FIVE MEMES IN ONE!!

Hello from (?!):) Look at these photos and see if you can guess where I am right now!!!I will tell you the answer next week although you probably can guess easily.I am having a great time here and checked out all your blogs on Monday for a very short while since it was raining outside although I didn't leave many comments,will resume as usual from Monday!

This is the city where we are staying.Guess where this beautiful structure is located! (Hint:Athens in US!!)



This is where we visited yesterday,a VERY famous "building" in another nearby city.Take a guess! (Hint:Maharaja!;D)


See you next week with lots of photos and answers to these photos!Thank you all in advance for all your comments and guesses:)

Guess who was mentioned in Times of India's "In Times" section?!:D
ME!!!YAY!!!
Thanks to 'My Dhaba's VKN and 'Garam Masala's Dilipbhai,Times of India wrote an article about "Feed a Hungry child" cookbook project we all contributed with recipes and the author and food writer of Times of India, Ms.Rushina Munshaw Ghildiyal mentioned my Coorg cuisine and mentioned "Asha Arvind" along with few others too.This is the first time I am in the papers with my own talent!;D
Usually,it's either Dr.and Mrs.Arvind or Trisha and Tushar Arvind's mother in local paper,this time it's solely me!!I was pleasantly surprised when Dilip e mailed me this article.Thanks so much VKN, Dilip,the author of TOI and to all the bloggers who contributed to this great project.We bloggers rock,don't we? You can donate cash for this cause too,check out my side bar and at Vkn's as well!!:)
Click on it to enlarge on the article and hope you can read it.I tried finding this article online but did not know the exact published date.


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Now comes the MeMes:

I have been tagged for five MeMes and are due for the longest time! Since I am vacationing until Sunday,I did these before I left.Here they are,some fun MeMes you could read meanwhile!
Thank you Lady A, Cyber Kitty ,Gattina, Shilpa. and dr for tagging me and for your patience! Better late than never,right?!:D
Have fun this week and I will see you all next Wednesday as usual.Why am I not taking a break did you ask? You will know why on July second week!!;D

"You are what you eat!!"
I am tagged by Lady Amalthea at "Noshes,thoughts&Reves" for this MeMe,thanks Lady A!:))

Here goes:
What is the most unusual food you've eaten?
I haven't eaten any unusual food! I am not very experimental when it comes trying new ones!I am a coward!!:D
What is the most unusual food you've eaten and liked?
Refer to the first answer!;)
What foods will you avoid eating (either because of a dietary choice or allergies or just plain don't like)?
I don't like most Sea food because of the fishy smell.I don't have any food allergies but string dislike for smelly things.I am blind as bat but extra sensitive sense of smell!!:P
Do you cook?(and by that, I mean prepare a meal that you'd serve to friends)
DO I COOK?????!!!!! Hahahaa!!!
If yes, what is your favorite dish to prepare to impress someone?
Anything and everything elaborate,colorful and looks fabulous on the table!!
When you go to a restaurant, what's your ordering strategy/preference?
Appetizers, Entree` and sometimes Dessert(If I still have space left to for that in!);D
Have you ever returned a dish or wine to the kitchen at a restaurant? Why?
I haven't but my husband does often He is very fussy when it comes to restaurant food.He wouldn't DARE return anything at home!!!HAHAHA!!!
My two old bookshelves full of cookbooks!I am crazy indeed:)

How many cookbooks do you own?
Boy!!! More than 200 collected over 20yrs and still hoarding.They are my legacy to my kids,hope they appreciate them one day!!
What is one food that you wouldn't want to live without?
Snacks!I love all kinds of colorful,crunchy and tangy Chaats!!;P



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"Ten Favorite Things"

I have been tagged for this "Favorite things" MeMe by Cyber Kitty from "meowlife". Thanks for that Miss Kitty,I did enjoy it all!:))

Ten Favorites:

Favorite Color:Red and Blue
Favorite Food: Pav Bhaji(Mmm..!!)
Favorite Month: September(Fall colors!)
Favorite Song: Jab Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya!(Anarkali)
Favorite Movie:Anarkali
Favorite Sport:American FootBall
Favorite Season: Fall
Favorite Day of the week: Monday(everybody's out of my hair and I am free!:D)
Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: Mango
Favorite Time of Day: Afternoon(time for blogging!)

Eight Currents:

Current Mood: As usual,smiling
Current Taste: Masala Chai
Current Clothes: As always,Pants and shirt
Current Laptop:Compaq
Current Toenail Color:Always,Silver!
Current Time:1.25PM
Current location:Family room
Current Thoughts: joy doing this MeMe! ;D

Six Firsts:

First Best Friend: Vimmi
First Name: Asha
First Pet: Johnny
First Piercing: ear lobes to wear my Diamonds but don't wear them!!HUH!!:D
First Album: Latha Mangeshkar
First Movie: No clue but remember watching lot of Tamil films mom dragged me to and we are pure Kannadigas!!:D

Five things:

Thing You're Wearing:Pants,blouse and earrings
Thing You've did Today:Cooked,took care sick son,ate leftovers and I am doing this thingie!
Thing You Can Hear Right Now: AC cranking up!
Thing You Can't Live Without:Books and now blogging(I can give this up but not books!)
Thing You Do When You're Bored: The word "boring" is for stupid people who cannot find something to do in this big Universe!!
Things you like to Watch: happy kids and colorful birds,nature and Ocean.

Four places you have been today: Bathroom,Kitchen,front porch and high school to pick up the kid!

Three people you can talk to:Arvind,Trisha and Tushar.

Two Choices: To smile and to think positive.

One thing you want to do before I die: To see my kids independent and happy!

Two down!!:D

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I have been tagged by Shilpa from "Flog & Rosbif" for this MeMe.Thank you Shilpa:)

"If you had to live on a deserted island for a year, which 5 bloggers would you bring with you and why?"
This is hard,just five people!!I wish I could take about hundred bloggers,my best buddies! Hmm..!!:)

Let's see! First I will be little scared when I am stranded on the Island at first,I need some positive thinking person to cheer me up,right?!
I will take Viji from Vcuisine because she has great this attitude towards life and always puts positive quotes at the end of her posts! I would like somebody like that around me to cheer me up.

Second, we need to eat!! We most probably have loads of edible plants and flowers on the Island!!
I will drag along who else but queen of vegetarian cuisine Trupti!!! That girl cook anything and everything from vegetables she can get her hands on and so well too!! Oh yeah!! I want her there for sure:))

Third, we get thirsty!!!
SIG!!!!She can make mean Cocktails and mixers and cooks mean non-veg too!!I bet she can come up with some fermented liquid over there and some meat,get creative and fill us up AND keep us HAPPY!;D

Fourth, we need somebody to chat when we get bored and keep us entertained.
Supriya/Sia comes to my mind!! She is very chatty and can keep us in better mood for longer time by talking dime to dozen and she knows lot of stuff too because she knows lot of "Did you know?" trivia she ends her posts with every time!:D

Finally,we need some handy man to build some shelter there for us you know? A guy??!! Hmm..!!!Do we need a guy, girls? or shall we keep the Island man free??!!:D I am thinking Sanjay,Deepak,Twisted DNA or DeepSat.Nope,I think we will keep that Island man free!!;D
Then who would I take to the Island last?! Oh wait! Why not the girl who tagged me for this MeMe?! She "deserves" to be there.Shilpa from "Folg and Rosbif" it is!!!Ahoy Shilpa:))

Alrighty then,who is going to crash the ship?! COME FORWARD PLEASE,I am ready with my buddies!!!:D

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Sunday Breakfast or Brunch MeMe:
This MeMe was started by "Rosa's Yummy Yums" and I am tagged by Gattina from "Kitchen Unplugged".Thanks Gattina.

Here is what we are supposed to do."The idea is that you show us your typical Sunday breakfast or brunch table, give us a detailed description of what's on it and tell us why you love to sit around it to eat. If ever you live in a country where Sundays are not free (weekend) or if you don't really do much on this day, then you can also participate by writing about the kind of breakfast/brunch that you have when you are on holiday"!

Well..that's easy.Sundays are always special to us.Because that is the only day we sit together whether it's for breakfast , lunch or dinner as family as we are have different schedules during the weekdays caught up in daily routine.Weekends are relaxed,so we make something special:))

Let's see. In India,where I grew up,Sunday breakfast is usually something like Dosas(Lentil-rice Pancakes) or Chapatis with vegetarian side dishes since my mother is a vegetarian.Being in a tropical country,somehow we are ravenous by 8 am,we would hang around the kitchen waiting to be gobble the delicious food down.
When we moved to UK,we just didn't feel as hungry as we would in India in the mornings (although I kept on making Indian breakfast for the few months), so gave up on traditional breakfast and started having just toast and jelly,cereals. Sometimes during the weekends,the usual English breakfast Toast,Sausages,eggs and bacon etc.
Then we moved to US and had kids,the whole idea of breakfast changed again! Now on weekends, it's a very typical American breakfast/brunch; from Pancakes,Hash Browns,fruit bowl,OJ, Waffles, Bacon to breakfast quick breads!!
Life is a constant change! And what a change for us hopping country to country and changing our food habits and our life styles along with it has been quite a ride!!Thanks Gattina:)

Here are some pictures of weekend brunch I had posted before.



Tagged for the "Currently Reading" MeMe!!

I got tagged again by dr from "A little light" blog for this MeMe.Thank you dr!:))
The rules of this tag are:
1. Name the person who tagged you with a link to his/her blog.
2. Publish the 5th paragraph of page 123 of the book you are currently reading. (If the page does not have a 5th paragraph, take the last paragraph. And if the book doesn’t have page 123, take the last page.)
3. Tag five people (I will skip this part!)
Here is my favorite book I read whenever I have some time and whenever I travel because every page is enlightening and soothing to the soul!!!

"The Treasured Writings of Kalil Gibran" (The author of "The Prophet")
A great book of Philosophy ,wisdom and heart warming and wrenching articles about life in general written by Khalil Gibran (born January 6, 1883; died April 10, 1931), was a Lebanese American artist, poet and writer. He was born in today's Lebanon and spent much of his productive life in the United States.Gibran died in New York City on April 10, 1931.Before his death, Gibran expressed the wish that he be buried in Lebanon. This wish was fulfilled in 1932, when Mary Haskell and his sister Mariana purchased the Mar Sarkis Monastery in Lebanon. Gibran remains the most popular Lebanese-American writer ever.
Gibran willed the contents of his studio to Mary Haskell. There she discovered her letters to him spanning 23 years. She initially agreed to burn them because of their intimacy, but recognizing their historical value she saved them. She gave them, along with his letters to her which she had also saved, to the University of North Carolina Library before she died in 1964. Excerpts of the over six hundred letters were published in "Beloved Prophet" in 1972.All these info obtained from WIKIPEDIA

Here is my own treasured and well read copy!



Page 123, last paragraph;
He writes about slavery in US and at the end of this article titled "slavery" he writes;
" When midnight came and the spirits emerged from the hidden places,I saw a Cadaverous,dying specter fall to her knees, gazing at the Moon.I approached her,asking "What's your name?"
" My name is Liberty," she said.
And I inquired "Where are your children?"
And Liberty,tearful and weak,gasped "one died crucified, another mad, and the third one is not yet born."
She limped away and spoke further, but the mist in my eyes and cries of my heart prevented sight and hearing".

Phew!! I am choked up now! Let me not write anymore about this fabulous book and I hope you get this wonderful volume(Barnes and Noble), a collection of various writings and poems of Khalil Gibran to read ,feel and enjoy or at least the single and fabulous book called "The Prophet"!

Finally,a rose from my garden for you:)


I enjoyed these MeMes which took me down the memory lane,thanks to all of you. If you would like take on any of these tags,go ahead and do it.I will see you all next week.Have fun buddies.Hugs and kisses to all of you!:)