Mo money mo problems! Notorious B.I.G said it right when he so wisely 
summed up how money does not lead to happiness. Travelling to India, a country filled with a vast disparity between the wealthy and the poor, was the first time this meaningful phrase struck a cord with me. I hadn’t been to India since I was 10 years old, so this last trip was a very a different experience for me. Initially, besides visiting family, my main mission on this on this trip was to shop. Walking through the streets of Mumbai, going from one shop to the next, I remember myself feeling frustrated that I wasn’t finding anything I liked. As I was on the search for my perfect piece of jewelry, Purav was busy taking pictures of the landscape with his DSLR camera.
We walked around like this for a while, before we saw three children who must have been about 10 years old, laughing and having the best time of their lives. They weren’t wearing any shoes, and their clothes looked like it had holes in them. They had one plate of food that they were all sharing. But, despite all of this, they were laughing and joking around with each other. As they were walking by us, they saw Purav taking pictures and thought he was taking pictures of them. They started posing, putting their arms around each other and making funny faces. Purav started snapping away, and the kids were just thrilled. He showed them the pictures on the camera and they were excitedly jumping up and down because they couldn’t believe they could see themselves on a digital screen. There was no way we could give them the pictures, but just the fact that they could see themselves was enough to make them happy. Still smiling they waved and said bye to us, and continued walking down the street barefoot.
That moment was my wake-up call to stop complaining about shopping 
and start enjoying the simplicity of India. And there was a lot to enjoy right in front of me. The street vendors selling delicious food like fresh pani puri and corn, the crazy drivers (which was a little scary but definitely a good source of entertainment), and of course my favorite – watching all of the random animals on the road from the cows to the monkeys to the goats intermixed with all of the people and no one thinking this is out of the ordinary!
these dogs have their own unique personalities, there were a few that stuck with me. There was Cowgirl who had the unfortunate luck of being left behind by her family when a huge storm hit. She found a piece of wood that she was sitting on to avoid the rising water when she was rescued. When I met her, she was so sweet and cuddly that I would have never known all that she had been through if someone hadn’t told me her story. Then there was Moonshine, a maltese poodle mix, who was sitting quietly in her crate, wagging her tail and looking up at me. All she wanted was to be held and played with. She had no idea that her breed is something that so many people want and are willing to pay a lot of money to get.
A lot of people avoid going to a shelter because they often think that it will be too depressing. But after my first time volunteering with K-9 Angels, I walked away feeling just the opposite. I felt re-energized and happy to be helping such a great cause. Not to mention, all of the dogs there just brightened my day as they looked up at me in anticipation, only wanting to be taken for a walk. Several of these dogs just barely escaped the fate of being euthanized when the ladies of K-9 Angels came to their rescue. These lucky animals seem to know that they have been saved because they show an extra amount of love to their rescuers. Volunteering here is a win win situation not only for the dogs but for me as well. When I am on a walk with these appreciative animals, there is absolutely no where else I would rather be!
This tune was all I had to hear as a kid and I would be rushing out of the door waiting for the ice cream truck to turn onto our street. I recently relived this nostalgic feeling except the truck wasn’t serving ice cream, it was making hot dogs! Now that I am vegetarian, hot dogs are one treat that I thought I was never going to be able to have again. But Good Dog Food Truck here in Houston not only offers beef and pork dogs, but tofu dogs as well. It’s pretty rare for me and Purav to both think a place is delicious, but this food truck won us both over.
The Chi Town Dog, the New Yorker, the Guac a Dog, there were just too many options! Purav ordered first and decided on the Chillin Dog which was made with beef and chorizo chili, pickled jalapenos, onions, and mustard. I finally decided to make my own custom order and got a tofu dog with mustard, jalapeno relish, and sriracha ketchup. That’s right, I said sriracha ketchup! What a great idea! Ketchup on a hot dog is a classic condiment but adding sriracha to it just gives it an amazing kick. When I placed my order, I told the man in the window that I was so excited that they had tofu dogs, and his response just put a huge smile on my face. He said “We wouldn’t have it any other way.”
When our order was ready we sat down and I think I just stared at my hot dog for a minute because it looked almost too pretty to eat. The hot dog was topped with all of the delicious hand-made condiments and then served in a buttery bun that was toasted to perfection. I took one bite and I felt like I fell silent because I was in hot dog heaven! I couldn’t believe that what I was eating was made out of tofu. I made Purav take a bite also and even he was in awe of how good it tasted. And coming from a self-proclaimed carnivore, that is huge. Purav was also raving about the chili on his hot dog. I think we devoured our food in a matter of a few minutes. And what was so cool was that I didn’t walk away feeling overly full. It was just the perfect amount of food. I will definitely be visiting this food truck again!
Cupcakes at 3 am? Sure, why not! Now all sprinkles addicts can get their cupcake
I was lucky enough to witness this new Sprinkles invention in Beverly Hills, CA this past weekend. While we didn’t get a cupcake that day, my 4 year old niece, Cyrin, had an even better surprise for us. Sprinkles Ice Cream! She held my hand and led me through the streets, getting faster and more excited as we got closer. It was a land of Sprinkles. Between the the actual cupcakes store, the new ATM machine, and the ice cream store, it was impossible to make a wrong choice. We grabbed our ice cream, I got captain crunch and my niece got vanilla ,and we sat in an open window and watched as a bunch of people walked by to use the Cupcake ATM.
possibility that they might be stale. But don’t worry the bakery works round the clock to provide the freshest cupcakes! You can even get a cupcake for your dog. And one more final bit of good news, plans are in the works to bring these machines to Houston!! I will definitely need to invest in some stretchy pants before that happens!
Barefoot stomping on squishy, juicy grapes that have just been freshly picked is probably one of the strangest but most amazing feelings ever! Purav and I went to Messina Hof’s annual harvest festival this past weekend in Bryan, TX. Messina Hof is one of those hidden gems in the countryside of Texas. It is a beautiful vineyard, bed and breakfast, and tasting room that spans over 100 acres.
owners and a rousing song of “Pick pick pick your grapes gently down the row. Merrily merrily merrily merrily stomp them with your toes,” we all headed out to the vineyard to start cutting the grapevines. Purav and I even tasted a few as we collected our clusters. They were super sweet and juicy. These plump grapes are used in one of Messina Hof’s signature port wines. It was a very peaceful morning and in total we all picked about 3 tons of grapes.
It was a really crazy feeling. At first, the only thought that goes through your head is that this is soooo weird. When we were kids, being messy was just part of the fun, but now that we are older, the idea of this just makes us cringe. Once you get past that initial thought and start realizing that hey it’s kind of freeing to be able to make a huge mess, the stomping on the grapes becomes a lot of fun. All you can see is your feet and toes slowly turning a deep red. And the minute you stomp, the grapes burst and the juice starts oozing down your feet. The ticklish feeling of the grapes between your toes is definitely kind of strange but also kind of fantastic!
red footprints as a keepsake of the event. Then we got hosed off and went inside to drink some wine and eat a wonderful lunch. A glass of wine following a playful day in a tub of grapes, I don’t think anything can beat that!
Fizzy Coke 