Sunday, June 29, 2008

Nana

Bren's gran (his dad's mum) is in LA visiting. We met up with her, Michael (Bren's dad) and Sheri (Bren's dad's wife) at good ol' FO yesterday. Some cute pictures of course ensued.









Uncle Dan came by as well...


Grandmothers are so great. I miss mine, Mrs. Winifred Sequeira. :(

-x-
aarti

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Proud Parents

After weeks of careful tending, and hours pouring over the internet to hunt down the latest pruning strategies and staking strategies, we are so happy to show off our new bundle of joy!



Isn't he a beauty? He's the very first tomato! He's an heirloom variety (I think?) called Rose Quartz Cherry. As he ripens over the coming weeks, he should turn a deep rosy-pink colour.

Looks like he'll soon have a few brothers and sisters...



...and eventually an entire clan of cousins!



I can't wait to eat him!
(Wait, that metaphor just got weird...)

-x-
aarti

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Who's that Guy?

Yippee! Due to popular demand, I present to you, Bren's Burger King commercial!



Thanks to Bren for finding it. And for rocking it.

-x-
aarti

Thursday, June 19, 2008

It's airing!



Not so fast buddy. Don't fast forward through those commercials, unless you're watching with a trained eye. One Brendan Michael McNamara's messianic mug is on there somewhere, shilling for Burger King.

It's Brendan's first national commercial! Wheee! We had to mark this monumentous moment, with the obligatory mirroring:


The "that's me!" moment:


And then a more sedate moment to take pride and give thanks:


Yippeee!

-x-
aarti

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

So...

It went pretty well! The ladies were a little concerned at the vegetarian nature of the meal, especially since a number of them don't like vegetables, but we mustered through. I think that next time I need to make more food because I forgot that they're all eating for two, and vegetables don't fill you up. One of them asked whether we could do this again, but with meat, and I think that might work, especially if I throw together some tandoori chicken. Anyway, thankyou so much for all your kind words and prayers and thoughts. I was a little sad at the end, but not wholly... it's not about me anyway, right?

In other interesting news, I was scanning the BBC's front page, and my eyes quickly landed on this headline: "Why Indian Children Do So Well in Indian Spelling Contests".

I of course think it's because Indians are the smartest people on earth, academically at least. But the article spells out (heehee) some other reasons. Did you know that this year, Indians occupied not only the first and second positions at the Spelling Bee, but also the third and fourth?! Crazy huh? Take a look!



-x-
aarti

Monday, June 16, 2008

Wish me Luck!

For the past couple of weeks, I have been teaching some cooking/food basics to the women at the Harvest Home. These are women in crisis pregnancies, who have chosen to keep their babies (yippee!) but need some support to get through those nine months. They are given a place to stay, and food and all kinds of mentoring.

Tonight, I am doing my most adventurous class (it's only my third!). We are going to make an Indian spread tonight: veggie pulao with cashews, peas with paneer, Mum's cauliflower & potato bhaji, cucumber/mint/raisin raita (also mum's).

So keep your fingers crossed for me that I don't lead these women astray!

-x-
aarti

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Football Morning



We woke up at 630a yesterday (oof!) to pick up Keaton, Bren's little brother, and take him to his football finals. If you could zoom in on this pic, you would see Keats grabbing the flag off another player. He did it a number of times!





But the best part of the day was watching the two brothers bond, talking about the game and using terms I don't understand, like "pressure" and... well I can't think of anymore. So here are some more pics. Keats' team won their first game, but lost their second to the #1 team in their league. Ah well, there's always next year.







-x-
aarti

Saturday, June 14, 2008

On a Lighter Note...


I wrote a review of one of the newest (and most highly-anticipated) spots here in LA, for LAist. Take a look! And if you like it, please hit "recommend". Thankyou!

-x-
aarti

Friday, June 13, 2008

No Words.

Tim Russert has died.

Here was a man who embodied the ideals of journalism, the ideals of Catholicism, the ideals of every person who just wanted to make his life mean something.

No words. So sad.

-x-
aarti

Monday, June 2, 2008

Burger King Shoot

Thought I would post some photos Bren took of his shoot this morning.

Here's Bren's sun-shiney self at 5a, by the beach.


They decided to cover up Bren's tattoo (the one of my name on his arm, boooo!)


The shoot went by at a breakneck speed apparently, so Bren wasn't able to snap many photos. BUT, in a fit of total geekdom, Bren realised the director of the commercial was one of his favorite (if not his favorite) DPs in the business, Matthew Libatique! So Bren asked if he could take a photo with him! Isn't that geeky and cute?!


Yippee! Go Bren go!

-x-
aarti

Yippee!

Bren booked a national Burger King commercial! YIPPEEEE!! This is such good news. Hopefully, you'll be seeing Bren's hairy mug on a TV near you very soon. Everything happened so fast; he found out he was booked yesterday and then, he woke at 4a today, and went down to the beach and shot the thing! Now, it's nearly 1p and he's on his way back home. Not a bad day, huh?

We are so happy!

In other news, I got a hair cut.

Oh! And I can't believe that I didn't tell you all about the new patio structure Bren built for us. First the back story: a number of you may have been on our patio in the past. It was fine, a little grungy, a little beaten down by the heat but overall, a pretty cool place to relax, chat, sip a cool drink, and get a tan. But I had big plans for it. I have been longing to change it into a Moroccan hideaway, complete with a shade structure, but I didn't know how. Bren and I talked about it a lot but never really did anything about it. Patte found us an umbrella, which was great, but then it snapped (the wind out here is pretty strong!) so that was the end of that.

Ah but that Bren is smart and sneaky. While I was away for my girls' weekend, he got together with our good good friend Zandy, who designed this amazing shade structure for our patio, built of a big sheet of muslin and some PVC pipe and some pots filled with concrete. Oh and a few sand bags. Taa-daa! Bren surprised me with it on the night I returned and I am so in love with it! I wish I had some "before" photos to give you a sense of how much it has changed it, but you'll have just have to use your imagination.





Bren found this Carrom board in an alley. It's in perfect condition! We used to play this game when we were kids, when we visited our cousins in Bombay. I haven't seen one since I was 7 or something! So cool! So now I have to remember the rules again, 'cos that game is bad-ass! Anyway, we made it into a small table. Doesn't it look awesome?



The PVC pipes are buried in cement, in big terracotta pots. Bren wisely only filled the pots up halfway, so we could repot the succies in them! Look how cool it looks!



The tomatoes are growing alright; I repotted two of them yesterday, and gave them a good watering to avoid "transplant shock". I read about that online and I was scared to do that because, just like in life, I have a problem with OVERFEEDING!!! My babies are looking alright, a few yellow leaves. But I have faith!


Bren also made little markers out of the corks from the Terrible beer he drinks -- he's been saving those corks for such a long time (much to my chagrin), and finally! A use for them! This one is for the Ox Heart tomatoes:


I LOVE MY PATIO! THANKYOU BABA! THANKYOU ZANDY!





-x-
aarti
 
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