Happy Divali

Today is Divali, one of my favorite Indian festival.When I was at LSU I would always argue with my friends from India about the meaning of this festival. I guess Mauritian Hindus are different from Indian Hindus. To me this festival celebrates the victory of good over evil. It's also known as the festival of light. The story goes that on this night, this fellow called Ram rescued his bride (Sita) from the evil lord and started walking towards his kingdom. Everyone lit oil lamps and lanterns to help him find the way during the night.

This is also the festival when we make a lot of sweets and you share them with relatives and friends to show appreciation and friendship.

The other day, I found this picture of BFF Grace and me at an Indian reception at LSU. I still have many of my Indian outfits, but haven't worn them in the past 3-4 years now. Maybe we'll do something Indian this evening.

Tasty Tuesday

Saturday was a big cooking day:
1. Mushroom, tomato, and green onion frittata for brunch
2. Islander cookies (white chocolate chip and coconut cookies) - these are my go-to cookies, I feel like these originated from my island. They are also well liked by BFF Susie so I made them as her belated birthday gift. Someone else may or may not be getting some in the mail this week.

3. Inspired by the Sparkpeople cookbook, I did some meal planning over the weekend, and decided to try out the recipe that Ms. Laurie had sent me - refrigerator bran muffins. They are really good. The name comes from the fact that you can store the batter in the fridge, and bake them as as needed in the microwave. I made a dozen, which should last for a week for breakfast (my version of grab-and-go breakfast). They are unbelievably moist and healthy too.

4. The Sparkpeople cookbook also had a recipe for multigrain rolls. I enlisted Tom (whined until he made them) since he is the official bread-maker. While these turned out ok, I was hoping for them to be bigger so that I can use them for lunch sandwiches. They were also denser, probably because the recipe called for whole wheat flour and whole wheat bread flour, and we didn't have whole wheat bread flour at the house. So for next time: let them rise for longer (since it was cool in the kitchen), and use bread flour (we have regular not whole wheat). I think that the bread machine was one of my best purchases. It beats having to stand there for 10 minutes working dough! 

Prior to going in the oven, baseball size

5. I also made smoothies (which I kept calling milkshake all day), and froze leftover in individual containers for a quick sorbets later on.

6. All while this was happening, I made some honey garlic chicken in the slow cooker, served with mashed potatoes. I'm starting to use blue cheese dressing and yogurt instead of milk and a lot of butter, and we really like the tangy taste of the  blue cheese. Unexpected, but yummy!

Recap

Last Sunday, I squeezed in a trip to Babies R Us, and realized a few things to avoid annoying crying kids and their annoying whining parents:
Don't go to B-R-U on Sundays
Go early in the morning (as the store opens)
Go to a dedicated B-R-U not one that has both Babies and Toys-R-Us. I felt overwhelmed by the size of this store.
Anyway, the point of that store was to pick up items for the cupcake baby onesies. 

On Sunday, I also re-purposed an empty Clorox wipes box as a grocery/trash bag dispenser. I had green flannel, scrap paper, a glue gun, and a pair of scissors. So simple! Instructions at http://tatertotsandjello.com/2011/07/summer-social-guest-project-make_21.html

The garden is surviving the cooler weather. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we will get about a dozen jalapeno peppers. This guy is looking big and happy, with plenty of flowers.

I'm also waiting on about 4 green peppers from this guy.

The greatest surprise has come from this guy. I wasn't a very good scientist (didn't label my seedling pots), and I didn't know what this plant was until it started to look like a pepper. I thought it was a jalapeno pepper plant, turns out it's another green pepper. It has a few peppers on it with more flowers.

The flowers are looking great too. I think that they are enjoying a reprieve from the atrocious heat. Marigolds and Petunias:

The balcony garden makes me so happy - might become the preferred eating and studying spot on the weekend.

Monday cravings

For once, my cravings are mostly vegetables:
Cauliflower, carrots, and potato curry (a Mauritian dish)
Eggplant (stuffed or sauteed)
Stir fry (chicken and veggies with peanut sauce over noodles)
Mushrooms
Veggie pizza
Artichoke and spinach dip

Sounds like I'll be going to the store soon to pick up some yummy veggies (since I skipped on grocery shopping this weekend).

Happy Monday!

Finally Friday

Today, I had to present my work to the department for our workshop series. With that done, I can post an update, a craft update.
My friend Liz is expecting twins (yes, that's the second friend expecting multiples), and for her baby shower, I made her a couple of diaper cakes. I used a different method than when I made Susie's cake, and the new ones look so much better.

I purchased the two boxes of 108 diapers at Babies R Us, and was rewarded with a $20 gift card, which I will use to make onesies cupcakes for Janya, Sachin's new born, New Orleans baby girl:

Another simple project: Paper 1 got published in its paper form, and I decided to frame it against a purple background (frames were 50% off at Hobby Lobby last week). I bought two, so when Tom's paper gets published, his will also be framed but against a green background. These could be hung up in a future home office.

Oh, also, Paper 2 was submitted before we went to the beach :) So things are going well here.
Happy Friday!

Beach Trip

Our friends, Robert and Svetlana, decided to get married at the beach, and we were thrilled to be invited. We left for Gulf Shores on Friday afternoon, and stayed at a hotel right across the street from the beach.Since we got in late and it was in the low 40s, there wasn't much to do Friday night, except for dinner and enjoy cable TV.
On Saturday, we looked for a breakfast place (eating places start opening at 11), and found a quaint organic cafe. We then headed to the beach, and we barely waited five minutes before we ran in the water. Oh what a mistake! After about 5 minutes in the ocean, I started feeling a burning sensation on my forearm, and brushed it off as maybe I had cuts that I wasn't aware of. Tom's feet started to get nibbled on by little fish, and then he felt something slimy by his hand. Looked down, and there it was. A jellyfish. We came out of the water, and looked at my forearm - yes, I had been stung, all over my forearm and around my elbow, and had boils/blisters. 15 minutes after going in the water, I was now wandering Walgreen's aisle. Apparently, they make a "Jellyfish Squish" - cute word of the weekend - which is just a 4% lidocaine solution. A combination of shower, Zyrtec, cortisone cream and some jellyfish squish, and I was feeling much better. Just in time to get ready and go to the wedding, which was beautiful. Simple elegance would be the way to describe it. We were at the beach for over 6 hours, and had a blast. I was very grateful for my hat - but sorry to have forgotten my jacket at the hotel. It got cold after sunset (which was gorgeous), and gladly borrowed Robert's sweatshirt.

We slept in on Sunday and had lunch at the Shrimp Basket.Yummy platter of clams, oysters, and crawfish! Their coleslaw even had shrimp in it. We went to the beach, and this time walked for a bit. Saw a few beached jellyfish, and someone talked to Tom and pointed out in the not-so-far distance a 7-8 foot shark. We decided that swimming might not be auspicious that day. Instead, we went to the Coleman Factory outlet. Two things: outlet and 30% sale on everything (except fuel). We stocked up on camping supplies (mosquito supplies, fire starters, foam sleeping pad etc...). Santa even found an early gift for Tom. After our shopping trip, we went to Papa Rocco's - a sport bar, where almost everyone was a Packer fan. We watched the Packers v Broncos, and Brewers v Diamondbacks. Their food was very yummy, and their drinks strong.
We checked out of the hotel on Monday morning, and went to the outlet mall in Foley. No shopping that day. We turned around, and searched for Tin Top restaurant - a recommendation from the landlords. Unfortunately, it's closed on Mondays. Instead, we went to Lambert's Throwed Rolls, and OMG, I love the concept and the food. Waiters come around with carts and give you rolls, fried potatoes, fried okra, cabbage, macaroni and tomatoes etc... on top of what you order. They will also throw you a roll if the waiter is across the room. The food was delicious! Our tummies full, we started on our 5 hour trip home.

It will be a while before we get rid of all the sand in bags, and in my camera, which I found out does not like sand.

Tasty Tuesday

After a wonderful weekend at the beach (post and pictures coming later), I was craving some homemade food. I gave Tom a bunch of suggestions, and he chose beef and bok choy. Starting with the recipe for Spicy Beef with Shrimp and Bok Choy, I changed a few things: replace shrimps with sliced carrots, added some chopped garlic and soy sauce, and skipped the red pepper. 

I went to the store after lab to pick up ingredients - maybe I was tired, in a hurry, or still in vacation mode, I made several mistakes: picked the wrong kind of English muffins, read the wrong weight on a package of brats (the store had a sale on a specific product, and realized the mistake as I was checking out), nearly forgot the beer, and picked up rice wine vinegar instead of rice wine. Since the recipe called for the 1/4 cup of rice wine, I diluted the rice wine vinegar with water (1:1). Overall, it still turned out very yummy! Out of 45 minutes of prepping and cooking, I have beef, carrots, and bok choy pasta for a couple of meals; beef, carrots, and bok choy served on lettuce for salads for a few more meals; and blank slate pasta for something else this week. Happiness!

Just dreaming

Unexpectedly, I have to start thinking about goals for next year. This one will be a biggie: save money (goal 4 from previous post) but for a trip for a new state (goal 5).
Clues:
1. not one of the lower 48 states
2. it can get really cold
3. Tina Fey (in her portrayal of a certain female politician) said that one could see Russia from one's backyard

I would love to stop in another state on the way there.
Clues:
1. it is the only state named after a US president
2. Microsoft headquarters
3. Some of my favorite wines come from that state.

Just dreaming too about Green Bay and Lambeau Field.
Anyways, this is far far away from now, but it's nice to dream?! :)