India!

After 39 hours of traveling, we arrived home on Sunday morning from our 2 week adventure in India!  The main purpose of the trip was to attend the wedding of Jack and Diya - our friends from Austin.  Around the wedding, we did lots of sight seeing the first week and a "second honeymoon" the second week. 

Bon voyage Austin!

Week 1 - we flew in to Dehli, the capital of India.  The 14 hour flight really wasn't THAT bad - maybe it was built up as horrible from my friends' experiences, maybe it was the goodie bag that my mom prepared Andrew and I that kept us entertained ;)  In India, it's common to have a driver to drive yourself around town and between towns (after witnessing the traffic & driving habits, we Westerners simply CAN NOT drive in India, trust me).  So, the first two days our driver drove us (14 friends from USA) around to several different mosques, monuments, gardens, shopping & restaurants.  My favorite experience from Dehli was a rickshaw ride through a market that sells everything from fresh veggies to wedding supplies to clothing and jewelry.  VERY crowded and energetic.  I guess it was their Wal-Mart :

Note the electrical nightmare

Selling Marigolds!

 

We drank lots of yummy tea

The beer was not so good :(

The next two days were spent driving to/from and touring Agra, where the Taj Mahal is located.  I understand why it is considered a "New Seven Wonders of the World" - truly magnificent and intricate.  We got there at 6am, right when the gates opened to capture photos (or as our tour guide said "make pictures") of the beautiful mausoleum.  Now it's time for wedding fun!!!

We took a domestic flight (think Southwest style) to Mumbai where we had non-stop from from Wednesday night until Sunday morning.  On Thursday, separately, the guys and girls went shopping for Indian clothes to wear to the wedding.  The guys actually had a lot of fun and were finished in a couple of hours.  I was stressed by the style of shopping in India, where they would just pull folded clothes in individually wrapped plastic bags off of the shelves and fling them in front of you.  I felt under pressure to try stuff on I didn't like and the stores were super busy.  I ended up getting a beautiful sari, that I am really happy with.  It came with a custom tailored top and under skirt.  Diya arranged for a lady to put it on me - she did a great job.  Now if I'm going to wear it back in the U.S., Andrew will have to learn to put it on me.   Some of the girls got mani/pedis and I got a facial (ask me about it later - whoa).  Treatments are super cheap (~$15 for mani/pedi & ~$30 for my facial) and good quality.  That night we went to a couple of clubs in Mumbai with all of the "kids" (cousins, family friends, & U.S. friends).  Pretty much felt like we were in the U.S. when we were at the bars - same drinks (alcohol is really expensive over there), same music (seriously). 

so tired

Friday was the mehndi and the sangeet.  The mehndi is a girl party where the women honor the bride & get henna drawn on their hands.  Diya had hers done the day before because it took ~6 hours to put on & ~4 hours to dry.  Mine took ~20 minutes to put on & ~2 hours to dry (Andrew had to feed me lunch so as to not ruin the artwork, hehe).  That night was the sangeet which is basically a dance party.  Also the family performed skits (dances, singing) for the bride & groom.  It was super fun, as the U.S. friends were the life of the party.  Diya said that the family members were intimated to dance because we were such good dancers - even Indian style dancers!!

Andrew wearing a kurta and Becky in a sari at the sangeet.

On Saturday, two different wedding ceremonies were performed.  First was the Telegu wedding from Jack's family.  That night was the bride's families Bengali wedding.  Both were similar but different.  Lots of chanting, flowers, colors, rituals, throwing of rice & flowers :)  Different from U.S. culture, the guests would start out watching the ceremony, then about 20 minutes in to it, everyone would start chatting, mingling, eating appetizers and drinking.  Since the ceremonies last 2-3 hours, I suppose that's why it's socially acceptable to do this.  We ate, drank & danced the night away to celebrate the newlyweds - Congratulations to The Jakkiki's!!!

Telegu wedding

Entrance to the event center

Bengali wedding

Next post will recap Week 2

Weekly Menu & North Carolina

We're baaaack...from a wonderful wedding weekend in North Carolina celebrating Brandon & Miranda!  We drove through lush green countryside and mountains on the way to Asheville - what a treat!  Andrew was a groomsman in the wedding, as he was roommates and friends with Brandon at UT (note the Tennessee orange tie that Andrew's wearing).  Brandon was also a groomsman in our wedding!  Tis the season for weddings.  We have 2 more to attend this year!

Firstly, after a weekend of gluttony (re: made to order crab cakes & baked brie at the reception - YUM) I am ready to start healthy eating again!  Secondly, I rediscovered TONS of recipes from Real Simple & Cooking Light magazines that I have saved over the years (my mom would be proud).  I went through them and ripped out all the pages of recipes that I will actually cook (my mom would NOT be proud) and put them in a lil' binder for easy access.

Here's what we're eating this week...

CM Goat Cheese Ravioli with a Tomato, Spinach, Artichoke Sauce (that I whipped up!)

Summer Vegetable Frittata (Cooking Light June 2010)

Open Face Caprese Sandwiches

Baked Cod, Broccoli, and Vinaigrette Quinoa

Dijon Salmon Cake with Couscous (Real Simple August 2010)

Taco Salad! (Andrew requested I make these because it was a frequent meal growing up in the Wooster house)

My Handyman

Reason #739,584,736 why I love my husband - he's a handyman!  Andrew bought a circular saw with some of our wedding money and he assured me it was a necessary addition (unlike the neon signs, ahem :)) to his man cave.  Well, a week later he cranks out a project using the circular saw!  He put up a new fence post where our backyard gate meets our neighbors to the left of our house.  After hours of sawing, cementing & drilling in the 100+ degree Texas heat...ta-da! 

Now we don't have to jerk our gate to get it open/closed and looks a heck of a lot better.  Though we love our little house, we're finding that because of it's age (born in 1983) and the previous owner's "quick fix" approach to home improvement we're needing to make a lot of fixes.  Next - siding replacement?  French doors?  Master bath remodel?!

AND, Andrew found a baby birdy in the tree on the side of the garage!

The 4th & Yummies

We have been BUSY!  Or maybe I just haven't posted in awhile.  Anywhoo...

For 4th of July weekend, we went to Houston to hang out with Andrew's Uncle Jeff and Aunt Marjorie.  Twas a great time!  We ate lots of indulgences - Aunt Marjorie's "Grandma beans" & THE BEST potato salad to ever cross my lips, Black Eyed Pea Dip (very yummy and actually not too bad-for-you), Bloomin' Onion Bread (O.M.Good.God. so good, I ate nearly half the loaf), and my famous Reese's in a Cookie (can't you just taste it?!?).  We also made Michelada's (eh, not for me) and drank lots of beer floating in the pool. Smokey got to hang out with his cousins Baxter (fellow wiener dog) and Bear (little poodle, so cute).


I am running a 1/2 marathon in October!  See Jane Run 1/2 Marathon - supposedly we get chocolate and champagne at the finish line - why wouldn't I?!?!  The last (and I thought would be the ONLY) 1/2 marathon I ran was the San Antonio in 2008.  I didn't train as well as I should have, along with my poor hip strength & core stability made for a painful and demoralizing finish.  This time I'm motivated to run it with a bunch of lovely ladies, and my PT co-worker+friend Cindy is my running coach!  I ran 6 miles on Sunday without a problemo!

Finally working on wedding "Thank You's" and I made this...


My favorite places hearts - made out of maps!!!  I cut up an old atlas that was falling apart.  My mom wants one made out of places she has lived...


Oh yeah, Andrew and I still need one more "favorite" :)









Last but not least - I made this Rosemary-Rose Spritzer for a get-together this weekend.  Deliciously summery & refreshing!  I used up some rosemary from my herb garden.  I'm going to try the simple syrup in some lemonade later this week...

Weekly Menu

Well, we put the CSA on hold - Andrew is going to look into getting a 1/2 batch of veggies.  It only lasted a month but I learned a lot:  how to roast beets, pulled some old zucchini recipes out of the box, how to cook with eggplant but mostly that farm fresh veggies taste SO good.

Our best dish last week was the Veggie Wraps with Pesto and Goat Cheese.  This is what Beth fixed for us for my lovely shower in Chicago.  So yummy and brought back wonderful girly memories! 

This Week:

Salmon with Blistered Tomatoes, Herbed Cracked Wheat, and Pesto'ed Zucchini & Onions

Tamales & Gazpacho

Thai Stir-Fry

Breakfast Tacos for Dinner

Fourth of July Indulgences at Uncle Jeff's

Happy Birthday Mom and Happy 4th of July Everybody!!

Weekly Menu

I was a busy-bee cooking this weekend to use up all of our vegetables!  What should I do with a head of cabbage???

In store for this week...

Eggplant & Chicken Parmesan (Cooks Illustrated Light) with Carrot+Zucchini "Fettuccine Alfredo"

Garden Vegetable Pasta (Cooks Illustrated Light)

Grilled Veggie Wraps with Pesto & Goat Cheese and Strawberry Spinach Salad

Soho Crusted Salmon with Banana Pepper Quinoa & Gazpacho (Cooks Illustrated Light)

Cabbage Dish! (Something Asian?!)

"Date Night Special" :)

CSA - Community Supported Agriculture

We joined the Austin CSA through National Instruments (NI - Andrew's work) a couple of weeks ago.  Basically, a local farm delivers their fresh produce to those who sign up through the program.  We are not completely won over to the program & system after the first 2 weeks that we have been involved.





Pros:  Organic & fresh from the farm, supporting local business, conveniently delivered to NI, get to taste and cook with produce that you would otherwise not buy, tastes better than produce from the grocery,  I made a vegetable hummus tart:

Cons: produce is more expensive than purchasing at the grocery, do not get to pick quality/quantity/type of produce.

Hmmm, we'll see.  For now it's like Christmas from the farm every Thursday when Andrew brings the box of goodies home!