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?