Post bridal blues

Exactly 1 year ago...I was the so called 'blushing' bride! well, today when I see the wedding snaps, how I wish I'd smiled more...how I wish I hadnt had that stupid migraine....

The snaps dont have much to say, though the fact that it was definitely an elaborate, traditional and extravagant wedding is well potrayed!

All I want to do now is attend a wedding again and sit through the whole thing, feast on the spread, wear all my wedding sarees which apparently is gathering dust!

I'd love to meet all my relatives (distant agony aunts) who were once (For God knows what reason) always waiting for my wedding feast! I'll ask them if it was worth the wait!

I secretly miss the buzz that was around me, but now the whole holiday season means a lot more than cookies and vacations...its time for anniversaries, birthdays and hence...gifts and surprises!

ps: Almost forgot...HAPPY WEDDING ANNIVERSARY to my beloved hubby,
Bala/Balu/Pondy/Skandy

My Mecca in Portland

The name is "Powell's books", location - Portland downtown, no matter what I say, how well I might describe, you will have to see it, experience it to believe it! It should have a tag to it like the hindi cinemas, the board should read...

"POWELL'S BOOKS" - Book lover's Mecca

It is a 36,000 sft block.....as in, the building covers the entire block!pretty overwhelming for a non chain book store.

The entrance has a huge help desk with people ready to help, always smiling. Am sure the questions asked are so repetitive and yet the reactions so patient. The rooms, rather halls are named after colours...red, blue, orange, gold, etc...and each colour has about 2-3 categories of books.

If I could in a span of 3 days in Portland visit this store twice, I wonder how many times book lovers of Portland visit it!

More than the collection, its having used books as well which got me fascinated. Old books have a distinctive odour of their own, something that reminds me of my days of 'Enid Blyton' reading.

Powell's was one of the highlights of our Portland trip and glad we made it twice!
I would gladly suggest it to anyone anyone visiting portland, who is even remotely intrested in books to visit this amazing place.


PS: The annex, a coffee shop just adds more charm to it!

Click to listen.....

One amazing song by "Dean Martin". Listened to it in so many movies, so many ads and TV shows that Ive fallen in love with it, even have been thinking of taking some dance lessons...salsa might be!

I listened to this last in the movie - SEXY BEAST the song was yes amazing, but the acting job by Ben kingsley, yes the 'Gandhi' guy is so good that the movie though a wee bit drab tends to get hilarious!

Sweet tragedy

Balu is a foodie and surprising him with special dishes is something I love to do. A little difficult considering his ever vivacious intrest in exploring every kitchen cabinet, every evening!

This is our first Diwali together and I planned on spicing it up with suprises and infact tried real hard in succesfully hiding an instant jamun packet from his exploring eyes for 2 weeks. Today morning after confirming the final tips from my mom, I started making the jamuns & everything went on fine ;

Perfect sugar syrup...TICK
Proportionate dough...TICK
Golden fried balls....TICK
And to add to perfection, a dash of saffron and cardomom to the syrum...TICK

It really looked so good, a little too much for my first attempt, I anyway patted my back and let them cool patiently (Pretty difficult task for someone who considers jamun as a fav sweet)

Remember it all was meant to be a surprise! so I managed to drown the unmistakable heavy smell that engulfed the whole house by spraying FEBREZE all over. I then picked a neat box to stash away the jamuns, this is when my heart stopped...the jamuns were breaking, I picked one and realised they were gooey inside! hadnt cooked a bit and was now tasting bitter...they were repulsive and I, heart broken!

Dejected and all sorrowful, I called my mom and lamented. She then asked if I had fried them on a low flame...well, how was I to know? Medium here is pretty much fine for frying and I took that for granted! Such a disaster.

Bah, so much for my surprise, This afternoon Balu gets to eat with a dose of the saying..."Dont judge a book by its cover" Feel like the wicked witch from fairy tales now!!

Hopefully I cook something good tomorrow and make it a happy Diwali indeed.....

Twisted pasta

One yummy, healthy dinner, with a ton of inspiration from "Food channel".

2 cups of Rotini
Fire roasted pepper
Bread crumbs
Roasted almonds
Cilantro
Olive oil

Cook the rotini until pretty tender and have it drained. Chop the roasted peppers, grind the crumbs with the almonds and have them coarse. In a large mixing bowl, toss the pasta, crumbs, peppers& olive oil. Add salt & pepper to your specification and garnish with cilantro and grated parmesan.

The colours seen in your platter are so amazing, the crumbs and nuts stick to the curves in the pasta and make them all the more intresting! Giada did say so and she was so true.....

Ayn Rand

" We the living ", an impressionable novel by Ayn Rand is just the 2nd one that has had quite an impact on me. " Atlas Shrugged " being the first, also an Ayn Rand creation. She really has her special way of letting each reader imagine the whole setting, the characters though are so vividly described that she leaves no room, absolutely nothing at all for our imagination. So I believe John Galt in everybody's vision would be so akin that if I get into someone's head, I can say hello to him!(Please assume this person knows who John Galt is)
Getting back to "We the living", I would love to suggest it as a read for any person who needs to be motivated in a, well.....strange way!I also decided that this would be the perfect gift for someone special, for any occasion until it bombed. It was Raji's B'day and I thought Id suprise her with the novel, assuming she wouldnt have read it. I was so wrong, not only had she read it, but also had bought her own copy!!well, that was the last time I gifted a novel without checking if they already had one!