Seven on Saturday

  1. This weekend we hosted our first official "neighborhood gathering".  I stress the neighborhood part, because we thought it would be fun to only invite people who could walk to our apartment...no cars allowed.  As the date came close, Alan and I thought the timing would be just right for making it into a preemptive celebration of the 4th of July.  We thought it would be a great chance to try to connect all of us to the many good traditions we have back home.  It was certainly a night to be remembered.  Thanks to the festival of Diwali, finding fireworks is not too difficult here in India, and there are zero laws and regulations around setting them off...so we went to town!

Rooftop Fireworks!

2.  Red/White/Blue cake...achieved in India...a major feat indeed.

I am told that the "smurf cake" was delicious!

3.  Ummm...Alan, maybe you should be a little more careful, please?  What would UT say about not having a bucket of water close by right now?

4.  Why yes...that is a big platter of Juicy Lucy's (stuffed with cheese and caramelized onions), fresh veggies, and chicken smothered in Golden Fig's Maple Black Pepper seasoning (a seasoning we love SO much we ordered a few chef size containers of the stuff to put in our boat shipment)...for those of you at our wedding, this is the same place that did the Curry Seasoning.

Veggies, Chicken, Juicy Lucy's for grillin'

5.  More mail came this week!!  It's really fun to get mail in India.

6.  The birthday love continues (part 1)...this week Ramesh and Violet gave me gifts for my birthday, which was such a surprise.  And the gifts are just the perfect in so many ways.  It's really interesting, because I think they both approached gift giving the same way - she is American...what should I buy for an American?  The answer...a knick knack type item (left) that lights up with red a blue and has some flowers and  guitar on it; and a metal statuette of the Statue of Liberty.  Logically, makes a ton of sense, aesthetically...well let's just say it's adding something new to our usual home decorating sense. 

7.  The birthday love continues (part 2)...this week I was presented with the most amazing handmade card from the India HR team.  I also got to cut cake for my birthday and got some lovely earrings, but the card is the best!  The pictures don't do it justice, but even Yogi makes a cameo on the front of it!  The card itself is huge, probably like 20"x28".  Deepti, Shilpa, and Kiran were artists behind the operation, but it was a full team effort. 

The making of an AMAZING birthday card (I did not take the picture)

The finished card and Yogi's cameo