Day 186: Leek and parsnip soup

Had both leeks and parsnips in the fridge that I needed to use up, so I sorted out some soup. It turned out very nicely. Very simply spiced (ginger and rosemary) but still nice. I was testing my color accent mode on the camera.

Day 185: The Playwright

We had to celebrate a few things so we went for drinks after work. The Playwright is one of a few Irish pubs in New Haven. Luckily, Guinness is sort of sugar-free. Or at least I'm saying it is.

Day 184: Masalas

Tonight I cooked Indian comfort food (khichidi-kadhi) for the first time in a long time. I think this is the first house of mine where my masalas are all stored properly for once. It makes me happy when I look at them all so well organized!

Day 183: Ash Wednesday

The obligatory Ash Wednesday shot. When I lived in the Chicago suburbs and then in Chicago, so many people had ashes on their foreheads on Ash Wednesday that no one ever thought it strange in the least. Then in India, where people routinely have ashes or powder on their forehead no matter what the day, again it went unnoticed. Thus it was a very strange experience for me when I moved to the UK and had countless people tell me 'you've got something on your forehead' on Ash Wednesdays.

Day 182: Pancake Day

Today is Fat Tuesday/Shrove Tuesday/Mardi Gras, and another holdover from my time in the UK is the tradition of Pancake Day. Now in England, these pancakes wouldn't be very acceptable, seeing as they're American pancakes. British pancakes are what I'd call crepes. Anyway, I had some blueberries and hence blueberry pancakes were served up for dinner. They were good (although a little thick, even for American-style pancakes).

Day 181: Soup

My colleagues and I were taken out to lunch by our super-cool boss! We went to an Asian fusion-type restaurant around the corner. Two of my colleagues were obsessed with getting this spicy soup and eating as much as they could (it seemed to be some sort of long-standing rivalry). Anyway, one of them ate about half and took the rest home, and then later in the afternoon, he decided he was still hungry so ate even more of it. Boys.

Day 180: Yale University Art Galley

During the second half of our all-Yale weekend, we went to the Yale University Art Gallery to see the current exhibition: Tea Culture in Japan: Chanoyu Past and Present. It was very interesting and we had a chance to explore more of the gallery. This little octopus was part of a sculpture I saw in the Asian art collection. I think he's so sweet!

Day 179: The symphony

Tonight we went to hear the Yale Symphony Orchestra at Woolsey Hall. The Yale Glee Club also sang during the first number by Brahms. The orchestra also played pieces by Mahler and Dvorak. It was a very nice night out.

Day 178: Mexican dinner

There are a few Mexican restaurants in New Haven, and we hadn't tried any yet, so I thought we'd try one after work. My colleague recommended Viva Zapata, so we braved the cold and wind to find it on the other side of town. I would say it was alright, but I'm sure there's better!

Day 177: Typewriter at the Omni

I was meant to go to dinner but flaked out because the weather was miserable and all I wanted to do was get home and warm up. I did stop over at the Omni Hotel, which is where we were meant to leave from, and while I was there I saw this little display of antiques which was meant to advertise a store in the area. They had this adorable old typewriter; I want it!

Day 176: Grand Central Terminal

Today I was off to the city for meetings and was fortunate enough to meet up with a friend who lives in New York. We had a nice time catching up and I tried to take some photos but didn't do a brilliant job. He took a very nice one of the main terminal but seeing as he took it and I didn't, I couldn't post it! Anyway, here's a partial view of the ceiling from where we were sitting.

Day 175: Books again

Sorry to be repetitive, but I started my next book tonight by Dorothy Whipple*, and it was one that had to be brought up from the archives (first printed in 1939). I opened the back cover to see when I had to return it, and I saw this. Now it's probably not right to say the last time the book was checked out was in 1982, as they probably computerized it all before too recently. But I still found it neat to think that someone had checked this book out in 1963 and here I am, 45 years later, checking out the very same book.

*Special thanks to Helen for bringing this amazing author to my attention! x

Day 174: The story of the the book and the mitten

So this evening I went to the library to pick up some books I had recalled and one I'd requested through inter-library loan (it came in from the University of Pennsylvania). I went to the library and got two and then went outside to wait for S. I took a few photos before he arrived. Then, we walked to the other library to get the book from Penn. We went back outside to wait for the bus, and at that point I realized I'd lost one of my mittens. So we walked back to the first library, where I found the mitten at the security desk. And when we were there, the security guard said we'd left the book from the second library at the other security desk. So we walked back to go find it. By the time all of this backtracking was over, we'd missed the regular bus, so we had to wait for ages to get the night bus. And this bus took a half an hour to get even close to the apartment, and then the driver made us get off and take yet another bus, which drove all the way around the neighborhood before we could get off. Frustrating. (But I did read the entire book and it was so worth it!)

Day 173: How cool would this be

We walked around quite a bit in the city today and stopped in at a furniture store in the neverending quest to furnish the apartment. We went to this crazy huge store with antiques and Asian type things (all way overpriced) but I so wanted this amazing pavilion-type thing. I was dreaming of just spending all day in there with my tea and my books and my pillows and blankets. How awesome would that be? Sadly, it was a little out of my price range ($7,200 I think).

Day 172: Tap

We went to the city to attend a tap dance event. February 14 was Gregory Hines' birthday, and the foundation that he co-founded screened the film Tap to celebrate and to kick off their fundraising campaign. They are hoping to raise money to set up a center for tap dance in the city. It was very cool as there were a lot of old famous dancers who attended the night. We didn't get a chance to stick around afterwards as we had to rush off to dinner.

Day 171: Another cool thing about my office

There's a lovely little vintage store right down the street. I've only been in once, but it looks like it has some good pieces. I nearly bought a gorgeous coat but the last thing I need is yet ANOTHER vintage winter coat. Amazingly enough I restrained myself.

Day 170: Ouch

My coworker went out to his car at lunch time to pick up some food, and when he got in and closed the door, the back window shattered! Poor guy. We went out to help him cover it up with some garbage bags before he drives home.

Day 169: Sunset

It was still sunny when I left work this evening, and we took advantage of the warm weather to have ice cream and walk across the green to the library. We noticed the sunset lighting up the clouds right as we reached the library steps and were finishing our ice cream. Hooray for sunny days and warm evenings!

Day 168: My new microwave

It's hard to believe I haven't had a microwave since October! But as I had been travelling and then in Chicago for the holidays, it didn't seem like such a big issue. We quickly realized that we needed one, but then I couldn't find one I liked much. They were all too big, too small, too white, or too red (since when did they start making red microwaves?). Anyway last weekend we made a promise that we WOULD buy one. We searched and searched and I finally found one I could live with. At first I didn't much care for the silver racing stripes but now I think it's kind of retro.

Day 167: More tales from the bus

White go-go boots on the bus ride home! Don't see that often in New Haven.

Day 166: Dancers in motion

Tonight I went to the swing and blues practicum on campus. It is basically just an organized night of dancing. I didn't realize they had a tango class on before swing, so I watched that for a bit and then went up to swing and blues. I met some nice people there and danced quite a bit. Good fun.

Day 165: Framing

Today was a day of errands. Tried to get a CT driver's license and was denied. After a short period of being angry about it, I decided to get on with it and took a number of things over to my office (CFA certificate and books and whatnot). Then went to the framing shop to get my two lovely prints framed. I had picked out a wonderful frame for my map of Edinburgh that cost WAY too much, so I had to reconsider. We found this one after a long time of going back and forth and checking costs, etc. I took a photo right as the woman was taking away the sample for her records. I had forgotten how expensive it is to get things framed properly, but it has to be done. At least the original mattes were very well done so I didn't have to pay to have them matted. And yes, Fred, it's conservation grade glass, so I'm happy.

Day 164: What the...

I take the bus to and from work and every so often in the morning, this guy is on there eating his oatmeal. What the heck? It's a bus, not a restaurant. Today I snapped him in the act.

Day 163: Broken dish

Although the things were mostly delivered intact, we did have two picture frames break and one casserole dish, pictured here. I had to take photos for the insurance claim.

Day 162: Another lunch at Claire's

Today we went to lunch at Claire's and I had some more nice soup there like I'd had last time. I noticed this painting on the wall and it reminded me of the paintings in Hector's in Edinburgh. This is of the New Haven Green, and it is pretty similar to what it looks like right now...snow on the ground and the trees with no leaves.

Day 161: The fruit bowl lives on

At my office in London, we had a fruit bowl, where people brought in fruit in an effort to increase healthy food consumption. When I moved up to Scotland, I introduced the idea and it caught on (although now I hear it's died a death with my departure). So I decided we should also have one here, and today I brought in a bowl I got over the weekend precisely for this purpose. Hooray! Fruit bowl!

Day 160: The trudge homeward

I thought instead of posting a pleasing or at least interesting photo, I'd show what my walk home looks like in this weather. Ick. Snow and ice, and now water and sludge, thanks to the warmer temperatures. Not pleasant but there you go.

Day 159: Devghar

Slowly, slowly I'm starting to get unpacked and put things away. My second bedroom is a disaster with boxes everywhere. But we put up some more posters on the walls and also set up the devghar. Devghar translates literally to 'home of the gods' which is a pretty appropriate description. It's where we put representations of the deities, almost like a little doll house for the gods and goddesses. Inside our devghar are many Ganpatis, a diya (oil lamp), a Buddha, and some small cards with prints of the gods. If you look closely you can see one with Parvati, Shiva and Ganpati. I've also put a few pictures of Jesus and a rosary in mine. You know, equal opportunity. Ours came from Pune originally. Next to it is the bodhi leaf that fell on my head when I went to Bodh Gaya. The leaf came from a version of the tree under which the Buddha sat and became enlightened.