Everything has beauty but no one ever sees it -Confucius

Did you ever notice?

The green of the washed leaves just after rains

The pink of smiles and brown of stains

The small mud foot prints on the floor

Stained postcards in the store

The pit pat of rain drops on your window

The smear of hands on your pillow

Smell of a new book

Rush of blood at that first look

The dance of joy on the street

The chuckle of Grand Ma when you meet

Blackened window by the kitchen

With smoked patterns that are hidden

The dark green circles on her wrist

Peace of night and morning mist

The crackling of veggies in the pan

The red of December and yellow of Jan

Ring of glass on the table

Mr. Thumpkin and game of pebbles

Smell of rains and rustle of leaves 

Footsteps on the door and shuffle of keys

Did you ever notice?

Everything has poetry but not everyone can write it

Everything has music but who can sing it ?

Everything has beauty but no one ever sees it -  Confucius

A special thanks to my dear friend and blogger Leo for inspiring the theme

Image source:commons.wikimedia.org

High heels unlimited

My dream gourmet party is a grand bachelorette party in honor of my best friend. Lets start with the Invite!!

A grand bachelorette party for my best friend Jodha (Calling her this because of her fascination for Drama, Mughlai food and huge neck pieces) with the theme “High heels unlimited”. The theme is in accordance with Jodha's love affair with high heels since she started walking. No one has seen her wear anything but a high heel (this includes all outings...Spa, shopping, camps, college, office, home etc etc).Jodha aka J is stepping into marital bliss in a few days and like any good friend I want to make sure that she makes the most of last few free days left in singlehood. Hence “I am throwing the biggest-baddest” party for her.

Now let’s get to the nitty gritty of the party

Number of guests: Just our core group of 15 uber cool divas.

Ambiance: Miss B (A dear friend of J) who is famous for throwing the most outrageous and fun parties is helping me with the arrangements. Her farm house on the outskirts of Mumbai has been converted into a Diva place and we are re-christening it as “Club Gorgeous”

The overall feel of our party is chic and trendy and going with the theme of party except for the black cocktail dress nothing black is allowed in the party room.

The floor will be donned with different colors of balloons; the room will be branded with high heels all around: 

• High heel standees placed at entrance and few other spots. 
• High heels cut outs hanging from the ceiling 
• High heel styled chairs will be used for seating arrangements 
• Special care has been given on a lot of branding like cutlery, Glasses, decoration around the room like lights etc have been styled as high heels 

Food: J' loves Mughlai food hence I have tried to blend Mughlai with our chic theme. 

We took help of J’s one of her best friend  

J' is an avid cook and loves her food but like all working women she has little time at hand. I remember her struggling in the kitchen for hours to dish up yummy Mughlai dishes....but it use to be so much work that we would have the pleasure of tasting it very rarely....but one day one of her colleague introduced her to ITC's Kitchens of India and cooking changed for J' after that.

Not only she regularly uses ITC's Kitchens of India masala mixes but whenever we broke into her house uninvited and demand delicious mughlai food...ready to dine options from ITC's Kitchens of India have rescued her. 

So in a way ITC's Kitchens of India has become an integral part of our friends group and all our get togethers. So for one of the most important party for J' I decided to blend her two best friends High heels and ITC's Kitchens of India!!

We used different vegetarian products (Because J' is strictly vegetarian) which are J’s favorites and blended them with our chic theme. The result is the food and drinks menu shown below:

Cocktails/Mocktails 

Orange bolds

Orange juice,shredded mango and fresh mint

Red Stiletto

 Vodka/Sprite with strawberry and mint conserve

Hot heels

Vodka/Sprite, orange juice and tomato and chilly chutney

Sling back

Vodka/Sprite, Pineapple & pepper and hint of lime

                                                                Sandals

Gin/Sprite with Pineapple juice and Mango jeera

Boots

Vodka/Sprite with Mango & saffron conserve & chocolate syrup

Starters

Spicy triangles  

A variation to our friend Samosas. These triangles will be baked and we will have two kind of fillings ( We will use two of J's favorite from ITC's Kitchens of India's Ready to dine options and the gravy will be dried off a bit to use as filling for triangles)

For spice lovers like me Mirch Salan fillos 

And for Panner lovers, Mughlai Paneer triangles

Vegi wedges

Crisp carrots, bell peppers, potato, mushrooms baked after coating with yoghurt mixed with Vegetable Biryani Mix, roasted in oven and served hot n fresh

Dal fritters 

Yummy dal fritters...deep fried for calorie lovers. We will mix ready to dine ready to eat Dal Bukhara with chickpea flour and basic spices and deep fry the culprit!!!! 

These starters will be served hot and fresh with two special chutneys from ITC's Kitchens of India

 and

Main course

Makhmali kofte

Paneer Malai mixed with chichkpea flour and basic spices. Shaped into koftas and deep fried. Served with a gravy prepared with Paneer Makhani Mix and fresh cream

Baked mushroom and vegetables 

Marinated paneer stuffed in pepper

Kashmiri khatte baigan

Brown rice pilaf 

Twist to the traditional biryani with brown rice. Will be cooked with Vegetable Biryani Mix to enhance the flavors.

Roti/Naan/Wheat bread 

Desserts 

White chocolate, cardamom and Moong Dal Halwa pannacotta

       

Almond fudge with chocolate icecream made with Awadhi Badam Halwa

And last but not the least Shoe styled “Bachelorette cake”

Entertainment: I have planned numerous fun games for the party. Since the theme is High heels most of the games are styled around heels

1. First and foremost entry to the party zone will be allowed only after getting branded by the "High heel Unlimited" stamp at the entrance.

2. Awards” Best heel”: Ofcourse we will have the biggest award of the night "The best heels". This will be judged by J. And the winner will get a sachet specially printed for the occasion "Miss best heels".

3. Whoz heel is it anyway: Snaps of each pair taken at entrance. All the girls will be provided with cue cards and the snaps of heels will be projected. We will have to match the heel with the face. One with highest correct guess will win 

4. Dress up the heel: All the extra ugly heels will be thrown together in a basket. Girls will be blindfolded and they will pick up one random pair without looking. Each will have to provide a makeover to the heels with the decoration material they are carrying in next 10 min........turn the ugly ducking into cindrella, the one with most creativity will win. 

5. The Shoe quiz? Not a serious but funky shoe facts quiz and the winner will receive a specially designed sachet "I know the heels".

And last but not the least we would groove to J's favorite Rock bands Pink floyd and Metallica till wee hours in the morning..

This shall conclude one of the most happening parties of this year of our group!!

These are the nitty gritty of my grand party......Got to run, have to post invites, shop and order from ITC's Kitchens of India....

"I ran towards you"

Got up from my sleep and

I ran towards you,ran like a crazy man

World had stopped..

Years and years I waited to be with you

Chained by your thoughts, drawn towards you
I ran!!

I lived like dead

I lived with dead!!

Eating your memories, eating through roses, 

Eating through pains...through thrones of your memories

Smoking the smoke, breathing the ashes...waiting for centuries

Waiting for the clock...waiting for the cloud

Waiting for the sun...waiting for THE hour

Waiting for you

The hour is here,
You are here,

Waiting for me amongst the crowd, in the sea

Waiting for me,waiting to be us

Drowning in brown, Mourning in black...waiting for me

Burning in gold, gazing in blank..waiting for me

Looking through crowd
Looking through sky

Looking through lenses

Waiting for me

We survived the death, we survived the births, 

We survived the world, 

No one can stop us now

To become one

  

I will scratch those eyes, I will swim through the fiends 

I will cut all the strings, I will wade through the pains

I will snap all the fingers, I will eat all the chains

You are in my arms, after years of wait

We killed the foes, we changed the fate

Let me carry you away from here,

Here life is dead

Let's run away to deads

Let's unite in death!!

For Out of Standard: Film School Drop Out Edition by Isadora Gruye for an out of the box theme

THE CHALLENGE:Watch the clip.Write a poem inspired by it..

THE SCENE: Clip comes from the film Holy Motors.

Link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZ_BucxvkK8

Wild Daisy

Early in the morning I saw you there

Standing tall, standing pretty with a beauty rare

Standing white amongst the sea of green

Standing white with a yellow flair



Smile dwelling on your lips..

White blossoms and grips

Welcoming the early sunrays, reflecting the purity of pure

Petals curled and demure

Just standing there absorbing the morning dew

Colored butterflies creating rainbow around you



I stand there stunned and glued....

Chained to your beauty

Amazed at your glow

Wondering in my heart how are you so pure?

Why are you so happy?

I wonder how you look at the world?

Do you wonder how the world looks at you?

May be not now, may be never

Is that why you are so happy?

Linked with : http://poetryjaam.blogspot.in/2013/06/its-all-about-flowers.html//

Photo a day experiment PADE!

“A picture is a secret about a secret, the more it tells you the less you know.”-Diane A

A fellow blogger and friend Ritu KT and I, thought it would be fun to challenge ourselves by capturing special moments of each day for a month. But as we are bloggers at heart, we decided to share our journey with our readers. And what's the better way to do so than to co-host a 31-day Photo Challenge?!

PADE (Photo A Day Experiment)!

It is a 31 day photo challenge wherein each participant will post an image according to the theme of the day

What are the points to remember?

• Have a valid blog
• Grab the participant (I'm part of PADE) badge shared above and display on your blog
• A banner with all 31 themes will be available on this post shortly
• Check out the themes for each day and make sure to click a photo related to the theme (an archived image also can be used)
• There are no rules on interpretation of themes, you can be creative and interpret the theme as per your understanding
• You can select any theme of the 31 themes and use it but doing it in order per day will ensure that hosts will visit your blog and you stand a chance to be the Shutterbug of the Day and at the end of the month - Ace Shutterbug!
• Share the photograph on your blog
• Submit your blog entry link through the linky tool embedded below this post so that we can evaluate all the entries once the day is over. Multiple entries on same day are not allowed. (The link will be visible only during the month of July)
• Each entry should have a line at the end of the post saying – "This post is my entry for the PADE conducted by “Just a mom” or “ Things to rave about”
• Help PADE by spreading the word on your blogs, facebook and twitter pages so that more and more bloggers can share this experience 

Where are the themes?

Click here for the themes

We will be doing themes in the order 1 -31. You are welcome to do it with us and leave your post links in the linky tool below each post for the challenge starting 1st July.

We’ll announce the “Shutterbug of the day” everyday from the entries we receive through the linky tool each day. From those 31 Shutterbugs, we’ll select one “Ace Shutterbug” in the end of July.

You also have the option to do the challenge in any order.

What’s In It For Me?

A chance to connect with fellow bloggers, click new photos, get new readers to your blog and win awesome badges to showcase on your blog! Shutterbug badges for host’s favorite entry per theme and Ace Shutterbug for the best of all entries throughout the challenge.

You also have a chance to be featured in the hosts' theme post the next day!

Cool. When does it start?

July 1st !!!

I hope you’ll come and join us in this journey. Thank you for taking out the time to read this, hoping to see you with your camera from July 1st to 31st!

Let’s start clicking!!

Please leave a link to your contest entries below.
(Link visible only in July)


Image courtsey:moonik9.deviantart.com