d-i-y chrome themes !

i'm a big fan of words like 'personalise' , 'customise' etc. more so if it doesnt cost you a cent :)  if i can take something and give a tweak here and twist there, it makes me really happy. and so, when google came up with this option of customising your own chrome theme, i was knee deep into it immediately :) just one more reason for me to love google and its products !

here are the themes that i've been coming up with so far :

Toms River

Not Your Type

Teal Damask

Cherry Blossoms

Mylapore

you know how they say happiness comes in small packages - i belong to that school of thought. most of the time, its the smallest of things which make me instantly cheer up and feel happy.

this was one of those instances. i was out to pick up some medication in the street corner drugstore, when i found this charming little flower pot on sale for $1.50 . i have a big soft corner in my heart for any pottery in blue, and the price tag no doubt added to my delight. it was a precious little thing, about 4 in. in diameter at the top, and i knew it was just calling out my name the moment i saw it :)

i picked it up, and found some flowers in the bushes around my home on the way back. it looks so perfect, and gives me that little pop of joy every time i see it on the table.

yes, my happiness comes from the simplest things. i guess i could never say that enough.

Chronolgy of Jane Austen's life and works

i had taken out one of jane austen's books from the library, and found this chronology of jane austen in the first few pages... in addition to her life and works, this lists out significant events in english literature and world history at the same time...

i took pictures of the pages, and they havent turned out all that well, but still i hope good enough to read for anyone who might be interested in jane austen and her contemporaries, in this age of harry potter and twilight  !

(click on the pics to enlarge)

old indian ad for Lux soap - starring Hema,the dream girl !

sometime back a conversation with a friend happened to ramble into the popular brands we had seen, growing up in india in the 80s...
who doesnt love a trip down memory lane ?

 i was so pleased, when i stumbled upon, in the course of my usual aimless googling, this old ad copy of lux soap...

every major bollywood actress would have been associated with the lux brand at some point in her career... this one features the charming, beautiful hemamalini - the dream girl  :)

i love old ads, i wish i could create a repository of them scanned from old magazines... maybe someday make some big prints out of them too... that would make cool retro art... :)  (remember the vintage french poster prints in monica's apartment from 'friends' ? )

(image source - from here )

chocolate dipped shortbreads

what could be better than shortbread ? chocolate dipped shortbread. of course.

being, as they are, two of the best tasting things in the history of food, it only makes sense to bring them together...

i love the taste of shortbread, and i love the fact that it is one of the easiest things to make, and takes only a few simple ingredients (3, + salt, to be precise) ...  and chocolate dipping them proved to be no big feat either - so here goes, the result of yet another of my experiments...

shortbread itself is very easy to make - take 1 part all purpose flour (or maida in india), 1/2 part of butter, and 1/4 part of sugar. soften butter to room temperature (not melt), cream or beat together butter and sugar (light brown sugar is best, but you could just make do with normal sugar if you dont have it), add flour, a small pinch of salt, and make a soft dough... a dash of vanilla extract is optional if you want. (if you dont have real extract, just skip it, and dont bother with the imitation essences...) chill the dough in the fridge for a minimum of 30 mins, take out and cut into shapes and bake at 180C/350F for 15-20 mins, till the bottom starts becoming brown. take them out and allow to cool. (you can cut the dough into shapes and then chill them to retain their shapes better, or even make the dough a day ahead and refrigerate it, and bake it when you find time.)

now for the chocolate dipping part, melt chocolate pieces or chocolate chips in a double boiler. a double boiler could be any vessel or pan that sits on top another, with water boiling in the bottom one, the water level not actually touching the upper one. see how i managed to come up with what is likely to be the world's smallest double boiler ?  -

well, it was just perfect for the amount of chocolate i needed - about half a pack or 6 oz (abt 170 gms) of chocolate chips.
the heat from the boiling water will melt the chocolate in a few minutes. keep stirring and the chocolate chips above will transform into something glossy and beautiful like this -

take the cooled down shortbreads and dip them one by one in the melted chocolate, and allow them to set. they are an absolutely pretty sight while still glossy -

see ? all pretty right after their chocolate bath...













once the chocolate cools down and sets, its ready to eat, best as a teatime snack, but irresistible any time of course...

and that, my friends, will bring you one bagpipe's length away from scotland :) sink your teeth in, and enjoy the buttery, crumbly, goodness... !

i hate to say i told you so...

... but i did, didnt i ?

as i had hoped, and said so in this post, Meryl Streep takes this year's oscar for best actress, for her performance in the Iron Lady...

looooove you  Meryl.... i sat through till the end just for you, and i knew you wouldnt let me down !

right now i am so wanting to spend a whole week watching  her movies !

rain rain dont go away...

day before yesterday was one of those rare days when it rained uninterrupted for hours together... just the kind of day i like. i love rain...(well, as long as it doesnt end up flooding and i need to wade through knee deep water  - then me no likey.)

and when its raining in the beginning of spring, making everything look so fresh and green, so much the better...

when i looked out the window that day, it was so beautiful that i couldnt resist taking some pics ... (and i hope that the people who were walking by my window werent startled too much thinking some crazy lady was taking pics of them as they proceeded to work - having to go to work on a rainy monday morning being a bummer in itself, who wants random people pointing cameras in their paths... )