves crinkling under my ballerines, Barnes and Noble had a Halloween section which I wanted to buy (everything in it - from pumpkin mugs to cute lil ghost canisters, creepy crawlies for napkin holders...so jazzed up about Halloween), Whole Foods had flower planters with purple and yellow blooms contrasting pleasantly with their brown clay containers, the Sunday evening air was so festive. Today, we've an ultra boring dinner party to go to but I've got a choo-choo train for the birthday girl who's turning one and I need to wrap it before half the day's gone and I'm struggling with it as some of the guests arrive to pick me up from home.

And I've got to cook food so my cousin could take it back to his dorm to share with my other cousin who couldnt make it this weekend. Next weekend, I'm getting spoiled in New Jersey. Until then, Charlotte's earned her free weekend. 

Snowed in with a lot of good reads...

It's a little far from actual snow...perhaps swamped might've been better - ill health and work. Yesterday all I could manage for breakfast was cheerios, for lunch a bowl of noodle soup but dinner was better with some cheesy chicken quesadillas (courtesy my hubby who had a boy's night out). I read blogs till afternoon and in the evening, I shut off my laptop and lay on the couch reading The Last Chinese Chef. I am so glad to be a member of the library. Often, I find myself reading books that push me further as a reader, tells me that you need to take more risks, be more out there. I am perfectly capable of not leaving my flat for days until the weekend forces me to shop for groceries at the very least.

Yesterday, I saw the DVDs I'd rented from the library - Year of the Dog and Smart People. Loved Molly Shannon in YOTD. Smart People was hilarious in bits - Thomas Haden Church is the absolute backbone of it, especially the poses in which Quaid finds him in when he wakes him up every morning for a ride to work. I found myself seeing a lot of Juno in Ellen Page's role. I loved the entire cast - even SJP - who often irritated me in Sex and the City. A subdued, serious SJP is a delight to watch. The Christmas dinner scene was one of my favourite scenes in the movie, probably all my favourite scenes had THC in them. Am wondering what to watch next.

I also have a collection of short stories "Ancestors and Others" by Fred Chappell. My most favourite short story so far was Linnaeus Forgets. I'm also reading Five Quarters of an Orange - another lovely book by Joanne Harris. I'm never reading less than three at a time. Often guilty of hoarding books, getting more and then renewing all of them coz I'm always reading the one that grips me the most. This time, I made sure I gave the Last Chinese Chef equal attention.

Now that I need to get more DVDs for this weekend - any recommendations?

Mixed feelings...

I'm happy to go for the wedding but am sad I have to leave (temporarily, of course):

1. My beautiful Charlotte flat right opposite the brewery.

2. The stone buildings - like tall, grey forts - around me.

3. The walk to the bus stops, the little van with the flowers, a hot dog cart and CVS.
4. The park and its roses.
5. The duck pond in the park where one could sit for hours.
6. The library where one could get lost and never want to be rescued.

7. Watching DVDs like The Squid and the Whale and Sunshine Cleaning.

8. Going in to New York on some Fridays.

9. Spending a weekend in New Jersey. Eating hoagies at Princeton.

10. Going to the gym (will miss my elliptical now that I've sorta mastered it).

11. Going to the movies and finding it's just me and hubby and four other people in the entire theatre.

12. Walking around the tiny shops, bakeries, stores on Blue Back Square.

13. Eating cheesecake that tastes of buttery cheese cake crumbs.

14. Eating perfect sausages (kielbasa, chorizos, you name it).

I'm going away for a month. Will definitely enjoy myself. But will want to be back...soon!

Will miss you, sunshine!

..Going for a few weeks to Mumbai. My sister's getting married in August and it's the rainy season so I'm geared up for my first monsoon wedding.

When I watched the film 'Monsoon Wedding' the actual wedding - which happens at the end of it - made the most impact on me and all I could remember for a while was how much fun all the people had when it rained during the ceremonies. I wanted to attend such a 'monsoon wedding' myself although not as the bride, too worried about the expensive dress, makeup etc. but as one of the many dancing with abandon in the rain. Doesnt look likely though, will be indoors and follows as hectic a schedule as mine did almost four years ago.

However, the wedding is the only reason I'd sacrifice the summer here. I love wearing near nude colours and not worrying about mud spatters or stepping into slushy soft mud that loves to cling. I have ballerines that I hope to break in today - lovely metallic purple ones from Lower East Side. I think I chose them because I fell in love with the label and also the thought of wearing these dainty things on my LARGE feet. I love going into any store here and finding my size, even in the clearance stuff that I never bothered with in Mumbai. I can get why people, not just Indian celebs, love shopping here. I am raring to start work so I could splurge every weekend and get really pretty stuff. In all colours of the rainbow, why not!

I went to a jazz festival last weekend and thoroughly enjoyed both the music and the secondary festival activities: the fairs, the junk jewellery, the people and the food. Only in this setting could one dig into a Veggie Tempura with ranch dressing and a Jerk chicken (on a stick) served on a bed of lo mein. Loved the energy of the crowd, the casual atmosphere, sitting on the grass... I miss it so much. I'm hoping to catch the roses in bloom at a park near here. That's something I'd rather not miss, my last activity here in the summer. When August comes and I return, it will be fall. That's something I'll experience for the first time here.

At times, I imagine all the things I'll do in Mumbai and I know I might not do more than just go for the wedding and spend all the odd days before it in its preparation. At times, I remember the old and familiar routes: from Mulund West to the malls, from Powai to home, to Lokhandwala... my breath catches and my heart twists in a particular way. All the old haunts and lucky me gets to experience it for three whole beautiful monsoony weeks. All said and done, I do think it's the best time to be back for a holiday. And to have a wedding in the midst of it, what could be better?

Love the routine...

...currently, I dont mind the rut. I wake up early, prepare a dish for my hubby to take to work (which also functions as my own lunch), have my first cup of coffee while browsing FB, chat with family or a friend and then start work. My first break is for breakfast and a glass of orange juice which I'm addicted to especially after an egg - any style. I developed this habit during my stay at the Marriott next door and well, it isnt a bad habit anyway. Tropicana is as natural as it can get. I actually get withdrawal symptoms if we run out of OJ mid week. Weekends, I can indulge in a second cup of coffee or a freshly brewed milky tea.

I had to have an omelette today. My usual egg is a boiled one (routine) or fried - sunny side up (preference) with a dusting of pepper and salt eaten with buttered  bread. But today was different. I needed a touch of spice, the biting kind, of tiny green chillies. Cut into larger slices, indifferently de-seeded (can't take too much spice anymore sadly...it's the age not the location), meshed with finely chopped red onion and coarsely chopped coriander. Stirred into a beaten egg and for a motherly touch added just a hint of turmeric. As it was cooking in the pan, I toasted the leftover wheat bagels (mini ones) and buttered them lightly. Sandwiching - or rather stuffing - the omelette into the bagels, I gathered them on a plate, smeared several thick globules of leftover Heinz and lounged in front of the laptop to watch a rerun of Are You Being Served.

Nothing is more celebratory than finishing up such a breakfast with a glass of mellow, cool amber liquid squeezed from an orange and bottled for me.

The Spanish Tickle!!

Just read this yesterday - a new tickle club opens in Spain where people actually pay to get tickled. At first, I was amused that people want to pay for torture, but realized that this is like a massage but with tickles instead. It sounded nicer as I read it but would I try it?

Nope.

I'd rather have a long massage or facial. Or both. And especially would not like to pay someone to tickle me.

However, as all fads do, this one will pick up all over the world not just Spain. Soon, I'm sure to see FB invites for a day at the (tickle) spa. Or perhaps a gift certificate for one. I'd probably refund one for a foot massage even.

I felt so weird reading Hindustan Times online and now I know why I preferred the paper: I could sit, nay lounge on my bed or sofa and read it slowly, taking it in slowly like a great champagne. Rustling the pages, one could feel the day going by slower, one would relax while reading the editorial or the weekend pages or just the way HT covered a story, such a relief from the other papers.

I even day dreamed of working at HT but thought as always, I probably rose-tinted this thought and captured it in a bubble and once I get into the grind I may not have this beautiful vision any more to fall back on. Plus, I mightn't even get my foot in the door.

But I did love reading HT - may not be the online paper - but the stories... great as always.

The Hangover meets Manic Monday!

It's Monday and I have a huuuuge problem with it. I loved Saturday shopping in the mall, although we didnt go to Macy's I did a lot of shopping at Bath and Body Works and also put my large feet into a lot of shoes at Payless (didnt buy any thoh). And went to an even more awesome fireworks display at the Riverfront just a few minutes from home. It put us both in a celebratory mood and my hubby downloaded games on a new IPod as I cuddled my JD and coke (or a measly lil pepsi as a substitute), thai curry and glass noodles sprawled on the couch not even bothering to unmute a George Lopez comedy watched entirely with subtitles!

Got up at 12 on Sunday (afternoon, yes!) and did not move out of the house at all. Suddenly felt like doing a lot of housework so I cleaned, put on the dishwasher and cooked to my heart's content - even going so far as to scrub one side of the kitchen counters! I never ever feel like scrubbing those and I was not so surprised to find much dehydrated muck on it. Made hubby vacuum the place and felt really like a supermom, or rather wife. From 5 pm to 10 pm was a ,marathon Law and Order which we love to watch together so we didnt do much more than move to the kitchen for coffee and muffins - the tiny ones which finish so quickly!

We had a very pleasant weekend as you can imagine. And to get up and actually check emails and think about work on a sunny day meant for going out and shopping for gifts for back home...sighs! At such times, I wish I didnt work. Only today, I envy my friend who wakes up, fixes breakfast for herself and daughter, goes to the library, picks up after mentioned daughter, makes lunch, sleeps or watches a movie and cooks dinner when her husband returns from work. On no other day do i ever grudge her her happy times but I do wish that today, I followed much of the same schedule. Only since I dont yet have a kid, I can....

1. Wake up.
2. Walk to Au Bon Pain and get a warm croissant and a little espresso.
3. Eat and walk out to the nearest bus top.
4. Go to Macy's and try on all the clothes in L size.
5. Buy the ones on sale - get a real kick out of feeling I'm getting away with multiple bargains I didnt need to fight for.
6. Eat a steak and Vermont cheese half sub sandwich at D'Angelos.
7. Walk to the bus stop and catch a bus to scenic Farmington avenue.
8. Get off at Blue Black square and visit the sale at Crate and Barrel. Pick up a few spice jars or delicately molded glassware...maybe a few china appetizer plates.
9. Visit Barnes and Noble for one of those 6 dollar discounted books. Go through the entire Fiction series and wish I could go crazy like I do in the Crossword stores in Mumbai.
10. Pick up some goodies at Whole Foods.
11. Window shop all the way to the Cheesecake Factory to pick up dessert.
12. Loaded down with goodies check into McLadden's Irish Publick House for a quick snifter.
13. Grab two burrito bowls at Chipotle wrapped up for ma dinner!
14. Take the bus home while the sun's still setting at 8 pm.
15. Day dream the entire way until I reach downtown.
16. Get two DVDs at the Hartford Public Library.
17. Walk home.
18. Heat dinner. Cool cheesecakes.
19. Serve
20. Sleep

Not bad for a 20 step programme. Very fulfilling to just write about it. Now, I'll spend the whole of the day wishing I was doing it.

Angry Birds...I get it now!

I got the fever a bit late - once I got my paws on my BIL's Ipad. He's given it to us to take back to his family in India on our Aug trip. And...I'm really enjoying reading Sylvia Plath's Bell Jar and shooting nasty green thingies (or are they piggies) with Angry Birds.

I also get why Ipad is sooo desirable...but look at IPad 2 and I lose interest in buying one for myself. The new thing's launched just yet and is unaffordable but it's brilliant looks and features wise. i'm just gonna spend a few bucks getting some used or low-value chick lit to read on the long flight home - am tempted to spend the 16 hours shooting angry birds but well,...dont want the responsibility of ferrying it and myself in one piece on my first transatlantic and much more journey ALONE!!

I dont get any sleep in the sitting up position anyway but there are lovely movies in the Conti flights - my experience while coming to the US. I watched the Coco Chanel movie secondhand...and also a strangely superior Jessica Biel movie with hunky Colin Firth. It's probably the high pressure environment - I dont think it was Jessica's acting.

I am going to miss my sweet lil' town. I'm gonna miss the Stop and Shop and the D'Angelos and the traffic-free roads. Also the country-side visits once in a while with green meadows, hills, so many trees you couldnt see land for miles and the picturesque white cottagey houses set at intermittent places.

And my lil Charlotte York house all white and pale silk like beige...with un Charlotte furniture. High ceilings, wide windows with charming wide, white windowsills - if my butt was thinner i would sit on it.

My beautiful bathroom with the tub I havent properly used except to stand on under the shower. I must have a proper bubble bath before I leave - a going away party for one.

Wish the Ipad could accompany me but it's too precious. Perhaps a plastic covered hardback would go places where an Ipad cannot!!

Sunny Friday...

...is not just the day when the sun shone for the royal wedding but yeah, it's a blessing for us all. After a week of cloudy, rainy weather we're all glad it's bright and sunny this morning. I woke up and stepped into the hall to be welcomed by a gentle stream of light through the blinds on our windows. Love having such huge windows.

We can look down and see activity in the brewery kitchens. This early, the kitchen is still busy prepping up for the day. Last night, they'd had a guy strumming  a guitar and singing, tonight will be a steady stream of Pop. Pop will also go our bottles - wine or otherwise - and a low-budget bubbly called Diet Coke as soon as we can make out sunlight's dimmed a bit, at least enough to shut the blinds and not let the world know you've been starving all week for a tall, cold drink!

I feel like walking around, it's that sunny. Enough to rouse me out to roam the gardens, try to aim for an early visit to Au Bon Pain and if not then just wander around, come to the grocer's to buy Lime Flavoured DC and head back indoors to shut the blinds and... Let The Weekend Begin!!

Cheers! The menu will be leftovers, pepperoni pizza, sushi and whatever else goes or doesnt go with it. What are you having - a commemorative fish chip dinner (a nod to the Brit royals) or something to welcome two solid holidays with???

Spring into Summer...

It rained last weekend and today, as I see sunshine peeping through the gaps in the blinds, I can believe that we're finally touching the summer season. I didnt know spring was rain and unpredictable freezing winds: I'd pictured it more like a Disney cartoon where rosebuds would bloom and the sun would shine gently over slightly dewed grass...flowering meadows et al. I couldnt believe the freak flurries of snow and the icy winds in April, when my hometown was sweating it out. Mumbai starts heating up in March, all of which seems a thousand years away as I peep through the windows to see whether people are all wrapped up and checking the weather forecast for every hour before leaving the house.

Last Sunday was a study in contrasts. Easter Sunday morning was sunny like the top of a fried egg, all white clouds and yellow sun against a blue sky. Afternoon, it turned cloudy when we returned back with groceries and some birthday gifts for the party next weekend. Evening, when we trudged out for a walk, it started raining. We stepped out under the cover of umbrellas but it wasnt the kind of rain Mumbai people expect. It drizzled lightly and we hardly even knew it was there as we walked around the scenic Bushnell Park empty and divinely beautiful with delicate white and pink flowers on almost leafless trees. A serene pond with two ducks diving for insects with a far-off view of the Capitol building made us whip out our cameras. We continued to click as we walked, ancient stone buildings peeping from behind alternating bare and flowering trees, a stone seat with a figurine holding a torch and a shield, the sprawling, empty lawns, the Capitol building getting closer as you walk up a little hill-like portion of the park, the now silent stage of the performance pavilion.

Now that summer seems to be saying hi, we can finally look forward to doing a lot of touristy things like the tour of Boston and Niagara and around Brooklyn and Manhattan and Staten Island. Less sitting round the house reading all day and time to finally get out and about.

But at the back of my mind is the land of snow and freezing weather that welcomed me on my first day in the US. I know I'll see it again and this time I'll get a pic of the Capitol building surrounding by a field of powdery white snow. Till then though I'm going to enjoy wearing thin jackets, open toed shoes and taking a holiday from weather.com!