..SouthAsiaRocks..

Karva Chauth is the women's holiday here... in the last 2 years past, we have been in M-town with the Kumars... we missed spending this time with them this year :( To read all about this holiday, check out my blog post from the previous year: Karva Chauth 2006 - it tells you all about what happens in this holiday... This year we went to the market near our house and it was bustling with people getting their w'ship supplies for the holiday... The lady below is selling these hay stalk things that they use... during the w'ship time they throw some North, South, East and West... Women get Mehindi done on this holiday... I had to sit on this stool while I was getting mine that was low to the ground - haha it was really hard for me to get up - thank goodness Adam was there to help me up :) I had two guys putting the henna on my hands at the same time :) It was fun :) That pic below makes my skin look soooo white! There were lots of women in the market getting Mehindi d...

Here's a little video from Dusshera - just pause it and wait until it loads... then ENJOY!

Holiday season is pretty fun here. People are in good moods, the weather is nice and there's a lot of excitement in the air... as well as tons of stuff to do, see & eat :) Yesterday was Dusshera (or Dussehra)... It's a holiday with a long history based off of their stories from the Ramayana . It is a festival to celebrate the triumph of good over evil, and marks the defeat and death of the demon king Ravana in the story. So, to celebrate this, they have a big festival and burn huge effigies of Ravana (which is actually pronounced more like Ravern). If you want more info on the holiday, click here: Dusshera Info . If you want to see our Dusshera blog from last year, then click here: Dusshera 2006 . In M-town, this is a HUGE holiday... the stories say that Ravana (the demon g0d) married a woman from M-town... So we first went to an area of town to see some of the effigies during the day time... the one in the middle is Ravana - the one with 10 heads - and the other ...

For my birthday, Adam wanted to buy me a Harmonium :) I love music and I love learning new instruments, so we thought that would be fun :) Our country has it's own style of this instrument and it's very popular here... it's kinda a cross between an accordion , a piano and an organ :) haha ! Anyway, to get it, we went to a cool old store that's in the old part of our city... We went to the store and looked at all the cool instruments and picked out the perfect one :) After we did that we were talking to the owner and we asked them where they made the instruments. He told us that all the instruments were made there on their roof! :) So we got to go up and watch them making instruments. It was cool because this store is across the street from the largest m0 sque in our country, so it was really neat to see it from a totally different view :) It was Friday at almost 1:00 pm when we were there, so the call to pr was going off and if you look closely at the pic you can see ...

Today is my birthday and our REALLY awesome friends, The Agarwals celebrated my birthday this morning in Florida :) They are the coolest people ever!! (We miss you guys!!!) The boys decorated a b-day sign for me and made some cool decorations (that you can't see in this pic)... they had special birthday pancakes with candles and singing :) They really made my day :) We're so far away, but it doesn't feel that way :) Thanks for making my birthday so special!!!! YOU GUYS ROCK!!!!!!!! Today we went out to a mall area with some of our friends... it's quite a ways from our house and I haven't been here in almost a year. While we were walking around, we found a "Build-a-Bear" store! I love teddy bears so we just had to make one for Jellybean :) My little buddies Gracey and Faith helped me with my bear... so this bear is super special - it has 3 hearts in it :) (you can see us with the hearts in the pic below) After we finished making the bear, we had ...

A few weeks ago I did a post about everyone buying new things this time of year... (scroll down a few posts if you want to see it)... Diwali is coming up soon! It's November 9... but between now and then, there are a bunch of holidays... we're in the middle of a 10 day holiday right now! Adam and I were at the market the other night and it was so fun - every shop has tons of new things out, and people are running around the market with a purpose buying gifts and new things... It's kinda like the few weeks before Christmas :) I have felt the best I have the entire pregnancy during this 3rd Trimester (so far anyway :)) so we've been going out and walking in markets at night - it's been fun :) Here's a pic of Adam being goofy in the market the other night... This kid below was funny... his parents bought him a yo-yo... and the string was so long that he couldn't use it (it kept hitting the ground)... so he stood up on this stool / chair and yo-yoed away :) haha...

Adam and I have two markets near our house that have become our favorites :) These aren't the flashiest markets or biggest markets... but they have their own fun :) We call the one in the pic below our M-town Market because it reminds us of M-town, the prices are closer to M-town prices and we know were and how to get things in this market :) The other night we were at this market and two of the "trash people" (people who pick up trash around the market) were fighting (just yelling) at each other... and in true South Asia style, it took about 2 seconds for everyone to gather. You can't see that well in this picture, but everyone in the market flocked to the scene. It's kinda like in elementary school where there's a fight and everyone comes running to see it.... but faster... it only takes a second for everyone to get there.... it's pretty funny. I didn't describe it very well, but you might get the picture :) There's another small market b...

By Request... here's the Applesauce Recipe! Peel, core and cut up 5-6 medium apples.(golden delicious is a good sweet variety). (I used 8 apples and more water). You can do big chunks. they don't have to be tiny (I did smaller, it cooked faster). In large sauce pan place apples and 1/2 cup water and 1 T lemon juice. Heat to boiling and then turn heat down to medium low. Simmer the apples until soft. About 10-15 minutes. Blend up apples (hand blender or food processor). Add Cinnamon and brown sugar (or regular sugar) to taste. Pretty easy hunh? It's really good too!! And... since I hate to post a blog without a picture.... here's a pic from this week at my fave coffee shop here... Look how huge my stomach is! It makes my head look small - haha!

So this is a random post (and probably not the most exciting :) but I wanted to introduce you to one of my favorite fruits! I never saw these in America, but maybe they have them in South Florida or South Texas or something... Anyway, here it's called Chikoo or Chiku... I think the name it might go by in America is "Sapodilla"... Anyway it's REALLY good! Totally my kind of fruit! It tastes like brown sugar! YUM!! They have these big black seeds in them too - pretty cool :) On another food note... I made Applesauce for the first time this week... I didn't realize how easy it was to make and MAN! it's good! (Even if I do say so my self :))... I can't believe how many things I've learned to make from scratch since living here :) I crack up when I look at websites and they have recipies you can make "from scratch" and the ingredients include things like a can of frozen biscuits, a can of beans, etc - haha!

One of the cool things about the city we live in is that it really is a mix of two different worlds... Yesterday I was having a bad day... a mix of being pregnant :) and things not going quite right... so Adam decided to take me out to have some fun :) I haven't been able to go out much because if I get just a little bit hot, then I get sick (I'm sure you guys already know that though... I've mentioned that a lot - sorry....)... Well, around 5:00 pm it was feeling great outside, so Adam and I left to go to a cool Gardens area... This garden area was established in the 15th-16th century by the Sayyids and Lodis - so it's really old.. there are tombs and old ruins all over... there were parrots, crazy chirping birds, and lots of grass!! Well, we got there and it was starting to get dark... we wanted to take some pictures... so we pulled out the tripod and adjusted it and finally got it ready... we took the first picture (which didn't turn out very well) and one of the...