Mehendi Designs from India!!

As you all know, I went to India on a break and had an awesome time there.. I attended two weddings, lots of shopping, lots of eating out, it was GREAT! Oh.. I miss it so much! Here are some pictures of Mehendi Designs that I and my cousins got done while I was in India...

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Mehendi....

Hello All,

Here are some pictures of a mehendi design that I did few weeks ago... I wasn't able to take the picture of wet mehendi (It was 2 in the MORNING)... Yes, I am very passionate about this as well...

ENJOY....

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Diwali Greetings

Happy Diwali to all of my friends out there!!!

I still remember those good old times back home... As soon as this month arrives, all of my friends would be so indulged in buying new clothes, coming up with designs for their rangolis, in our drawing class everyone would make drawings of diyas and colorful rangolis... The entire neighborhood kids would get together at night to lighten our phuljhadis, kothis, saporas, patakhes... oh I tell ya.. those good old days...

Well Diwali is not the same diwali here in States, but the least we can do is put on some mehendi :)

Here are some for you to try...

Happy Diwali!!!!!!

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An Award and Mehendi

Here are some mehendi designs for you to try for upcoming Eid...

I am so sorry Umm Mymoonah that I am so late in picking up this award :(

This award was passed on to me by Umm Mymoonah of Taste of Pearl City. As I have mentioned here, how talented and perfect Umm Mymoonah is, I have no words to explain her recent achievement, where she hosted her first very successful event "Iftar Moments - Hijri 1431"... Do check our her blog for delicious recipes, mouthwatering pictures, and full iftar menus for Ramadan!!!! Thank you so much for passing this award to me...

According to this award, i have to share 7 things about myself and pass this to 15 friends.

So 7 things about myself:

1. I believe in one God - Allah (swt)
2. I am a CPA by profession
3. I have two brothers
4. I wish to make so much $$ for all my extended family in India
5. I hate back-stabbing, resulting in me being very straight-forward.
6. I Love love love love love pani puri
7. I love to sleep!!!!!!

I would love to pass on this award to every one of my friend but rules are rules so here it goes

• Sarah Naveen
• Sana Hurzuk
• Suma Rowjee
• Guna's Kitchen
• Deepa
• Neelu
• Sandhya Hariharan
• PJ
• Shabs
• Sharmilee
• Satya
• Jay
• Lubna Karim
• Yummy Team
• Lopa

Congratulations on your award ladies!!!

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Masala Papad, Goodies from India and Mehendi Designs

One more great weekend with the family which left me relaxed, comforting, happy, satisfied and much more ..... well let's just say that it made me feel so good and so thankful to Allah for a wonderful family that I have!!!! I hope and pray that this kind of happiness stays with us and everyone else, as well... Amen...

At times, I always wonder what is the purpose of this life... and its weekends like this that makes me realize that we are not in this world just to live, work, have family, and then die... we are here to make others happy, help others out, love each other, make everyone laugh, share our happiness and sorrows with others and much more... as they say, "Laugh as much as you breathe and love as long as you live"....

Ok... enough of philosophy now... let's get back to real life... :)

My Dad came back from India last week and brought a lot of goodies with him... My Dad is big on giving gifts to others and I think this is one of his best qualities... resulting in him buying 12 Kgs of Mithais (Indian Sweet) from India for everyone at work and his close friends... He also bought some mouth watering savory snacks for us... Here are some snaps of what he brought from India...

Mansuri Halwa House - Pineapple Halwa

Pineapple Halwa

BansiLal Pedawala - Burfi

Burfi

Chocolate Burfi

Snacks

More Snacks

Refrigerator filled with Mithai Boxes

Coming to the today's recipe... The very first time I went on a date with my fiance (now husband - AG)... I had this Masala Papad as a starter... I instantly fell in love with it and it always reminds me of our good old days :)

Ingredients:

• A quarter of Onion - finely chopped.
• A quarter of tomato - finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp chaat masala
• Two strings of fresh coriander - finely chopped.
• One Lijjat Papad

Process:

Microwave the papad for about one minute (varies depending on microwave); Sprinkle onions, tomatoes, coriander and chaat masala; serve immediately!

I also put on some mehendi (my other passion besides food) over the weekend... Here are some snaps for you...

ENJOY!!!

Photo Credit: Google Images for Lijjat Papad

Quote Source: Unknow.

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My Other Passion (besides food) - Mehendi

I absolutely love to paint my hands and feet with Heena/Mehendi... Back in India, there were so many places and people that we knew to get our hands painted for festivals, weddings, summer celebrations, and just for fun... You can learn more about it here...

The best mehendi that I ever got done in my life (so far) was on my wedding day.. it took six hours to paint my hands and I left it on for almost 2 days (without washing my hands) - yes, I did felt very dirty at the time but since it was my wedding I was getting a treatment of that of a Princess :). Here is the snap shot of my mehendi on wedding (sorry I am having hard time making these pics bigger - will upload once I figure it out)..

Once we came to States, it was such a disaster when it came to getting mehendi done on eid and at weddings. First, I was not good at it; and second, there wasn't that many people or places over here who would know how to do it. There were 5 eids that I celebrated without any mehendi on my hands... It was the saddest (is that even a word?!?!) part of coming to US. One day I decided when so many young girls like me know how to do it then why shouldn't I??? I tell you, it was a big challenge for me and it still is. Getting mehendi done on my hand is harder that passing the CPA (CA) exam.. You have to be very patience and very detailed... after all it will stay on your hand for atleast two weeks... I have gotten much better in past 5 years or so but then again, I don't practice it that often (as I should)... This past weekend, I didn't had much to do so I painted back of my left hand and then next day we drove to NJ to see my older brother FKhan and sis in law so did the palm of my left hand in the car... it was exciting and much fun.. Here are some clicks of my work...

Do tell me what are your other passions besides cooking and do you like getting heena done on your hands???

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