The 'Elementary' Weekend!

It was another of those weekends when I had nothing better to do other than washing, cleaning the house and cooking, but it all changed in an instant when I saw in the paper that this was going to be the last day of the summer! On the spur of the moment we decided to goto London.

We first decided to visit the Sherlock Holmes Museum in Baker Street and it is a must visit for any avid reader of Sherlock Holmes stories.

The 'Shelock Holmes' I know :) outside the 221B Baker Street...

The house is maintained in exactly the same way as in the Victorian times. As I entered 221 Baker Street I felt as if I have entered a bygone era but also with it a feeling like Mr Holmes has just gone out and I should wait for him in one of his couches! It was really a pleasure to see the famous study overlooking the Baker Street and his personal belongings like magnifying glass, pipe, deerstalker, et al in the well maintaned house.

After walking out of the pages of Arthur Conan Doyle we visited Regent Park, which is one of the Royal Parks of London.

This is a stunning 166 hectares with mind-blowing rose gardens containing different varieties of roses, Queen Mary's Gardens, Italian Gardens, English Gardens, a lake with boating area, one can also see Herons and waterfowls. It also has a open air theatre. Also in the western section of the park stands the official residence of the U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom.Outside the inner circle is London Business School.

One can reach the park through Baker Loo line and its walking distance from the Sherlock Holmes Museum.

Onam 2008

I still remember our first Onam as it was just two weeks after I landed here in the UK. We were in the starting stages of settling down in a new place, so knew no one, had no utensils, nothing at all to celebrate with the gusto that we do back in Kerala. I was also feeling a bit sad as it was our first Onam after marriage and here we two are, far away from our parents, friends, relatives in contrast to the event itself which involves family get-togethers, giving gifts mainly clothes called Onakkodi and lots of merrymaking.
After the fist disappointing Onam I decided to make this one a grand one! This year Thiruvonam fell on a Friday so we decided to have our sadya on Saturday as we both had to goto work on Friday. I started deciding on the items for Sadya a week before and finalised on...
Thoran
Pulisseri (prepared from buttermilk)
Sambar (extremely popular recipe from South India)
Chicken Curry (as we were celebrating on the third day we could eat non-veg too :) )
Pickles
Pappads
Upperi (prepared from various things like raw bananas (kaaya))
Payasam (extremely delicious dish and is a sort of pudding
and Fruits.

But Sadya was not over yet! We also attended a Sadya on Sunday organised by the KCWA (Kerala Cultural and Welfare Association) and could enjoy all the stuff that I could not accomodate due to my hectic schedule. :)
After the sadya there was classical and cinematic dance talent show followed by Biju Narayanan's mind blowing ganamela.

He sang the song Kalabham tharam beautifully...from the recently released Vadakkumnathan, the last movie for which Raveendran Master scored music.
Now I can proudly say 'Yeah, Onam 2008 was grand.' ;-)