Special moments of 2010!

As we come to the end of year 2010, I want to list out the special moments that enlightened our lives this year.
January was a quiet month, nothing special.
Feb, we visited Shirdi, the holy place of Sri Sai Maharaj.
March, we went to an IPL match played between Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals. This was a surprise birthday gift to my Mother who incidentally shares her birthday with my Father in March, and who has been a great fan of Sachin Tendulkar. Her long-time wish was to watch her idol play live and the moment was right as she was in Mumbai with us in March when the IPL matches were being played.  The look of surprise on her face and the tears of joy in her eyes will always be remembered!
April, we celebrated another birthday, this time my Mother-in-law's who celebrated her 60th birthday this year. Our efforts paid off when we managed to have a surprise birthday party for her with all our near and dear ones.
May, this year was special. For one, my husband entered his 30th year and two, we celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary. "Five years so soon", I quipped. My husband added, "29 years so soon!"
June and July, I spent at my parents' place as my dear hubby was out of the country. Two months filled with travel, fun, pampering, and relaxation. Most important, I started blogging!
August, we went on a family trip to Rajasthan with my parents, my sister and her husband.  Ten amazing days of travel through the entire length and breadth of Rajasthan covering places like Jaipur, Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Mount Abu, Udaipur, and Chittorgarh, and gorging on rich royal food of the state.
September, again, was quiet, nothing out of the ordinary.
October, I started my online shop at Etsy.
November, I celebrated my birthday with my loved ones.
December, a month of celebrations with three of our dear friends getting married. A Punjabi-Maharashtrian wedding in the first week of December, a Konkani-Tamil wedding in mid-December, and a beautiful Catholic wedding last night.
All in all, a great year and I hope that the coming year brings with it lots more love, happiness and peace all around.
Wishing you all a very happy new year!

A Fruit Cake

Our colony which is predominantly a Catholic one,  the air is filled with heavenly aromas of baking cakes, cookies, pies, etc. I decided to bake a cake today. This was the first time I was trying my hand at decorating the cake with icing n all, but luckily it turned out great! It was a very tasty cake, a recipe which I got from here. Do give it a try. The cake was really really moist and flavoursome.
Of note, it took me about an hour to bake this cake. Almost at my wit's end on finding the cake uncooked after the suggested 35-40 minutes of baking, it finally baked to perfection after almost an hour.

Sorry for the amateurish icing. Tried it for the very first time.

Yesterday was a dear friend's birthday and since he was visiting us today, we decided to get him to cut this cake. Had a great Sunday afternoon with friends and this yummy cake. Will surely make it again :)

Turtleneck clutch for the winter

This year we are facing a cold winter in Mumbai after many years. This is the coolest winter we have had since February of 2008 when the temperatures had plunged to 8 degrees during day time. This year the minimum temperature has been hovering  around 13-14 degrees centigrade. Early mornings, I sit by my window, covered in a nice warm woolen shawl and a hot cup of green tea as I read the newspapers. Some of the evenings, I have had to keep the windows almost closed to save myself from the cold winds. So keeping with the wintery situation we are facing now, I decided to make a turtleneck clutch for myself. Thanks to SkaMama at www.crochetme.com for this wonderful pattern. I tweaked it a little to match my sari which I plan to wear for a dear friend's wedding next week.

Clutchin' it in style!

A couple of new clutches made by me this week. 

 

The latter one is made as per client's order.

FBB-style black beaded clutch

This time I used the fat bottom bag pattern to make a smaller clutch with black yarn and pony beads.  Instead of the usual handles, I used cane handles for the clutch.

Spicy macaroni and corn on toast!

Yesterday, I decided to make something different for breakfast. Something out of the ordinary. So I decided to make a macaroni and corn toast. Here's the recipe.

Brown bread : 8 slices
Sweet corn: 1/2 cup, boiled
Macaroni: 1/2 cup, boiled
Oregano : 1 tsp
Onion: 1 medium
Tomato: 1 medium
Ginger garlic paste: 1 tsp
Green Chillies: 2 (depending on your taste)
Cheese for garnishing

Grind together onion, tomato, and green chillies. Heat olive oil in a pan and add the ground paste. Fry for a couple of minutes. Then add the ginger garlic paste. Continue frying until the raw smell goes off. Then add the macaroni and the corn and mix well.  Next add the salt and the oregano. Mix well and allow to cool.

Take a slice of brown bread. Top it with the macaroni and corn mixture. Cover it with grated cheese and grill it for 5-6 minutes, until the cheese melts and gets a slightly brownish tinge to it. Serve hot. The toasts disappeared within minutes!

Last night I made another cellphone pouch, a simple one with shaded yarn.

It took me just a couple of hours to complete this one!

Some more creations

These days, with God's grace, I have been inundated with so many orders that I am tempted to refuse some but feel guilty to do so. But I am happy!! very very happy! This is what I have always wanted to do. I have always been interested in craft. I love to create something beautiful with my own hands. May be I love to play God ;)
No, maybe keeping my hands busy keeps my mind busy, keeps my creativity running, and no bad thoughts are allowed to venture closeby...I believe that everyone should take time out to develop a hobby which will keep one's mind busy and interested and active. These are some of my latest creations, all client orders.

The above pictures are of a mobile pouch as requested by a client who wanted one with a sari clip so that she can just tuck the mobile clutch in her sari at her waist and her hands are free of all bags, mobile, purses etc.

The following pictures are of a bag which is again for a client who liked a granny square bag made by me earlier. She wanted the same colour combination as the earlier bag, but sadly I could not get those exact colours for her, since here in India, there are no standard colour or colour charts for yarns. Nevertheless, the new combination of colours turned out good and I am satisfied. Just hoping my client is too.

I like it when inch by inch the design grows like in the above picture, to finally turn out into a beautiful bag.

Suneera, hope you like this bag! Thanks for all the support and appreciation.

A shelly affair!

Two new creations with the shell pattern.  One, a beige-coloured clutch with the classic shell pattern.

 

Another one, a tote, in green and black.

New creations

Just made a cellphone pouch and added a couple of crocheted flowers to it.

A small handbag for the young at heart!

Time just flies!

It already December, the last month of the year!!! Already the year 2010 is at its end...and I just stepped into my 30th year!! I remember it was just the other day when we were kids and used to think people beyond 25-30 yr olds as aunties and uncles. Today I am getting used to the neighbourhood kids calling me "aunty"!  It is more than a decade since we passed out of school, near a decade since we graduated, but I am still in contact with so many of my friends from school and college.  I am from a small city in South India and I am used to keeping in touch with friends. I was and still am the contact point for all my friends and I keep them updated about each other.  Whenever I visit my hometown, I make sure I meet my friends from school and college, or at least give them a call. Just before I got married, my husband, who is from Mumbai had mentioned that he has some friends who he has not met for over 3-4 years in spite of living in the same city!!! I was shocked to hear that and I remember wondering what kind of friends do not meet for such long periods of time in spite of being in the same city. But it indeed is true!! Life is so busy here that there is no time to meet friends that often. Each one has his/her own priorities and commitments that there are times when the friends do not have time to even give a call to each other for months at a stretch.  Nevertheless whenever we all meet now, the friendship and the camaraderie is always there as if they have always been in touch. There is no awkwardness or loss of warmth. Just last week, a childhood friend of my husband and now a dear friend of mine too, got married and we met the whole gang at the wedding reception. We were meeting many of them after almost 3 years but instantly connected and enjoyed every bit of the evening. Now I realize it does not matter how often we meet nor the number of phone calls we make to each other.  It is important to keep in touch, but what  matters most is that we all are genuinely happy to see each other and enjoy some quality time with each other.  May be distance does make the hearts grow fonder!!

my new clutch

Btw, when I was deciding upon what to wear for the wedding reception last Thursday, I realized I did not have a clutch to carry, not that I do not have any, but I did not have any made by myself!! So a few hours before the reception I got to work on a beige colored yarn and managed to make a compact clutch that matched my outfit. Yay!!!