On my mind

1. This past Sunday was the sunniest day we've had in the last three and a half months. We took advantage along with hundreds of Parisians. We ate lunch in a park, walked a lot, and closed the day with a run. It was fun to see everyone come out and enjoy the weather but it also makes me treasure the grey-er days, when I have the sidewalk café tables to myself. Mostly.
2. I had the best confit de canard on Tuesday. I didn't even know that I like duck. Maybe it was all the butter it was cooked in. And the garlic. Yum.
3. Our apartment is beginning to smell of cheese. At first I thought it was only the refrigerator, but now I'm certain the aroma of ripe cheese is taking over. Honestly, I don't really mind. For now.
4. I made Khao Soi last night. I had fallen for it the first time I'd tasted it in northern Thailand: spicy, creamy coconut curry, with egg noodles. What's not to like? Except that I substituted spagetti for egg noodles. Blasphemous, I know, but I didn't have any at hand. Nevertheless, it was delicious! I'll be making it again. With egg noodles.
5. I hope to spend some time sewing today. I've made a couple of shirts, but have yet to write about them. Right now, I'm working on a project that is turing out way too large for me. More about that later.

Enjoy Thursday!

Look what came in the mail yesterday

Kayla had a giveaway for her 200th blog post. I was one of the lucky winners. Thanks so much!

When it rains, it pours

Figuratively speaking. And literally, I suppose.

1. My sewing machine has a mind of her own. The tension is off, but I'm not quite sure what to do about it. I have tried all I can. I plan to call the repair man today. It should be an easy fix.
2. I had a bad bout of hives. I'm feeling much better now, but it was not fun. Probably something I ate.
3. Our wireless router died. Just like that. We are still figuring out what to do with it. I'll have to call the service center in Bangalore (I think).
4. Everything happened all at once.

Oof.

In other news,

1. It has been raining almost without break for the last three days. I *love* it. It smells wonderful, the temperature is perfect, everything is green.
2. I even pulled out my abandoned project and knit a few rows.
3. I went to yoga yesterday after a week-long break.
4. We baked chocolate chip cookies. I couldn't find brown sugar in any of the grocery stores here, so we used jaggery instead. They were delicious!

I'll leave you with some shots I took at the Sunday market.

Replacing Summer with Monsoon

A summer time favorite: nariyal pani. Drinking coconut water and then scooping up the tender coconut inside.

My favourite monsoon snack: bhutta. Roasted corn on the cob, with red pepper powder, salt, and lemon.

The weekend

It wasn't a long weekend here in India, but we made the most of it.

Bandra train station

Drinking chai at the train station

We watched a play on Friday night, and then went to dinner. The food was tasty, but rather rich. I didn't think it was altogether possible, but the play was though thought provoking and entertaining at the same time. We enjoyed it.

It rained all day on the 4th of July, but we braved the rain and traffic, and made it to the American Consulate party. It was fun, and my sari didn't take too long to dry either!

Hope you enjoyed the long weekend. Happy Monday!

Most mornings...

...start with a cup of tea and the newspaper. Sometimes I have a couple of Parle-G biscuits, but those are usually reserved for evening tea. I've been enjoying this tea lately (it comes packaged in a blue box in India), with a dash of milk.

The Konkan coast

My husband recently returned from a week long work related trip to southern Maharashtra. The Konkan is famous for mangoes, cashews, jack fruit, paddy fields, and yummy fish. I didn't get to go, but I recommended that he eat a lot of mangoes and a lot of fish. Unfortunately, mango season was almost over down there, and it's not really a good time for fish.

So in lieu of bringing back real mangoes, he brought back some wooden ones from Sawantwadi, which is famous for wooden toys, and wooden models of fruit and vegetables. I was inspired to make another box bag, but with an orange zipper in celebration of mangoes!

With a gentle tap, this beautiful doll wobbles (dances) at the neck and waist.

The grey yarn is from the fleece of a local breed of sheep. It is a bit rough, and probably better suited for weaving, rather than knitting; the purple yarn is jute. I was impressed with the canvas bag the shop gave out with each purchase.

I have also been enjoying spinning this top.

On another note, the Monsoon is here at long last. Subdued and disconcertingly late, but here nevertheless. Enjoy Sunday.

From the neighbourhood

A few photos I took on an evening walk around the neighbourhood...

Not quite sunset

A little too big, you reckon?

This little one was very intrigued by me.

Ubiquitous Coca-Cola

Boys and puppies

No monsoon yet

Still waiting for rain. I think we may get some today. Here are some shots I got after the superb pre-monsoon showers we got recently. I took this shot from just outside the flat. It had almost stopped raining by then.

We went for a short walk around the neighbourhood to take in the sights and smells. Others people were coming out to walk too. The sun was peaking out behind the clouds, and the light was wonderful.

I saw at least three vegetable vendors in action - setting up after the rain.

This vendor was selling some lovely greens. He comes from a village less than 10 miles away, so the veggies were very fresh and local. Lots of people were interested in the greens - they went fast! I ended up buying dill and a red spinach like veggie, which we cooked up for lunch the next day.

The Goode Family

This video on the NY Times website about the new show on ABC, The Goode Family made me laugh out loud. I won't catch the premier, but I thought I'd make a bag in honor of it. I always carry a couple of cloth bags in my purse for any shopping I might do. This way I never have to use plastic or paper! I do sometimes, however, pile my groceries in my arms!

Yesterday, my aunt gave me an old kurti (tunic) and a bedskirt to recycle. Since it isn't a whole lot of fabric, I thought I'd make a small purse rather than a shopping bag. I've settled on the Buttercup Bag. It is a free pattern that I recently found on the Made By Rae blog. Head over to the flickr group if you want to see some of these cute bags!

An old tunic and some linen fabric to be recycled.

Close up of the print

Now I can feel particulary "Goode" about my final product, since not only am I recycling fabric, but I know that it isn't made in a sweat shop!

Not-just-crafting Thursdays

The NY Times recently featured an exerpt from Matthew B. Crawford's book Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work. The book has not yet hit the stands, but I plan to buy a copy when it does. I enjoyed reading the New Atlantis essay written Mr. Crawford, published in 2006; below is an exerpt:

"Hobbyists will tell you that making one’s own furniture is hard to justify economically. And yet they persist. Shared memories attach to the material souvenirs of our lives, and producing them is a kind of communion, with others and with the future. Finding myself at loose ends one summer in Berkeley, I built a mahogany coffee table on which I spared no expense of effort. At that time I had no immediate prospect of becoming a father, yet I imagined a child who would form indelible impressions of this table and know that it was his father’s work. I imagined the table fading into the background of a future life, the defects in its execution as well as inevitable stains and scars becoming a surface textured enough that memory and sentiment might cling to it, in unnoticed accretions. More fundamentally, the durable objects of use produced by men “give rise to the familiarity of the world, its customs and habits of intercourse between men and things as well as between men and men,” as Hannah Arendt says. “The reality and reliability of the human world rest primarily on the fact that we are surrounded by things more permanent than the activity by which they were produced, and potentially even more permanent than the lives of their authors.”"

As a crafter, I often find that I can purchase items at the store for much less than it costs to make them. (Granted the price of the store-bought product probably doesn't take into account externalities, fair wages, etc.) I am still willing to spend the extra money to make a handmade item. I have my reasons - not the least of which is the joy the crafting process brings to my soul. Why do you like to craft?

As for crafting news, I'm going to sew a little pencil case for a friend's daughter. Most schools in India re-open early June, and I think she'll enjoy organizing her color pencils/crayons. I'll let you know how that goes.