Fresh curry leaf podi

My neighbour gave me a big bunch of curry leaves from their farm and this was the best way to make use of them - Karuveppalai Podi

Kerala Day 5 - Houseboat Cruise

Day 5, we left Munnar early in the morning, driving down the hills to Kumarakom - which was a four hour drive. With a frisky toddler, a four hour drive can easily seem like an eight hour drive, you know what I'm talking about!

The temperature difference from the hills to the plains was a bit too much to take, especially after we were spoilt for the last few days by some crisp chilly mountain air.

The backwaters were as lovely as I'd seen them in pictures - just that making sure Atri didn't try any adventure sports jumping out of the boat kept me busy enough not to enjoy much of the scenic beauty. The extreme humidity and heat was also a big deterrent in making this an enjoyable experience for me.

We were served some good Kerala vegetarian fare by the in-house chef and the AC on full blast managed to help us get a good night's sleep - apart from the two hours that Atri decided to stay awake in the middle. I don't blame him though - given that he was being subjected to sleep in a new bed in new surroundings every day, he was behaving as best as he could!

Kerala Day 3 - Driving around Munnar

Whenever I hear the word Munnar - it will always bring back memories of crisp cool mountain air, miles and miles of tea plantations, shiny silver oaks, tall eucalyptus trees and winding roads.

The tea lover in me was at peace here - three days of bliss - driving around to the various points, tea stores, tea museums, spice plantations - life seemed just perfect. The light showers that came down each afternoon was the ultimate gift of nature - cooling the air and releasing the fragrance from the fertile soil.

The 20 km drive from the resort to the town was hardly anything to complain about, when we could enjoy scenes like this on the way!

The tree upon the roof

The view from the window of my friend's house on Osborne Road - old time Bangalore homes on canopy covered lanes
Loved this huge tree covering the tiled roof

Have a...

100% Multivitamin juice :)

First day of spring

Liked the colours of this climber growing wild in my friend's compound, so brought a cutting home and stuck it in an empty wine bottle, not knowing if it will shoot and after almost ten days of sitting in water, shoot it did - I was just happy to spot a new little green shoot on the first day of spring.

Here's a shot of the whole thing...

A current favourite

Pure and Simple by Vidhu Mittal, a must buy cookbook for vegetarians
Borrowed it from a friend and already tried some five recipes
Each one very simple and turns out perfect tasting
Pure peppermint tea for a mid-morning chai boost

Bougainvillea

I never fail to notice this building on one of the roads near my place where lovely white bougainvillea force their branches out from the apertures of a building.
This time I managed to keep the camera ready when we were passing by this road, this pic is taken from the car - so people don't suspect me zooming into random houses ;)
The overhead wires are spoiling the photo for me - but it was impossible to capture the former without the latter.
I also love the pots on the sill of the balcony with the blue roof and the overall red tiled roof.

Small wonders

Tending to the babies I brought home from the Horticulture Exhibition :)

For stitching

Kalamkari and Mangalgiri fabric
Will match most of my sarees
Vidya Balan inspired blouses

Horticulture Exhibition 2010

This exhibition supposed to be the largest in India is on from 26 Jan to 30 Jan on Necklace road - a wide ranging specimen of plants, trees, seeds and agro products. I managed to go there yesterday morning with Atri in tow, used his stroller to dump all the goodies I bought from there and it was great that they had helping hands with large bamboo baskets to carry all the pots one buys, for a small fee.

My shopping bag / basket in the end had -

• Bulbs of Dahlias and Liliums
• Four types of succulents
• Marjoram
• Geranium plant
• Aloe Vera plant
• Manure
• Pots and saucers
• Brochures
• Soya pasta
• Soya noodles
• Udad dal
• Tur dal
• Udad dal vadis
• Button mushrooms 1/2 kg
• Organic dried oyster mushrooms

I was looking for more herbal plants like lemongrass, thyme etc. which I did not find. We got to see some fine specimens of cabbage, cauliflower and varieties of squash like pattypan, which I'm seeing in India for the first time.
More about this exhibition here.

Winding beauties

I mean both the wrought iron staircase and the creeper :)
Loved the green sandwiched between the blue railing and the blue sky!

A broken fridge magnet...

...found it's place on the dining table for a while - now it's back to where it belongs - thanks to Feviquick!

The tree outside our window...

...that sometimes puts an arm in to greet us good-morning.