Me on SeattlePi.com! (Dated Mar 31, 2013)

Fortunately, I have been lucky to be covered multiple times on various news channel :) Unfortunately, it has been during the times when I had not discovered the power of blogging. Else, I would have had all those moments/newspaper-cuttings/videos captured here. Today, while I was searching for my name on google to see how much data do I have public if someone tries to look me up and I came across this link from seattlepi.com. This picture is from 2013 when I went to seattle for celebrating holi with my family :)  

Here is a screenshot from the link so that if they decide to bring it down, this memory stays with me forever :) 

Memories from Île Maurice :)

If you are wondering what is Île Maurice then - its the french for Mauritius :) It is the place which is considered to be one of the many heavens' on earth (I know there are many places considered to be heaven on earth ;)) 

We went there for our honeymoon direct after our wedding which means we were all tired and drained out of weeks and months of shopping and planning a once in a life-time event :) After the wedding was over, we were looking for a breather and we just wanted to sit, relax and do nothing. Although just like all our other trips, this trip was also full of adventures. I think its in our (read everyone's) genes that we want to do everything possible when we are on a vacation. We try to squeeze in as many activities as possible in our limited time of holidays. Certainly, I do believe in that because when we are planning a trip for the hard earned three weeks of vacation time in a year, chances are we would not be returning to the same place as there are lot of other destinations to explore! Mauritius trip deserves a post on itself (hopefully coming soon!) but this post is not about that trip but about a few memories that we got back (or rather posted) from Mauritius!  

Letter to Mummy :)

Letter to <3

Letter to Nani!

Letter to mummy, papa and chandni from <3!

<3 posting the postcards :)

First Qwiki ... (Death Valley)

I have a habit of playing with pictures/photos whenever I am idle. 'Playing with photos' activity sometime leads to creating a video/slideshow from them. By now, I have created so many videos that you can guess how much idle time I have :P I have already posted some of my videos on my blog. Today, while browsing my youtube videos, I came across the first video that I created when I started using Qwiki. Man! I loved that iPhone app. Unfortunately, Qwiki has been acquired by Yahoo and they have brought the app down :( I hope they come up with something better in that case..  

Here's the video uploaded on youtube: 

Burrito Bowl at home - sounds tempting, huhh!?

I have been trying out new variations of food at home lately. I had leftover rajma from the previous night. I am normally not a big fan of it but since we were bored of same vegetables over and over again, I had thought of cooking Rajma just for a change. Well, I can't take it again on the next day :( The root cause of my dislike for Rajma/Cholley is that I have spent over about two years surviving on both of these protein filled currys!

But, I am BIG Chipotle fan for sure. Whenever I go to Chipotle, I order a veggie burrito bowl with all sauces, corn, cheese, guac, brown rice, black beans and the veggies :) My mouth is watering while I am writing this! Such a huge fan of burrito bowl I am;)

We decided to make veggie burrito bowl at home with the left over rajma. I quickly made brown rice which normally takes longer than the white rice. (We are now thinking healthy - atleast, if not eating healthy) On the side, I made some guac for the topping and manoj sliced some cheese.

Here are a few pictures of what the end result was --

We added brown rice, rajma, small quantity of onions stir fried at the bottom and garnished it with sev, namkin (chevda), cilantro, cheese, guac, tomato ketchup and some green chutney. Both of us just loved it ;)

Another take, another day!

This time with the drinks and mozzarella cheese sticks :) 

And with a perfect mix of sauces, direct from Mexico ! 

E-gaud dhana! (H + S)

December & January are my two favorite months of the year! Not because of winter, snow, or we get to go to India or anything like that but because it is a season of weddings and surprises! Recently one of our friends' found his soulmate and we attended his gaud-dhana ceremony at his place (on January 17). It was such a beautiful e-ceremony that I have ever attended in my life so far :) It was being performed over the skype where the bride-to-be and groom-to-be's parents were located in Baroda and the couple was here in bay area. I was amazed by how well the network connection was in Baroda :) Gaud-dhana is a gujarati ceremony where both sides of the family sign a contract (yes, thats what they call it ;)) and promise to abide by it. Once they write the contract, they read it out to each other and make sure both the sides of the family agree to be in the marriage bond. After the agreement, they distribute a small amount of jaggery mixed with coriander seeds. Once this was done, we had cake cutting ceremony and the couple exchanged rings :) 

Here are a few pictures from the ceremony :)

Happily Ever After!

On the skype!

Herat on his knees ;)

Symantec group is now complete :)

Skype! See the clarity :D

How do we kill time until the couple arrives - Click 1

Click 2

Click 3

Napa Valley!

Yes, we started our new year by visiting Napa Valley as our first trip in 2015 :) Primarily, we went there for the most awaited day of one of my best friend's life. His Proposal :) The proposal was planned between 2:30pm to 4pm but we decided to get there early and make the best of whatever extra time we had. So we left early in the morning. While on the way, I looked up a bunch of wineries and decided to go to the Rutherford ranch located in St Helena. I called them and reserved a spot for chocolate and wine pair tasting. Both of us are not too much into wines but we were excited to get introduced to it :)

Once we got there, we were welcomed warmly and were seated on royal chairs :) We tried four different types of wines with their chocolate partners. I am not sure about how I liked the wines but the chocolates were yummilicious! While I was enjoying the chocolates, Manoj was having fun sipping different varieties of wines. We got to know a lot about wines that day. Here are few insights provided by our wine tasting rep. 

1. Wine tastes best when served between 45 to 65 degree F.

2. It is recommended not to hold the glass of wine with the bulb but with the stem of the glass because your body temperature can rise the temp of wine and it may not taste as good. 

3. We got introduced to the 5 S's of wine tasting which are: See, Swirl, Smell, Sip, Savor!
4. We got to know how to relish the wine the most.

After taking a couple of pictures in the vineyard, we headed out to Viader. Viader was another winery where the my friend was going to propose his girl and we were among the executors :) Viader is such a beautiful place to be (proposed;))! And thankfully, the proposal was executed as per the plan. It was such a great hit! I am so happy for him :) Here are a few pictures of the proposal..  

Yes, she said yes!

Inside Viader!

She said yes!

Here are some of our pictures from Rutherford ranch and Viader vineyard :)

Crazy Indians! Who eats desi while travelling? 

Panoramic J

Panoramic M

Makar Sakranthi 2015

It seems it has been so long since I have written anything on my blog. Everytime when I need inspiration, I visit Aditi's blog and I feel so motivated. Thank you Aditi for being my sole inspiration. Today, I thought I will write something after reading her blog and that something has to be about our first Uttarayan celebration in the US. Moreover, I was celebrating Uttrayan after like five long years. We went to the Milpitas High School to fly kites and it was great fun-filled day with our friends Ankit, Anuja, Manan and Vinky :) Here are a few pictures.

All set to fly kites :)

Everything seemed so colorful :)

Pehle pet pooja ho jaye :)

Ankit and Anuja have their kites already up and flying!

Posers :D

Time pass :D

Finally our kite is up and flying too :)

Fun!