Sorry I'd been gone!

Hey guys!

I am so, so sorry it's been so long since I've posted. I've been finishing up my student teaching (tomorrow is my last day, yay!). Between coursework, student teaching, and putting in job applications I've barely even had time to cook!

Aside from not having the time to cook, I've been trying to lose weight so I've been meal prepping. Essentially every Sunday I plan out my meals for the week, cook it all up, and portion it out so it's all ready to go! It's actually been working out very well for me.

Alas, I was missing my Indian food. Luckily Raj was willing to take me and we went to this place called The Clay Oven.

If you ever go through the Indianapolis area I highly recommend them. At first I was a little worried we weren't going to have a good waiter, but he ended up being great and very nice!

For the apetizer we ordered something I had never tried before: Chaat Papdi. It was one of the most amazing things I've had in a long time. My mouth is watering now just thinking about it.

This dish is made up of puri, chole, curd, tamarind chutney, various spices, and a few others. If you've never had it I highly recommend it. Raj and I shared this and it was plenty. It was very cheap also, maybe around $5.

Raj ordered Paneer Tikka and I ordered the Tandoori Chicken Tikka. It was so delicious I actually had a food high.

Our meals came with basmati rice and tomato chutney and we ordered garlic naan. I also had a mango lassi for the first time (so much food, right?!).

Sooooooo good, but it was so much food. We learned that next time we will share a meal and only get one order of garlic naan instead of two. The next day I made chawal and dal to have with the leftovers. Can I just go there for dinner today? =)

Indian Weddings are Beautiful pt. 2

I've been struggling to find words to go along with this post. Raj has been sending my photos of his sisters wedding and I so wanted to use them. Again, I still know so little about the tradition behind a Sikh wedding (and Raj acts like he hardly knows either!) that I'm afraid I can't be too insightful. What I can do, however, is share some beautiful photos! If you have questions please ask and I will do my best to find you an answer!

Such a beautiful dress, and an even more beautiful bride!

Raj's mom and dad!

Who could this dashing man be?!

Off to the honeymoon!

This was an arranged marriage. One of my earlier post talked about a love marriage and an arranged marriage. My next post I'll be talking about my thoughts on an arranged marriage! I hope you enjoyed these beautiful photos!

Indian Weddings are Beautiful pt. 1

I'd been sitting on this one for some time now. I don't yet know just enough about Indian Sikh weddings to write a detailed post, yet the photos from my Raj's sisters wedding are just too gorgeous. Over the next couple of days I'll mostly be sharing photos with tid bits of information that I do know about them.

So today, I'm sharing photos of Raj's sister getting her Mehndi done. Mehndi, what the heck is that? Well if you're an American you've probably seen booths at fairs offering Henna tattoos, it's very similar. From what I understand, there are other celebrations where mehndi may be applied, but its quite common during your wedding. Mehndi is a paste that is applied in eleborate patterns all over the hands, arms, legs, and feet.

Look closely at her hands, you'll find all the letters to spell out Ishneh, the name of the groom.

So beautiful right?!

This can stain the skin for many, many days. I've also heard that some think if it stains real dark, your husband will love you more. I hope since I'm white mine will come out super dark! Ha!

It's also not just the bride who has this done. She will have hers done more elaborately, but other members of the family will get it done also

Raj's mom and dad!