vishala: amdavad: christmas weekend trip

so vivek (my husband) and i spent the christmas weekend in ahmedabad with my dad (thats where he is currently posted..it is a great city btw..i love it)...we did all the touristy things this time since vivek hasn't seen all these places before...so we went to vishala which is a village theme restaurant and we were served food in true gujarati style.
within vishala there is a utensil museum and it houses100-1000 year old utensils..all collected over time by the owner of vishala....i love the museum and it is such a delight seeing the old copper and brass pots and pans...and some really unusual ones too.
here are some pics from the trip...

guess what it is? its a spice box...like the ones that every indian household must have...we of course have it in steel...and now some in plastic oh and some in glass...but this one is so much nicer isn't it..and so clever...wonder why nobody makes them like this anymore???

largest collection of nut crackers in the world...when i told my husband he thought i was talking about haldiram nut crackers tsk tsk :D

and now guess what these are...you'll never guess...these are children's milk bottles...and were really tiny!!

these were the gorgeous plates we were served in..we even had these really cool wooden knee supports to help us sit comfortably on the floor!

well i do have many more pics of the utensils...but i think i must stop now, so if you find yourself in amdavad then vishala is a must go for a traditional dinner i say!

NYP decor

gearing up for the new year...:) i am also planning to use the news paper decorations i made for my husband's birthday party ...so will post more pics when i am done...

what are your plans for the new year's party? would love for you to share your decor ideas here..what do you think?

simple pleasures

britannia jim jam biscuits and pretty paper doilies (manager at polka dot restaurant gave them to me free :)

on a not so warm evening, while sitting and watching tv...priceless i say!! i love these jim jam biscuits...nothing great, the strawberry jam in the center is sticky and chewy...but they remind me of somethings in my childhood and more :)

garage sale @ bliss mumbai!!

from the rabbit hole: a garage sale @ BLISS

dhruvi from alice aandering, 

aastha from indian summer, 

samidha from street style 

karishma from purple peeptoes 

will be collaborating on a sale 

that will have stuff from their wardrobes that you guys will love.

there is a lot of new stuff, and a lot of old stuff as well.
they like to call it vintage! :)

everything will be from Rs 10 - 1000.

for every friend you get along, you get 10% off.
if you link the event on your facebook or blog, or tweet about this, 
you get 10% off as well.

friday, dec. 17 to saturday, dec. 18

from 2 to 8 p.m.

goa beach wedding and more

remember i had gone to goa for a wedding recently...well it was great...the venue was awesome. it was the lalit intercontinental in canacona, south goa (south of south :)

 these are some pics of the resort...it had its own private beach and is a huge property.

there were a series of beach carnivals and pool parties prior to the wedding ceremony which we missed but i was told they were a huge success!

the vedi where the pheras took place, canacona beach, goa :)
the only thing i felt was that the beach wedding makes sense when there is ample natural light...so an early evening (thats when the pic was taken) is so much better than night (when the north indian pheras take place).
you don't even see the beach at night time...!!!
all i all it was a huge success and i had a great time during our stay here...our rooms were great and all the arrangements were excellent!! hurray for the hosts!

post the ceremony husband and i took off for our own little holiday and went to see the chatai huts where we had originally planned to stay @ palolem beach, 2kms from canacona. when we reached palolem beach (which is breathtaking and a must go) we were told that the huts weren't ready yet...a little dissappointed yes...but we did need to find a place to stay...so we went looking and saw ciaran's...again beach huts....but they looked great..on enquiring it was all booked (but it was so good looking that we plan to stay there next time :). we did however grab a bite at the ciaran's restaurant/beach shack. i highly recommend this place if you plan to visit south goa anytime..

so we couldn't find a place to our liking in palolem...and went to another popular south goan beach called colva...here we decided to stay at the skylark resorts

this place is small and the breakfast is not included in the room tariff...but our stay here was really nice. it was neat, the staff was friendly and the decor of the rooms (sheets, towels etc) was a la fab india! even the furniture looked like it was from fab india...

colva beach

 martin's corner

 palolem beach...the goa essentials!

 palolem beach shacks

 ciaran's palolem

 our friend enjoying sea food left overs at ciaran's

fisherman's wharf

so the beaches we checked out on this trip were cancona, palolem (my fav) and colva. of course we had to check out martin's corner and fisherman's wharf which came highly recommended for eating out...and thankfully both were in south goa...had a super time at both these restaurants and highly recommend them!

we had a great time in goa...and  south goa is highly recommended for a peaceful goan holiday!