Mettalic Cap Toe Shoes

Color blocking and metallic cap toe heels have made a big statement on the fashion scene. From Louis Vuitton to H&M evey latest shoe line had them on their display.

 I was looking for some thing to sport on eid and checked some online shops. Let me tell you something about myself..some 3 years ago I was the sort of girl who bought a new pair of heels nearly every month. All my pocket money went into the latest shoe on the rack..but then 3 years and some messed up hormones later I have to look at the comfort of the shoe first and then the style

. Did you notice that all comfortable shoes are ugly? Take a look at these granny shoes I ordered to stay comfortable walking in the chilly weather.

To upgrade them I did the tape n paint trick. It was a 30 min job. A hair dryer and three coats of paint was what was needed to give these boring fellows a face lift.

Besan Halwa

I am not a big Halwa and sweet meat friend..I would rather eat a bar of snickers..but occasionally I do like to indulge in some desi halwa and ghulab jamuns maybe! This eid since we're expecting the first snow fall of the season I decided to make something warm and chewey instead of the chilled rice puddings or vermicilli that are usually served as Eid desserts.

I made Besan ka Halwa (Gram flour Halwa)

Its an easy to remember recipe..a 1 cup recipe.
Here's how:

• 1cup gram flour
• 1cup samolina
• 1cup sugar
• 1cup whole milk powder
• 1 cup oil
• 1 cup water
• 4-5 cardamom seeds crushed
• pinch of Saffron
• Pistachio and almonds
• silver leaves if available.

For the Syrup:
Put the water to boil along with the sugar.saffron and cardamom.

For a rough idea I do a 3 minutes on the clock for every step.

• Heat the oil moderately, add gram flour- mix and stir for 3 mins or until a nice aroma.
• Add the samolina and again keep stiring for another 2-3 mins.
• Next add the milk powder and again stir for 2-3 mins.
• Now add the boiling syrup taking care of the spashes by keeping the lid of the pan handy.
• Stir Stir Stir! ..until you get a nice soft dough like mixture. Be sure not to make it too dry.
• Remove in a lined or oiled dish and press down with a spatula..making it even.
• Garnish with nuts and refrigerate it for a bit to set it.
• Once its set you can keep it in an air tight container at room temperature.
• Cut into damonds or squares.
• I like it warm so I give it 30 secs in the microwave before serving.

More Eid Candy!

I had to make some more giveaway treats for friends and decided to do the usuall treat bags but to make them less of a kid-birthday party- favor I just used plastic glasses tonhold them in.

Nice treats for grown ups!

Eid Favor Cones

In my last post I was thinking eid from a child's eye. It is said that eids are for kids and women! Men usually think of it as a holiday to sleep on or watch the special Tv transmissions. Henna is another major part of Eid..and I must tell you it is not just the ladies getting their Mehndi done but even the sacrifice animals are prettified with henna!

Check out the most beautiful Henna works out there on my aunt's website HERE. She has some serious art skills when it comes to the art of applying henna.
Coming back to the eid favors:

I saw these favor cones on Martha Stewart and wanted to try out..they reminded me of henna cones. So I made some and filled them with sweet treats for some of my friends.

Eid -ul- Azha: Kids Eidi Favors

Eid and HajjMu-baaaaaaa-rak to everyone celeberating.
The most facinating part of this eid is buying animals before the Eid day. Children love to take their sheep and goats out for a walk. They decorate their animals with the most fancy paraphernalia out there  and take pride in it!

Who wants be my Valentine?

The next best thing about Eid is Eidi money! The ONLY day in the whole year where children get their own money from all the elders in the family. They are allowed to buy their own ice cream and parents are a bit lineant about kids spending money themselves on sweet treats.

Keeping those two favorite eid memories in mind I decided to make eid favors for one of our family friends.

I bought chocolotate money instead of real money and made individual packets for each child.

Then I cut out some fluffy little sheep to add to the eid theme.

Now I know my ABCs

I like Fall. The trees lining my road look beautiful during the day. Its getting colder every passing day and I have to push myself to leave the house for any outdoor chores. Our playground has already started to look deserted..I wonder where have all the kids gone! On a rainy day, its hard to contain my son's energy levels. I have to engage him in some sort of activity.

Warm and toasty feet

 He has started recognizing the alphabets and the tune of the abc song. So we did a small activity.

I had some felt alphabets, a baby towel and some glue.

 I asked him to sort out the letters. For him J is Juice and C is Cat. So we went on finding the right ones.

Uh hooo who did that? Sitting still for a while is tough for little boys. So some of them went on the floor too:)

But we picked them up!

...and put them back in the box.

A treat for all the hard work of sorting, scattering and tidying up!

We had a good time doing it and then when granny called he showed her what he made sending her into a full swing proud and happy granny mode! :)

Fox in the Pocket

'A hunting we will go,

 a hunting we will go Heigh ho, the dairy-o,

 a hunting we will go  

A hunting we will go, a hunting we will go  

We'll catch a fox and put him in a box 

And then we'll let him go'

My almost 2 years old son giggles every time I sing this to him. I found this idea at an etsy shop and thought that I had to make it myself. So we caught a fox and put him in a pocket instead!

I got a hoodie with pockets at the front. (Got it from a discount store)

I made a free hand template for the fox.

Then traced it on thin orange felt.

Pinned it in place and so far it looked as planned...BUT after this things started going foxy turvy.
I made the mistake of trusting my stitching prowess. I started off with the tail and soon after a few stitches the machine sucked in the fleece ( I don't know how that happened ! ) I tried everything to remove it without damaging. Nothing worked and I had to use my scissors to detach it from the base. It frustrated me, I went on to finishing the rest with a needle and thread.

Its actually funny to look at it now..as if the fox had been attacked by hunters. Poor thing.
On a scale of 10 I would give myself 4. Its just a hoodie I got to be worn at home and my son likes it anyway.

Bulky Yarn Crochet Cowl

What is Big, Chunky and everyone wants to have one.

I want one too.

So, coming to my latest interest apart from the chocolate craving I made my very first crochet project. The word 'crochet' used to haunt me. I had to make a sample for a college assignment and it was a nightmare, but more recently I have begun to like the work lots of people are doing in so many inspiring ways. The bulky yarn berets, beanies and scarves are all this winter is about. I went ahead and invested in a 12mm crochet hook and a ball of Big Bravo Yarn. I had no idea what I will be doing with it.

I do not know how to decipher the crochet jargon. I checked some videos which in the first place motivated me. If I made the effort to actually learn it before buying the hook it would have helped..but impatient as I am I started of with the basic cast on  and did 30 chain stitches which miraculously I knew from that dreadful sample I made back in college. Next what i did was what I think is a single crochet..and kept on doing that until I had a rectangular shape and the ball end of the yarn shrunk in size. At this point it did not seem like I was ever going to finish a scarf which i intended, so I changed my plan and made a cowl instead !

Its a slip on cowl..basically I joined the two ends of my odd rectangle with one corner turned over. Finished it off with a big, chunky button!

Honeycomb Pillow

Its been ages since I last saw my sewing machine. We finally met yesterday. The poor soul lives on a dark cupboard floor and was found with a broken limb when I took her out of the shadows. The insurgency had been caused by a naughty monkey trying to play hide and seek in the cupboard. I promise I never studied dramatics at school.

Moving on..with a broken spool holder I took upon the challenge to sew something I had pinned long time back. It seemed do-able and with my minimal skills I followed this tutorial and made my own pillow using an old pair of denims.My husband kept saying 'I didn't wear those much, are you going to cut them? ' Well YES I am and here's what it turned out to be.

Random Tip: Storing Pot Lids

This may cause you to end up with a dismissively twitched nose..but you've got to trust me this is the most frugal solution I have ever come across to store those pot lids that we all hate so much when storing our cookware somewhere inthere in despair. (ignore the misuse of poetic license)

I know luxury kitchens offer lots of convenient storage and who wouldn't want them! I will drop my wish to own one in the same box in which I have kept my wish for a Kitchen Aid Artisan, an old English style gas hob with a full range of  french Le Creuset pots to cook in, a retro refrigerator (Meneghini La Ghiacciaia as seen on Nigella Express!) and..pinch me!

All you need is a small kitchen cabinet, a piece of elastic and thumb pins!

Oktoberfest Müchen 2012

This past Wednesday we had a  public holiday to mark the Re-unification of East and West Germany. On 3rd October 1990, East and West Germany were reunited, ending 45 years of Cold War division. On the other hand, Müncheners were busy celebrating something else. The most awaited event of all year 'The Oktoberfest'. We spent the holiday at the fest.

'Every year, around seven million people from all over the world come to the southern German city of Munich for a 16-day party, during which roughly the same number of Mass (litre-sized glasses) of beer are consumed.' (Source: www.thelocal.de)

'The first Oktoberfest in Munich took place on 12th Oktober 1812 to celebrate the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig (who became King Ludwig I later) and Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen. Munich's citizens were invited to join the festivity which was held on a field on the city's outskirts. In honor of the new-wed princess it was named Theresienwiese (Theresia's meadow).
The festivities ended with a horse race, and it was decided to repeat the race in the following year. An agricultural show, beers stalls, merry-go-rounds and other amusements were added to the festival over the years. The horse race is no longer held, but the Oktoberfest is still celebrated on the Theresienwiese in Munich. So welcome to the Wiesn as the locals say.' (Source)

I have not seen Germans getting exited about anything else more; even Christmas, than for the Oktoberfest. Stores are stuffed with Drindles and Lederhosen.

 I had to wait in a long line before I could get into a changing room at our local shopping center. Public transport has to be managed with extra staff at the train stations to channel the oozing crowds with boozed up heads. Although known for its beer, the fest offers something for the entire family.

We went there and had fun on the rides, the alluring aroma of warm sugared nuts, fruit in warm chocolate, candy floss and the background noise of people yelling as they came down on the free fall or spun around on some other crazy ride made us feel the fest at its best. There was so much non-alcoholic pleasure to have.

       Mandel Nuss...warm sugary
almonds.Yummmmm

I made a small crafty project in line with the fest :) Guests at Oktoberfest normally consume around half a million pretzels during the festival.So, I made a clay pretzel necklace pendant. I have made my own clay and I'm experimenting things with it..so expect some of that coming soon.

Tassel Earrings

Tassels! How many of them can you spot on a single shopping trip these days? They are everywhere. Boots, bags, key rings, jewellery, coats and so on. I tried a pair of earrings too:
I used white faux leather and some blue yarn. I marked 16x5 cm and straight vertical lines about 2 cm apart. I then cut the lines leaving half an inch from the top. I made a loop of wire and attached my earring loop to it..placed this on the cut piece..Rolled it up dabbing hot glue at intervals.

Mail Organizer

My husband takes care of all the Mail we get. His 'taking care' skills are limited to making horrible piles on a beautiful secretary table that we have. I threatened him with a paper shredder if nothing was done about it! To make me feel better he said 'Why don't you make a nice DIY project for organizing the mail?' ..you like doing that stuff don't you...I took it up as a challenge!

I decided upon making a pocketed organizer using cardboard. I bought adhesive spray as one tutorial suggested..and started gathering other supplies..BUT on one of my many 'just to have a look' trips to the shops..I found this jute hanging organizer on 80% off !! Just what I wanted!

I grabbed it and to personalize it a bit I got these editable labels (forgot to save the source) and added Labels on the pockets. Cheap and instant solution!

Sometimes its not worth all the trouble to make a project from scratch, especially when you find a good deal on what you need.

Random Tip: How to store Frosted Cake

I bet a whole lot many of you already knew this..but when The light bulb in my upper story sparked I went:

I had some guests coming over for dinner and instead of making a dessert I took the express way and just layered and frosted my chocolate cake wedges. I do the fancy stuff first thing before getting on to the main cooking. To keep it in the fridge I poked some toothpicks in the cake and covered it loosely with cling film. This deters any foreign fingers going into the frosting and keeps it safe in the fridge too:p