4/28/13

Slow Sunday

We had a nice dinner last night at Swagat Indian Cuisine.  It was my first experience with Indian cuisine, and it was delicious.  We were celebrating Mae's birthday which is on Wednesday.  (Our family celebrates three birthdays and Mother's Day inside of two weeks.)

It was sort of a photographer's lighting nightmare in the restaurant with the bright windows behind and the darkness within.  Also, I don't like to use flash because I don't want to keep flashing away bothering neighboring diners.  If I had been thinking (note to self:  think next time), I would have sat on the other side of the table so that those bright windows wouldn't have been such a problem.  Nevertheless, I think I got some reasonable pictures of the fam.  Mae and Erik sat to my right.


Matthew and Mike to my left.


We asked the server to take our picture.  I'm never sure who that woman is in the center, but she is always photobombing our pictures.  She looks an awful lot like my mother.


The guys had a tandoori mixed grill that came with some kind of curry sauce.  They all liked it.  I had one of the shrimp, and it was quite good.


I had the vegetable biriyani, but my image didn't turn out.  (See notations about lack of flash above.)  Since it was a novel eating experience for all of us, we were eating from one another's plates.  Here's how our table looked toward the end of the evening.


You can see the naan in the center.  That was a part of Mae's order.  I forget what she had, but it was really quite good.  It looked a little like tomato soup, and you spread it on the naan.  Yum.  That's my vegetable biriyani in the lower right corner.  In the upper center of the image, you can see one of the appetizers that we didn't eat.  I forget what that is.  It was a sort of vegetable fritter with a cookie-like consistency.  So good.

If the table is any indication, we ate a lot of food.  And I would say that this image offers up a good approximation of the voraciousness of our appetites.  (We are not easily embarrassed.)

This morning I sat and did some embroidery.  Last week was busy, and I missed two days of it.  I made up for the two days yesterday morning, but this morning I kept stitching and stitching, seemingly unable to stop myself.  Do you ever get like that?  I kept saying things to myself like, "I'll stop when I finish this length of floss."  Then, "Well, here's a piece of floss left from another sitting.  I'll use that and then stop."  Then, "Uh-oh.  I'm going to run out of gold floss.  I wonder if I have some that will work in my stash.  This should probably work.  I'll just stitch a little bit with this color to see how it looks.  Oh.  It looks fine.  Maybe I'll stop when I finish this length of floss."  Then, "Hm.  I wonder how it will look if I add this color here."  Finally, I had to smack my hand as I went to thread yet another length of floss onto the needle.  "Stop!"  I said.

So here's what I have so far.  I'm off to a pretty good start.  If this morning is any indication, I'll have it finished in about thirty minutes from now.  (I'm kidding, of course.)


And I'm going to link this post to Slow Sunday Stitching:


So today I'm going to do a little housework.  It's supposed to rain today, and while the clouds are rolling in, it hasn't started yet.  I need to go out and put new attractant into the yellow jacket traps.  We put it out early because, supposedly, you get the queens that way.  We do seem to have fewer yellow jackets when we start early in the season.  Also, the birds are looking as if they'll faint dead away and fall off their perches if I don't attend to their feeders.  It is a never ending battle to keep the feeders filled.  I do enjoy the birds, however, and I feel guilty if I see that their feeders are empty.  

Little Smitty just came in and rubbed behind my legs.  He's thinking it's time for us to go do something, and he is right.  If I have time this afternoon, I might even get in a little sewing.

How are you spending your day?

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hope to leave shortly on a motorcycle ride....first of the season. It's a beautiful, sunny 70F outside. I'll reward myself for not getting out yesterday (similar weather and lots of bikes passed our place!). The food looked fab...we love Indian food but have to go to the Twin Cities (Mpls) to get it;-( Love your little stitchery! Hugs, Doreen

WoolenSails said...

That looks like a fun way to spend her birthday.
Love that stitchery block. I went for a walk and now I am too tired to move, so resting and then I will work on my stitchery.

Debbie

Quilter Kathy said...

Looks like a wonderful feast was enjoyed for sure!
Love your new stitchery block. I laughed at you slapping your own hand :)
Thanks for linking up!

MalinisQuilts said...

I am glad to hear that you and your family liked Indian cuisine. This is typical food served in the Northern part of the India except the biriyani. You should try out the Southern Indian cuisine sometime ;).

By the way, that embroidery is already looking great. Can't wait to see it all finished.

Lynda Halliger Otvos (Lynda M O) said...

Started with a fistful of projects, devolved into upset tummy requiring meds and rest period. Now just sitting still eating pretzels and drinking ginger ale. Not quite the afternoon I had planned but the one I have been dealt.

Unknown said...

Hi Barbara thanks for the link I went back to Blogger. Much easier. Looks like a fun night out! XO

Missy Shay said...

So, the picture is a hand crank with a lady as the body of the machine doing the work?

Kate said...

Looks like you all had a great time. Happy birthday to Mae!

quiltzyx said...

Nice Happy Birthday to Mae dinner! Looks like y'all did indeed have a delicious time.

Good work on the Princess block. Yes, I do that same thing occasionally - just a few more inches...pages....games....!

Today was my do nothing day. But then I went & washed some dishes & actually used a skillet & my rice cooker. (I had some ground beef that needed to be cooked up!) Now I have more dishes to wash. It just never ends, does it?

Dana Gaffney said...

Know what I like best about your family get togethers? Matthews there. It must be so great to have him close.

Diane Wild said...

Fun to see your family all gathered together and no one is shy about having their picture taken for the blog. The picture of your table looks like a pack of wolves went through it. Hardly a scrap left.

Unknown said...

Your Indian feast looks amazing! It's one of my favorite types of cuisine, and the best part is sharing with everyone and trying all the dishes.... I'm glad you enjoyed it!

KatieQ said...

What's left of your dinner looks yummy. The parents of my daughter's best friend from college are from India we learned about Indian food from her. her. Her family is from the Tamil region and she likes her food well seasoned and spicy. My daughter is a vegetarian so there are always lots of options when eating at an Indian restaurant.
In your photos, your family always seemed to be enjoying each other's company.

Brown Family said...

I have never cared for Indian cuisine. That does look good, though. WE have months like that. We have about 6 birthdays in September and again in November. April use to be that way, but is is down to 4. some of this is extended family

Nan

Lynne said...

Our hobbies can be a little addictive, can't they? LOL
I picked up my hand piecing for the first time in months on Monday and now I just want to sit outside in the lovely autumn sunshine and stitch away. But my quilt needs biding, emails need answering, blogs need reading and comments need writing! Thank goodness the sun is coming in the window to my write as I type!