Plump Figs and Currants

It took all my will power this afternoon not to rip these figs off the tree and stuff them all in my face at once. Two of them are pretty soft and fattened up, but they're still green and I'm fairly certain these need to be brown before the harvest (at least that's what the "Brown Turkey Fig" tag indicated). Sigh. Hopefully, they'll change color soon.

On top of that, the black currants are plumping up and some are even starting to darken. So tasty looking...


Overall, our little veggie bed is coming along nicely. Badge thinned the green onions and chili peppers this weekend. I was ok with throwing out the green onions but since we had so few chili pepper sprouts to begin with, I decided to salvage one and plant it in a pot. It's hard to see them and the swiss chards in this picture but they're trucking along.


Sadly, the cat nip seeds never germinated! I did see one small sprout but I'm not sure if it's cat nip or not. I decided to bring the tray indoors and cover it with saran wrap to keep the soil moist. I'm hoping they will germinate once they are sheltered. Perhaps my vigorous watering was disturbing the seeds too much. Lastly, here's the hydrangea Busy Mama passed on. Seems to be doing well!


Turns out we never went to home depot yesterday since both Badge and I fell into a deep late afternoon nap. So today after yoga and soccer we went and picked up some zero-VOC paint and hardware for the bathroom cabinets. Unfortunately, they were out of zero-VOC primer so Badge will be hustling back in a few days to pick some up. I also picked up a cute little plant to bring into work and keep me company.

Lastly, I'm excited to plan a fourth of July cook out for the family. Badge's nephew will be visiting from Wed through Mon so I'm planning to stuff him full of food. The weather should be nice so we'll definitely take him to the beach. About time my white butt saw some sun!

New Blooms

The other hibiscus shrub has bloomed and it's a beautiful yellow. Also, we've got our first flame mini calla lily. I want to stare at it all day...

As expected, we're currently watching a Wire episode. As soon as we're done, it's time to hit up Home Depot to get paint supplies for the next home improvement project: painting the kitchen cabinets. More tomorrow.

Baked Manicotti

Last week, I made baked manicotti with spinach. Quite tasty. I pureed the tomatoes too much so the sauce was a bit watery but was still delicious. We got many good comforting meals out of this.

Baked Manicotti
Courtesy of CI.com

Tomato Sauce
2 28-ounce cans diced tomatoes (in juice)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 medium cloves garlic , minced or pressed through garlic press (about 1 tablespoon)
1/2 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes , optional
Table salt
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

Filling and Pasta
3 cups part-skim ricotta cheese
4 ounces grated Parmesan cheese (about 2 cups)
8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese (about 2 cups)
2 large eggs , lightly beaten
1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach , thawed, squeezed dry, and chopped fine
Table salt and ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
Pinch ground nutmeg
16 no-boil lasagna noodles (see note above)

1. For the sauce, adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Pulse 1 can tomatoes with their juice in food processor until coarsely chopped, 3 or 4 pulses. Transfer to bowl. Repeat with remaining can tomatoes.

2. Heat oil, garlic, and pepper flakes (if using) in large saucepan over medium heat until fragrant but not brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and 1/2 teaspoon salt and simmer until thickened slightly, about 15 minutes. Stir in basil; adjust seasoning with salt.

3. For the filling: Combine ricotta, 1 cup Parmesan, mozzarella, eggs, spinach, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, basil, and nutmeg in medium bowl; set aside.

4. To assemble: Pour 1 inch boiling water into 13 by 9-inch broilersafe baking dish, then add noodles one at a time. Let noodles soak until pliable, about 5 minutes, separating noodles with tip of sharp knife to prevent sticking. Remove noodles from water and place in single layer on clean kitchen towels; discard water in baking dish and dry baking dish. (I used regular lasagna noodles so just cook as normal till al dente)

5. Spread bottom of baking dish evenly with 1 1/2 cups sauce. Using soupspoon, spread generous 1/4 cup cheese-spinach mixture evenly onto bottom three-quarters of each noodle (with short side facing you), leaving top quarter of noodle exposed. Roll into tube shape and arrange in baking dish seam side down. Top evenly with remaining sauce, making certain that pasta is completely covered.

6. Cover manicotti with aluminum foil. Bake until bubbling, about 40 minutes, then remove foil. Remove baking dish, adjust oven rack to uppermost position (about 6 inches from heating element), and heat broiler. Sprinkle manicotti evenly with remaining 1 cup Parmesan. Broil until cheese is spotty brown, 4 to 6 minutes. Cool 15 minutes, then serve.

The Wire Marathon

Time to recap the weekend:

- On Friday, we went to Spike and Frog's for a late bday (Badge's) + early Father's day party. The usual cast and crew attended, plus one super hyper dog. There were many pizzas from Regents Pizzeria, a local joint we recently discovered, and ice cream, cake, AND ice cream cake for dessert. Afterwards, we busted out the Cranium. I love this game!! Definitely need to plan a Cranium party soon. Anyone up for the challenge?


- On Saturday, I went to yoga while Badge went to soccer. In the afternoon, we started watching the complete series of The Wire which Spike and Frog gave Badge for his bday. Can't wait to rewatch it all again. It's really so good. Around 6, we went up to Cardiff for a jam session at a coworker's house. It was fun even though I embarrassed myself singing. Badge was still great on the drums despite not having played in ~4 years, and we were both surprised to find that we could still play rhythm guitar decently well despite not having played in ~1 year. I really need to practice either guitar or piano on a regular basis. Too much to do...

- On Sunday, I went to yoga and then cleaned and puttered around the garden. I had to thin out the swiss chard but couldn't bring myself to throw away the ones I dug up so I planted them randomly throughout my flower beds hehe. We'll see if they survive. In between The Wire episodes, Badge and I went to Henry's for groceries. That pretty much catches up to now. Time for more episodes!

Badger's Birthday

Yesterday was Badger's birthday and boy did we have an exciting day! Lucky for us, it was also move day at work so I was able to sneak out early. Once free, we drove downtown to kick off the celebration with some bowling at the East Village Tavern and Bowl.

Bowling is one of those activities you always have fond memories of even if you suck at it. I haven't gone bowling in probably over ten years, yet I still harbored fanciful thoughts of kicking some major butt. Hmm, not well founded. I think I bowled a 60 on my first game. Badge didn't have a particularly good game either. Frustrated, we drank margheritas, bloody marys, and micheladas; figuring that alcohol could only help the situation. Funny thing is, after a few more games I ended up with a top score of 105 and Badge with a top score of 109! Whoo hoo.

Here's the proof. Note I have a strike and Badge has three!



Action shot of Badge:


We chowed down on some buffalo wings (ate with non-bowling hand):


Afterwards, we were pretty stuffed so we walked around downtown to try and work up an appetite for dinner. Of course, I couldn't resist stopping into Urban, where I ended up getting a cute casual dress (wait whose birthday was it?). Bizarrely, we saw the following twilight zone scene in a random parking lot. Yes that appears to be a car with a colony of bees on it. Did the car recently drive through a honey farm? Is it owned by a honey bear? We could only speculate.


Once we regained our bearings, it was up to Mission Hills for dinner at Shakespeare's, an English Pub. There we ordered fish and chips and beers. Beyond full, we still topped off the night with ice cream from the shop around the corner. And finally, we went to our parent's place to watch So You Think You Can Dance. Love it!!


HAPPY BDAY BADGE!

Crack

Aw, Badger got me cute chocolate cats from Trader Joe's. Hmm, he knows I'm trying to lose a few pounds...oh wait, hold it...it looks like 15 cookies is only 110 calories! How awesome!

These were the thoughts that crossed my mind last week when Ryan came home from the grocery store. I naively thought it'd be impossible to eat more than 15 cookies a day. Well, I was wrong. Dead wrong. I've probably been eating 40 of these things a day, every day for the last week! I make whole meals out of these god damn chocolate cats. Damn you kitties...damn you and your chocolaty goodness...

So after the weekend, I'm 3 lbs heavier than I'd like to be. Sounds like such a trivial amount, but I swear, ever since I've stopped running these last 3 lbs have been taunting me. Taunting me with their unyielding ways (settling around my hamhocks I'm sure...do people have hamhocks?). Anyway, it's time to buckle down and eat healthily for at least one week before I go back to snacking.

Since I skipped yoga yesterday, I decided to do yoga at home tonight. Of course, yoga at home always turns out being 1) run through sun salutations 2) do a few standing poses 3) plow through difficult backbends and inversions that I'm not even close to being warmed up for 4) subsequently retire to couch in defeat. I am trying to document my at-home practice using the flip video as it helps me check out my alignment.

Here's Parivritta Parsvakonasana, one of my least favorite poses:


Here's Kapotasana, in preparation for what's coming up next:


Here's another preparation pose:


...all building up to...SCORPION. I've gotten to see my toes before in class but sadly I was pretty tight below. At least I got the foot to head.

Plants Are Our Friends

Many exciting things are happening in the garden. The mini calla lilies are flowering, the veggie seedlings are taking off, and I've gotten two more gardenia blooms for a grand total of FOUR blooms thus far. Hooray! There are many pictures posted here which I will refer you to since I'm too lazy to post them all.


I should mention that Badger and I made a trip to Home Depot yesterday and amongst the things we made away with was this beautiful indoor tree to put in our bedroom. Indoor plants are great because they improve living conditions by cleaning the air we breathe. Plus they make a beautiful lush addition to any room in your house. Lastly, my experiment this week is to germinate catnip seeds. None of the ones we sowed directly into the ground came up so I've sowed them into little containers that I originally bought alyssums in. Updates to come.

Restaurant Review: Pacifica

Last night, Badger and I went out for a fancy dinner to celebrate our six month anniversary (June 14) and Badger's birthday (June 17). Rather than hitting up the usual spots, we decided to try something different. Steak was out since we went to Donovan's not too long ago. Exotic food was also out after our Indian wedding weekend. Seafood, however, seemed light and tasty. After some googling, I found a highly rated restaurant in Del Mar called Pacifica, and off we went.


Once there, we were seated next to a large aquarium which I found hilarious but Badger found slightly disturbing. For starter, we ordered calamari which came with two different dipping sauces. It was good but nothing to write home about. The table bread was actually quite tasty and despite Badger's warning to save room, I ate three well buttered slices. For the next course, Badger ordered a butterleaf salad with blue cheese dressing which was very satisfying. I, however, was lured into ordering a Japanese clam chowder which turned out to be the broth kind of chowder instead of the creamy kind that I was expecting. Displeased, I could not look at the soup with an unbiased eye. I did not much care for it. For the main course, I had halibut which was cooked perfectly and served with lobster, gnocchi, and leek cream (see top picture). Pretty good, but again nothing too memorable. Badger had sea scallops which were flavorful but texturally not as melt-in-your-mouth as other scallops we've had before (food snob alert!!). And finally, we had a blackberry peach crisp for dessert. Not much crisp, scoop of ice cream that didn't seem to melt for some reason, and peaches that were a bit slimmy. Bleh.

Overall, it was lots of fun to get out of the house and try something new. However, the restaurant left much to be desired considering the price tag that came with the meal. While nothing was worthy of real complaint (except maybe the crisp), nothing was inspiring me to jump from the roof tops either. Unlikely we will return.

Rating: 6.5/10.

Garden Inspiration

After the Woman Who Wine event many weeks ago (where we painted ceramic pots), I was determined to nurture the right side of my brain. So on a sunny Sunday afternoon, I grabbed my pastels and set up shop in the garden for some inspiration. At the time, my calla lilies were in full majestic bloom and instantly caught my eye. I set about sketching for several hours before putting the drawing away for another day.

Well, that was weeks ago. I can't believe I've waited so long to work on it again. Yesterday, I got fed up with my laziness and tackled the lower right quadrant of the drawing with a vengeance. I'm pleased with my progress, though I hope it won't be another few weeks before I work on it again.

Here's a look after the first day.


Here's a look after yesterday.

Oven Fried Chicken

Tonight I made oven fried chicken with sauteed chards. Unfortunately, the organic chicken we bought from Whole Foods smelled a bit fishy so I had to rush out to Vons for an emergency chicken run. Otherwise, the preparation was pretty easy and uneventful. The chicken was definitely crispy and pretty tasty, but not tasty enough to prompt me to post the recipe. I've essentially drank a bottle of wine on my own tonight (Badger had half a glass) so you'll excuse laziness.

Oh I should mention that NeverTap gave me a starter for friendship bread. Michigan actually gave me a starter a few months ago but we went on vaca shortly after and I forgot to freeze the dough. Hopefully this time around I'll be able to follow the directions correctly and make me some friendship bread.

Other than that, it's been a long week. I did receive good news that I'll be moving with the portion of my new department that is returning to the old headquarters building. I could not be more stoked about that. Though I am very curious whose idea it was to move me considering my "official" new group is not moving. Better not to look a gift horse in the mouth I suppose. This weekend, we will be transplanting some veggie sprouts for better spacing. Should be fun!

Mystery Flower

A mystery shrub in our garden has finally bloomed. Can anyone tell me what this plant is?

Also here's the shorter haircut. Punky porcupine? Don't worry, folks. I won't go any shorter than this lest I look like a buddhist monk. I remember how my sister looked when she buzzed her head :)...



Update: As expected, within minutes of posting the mystery flower, Spike came to the rescue with the answer: HIBISCUS!!

Huevos Rancheros

Oh man, I'm stuffed and my mouth is ON FIRE. I just devoured huevos rancheros that Badger and I made for dinner. This recipe came hot off the press from my new CooksIllustrated.com subscription, and it is delicious!! The steps were pretty easy and the salsa is so flavorful. Even though the recipe called for two jalapenos cored and seeded and one whole, I was cocky and used two jalapenos whole in the salsa. Once I tasted it and realized how spicy it was (most of the heat of peppers is concentrated in the seeds), I sheepishly left out the third jalapeno entirely. Badger thought it was perfectly spicy but I had to rush for the sour cream to mix in. Whew. This dish left me sweating profusely. Next time, I'm definitely sticking to the recipe. Please do serve with beans.

Huevos Rancheros
Courtesy of CooksIllustrated.com

3 medium jalapeño chiles , halved, seeds and ribs removed (see note above)
1 1/2 pounds plum tomatoes (about 8 medium), cored and halved
1/2 medium yellow onion , cut into 1/2-inch wedges
2 medium cloves garlic , peeled
1 tablespoon tomato paste
Table salt
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro leaves
Ground black pepper
1 - 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice from 1 or 2 limes, plus additional lime cut into wedges for serving
4 corn tortillas
4 large eggs

1. FOR THE SALSA: Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 375 degrees. Mince one jalapeño and set aside. In medium bowl, combine tomatoes, remaining jalapeños, onion, garlic, tomato paste, 1 teaspoon salt, 2 tablespoons oil, cumin, and cayenne; toss to mix thoroughly. Place vegetables cut side down on rimmed baking sheet. Roast until tomatoes are tender and skins begin to shrivel and brown, 35 to 45 minutes; cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes. Increase oven heat to 450 degrees. Using tongs, transfer roasted onions, garlic, and jalapeños to bowl of food processor. Process until almost completely broken down, about 10 seconds, pausing halfway through to scrape sides of bowl with rubber spatula. Add tomatoes and process until salsa is slightly chunky, about 10 seconds more. Add 2 tablespoons cilantro, reserved minced jalapeño, salt, pepper, and lime juice to taste.


2. FOR THE TORTILLAS: Brush both sides of each tortilla lightly with remaining tablespoon oil, sprinkle both sides with salt, and place on clean baking sheet. Bake until tops just begin to color, 5 to 7 minutes; flip tortillas and continue to bake until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes more.

3. FOR THE EGGS: Meanwhile, bring salsa to gentle simmer in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat. Remove from heat and make four shallow wells in salsa with back of large spoon. Break 1 egg into cup, then carefully pour egg into well in salsa; repeat with remaining eggs. Season each egg with salt and pepper to taste, then cover skillet and place over medium-low heat. Cook until desired doneness: 4 to 5 minutes for runny yolks, 6 to 7 minutes for set yolks.



4. TO SERVE: Place tortillas on serving plates; gently scoop one egg onto each tortilla. Spoon salsa around each egg, covering tortillas, but leaving portion of eggs exposed. Sprinkle with remaining cilantro and serve with lime wedges.


As you can see, my eggs overflowed because I didn't make my wells big enough. Oh well. Try this recipe asap!

Weekend Update

Another busy weekend has come and gone. On Friday, I was feeling under the weather so I decided to bail on happy hour at work. I was prepared to park it on the couch for the night, but Badger received some good news shortly after I got home and we decided to have an impromptu celebration at Donovan's, our local steakhouse. So much food and alcohol was consumed. It bordered on obscene.

The next morning, I went to yoga after a week and a half hiatus. I was nervous to start with such a hard class after my break but thought what the hey. It turned out to be as painful as expected. Afterwards, Badger and I went with the parentals (hereafter referred to as Spike and Frog) downtown to meet Kevin for lunch. Buon Appetito did not disappoint. I could eat their tricolor salad and capellini alla checca every day for the rest of my life.

At 5pm, I rushed to A Salon to get my hair cut...yes again. I should mention that a few days ago I tried cutting my bangs shorter and messed them up royally. Embarrassed to go back to my hairdresser and show him my disaster, I made an appointment at the salon Michigan had recommended. To my surprise, I bumped into No Show there with her family! What a small world. Anyway, I like the length of my new do but I think the hairdresser didn't thin my hair out enough. I've got super thick wiry hair and without gel in it, my head looks like a porcupine. I guess a cute porcupine though. That night I stopped by Sophie's to pick up a hydrangea plant that she gifted me (no space in her garden) and then it was back home to eat dinner.

This morning, I planted the hydrangea in a nice shady area surrounded by my delphinium and calla lily. I had to transplant the siam tulip bulbs that were there. There were some sprouts coming out of the tubers which means they should be emerging soon. Even though I was sore, I still went to yoga where we ended up having one of the most back breaking classes I've ever had. I won't even go through everything we did but let's just say there were several variations of scorpion and flipping from inversion to backbend. Afterwards, Badger and I went to a yoga potluck hosted by two fellow yogis who live in University City. We had a really great time relaxing by the pool and getting to know the people I've spent hours with sweating like a pig. Around 7, we went to a bar in Clairemont where Badger's soccer club was hosting a end of season, awards event. To our surprise, he won Most Improved Player for his team and got a nice little plaque. Go Badge!

Tomorrow, I look forward to a rest day for my body to recover. Good night.

Success!

While doing my usual walk through in the garden, I casually glanced at my healthiest gardenia shrub and did a sharp double take. A flower! Holy moly, a flower actually bloomed! You might think I'm being dramatic but I've read many posts online from fellow gardenia owners - all lamenting the finicky nature of these delicate plants. These plants are native to China and thus love warm weather and high humidity. Here in San Diego, we've got plenty of warm weather but we're dry as a shriveled prune left out in the sun for days...


Out of the four gardenia shrubs we inherited when we moved in, this is by far the healthiest one. The second has finally perked up after I began watering it enough, although it did suffer fertilizer burn from too much manure compost. Oops. The third, which been dropping leaves steadily since our acquaintance, has finally stopped hemmoraging and I'm hoping it'll recover soon. The fourth is the saddest of all. The previous owner turned off the sprinklers for several weeks before we closed on the house and it was sitting in a super sunny spot. The poor plant dropped all its leaves by the time we moved in. Determined to save it, I transplanted the plant to a shadier area and after some TLC it's finally growing new baby leaves. Anyway, I'm hoping one day they'll all be healthy enough to produce these beautiful flowers. Gardenia blooms are supposed to have the most wonderful scent, so once I got over my disbelief, I quickly got to my knees and stuck my face in for a whiff. Truly heavenly.

Equally exciting is the sprouting of all our vegetable seeds. Before we went to NJ, Badger and I diligently planted zucchini, swiss chard, green onion, radish, and chili pepper seeds in our raised bed. We also planted catnip seeds in a smaller garden bed which has been sitting idle. All week, we've watched the seeds sprout slowly but steadily (yes I've even gone home at lunch just to check on their progress). Nothing can be more satisfying then seeing something spring to life out of nothing. It makes me want to carry a bag of seeds with me, sprinkling them wherever I go. Weird, right? I know.

Mr Zucchini:


Army of radishes:


Unfortunately, the chili pepper and catnip seeds have not germinated yet. Fingers crossed. Also, I'm not sure if this was mentioned already but we added a dahlia plant and two bushy coleus plants to our garden. They're very beautiful additions. Lastly, I was on mission a few days ago to take plant cuttings from a hot pint geranium plant and a mint looking plant with purple flowers in the neighborhood. Scared of looking like a sketchy crazy woman, I made Badger come with me and stand guard while I took plant cuttings. The cuttings are currently sitting in moist potting soil and should hopefully grow roots if all goes well.

Philly

On Sunday, we drove to Philly to visit my sister. When we arrived, Monkey immediately fed us a delicious pasta dish with sausage, zucchini, and cream sauce. She then made us two pizzas from her homemade dough and pesto. Since Badger doesn't like tomatoes, she made half of it with olives. So good.


Stuffed, we took a nap and then walked around the neighborhood. For dinner, we met up with Ferret at a nearby restaurant for MORE pizza. This was a gourmet pizza shop where we ordered a spinach and artichoke pizza, and sausage pizza, and a bbq chicken pizza. Obviously, we had a lot left over. Afterwards, we went to Ferret's place to drink beers, hang out, and play Settlers of Cataan. Monkey pulled a fast one on everyone (despite my warnings not to trust her) and won the game. I want a rematch.

The next day, we had breakfast at a nearby coffeeshop and then went to Urban Outfitters where I bought a flannel shirt (first clothing purchase since before the wedding whoo hoo!). Then we had to hit the road and drive back to hotel in NJ (rental car forgot to do Sat delivery so Badger's license got delivered Mon). We treated ourselves to ice cream since we had time to kill before driving to Newark airport. Then it was back home to SD.

Here's old man Tony.


I also took some pictures of Monkey's awesome bag that she sewed. I'll let her post them on her blog. Stay tuned.

Monica's Wedding

This weekend was a non-stop Indian food eating bonanza! I took off work Friday and Monday to go to Jersey for my college friend Monica's wedding and then to visit my sis for a day in Philly. It was a crazy trip with many activities and good eats. Trying to remember and describe everything is pretty daunting but I'll do my best. I think quick bullet notes would be best for this task.

Friday

- Woke up at 5:30am (ouch) for flight to Newark (armpit of America). Plane ride passed reasonably well. Beat Badger soundly in Rummy.

- Arrived at 4pm. Met Maya at airport (carrying extremely large backpacking bag). Rented car and drove to hotel in West Orange, NJ.

- Arrived at hotel at 5:30pm where Badger realized that the rental guy never gave him his driver's license back. Maya assured us that she had been driving without a license for months (why am I not surprised). Badger called Enterprise and got them to mail the license overnight to the hotel.

- Drove to neighboring town for Sangeet where we ate delicious appetizers and watched different acts on stage. Acts consisted of music, dance, and singing performances to introduce the families. Dinner consisted of 5 buffet stations: south Indian, north Indian, asian, mexican, and indian dessert. Proceeded to eat our faces off. Of course we tried every station. Here are some pics.

North Indian (my favorite plate). Dishes consisted of mixed bread, rice, chickpeas, various curries, and some sort of stuffed pastry that tasted like a samosa but maybe a bit lighter.


South Indian (different from the usual but quite tasty). Dishes consisted of a fried and unfried version of a dough made from fermented lentils, served with some sort of sauce. Also had tamarind rice.


Chinese food, which turned out to be "Indian Chinese" food. What Badger thought was tofu turned out to be paneer and there were strange dishes like Manchurian meatballs on a stick:


Mexican station had veggie fajitas which Badger enjoyed but I was not too excited about. Dessert was a really rich cashew/pistachio (not sure which one, maybe both?) ice cream and those round dough balls soaked in sugary cardamom syrup. Delicious.

Saturday

- Woke up at 9:30am and got ready for wedding.

- Went down at 10:30am to see groom on horse (surreal because he was in the parking lot). He was accompanied by his party, dancing to loud drum beats.


- Joined brides party which was to "receive" groom with more dancing. Drank hot pink buttermilk to cool off from the heat (80's).


- Watched the many rituals involved in an Indian wedding (according to Uttara there are many more for South Indian weddings). Badger and I both got sunburnt.



- Went indoors for Indian lunch buffet. Ate two plates of mixed bread, potato curry, salad, raita, chickpeas, rice, some sort of mild curry, veggies like okra and eggplant cooked down till very tender.


Dessert was some dough soaked in milk and more sugary cardamom syrup.



- Drove to Clifton, NJ to visit Badger's grandma and aunt Renee. Hung out for a bit and checked out Renee's garden (she is a master gardener). Spotted the insanely large groundhog that lives under Renee's shed.

- Got back to the hotel in time to take a short nap before getting ready for reception. Utilized same outfit I wore for company holiday party.

- Ate yummy appetizers at cocktail hour. Not a fan of the appetizer which is made of hollowed puff pastry, filled with some rice thing, and dipped in cold broth which tasted like bad lake water. Drank several "Golden Groom" drinks (made with tequila which is all I cared about).

- Moved to reception room where we ate my favorite meal of the wedding. Stupidly forgot camera so no pictures to be had. Danced up a storm and drank many vodka sodas. Bartender had a very free hand. Ate cake with ice cream.

- Went to after party at groom's brother's hotel room. Drank more beer. Went back to room to pass out.

Sunday

- Woke up and drove Maya to airport. Continued on to Philly.

The rest of trip will be described in my Philly post. For more pictures from the wedding, click here.