Kitchen Drawer Liner

I painted my wooden cooking spoons, and while the paint dried..I noticed the drawer needed some love too ! Does it happen to you..one project leads to the other !

I just took some polka dotted card paper. Two sheets fitted perfectly to line my drawer.

Now if you notice the glare in the Pictures..thats because of the cling film I used to wrap the Card paper with. I don't own a laminator so that was the best option I had. It creates a water proof barrier and can be removed and replaced anytime.

To Keep it from slipping and slidding I just used clear tape to fix it at the edges.

Just a little prettying up might encourage me to keep the drawer neat !

Random TIp: Cleaning Heavily Smogged Windows

Before the summer sun completely shines through my windows, I decided to clean my ceiling to floor windows that run across the entire length of the living room. Man this job is worth a weeks workouts! It was another task I had been ignoring for sometime now.

Grub gathered throughout the long and slushy winters...All gone. Here's a quick tip.

Use a telescopic Mop for tall and wide Windows like mine. Use a clean towel attachement and get scrubbin' it all of in long strides.

Since I don't have a hose I had to wipe the cleaning mixture off instead of running it down using water. I took a bucket of water and added rough amounts of Fairy Dish wash liquid, and a generous splurt of glass shinner (made for dish washers)  in it too.

 I used a reusable towel attachement ..washing and wringing it in this solution..until all the black stuff came off..my Windows get really really dirty because I live on a main road on ground floor!

Don't let this dry..work quickly to avoid streaks. To wipe it off use the same but well washed mop and then the BEST Thing that cleans glass..use a ball of scrunched up newspaper!

I sprayed the entire window with sporadic splashes of glint and used the newspaper to rub it off in circular movements until I could see my sweaty face in the glass!

Whoopsie..forgot to take an after Picture!

Laundry Love

'Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes' ( read clothespins)

Words to ponder upon^

Hello hello! My blog looks like an ignored baby. I almost lost it in the market..apparently my domain name for the website expired and the blog disappeared ! My brother resucitated it somehow. Also, I have been unable to do much stuff because I'm upto something else these days..thats a secret for now..:p

That secret project involves studying..which is rather not easy to do after 4 eventful years after leaving university! I needed an excuse to avoid it so I gave my clothespins all the attention they ever needed !!

Some washi tape and a pack of wooden clothespins.

 Pretty Little eye pleasers!

Random Tip: How To Remove Permanent Marker from Wood

Sharing, just in case it helps save you a heart attack !

I was working on my Aztec Table Runner, and I convinced my lazy self that I'd be careful and would not Need to use newspaper for protection. Ahh well... I got permanent marker on my pretty table. I have had three different guests having tea with me on that table after that...but I let them assume that the child must have done it...just like he messes up the rest of the house.. splashes on the wall, my dirty oven, expired yogurt in the fridge..the kid does it all..I like to believe. Don't judge me yet!

Here's what I found works best, without damaging the finished Wood :

Planning a Desi Birthday Party Menu

My son turned 2 on new years' eve. The whole city celeberated his birthday with fireworks! Its the most festive day of the year for us. A day on which we try to count the countless blessings we have.

Last year I did a Small elmo themed party, just for baby and us. This year however, I managed to pull off a slightly bigger and busier party. Honk Honk! beep Beep!

Before you read any further let me just make a note. Birthday parties in our part of the world are not a similar affair as of those celeberated by people in the west. Although there is no denying that the whole concept of the celeberation, cake cutting etc is adopted enirely from the West..but the actual party layout is modyfied completely to suit the desi needs.

1. FOOD is the main attraction of the party, decorations, games everything is secondary.
2. It is more of a dinner invitation for adult uncles and aunties and less of an entertaining program for kids. If you fail to please the adults, your party is as useless as a pricked balloon !

I had been hunting blogs ( nearly all of them Western) for party ideas and I realized the stark difference in the needs of guests...a platter of fresh fruits, a couple of finger food and thats it! I am sure different lifestyles call for different party planning. Incoorporating pretty decorations with desi food can be a very tricky thing. I was looking for a balance between the two. Take a look:

Menu for approx 35 adults, 20 Kids + take aways!

Birthday Cake

Appetizer

• 12l Chicken Corn Soup
• Garlic Bread
• Mini Vegetable Rolls
• Croutons
• Bread Sticks
• Soup Condiments

Snacks/ Dinner Replacement Dishes

• Hunters Beef and Vegie Platter
• 2 Legs of Lamb
• Steamed Chicken
• 65 Sweet n Sour Chicken Meat Balls
• Chicken Pasta
• 50 Large Potato Samosa
• 80 Egg Sandwitches
• 75 Doughtnuts
• Dahi Bhara
• Chicken Nuggets
• Potato Chips

Salads
2 Bean Salad
Coleslaw

Condiments
Plum Chutney
Mint-Corriander Chutney
Tamarind Chutney

Drinks

• Juice
• Soft Drinks

Tea

Kashmiri Chai with Almonds/ Pistaschios

                                                                        Bean Salad

                                            Ultimate tastebud pleaser....the dried Plum Chutney!

                                                Pot of Chicken Corn Soup..zou could take a dive in it!

                                                                Mini Vegetable Rolls

                                                            Apple&Orange Juice

                                            Soya Sauce, Chilli in Viniger and Hot Sauce

                                                                  The Soup

                            Chicken Meat Balls in Sweet n Sour Sauce with Pinapple Chunks

                            Coleslaw> Carrots, Cucumber, Apple, Olives and salad dressing

                                                                    Doughniuts!

                                                                    Samosay

                                                              Egg Sanwitches


I hope this post helps you wheather you are a desi or not. I wanted to put down the menu in a post because when I was searching for one that suits me I did not come across anything!

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!

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

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

When I did my masters I studied Environmental Sciences as part of the program. We were made to watch Al Gore's The Inconvinient Truth and numerous other slide shows on how planet Earth was at the brink of an environmental Armageddon. I got interested, even motivated to choose this as my future line of emphasis in case I pursued a Ph.D. Worrying sincerly about the carbon credits and the injustice of the West towards the third world. I even did a couple of radio programmes from my university...go on laugh as hard as you can..becuase I ended up writting a DIY- housewifey blog!
No regrets! I may not be 'in- touch' with all the Green talk these days but I do still live on planet Earth and can make crafty stuff to contribute!!

I repurpose alot of my stuff to make fun projects. Old bed sheets into rossettes, cartons into pretty storage boxes, scraps into embellishments, out sized clothes into accessories..you get it right? Not much to contribute but a tiny bit does make a difference! I try using my own tote at the groccery store and everytime I do that I feel that I just made a small effort on my part. Still, there is a self-multiplying plastic bag monster in my kitchen..they just show up! I watched this video and decided to feed my latest obcession with it. Hangers!
Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdQlXu2yXnM&feature=youtube_gdata_player