Day 80 - Another Sunset

A sunset as I experienced it at Kanyakumari

Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu

Short stay at Coorg

Travelling has always been something which I cherish the most, after family and dogs that is. Even if I am going to the same place to visit again, I still feel the need to find something new there. There are some favourite destinations which I have across India and I know I can always visit these places with a new slew of things jotted down. This time around my mother wanted to visit Coorg, and she was very keen on seeing the place for herself, the place being one which I have always talked about.

This time also, I decided there has to be one place which we need to go to for the first time. I had previously visited Irupu falls, Abbey falls, Raja Seat, Bylekuppe monastery, Coffee plantations, Tadiandamool and Tala Cauvery over 2-3 trips. This time around I decided to visit the Dubare Elephant camp and my mother was keen to visit the monastery again. For the next time, I still have some museums and temples at Madikeri lined up.

So for this time, here are some pictures to wrap this trip in memory

Moth which was perched on our window early Day 2

Bathing the elephant

Baby Elephant

Amma reading the details about the three forms of Buddha

Three forms of Buddha

Herb Cheese fantails

They looked real pretty :) 

Chocochip - Banana Bread

I am so thrilled that I have a good photo of what I have made. I am terrible at photos especially when I try to get shots of food. This one is an exception... and hence I wanted to post it to the blog asap!

Attempts

Chocolate Cinnamon Rolls

Chocolate Swirl Cake aka Marble Cake

Chocolate Swirl Cake aka Marble Cake

Crochet Tissue Box Cover

A crochet tissue box cover caught my fancy recently when I was browsing some sites and I have finally managed to complete this a few weeks back as a gift for my mom.. a sort of birthday gift ( her bday was in March) and a mother's day gift all rolled into one. 

I thought it came out pretty neat, and the work involved was not difficult just tedious. I am sure there are many folks out there who can have a look at the picture below and replicate this :) I am no where without instructions, so I did buy the pattern.

Chilli bhaji

The sin before the diet starts :)
Home-made chilli bhaji :)

Green?

These are just my favourite :)
Layered Spinach paratha :)

10 day challenge - One picture

As a grand finale to my 10 day challenge, here is me !

A wedding to remember

It is really nice to be part of your very close friend's wedding..and that means not just attend the wedding function, but to also be there to share all the festivities and your friend being the bride, all the bridal anxieties surrounding the wedding too. I recently attended an extremely close friend's wedding and this is one wedding I would not have missed for anything. The fun and laughter of dressing up, the feeling of being there when she needed her friends the most… I had two of my closest friends for my wedding, and I think that truly made a huge difference for me to keep my sanity through everything.

Her wedding was at Krishangarh which is a 100kms from Jaipur on the Jaipur- Ajmer route. So we got to Ajmer from Delhi by the Ajmer Shatabdi and then off to Krishangarh on road. We did have some train issues initially with our initially planned train reservations facing issues, as the train was over 8 hours delayed due to some unforseen bridge collapse. Anyhow, we got to the venue on time, and now about the venue of the wedding - Krishangarh. 

Krishangarh is famous for marble and a lot of stuff made with marble too, like pooja setups, decorative items, planters etc. The things being heavy was the main constraint for me to get anything from there, though I must add they were available at very reasonable prices. The Ajmer railway station where we reached from New Delhi had some interesting pieces of architecture just outside the exit and we spend a good 10 mins looking around while waiting for our ride to Krishangarh to arrive. 

The wedding was with its fair share of running around, fun and frolic.… and here are some great pictures of the various festivities, from my friend getting ready for the mehendi to all the way to walking up to the podium to exchange garlands.

Banerghatta National Park - Jungle Lodges

We decided to go on a one night trip to the Banerghatta National Park, and it being a holiday for the Republic day in the middle of the week also helped. We stayed at the Jungle lodges nature camp, in one of their swiss tents, which were very comfortable. There were deers, peacocks and monkeys all over the camp… and they were very used to human beings around them, to the extend that they did not have any issue if you went quite close by for a good photograph. The food was simple and tasty, the lunch especially, and all meals were served as a buffet. We wanted to leave early to get to office on time, and also to give a miss to the traffic, so they even gave us breakfast early in our tent itself. I think it was very good service from Jungle Lodges, all activities on-time, and there were always many folks around who were ready to give information on the animals, the places around and advice on not disturbing the animals too much. 

The national park as such was disappointing I would say, with small enclosures where the bears, lions, tigers and the white tigers were kept. The enclosure area being so small made it seem more like a zoo rather than a national park. And even in these enclosures, some animals were kept in cages and some were left in the open, which seemed more like a fair gimmick than a true practice. On wondering why such a park was being maintained, the only reason I could come up with was the fear of poaching, even within the premises of the national park. To ensure animal safety, I guess the cages and allocated outside time was the only method they could devise. 

We did not visit the zoo or the butterfly park, amongst which I have heard quite a rage about the butterfly park. One thing I would have loved to do was visit the butter fly park, and post a post card from there, as the postage seal would be of a butterfly when dropped in that specific post box. 

Here are some pictures for a better idea of the camp and also the animals.

Formations

Here is an image which I came across on the web and having had whisky with me for 2 years... I can totally relate to how they tend to curl and get themselves into the weirdest of poses! 


You should check out the many snaps which I have put on the blog of her... just click on the pet tag and that should get you there :) 

Akuri !!

Yesterday I read the Akuri recipe and saw mouth watering pictures on Hitchy's blog, so I knew I had to make some for Sunday brunch! And, thats exactly what I did. It came out yummy and I had it with a plain paratha!

And, since no photo post is complete for me without Whisky... here she comes!

What have I been upto?

Another whirlwind of shopping is what has happened over the past week... and as I see I am going to be in all probability decked in gold such that on wearing a saree the only skin visible would be on my face! I guess as my mom says, gold is an investment and do not see it as gold and jewellery, then I wonder why am I made to wear all of it! Anyways, there is nothing that can be done about it, so I shall not fret! Breathe in... breathe out ...

In between all this, to keep my sanity, I have been reading Wolf Hall. I thought why not, when its based ona very different setting and with a fair amount of history also embedded within. In fact I ordered this book a day before she got the Booker and since then I have been very thrilled and been wanting to start with it, and being at home just provides the perfect opportnity to do so. I must admit that I have really liked the hundred odd pages which I have read. I think I shall do small review on this once I am done with it.

To end this post, a snap of Whisky

Whisky Bhisky

Salon trip

Odd positions are very good for sleeping

A yawn and a stretch!

Cleaning and preening

Ready to mingle