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Thursday, October 27, 2011

Third Consecutive Diwali in Paris!

I celebrate Diwali every year, here and here in Paris...I realized its high time I stopped moping that I miss home ( read India!) and start celebrating Diwali in its true spirit this year too! So this year I prepared in advance and decided to make the most of it, though its a regular working day here in Paris.



I must admit, in all these years of being married, this Diwali was the first one, I actually made sweets at home and it turned really well, and it was done in less than 10 minutes! I hope to share the doodh pedhas with some of my friends here.



Nowadays, we buy clothes ALL the time and don't really wait for a festival to shop nowadays. So its our own little diwali tradition to buy  something new for our home, every year now!


For better posture, we  swapped the low-lying couch for the flexible bed-cum-couch for frequent use.The advantage with this one, is that I can change the "upholstery" as much as I can change the numerous curtains in our home and it is a welcome change, for sure! This time, I bought a beautiful set of satin duvet and pillowcase covers as our "upholstery" for our living room furniture.


The deal breaker was the red pintucks and the lovely purple detailing on the duvet! :)


We went grocery shopping over the weekend to the Indian area in Paris. S had brought along some watches to replace the batteries in them. There is a jewellery shop who also does this for us. So I was just looking at some earrings there - but of course! I loved this cute little ring and have been wanting some thing permanent that I can wear all the time for my second piercing! We got this for me, and well its something new for Diwali too! :)


There is an interesting background to my second piercings. I wanted to do three things after I got married and I told S that its something I have always wanted to do...When he heard it, he smiled and said "of course" , coz I guess he thought they were simple wishes or he just wanted to indulge the child in me?

I wanted to colour my hair, have another piercing in my ear and wear coloured lenses. I never really did the last one, even i felt they were silly! Amma would not allow any piercings coz she thinks it looks like a kurathi ( gypsy?). I find it really feminine and very cute!

I got it done in Bangalore earlier as soon as I got married, but it hit some nerve badly and I had terrible headaches - so I let it close. I got it pierced again in Paris sometime last year and it was much better - it was with a surgical needle and there was hardly any pain. I often think if I want another one? ;-)

I came back from work to quickly light up the diyas and candles at home, and then later, was going to meet my lovely friends for dinner at Saravana Bhavan ( our only source for some comfort food, when we crave authentic south indian food, and i don't want to cook!)...


Wishing all of you a very happy and prosperous Diwali! May the sparkling lights drive away all the darkness from your lives, and light up your mind, body and soul with positivity, happiness and lovely thoughts!

Monday, October 10, 2011

I have cheerful company, as I cook!

After "this" ( click on the text "this"), I have pretty much changed it up quite a bit, going along! ...and my kitchen window is very pretty with knick-knacks, cheerful flowers, spice and everything nice! ...even if i say so myself! :)

Winter has come upon us, and for someone who loves sunshine, its quite a dampener! I am not someone who stays gloomy too long ( noone should, actually!)...so I bought these winter flowers in the market below and Voila, they sit pretty and cheer me up, sunshine or NOT!


....the "hotness" quotient of my window has increased exponentially, with some fresh and green entrants! :)


On a whim, I decided to try my luck by just planting a few coriander seeds or kothamalli verai, as we say in Tamizh...and wow! I do have a very green thumb! ;) I was so excited to see sprigs of coriander!


I must say I have a strong fetish for coriander, it has such a lovely aroma that I tend to put coriander in almost everything! Divine rasam is virtually impossible without coriander leaves! If my cooking tastes good, the secret ingredient is coriander!


...It's my dream to live near the sea or have a beach house someday! ...while we wait for that to happen, we can still have sea shells, right? Right! I have this really cute hanging full of chozhi ( Patti used to play pallankuzhi with this!)or sea shells and I find it really cute...at the end hangs a bell !


I might have mentioned earlier that I collect random coloured glass containers in different shapes and arrange them like this....or paint them and make it into a pretty vase....Like?