First Engageversary!!!

It brings a smile to my face just thinking of last Tuesday. It was a day of celebration, a day very close to my heart, it was a year since me and my sweetheart 'S' got 'officially' engaged *wink* *wink* :). So well as my brother put it, I celebrated my first "Engageversary"!! ..phew that's quite a mouthful.

So yeah its not supposed to be an official celebration, but being the hopeless romantic that I am, I could not help but celebrating. I had no expectations from 'S' as I cannot really give him grief for not going all mushy for me on a day that really doesn't even have a given official name .... So after I wished him at midnight, I fell asleep and woke up the next day all happy and bubbly. My thoughts were predominantly with 'S' coming home from work and then hopefully getting to watch a movie cuddled up in the comfort of the sofa.

Evening came and brought my sweetheart home. I was in for a big suprise as he bought me.....*drum roll* Flowers!!! OMG....I was shocked...flowers?? for me?? really?...I almost pinched myself to make sure I was not dreaming :)


















After jumping around the house for the next 20 mins, I managed to get the flowers in a vase...ahhhh my heart still sings looking at the expression of love :). What makes it even more special, is that 'S' is not really a romantic like me, but just knowing what this day means to me, he picked something that would celebrate the day....awww such a sweetheart!
























The flowers are gorgeous...he did really good!...ah well...it was a wonderfully romantic gesture..and here is hoping for many many more of them :)

Love to all!

The Bad, the worse and the GRIM

I know the title sounds awfully depressing, but then all the reading I did online was much much worse, and it has left me thinking....or rather brooding.

I have always been interested in Vedic astrology, more so for the calculations and methodology involved than the actual predictions themselves. So invariably like everyone else the internet is a great source of information for me. Coz of the excessive time on hand owing to the economic downturn here, I started to read about vedic astrology late last night, promising myself not to read past 2am, unknowing to me, that was not to be.

Long story short, I stumbled across predictions for the US and the world for the years 2008 written by this guy. He predicted the Dollar falling, the hurricane season, the rising Petrol cost, rising of gold, war in the middle east (duh!), UK going into recession etc etc. Well we have seen all this happening...right! so ok all is not fine and dandy...but at least its something we are already experiencing and so not so bothersome.

But then there are other things that he predicted, Iran war, Burning of US war ships, Quakes in Indonesia and Japan, assassinations worldwide, India Pakistan tensions escalating, Us election scandal, a new deadly world virus etc etc....u get the idea. So if that wasn't enuf, I wanted to find out some more, and I went hunting for information, more predictions, and lo and behold, all I found was people predicting, wars, starvation, drought, floods, earthquakes, power hungry people, genocides etc.

This got me thinking, is this what we have to look forward to? Or is this just fear mongering by all? Do astrologers not look into the positives, is their business just based on picking out doomsday and telling us just what the path to that looks like?

I was technically up reading till 4 am, but it left me sleepless, and the little mercy of sleep that I was granted was strewn with nightmares, mainly of cockroaches running around in my neighborhood! Now maybe that should be my prediction of the coming of the plague.....how does that sound?

Well all in all, not only did all this negativity leave me wondering about our future but the future of the coming generations. Is it really fair for us to actually bring in children to this Grim world??

So much for Women being Bad Drivers

Every morning before getting into the subway, I grab the 2 free newspapers.....after all they are my only link to the happenings of the world apart from BBC, CNN, Time, IBN etc...hehehe

But me being a news junkie is besides the point. The reason I brought the newspapers up is coz, in one of them (AmNy) there was this article stating some facts about Men and Driving ..with a few statistics thrown in. So with all credit to the above newspaper here go the facts

1. About twice as many men as women are killed each year in crashes. Even though 1:1 Men tend to drive more miles....not twice as much...but just a little more.

My Take : So its therefore implied that men are twice more likely to die in a car accident...

2. More men tend to have the condition Sleep Apnea, and Drivers with this problem are FIVE times more likely to be in an car accident.

My Take : So therefore not only are men FIVE times more likely to be in an accident, they will also be responsible for killing more MEN ....wow this keeps getting better !

3. A National Safety Council analysis found that men account for 81% of all drivers with blood alcohol concentration .08 or greater who are involved in fatal crashes

My Take: So therefore not only are men FIVE times more likely to be in an accident, they will also be responsible for killing more MEN...AND they will do this while being obnoxiously DRUNK...That's 1 more for the Women

4. Men are more likely to speed.

My Take: Simple and straight...So therefore not only are men FIVE times more likely to be in an accident, they will also be responsible for killing more MEN...they will do this while being obnoxiously DRUNK...and they will do it at great speeds.....ahh for the love of Mankind!!

And just when things were going from Bad to worse here for men ... here is the aptly termed 'kick in the groin'..in other words the conclusion...which includes this line

The actual number of men killed in car crashes has declined from the year 1997 to 2007 (48/million to 45/million). This decrease can be attributed to *drum roll please* The number of WOMEN driving has increased!!

Yes you Heard it right...the world is ACTUALLY safer .... coz women drive more. I am ecstatic..this is big considering all the stupid jokes about women drivers...

How do you feel now little men??? In your face(s)!!!

That reminds me...for all the trouble Saudi Arabia is having with unruly drivers...maybe its time to let their WOMEN DRIVE!!!!...

Bumper Sticker

DON'T STEAL!!!!!

The Government Hates Competition

And I snickered at the Apple

Got dropped by S to the station to take a train to work...and lo and behold..I see a long line of people..waiting...took me a moment to realize that they were all standing there to get their hands on the new iPhone...lolz

I couldn't help myself and snickered...boy some people have time on thier hands...and to top it all off, I heard one of the guys way back in the line say he was there since 4..and was hungry.....poor chap, I almost bought him a coffee....lolz

Bhindi Masala

Ahh... Bhindi (okra) one of the most loved veggies out there. Bhindi like aloo (potato) is a very versatile veggie...and one of my fav's ...

So here goes one of my fav recipes with Bhindi.

Ingredients:

3 Pounds Bhindi ( approx 1 1/2 kgs)
2 medium onions - chopped
1 large tomato - chopped
1 ' cube Ginger - Chopped
4 cloves Garlic - Chopped
3 medium Green Chilles - Chopped
1 teaspoon Cumin Seeds
1 1/2 teaspoon Garam Masala
2/3 teaspoon Red Chilli pwd
Pinch of Turmeric
Oil to Saute
Corriander leaves for garnish

Method:

Quater the Bhindi 4 ways
Heat some Oil in the pan and saute the Bhindi will sides are golden brown, and set aside
Heat the remaining oil. Once Hot add in the Cumin and wait for it to splutter
Add in the Ginger, Garlic and Green Chillies, stir till the garlic turns golden brown
Add in the Onion and saute till the Onions turn transculent
Add in the tomatoes and saute for 3 more minutes.
Add all the Masalas, cook for a high flame for 2 mins and then cover and cook on a low flame till Bhindi cooks completely
Garnish with Corriander before serving...


yummm!

Hope you enjoy it ....as much as we did :)

5 Mins Chocolate Pie

This one literally takes just 5 mins, and turns out yummy!! Everytime I have made this one, people rave about it...and think it takes a lot of time to make :)

So here goes

1 Pack Instant Pudding (I Devil's food...even plain chocolate will do)
2 cups Milk
1 pre-packed pie base
1 pack sweet Whipped cream (yummmm)
Chocolate shavings 1/4 cup (Optional)

Method:

1. Empty the Pack of Pudding into the Milk and whip till it sets

2. Pour Immediately into the Pie Base

3. Refrigerate for a couple of Hrs

4. Top with Whipped cream (enough to cover the pie :))

5. Sprinkle a few chocolate shavings

6. Cut and Serve!

How easy is that??? Hopefully U stumble across this recipe!! Let me know how it works out !!