Xpressions

Monsoons are here!! The hills and mountain ranges around Pune look amazing with every imaginable shade of green covering the landscapes and numerous small falls lined on the ghats and roads. Add to it good roads, ample eating options and clean loos .. :D. That's when you've got a winner. Lavasa is a planned city about 60 kms from Pune, near the Varasgaon dam. The roads are in very good condition inspite of heavy rains in that area. Once you leave the Pune city area, the roads go winding down the green valleys and there are number of small waterfalls on the way. You will find small tea-tapris and local folks selling garam bhutta on the way. It feels amazing to have a hot n spicy bhutta while getting drenched in the drizzling rains.  The entry point for Lavasa is at the top of the ghat and once inside, its a beautiful view of the city beneath. It beautifully winds down to the city area. As of now the city has a commercial street, few colleges and few hotels which seem to

Had a very fun filled weekend. Learned 2 new recipes, watched couple of  recent movies and made my first monsoon trip of this season. oh and my garden too is growing, the coriander seeds I had planted have sprouted into coriander leaves. Waiting to pluck my first homegrown vegetable .. :D Learned Tandoori Chicken - or rather grilled Chicken leg piece sounds more like what we made. Got some Chicken leg pieces from the store. Marinated them for about 2 hours with a mix of curd, chilli powder, haldi and chicken masal. Add a dash of garam masala as well. Finally grilled it in an  OTG for about 30 mins. And awesome chicken is ready .. :) Finished it with some fruit punch. Named it so because it uses mixed fruit juice. But its more of mixed fruit juice float i guess. Mix any packaged fruit drink like mixed/mango/litchee etc and Vanilla icecream in a blender and pour them in cocktail glasses. You are done .. :) Awesome food and some good entertainment. Watched zindagi na milegi

Finally I've been able to create my little terrace garden ... nothing extravagant ... just a couple of planters placed on an old shoe rack in the terrace. But it looks amazing. Surprisingly both me and hubz have become really responsible. We take turns to water the plants and weekends I've actually taken time to clean and shovel the planters water them. This weekend I was able to plant a few seeds. But they are yet to grow. Hoping my enthusiasm stays for long ... :) Check out my little terrace garden below ...

Welcome to my decked up nest now ... Let me show you around .. :)  As you come in the door ....  <-- The living room -->  Living room view  - as seen from  the kitchen. check out my TV unit ... :) <-- Kitchen and dining .... loved the vibrant green structure .. it came with the flat ... -->                     Bedroom one ...                                          Bedroom two ..