Faces of India (Part Two)

Last week I did a post on the faces of India. But of course, in a land of billions of people, capturing faces takes up more than one post. As such, I present to you, the aptly named, Faces of India Part 2.

 This gentleman is a guard at the mighty Mehrangarh Fort of Jodhpur. Pretty picture perfect if you ask me, with his twirled 'tache and bright yellow turban. Although, he doesn't look very "guardly" does he? And his actions did nothing to contradict that as he nodded off while perched on a chair, hiding from the sweltering mid day sun.

We passed this guy and his band of three as we exited the fort walls. Their tunes filled the air while sweaty crowds gathered around. I did the touristy thing and had my photo with the band which was a huge mistake since every passing tourist wanted to get one of us too. We were stuck there for quite a while.

 Still at the Mehrangarh Fort, this gentleman somehow managed to look fresh and unbothered despite the heat. I certainly could not say the same for myself. I remember thinking that I should get myself a turban...

This man looked up at just the right time. A drive-by snap shot might be a bit of an exaggeration as you never really go at lightening speeds while twisting your way through narrows streets of Jodhpur on a tuktuk, but it was lucky nonetheless. I love that his face resembles a turtle and the helmet only emphasises that. 

 We went for dinner at the most bizarre restaurant in Jodhpur. We had been told it was one of the best (not an uncommon term to hear in India). Walking up to the front door of this huge, stand alone building, with no one else around gave me an eery feeling right from the start. The creepiness only increased... When we got to the third floor, the maitre d' showed us around a myriad of huge, over-decorated, completely empty dining rooms and said we could choose to sit where ever we please. At this stage I was searching for exit signs but sucked up my fear and selected to dine on the rooftop. And this was our waiter. I actually don't like this picture because of the harsh flash but he had the most incredible face. Needless to say, the service was great and we survived the night.

 Master mixer of scents and smells and liquids, all wrapped up in a bottle.

Another camel, another street. This camel did not belong to this young lad, he just wanted to be in the picture.

Our tuktuk driver and pseudo tour guide around Jodhpur thought the local boys' school was an essential site to see (as it turns out his uncle was the headmaster and we spent the morning in the accounts office, sipping chai poured from filthy plastic bags, learning new languages, chatting to English teachers trying to impress their peers). We were shown the computer room with great pride. Much to everyone's disappointment the Internet was down. I snapped these kids as we left the school.

 A colourful little street store is hard to resist.

We were wondering around the old city of Jodhpur and I passed this little chap. I almost missed him he was sitting so still, just watching the world go by as his mom and sisters slept inside. So dignified, with his legs crossed, and hands on knee. A little statue. As if he would still be sitting like that in a hundred years. I knelt down really close to him to get this picture and he barely even blinked. In the midday heat even that is an effort.  

Glitter + champagne

I am writing this post while indulging in left overs from Cheska's kitchen tea. Not just any left overs - the flourless Belgian chocolate cake from Nice kind of left overs (see image below). It is transporting me back to Saturday afternoon...

It was a perfect early-summers day. Blue skies. Shining sun. But not quite your normal Saturday. It was Cheska's kitchen tea. Cheska is the kind of girl who was born with glitter in her veins so her slaves sisters, mom, and grandmother worked hard to create a day befit for such a bride-to-be. Now the sisters are usually dependent on Cheska's superior organisation skills so we were put to the test. However, after many nights of mid night crafting, spray painting, planning, and generally not getting anywhere, we managed to throw her a glorious party. Think an old fashioned tea party next to a rose garden, with champagne riddled activities, aprons, and golden kitchen utensils. (Not to mention the shoes - Being in the fashion industry, many a fabulous shoe attended the tea. In fact, I could have done a post on the shoes alone).

 Cheska and Human sitting in a tree...

 Tiny little mouthfuls of delight

 Ring biscuits

 Rules for the "wedding cake decorating" activity

 The table with gold and pink kitchen gadgets and what nots

Everyone got an apron

 The glitter bar (yes, those are tiny glitter nail polishes for you to up your glam quotient while waiting for your bubbles to be poured)

Bridey! 

 And this is the cake I mentioned. Oh yum (you know when you should stop but you can't...)

 Creative wrapping

 Decorate your wedding cake

 Our beautiful little sister (and bake queen)

 More cakes to be decorated

The photobooth

 Mother-of-the-bride versus future mother-in-law

 Our wonderful gran and Honor

Related much?

happy friday

Hello you pretty little souls. It is almost the weekend and YAY for that. Tomorrow is Cheska's kitchen tea - I can't wait for the fun and games and sparkles to begin (can't say too much about it because I don't want to ruin the surprise!). What will you be getting up to?

{via here}

How's this for a little Friday sundonwer spot

A behind the scenes pic of big wigs chatting

A beautiful kitchen boutique

Camping in a tube

This guy's posts have me ROTFLing

This tumblr will make you want to whip out your old family photograph albums

I want to add more than three things to my basket from here

The scale of the universe (sorry if i have linked this before - but it is awesome enough to be posted twice)

And her laughter was a question he wanted to spend his whole life answering

A humbling post that you should read (via here)

Look after your lovely selves. 

xoxox

Grumpy wizards make a toxic brew for the jovial queen

 

{via here}

 A pangram is a sentence that contains all letters of the alphabet. Less frequently, such sentences are called holalphabetic sentences.Interesting pangrams are generally short ones; constructing a sentence that includes the fewest repeat letters possible is a challenging task. However, pangrams that are slightly longer yet enlightening, humorous, or eccentric are noteworthy in their own right.

By far the most well-known pangram is, "The quick brown fox jumps over a lazy dog." Frequently this is the sentence used to test out new typewriters, presumably because it includes every letter of the alphabet. Curiously, this sentence is often misquoted by changing "jumps" to "jumped." The past tense version, lacking an "s," is not a pangram. Often, too, it is misquoted as "the lazy dog" rather than "a lazy dog." This error is not as grievous; the sentence remains a pangram, just a slightly longer one.

Do you know any?

 

A very big box sailed up then whizzed quickly from Japan.

Jack quietly moved up front and seized the big ball of wax.

A quick movement of the enemy will jeopardize six gunboats.

 

Oh they make me chuckle...

 

{via here}

Guest Post: 1 MONTH TO GO!

OMG 1 month to go until I put on my pretty dress, walk down the aisle, say I do and then dance the night away! I cannot wait!

I know it is cheese but here are a few pics of the fiance and I over the last 6 years!

i eat my peas with honey

One of the wonderful things about having a new kitchen is that it has given us a new lease on our cooking life. Somehow chopping on a new wooden block is much more satisfying that its linoleum predecessor. The other day we made a scrumptious salad of peas feta and mint to accompany pork chops and crispy crackling.

The salad is quick and easy to make and goes perfectly with most summer dishes. We got the recipe from Earth to Table, a wonderful book filled with seasonal recipes from an organic farm, given to us by Katrine and Roald.

2 cups of shucked fresh peas
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp local honey
2 tsp Dijon mustard
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 radishes, finely sliced
1 red onion, finely sliced
1/2 cup fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

In a medium pot of boiling salted water, blanch peas until tender and bright green, about two minutes. Refresh under cold water.

In a large bowl, whisk together oil, vinegar, honey and mustard. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add peas, radishes, and onion; toss to coat. Add mint and gently toss. Sprinkle with feta.

Faces of India (Part 1)

It is a strange concept, taking pictures of strangers when you are a visitor, a tourist, a stranger to them. There is that fine balance between invading space, and coming into some one's space. With a camera in hand, it is almost easier to approach people, to begin a conversation, to enter into their lives, even just for a few minutes.

This picture of a woman and her little son was taken outside her house in Udaipur. She had been sweeping outside when we walked passed and invited us in for a cup of chai. We were slightly weary, having been warned in guide books about entering people's homes as they ask you for money, but we went in anyway. Who can resist a local cup of chai?

 We were in a local food market in Udaipur when we came across this woman.  Other vendors were laughing that we wanted her picture and I think her expression completely captures her reaction, slightly bashful but still smiling.

 We found many Indians wanted us to take their picture. On one occasion a bunch a kids spotted us on top of a hill and signaled at us to take their picture. They were only satisfied when they saw the flash go off. They will never see the picture but their pose said otherwise. This trio of purple giggles felt very brave in asking us. Posing in strangers' pictures is serious business.

 These two little boys were sitting with their grandfather outside their house. I don't think they had ever been in a picture so there was much excitement. A contrast to our lives where photographs border on over-load... The grandfather asked us to send him a copy but unfortunately he was unable to give us his address, and he didn't have an email address. This is when a Polaroid would come in hand!

 I loved this sight because it was one we saw often - trying to fit as many people as you can onto a mode of transport. A few of the kids jumped on at the last minute to be in the picture.

These boys felt like Bollywood stars having their picture taken. I mean look at those poses! I love the tones of this photograph. 

 We drove from Udaipur to Jodhpur, a ten hour trip with a couple of stops and non-stop eyes-wide-open moments. This is a sheep herder (totally rocking that head scarf). Don't ask me how we got caught right in the middle.

 One of our stops was Ranakpur, a temple made completely out of marble and considered the most spectacular of all the Jain temples. As we were walking out the temple, this gentleman was heading in. I  felt a bit nervous about asking for his photograph as he was one his way to worship and serious about the matter. However, he was happy to oblige.

 One of our favourite experiences in India was stopping at a chai stand on the side of the road. We joined these two men for a cup of steaming chai (as long as it was steaming I was happy to drink it, despite the grimy pot in which the chai was boiling). We drank the chai out of little clay cups. It was hot, dusty and we had already been on the road for eight hours. The tea was sweet and delicious.

I had to include the chai vendor himself!