Flower in my little garden..

Today morning I was greeted with this beautiful flower in my little garden.

Why I am saying little garden because as of now it just has 3 pots each containing Holy Basil, butterfly-pea climbers and money plant (ivy) :) This is the first flower of my butterfly-pea climbers and I loved it so much that I could not stop myself taking a picture of it and writing a post on it. 

I knew this flower only by its marathi name - Sufali and did a quick google search to get its English name - Buttetfly-pea. Do you know what it's called in other languages? 

Hobby - Quilling

I guess it was before Xmas of 2008, there were stalls placed of hand made and quilled cards in front of our office cafeteria. I was in hurry, still managed to gave a quick glance on those cards. I am always fascinated by hand made stuff and loved the quilled cards. It was for the first time I had seen them and I loved them so much. But to my disappointment I was not carrying my wallet that day, luckily I got one of those card as new year card from my roomie and I loved it.

I didnot know the name of this type of craft as quilling nor did had an idea of how they are made. While reading through one of the blogs, I found that they are very easy to make and one just needs correct material. I am very bad with the scissors and hence wanted to go with the ready made strips which I was not able to find in US stores. So, when I came back to India, I ordered them online and tried my hand on quilling. It was super easy and the first card I made came out very nice. I gave it to my brother-in-law as his bday card.

My next project on quilling was pen/comb holder which I made using surf excel box and used quilled flowers and shells for decorating it. I followed the instructions on busyhands.craftgully.com/from-wash-to-wow/  to create the pen stand.

I also made a quilled wall art. It was copy of quilled art I saw on someone's facebook page. I liked it so much that I wanted to make one for myself. 

My last project till now on quilling was quilled earrings. I made 3 pairs and had given it to friends and cousins. 

It's very difficult for me to be a creatives self  , so except for the earrings and my first card design, everything I tried was from following others steps.

PS - I don't have pics at this time on my mobile and hence will upload them from my laptop some other time.

Visit to ISKCON Temple

It is more than 6 months we shifted to 'Garden City' and ideally speaking I have not been to any of the places here. I had come to Bangalore on my college trip and been to more places in those 8 days than I have been now, only reason I am enjoying the most beautiful phase of life - Motherhood, leaving very less scope for exploring the city.

My sis has visited us and when I asked her on which place she wants to go, immediately she said 'ISKCON' (The International Society for Krishna Consciousness) temple. We had been planning to visit there but every time our plans got cancelled. So finally we planned for today. Though we were supposed to start by 10 am, it was 1 pm when we actually left home. Being new to Bangalore, we took help of navigation app on phone. It was supposed to take us by fasted route but we ended up taking slowest route. On reaching the temple parking entrance at 3 pm, we found that temple is closed for Darshan and will reopen at 4:00 pm. So, we ended up spending an hour at nearby Big Bazaar doing grocery shopping.

We went to temple at 4:15 pm and got into the queue, looking at which I thought it will take more than hour but luckily it was short. At the entrance, There was a notice board picturizing dress code of Saree and suits for women and shirt and full pant for men. It was for first time I saw dress code mentioned in temple. A lady in front of me was wearing sleeve less Kurta and jeans and she was stopped and questioned for it, before allowing inside. Even I was wearing sleeveless Kurta but a baby and my scarf saved me from being questioned. Next we were handed with card with the chants - 'Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna hare hare ; hare Rama hare Rama Rama Rama hare hare' which we are supposed to say while stepping on every step laid on the way till the entrance of Shri Varhada Narsimha temple. We took a Darshan of Shri Varhad Narsimha and Shri Balaji before entering the main temple of Shri Krishna. I loved the way each idol was beautifully decorated. We had a peaceful darshan followed by delicious snacks that were sold in the temple premises. We were also served yummy curd rice as free prasadam on our way out. 

Apart from food stall, it has lots of stall selling books on Krishna, idols, traditional clothing, etc

Some tips for the visiting ISKCON Temple- 

Dress Code - Saree & Salwar suit/Kurta pajama for women; shirt/Tshirt and FULL Pants for men.

Timings - 4:15 am to 12 noon ; 4:15 pm to 8:30 pm

No Cameras allowed inside temple.

Have you been to ISKCON before? What all you liked about it? 

Moti Roti - Rajasthani Recipe

Today I was feeling very lazy to make rotis and suddenly I remembered about moti roti. One of my colleague J used to bring this moti roti and we used to love it big time. She used to say its one of the easiest and quick recipe but I never paid attention on how to make it. When I became roommate with same colleague, I asked her to make it and really it was easy one to make. 

After that, I never tried that roti on my own but today thought of giving it a try. So I mixed 1 cup (usually make 4 phulkas out of it) with some salt, 1 spoon ghee and water to make a soft dough. Made 1 single roti out of it and put it on pan. Then I started with the pinch of design on this roti which is required for it to cook well and give this roti it's design. When the design was completed, I made sure that the roti was cooked well from both side and added lots of ghee (~2 spoons😬) on the design side and woo hoo the delicious roti was ready in less than 10 min.

I was feeling that I was missing in something as when I had made the design with my roomie J we had to make it quick and be careful as the roti was hot. So, I googled the recipe as I don't even know the exact name but luckily got  lots of link with the recipe. So, what I missed was to cook the roti on one side and then start with the design on the cooked part, still I was able to match the taste of what J used to bring in her lunch box. There is one more recipe - lauki muthiya which I got to know about and learnt from same friend J, hopefully I will share it soon.

 I forgot to take the picture of it but surely upload it when I make it next time.

Have you ever tried or made this moti roti? 

Gongura Pachadi

Oh, I have missed my resolution on day 1  :( so, here's the quick recipe shared by my hubby's nanamma (grandma)

For non - Andhraties, details on Gongura can be found at - http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gongura

Separate the leaves from stem and Wash Gongura thoroughly.

Fry the leaves in a pan without oil, until it becomes a paste.

Now add some salt to this paste and keep it for 3 days.

Prepare tadka with the following ingredients:

Oil

Garlic

Methi/Fengu seeds

Red chillies 

Mustard

Curry leaves

Chana dal

Let the tadka cool and then add it to the gongura paste.

Yummy Gongura Pachadi is ready :)

This will stay good for more than two weeks if preserved and used carefully.

New Year Celebrations 2014

During my childhood, New year celebrations was not much of an affair. We used to watch shows on TV and wish everyone next morning. Once we had get together (organized by my father's friends) with variety of food, games and it was fun.

When I left home for college, New Year was celebrated at hostel in usual way - decorations, cake cutting, dancing, etc

On this new year eve, I was at my in-law's place for the first time on 31st and celebration here was altogether different. It started with shopping for cake, colors, sweets. Around 10 pm, my sister -in - law started making rangoli in front of our home.

Our home was full with close relatives and hence it was all festive feeling. As the clock stuck 12, we wished each and every one present and cut the cake. My MIL had lit the Diya and performed Aarti. Everywhere outside it was light and sound from fire crackers. We then went to look at the rangoli made by others in our lane and didn't even realized that it is past 2 pm when we had hit the bed. Morning was occupied with phone calls and msgs to all the near and dear ones.

How was your New Year celebration? Was it different from every year? Any resolutions?

New Year Resolution - A post a Day

Happy New Year :)

I know I am almost week late in wishing new year but better late than never, right?  I have never taken a new year resolution but today I thought of taking a resolution of writing atleast one post per day till I am able to complete all the posts I have thought of writing. Hope I will be able to keep up my resolution.