What A Colorful, Spicy 'Date Night' Destination!

     I must admit that, before this 'virtual' trip to South Asia, whenever I would hear the name of the particular country we visited, India, I would think of only two things...hot and spicy seasoned food, and colorful fabrics...

 (Yellow Red Gold by RaajMa)

          ...(check out all of the other beautiful Indian fabrics in the husband and wife Etsy shop, RaajMa to see what I mean).
          And frankly, knowing about the spices and the colorful fabrics was enough for me to know that this was a country I wanted to know more about! So, 'on' the 'Friday Date Night' list it went! :-)
       Unfortunately it maybe should have went on the 'Date Night' list at a time when my stomach hadn't been giving me problems all day, and when hubby wasn't working a very long day at work (because it was the last day before his vacation from work)! ^_^
    But you know what?! Sometimes you have to make the best of the time you have together. :-) So, for this trip, that's what we did. And we decided that once we got there we wouldn't do a lot of activities. ....So, we just got on the plane and headed to India. 
        Once we landed at the Mumbai Airport...

           ...it was just a matter of finding out the lay of the land, and hopping a bus in Mumbai...for some sight-seeing! :-)

       And oh, what a great country to be in if you wanna do some sight-seeing!..Especially in Mumbai! :-]

      Along the way we learned a few things...Like the fact that India is the second most populous country, with over 1.2 billion people...And that,...which I love!,...it has water, water everywhere! The Indian ocean on the south, the Arabian sea on the south-west, and the Bay of Bengal on the south-east!

      We also found out that four of the world's major religions originated in India...and that it's home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats!...Awww! A country that protects it's animals. :-)
       Just riding around, you can see some really breath-taking sights. Bridges....the water thing again! ^_^

        And even though, like many other countries, it faces mass poverty...

     ...it also has mass beauty!...

 (Kedarnath Range)

       ...including it's beautiful architecture. The Taj Mahal being a noted example...

      Hubby and I have another favorite beautiful Bengali love....

     ...The Bengal Tiger. :-)...We heard somewhere long ago that they mate for life. Now we have calendars, post-cards and photos of Bengal tigers all over our house...for inspiration! ^_^ ...Shush!! We know it might not be true! We're choosing, in this case, to believe the hype!! ^_^

        Now, Did you know that the board game of chess is commonly held to have originated in India?!...In fact, I was surprised at what a sporty country India is!...especially it's love of Cricket...

             Oh Yeah, Cricket in India is another sporting adventure I need to find out more about!...But, interestingly, Cricket isn't the country's official national sport! Field Hockey is!

           Now, as far as food is concerned...and I'm always concerned about the food!...^_^...Indian cuisine is best known for it's delicate use of herbs and spices (see the Indian herbs and spices in the header photo). In fact, many spices consumed worldwide are originally native to the Indian subcontinent!...And chili pepper is widely used...

        And I love chili peppers...cayenne...hot sauce...jalepenos.....ANYTHING hot!.....usually!....But "Mr. Chili Pepper, I ain't touching you on this trip!!!! I'm having too many issues with my stomach right now!....But...*kissing the chili pepper on the stem*....I'll be back!" :-)
       Indian cuisine is also known for it's tandoori grilling techniques. You can see a chef doing some cooking in the clay oven Tandoor here...

         But this trip, we stuck to the lentils... :-] 

        Ghee is something else that's widely used in cooking there. I'll have to find out more about this class of clarified butter on another trip. You can check it out HERE if you like.

        And after you get through exploring the food, you have to explore the music, right?!...And when the music is coupled with dancing, like it is with Bollywood, it's really something to explore!!

      We checked some of it out.....But it just made us more tired! LOL This "So You Think You Can Dance" number was fun to watch though! :-)

     We're back from our trip, still tired this morning. But we're about to get some breakfast...and a cup of coffee for me! {I think I might've started something with this coffee thing! O_0} :-) ...Thankfully we have all day to try to recuperate from the trip,...and from the week! But this upcoming week has a lot of stuff planned to do in it too! There's never enough time...no matter how much time you have...it seems!
      Yesterday, while I was getting ready for the trip, I did a little crocheting. Well...a lot of crocheting!...I finished a circle scarf. Very colorful!...I'll show it to you tomorrow! :-)
    By the way, the winner of the Giveaway is...

       Dale of Savvy Spice blog...Congratulations Dale!! :-) Just go to my profile above, find my email link, and send me your address info, and tell me which one of the scarves you want. I'll get it right out to you! :-)
     Okay, Have a good weekend everybody!! What did you do for your Friday nights?! I'd love to know! :-)

Minutes In A Year

524,160-All together,
make up all the minutes in a year.
124,800-At least-spent working
in a job, insecurely stressed with fear.

175,200 minutes, spent sleeping.
(Or, at least, they say that's how many you should get.)
5,475 minutes, taking showers.
(An awful lot of time spent being soaking wet!)

87,600 minutes, spent eating.
(Estimated at 240 a day.)
The same amount is spent watching T.V.-
feeding your mind on what other people have to say.

5,600 minutes, spent in worship,
with another 21,840 preparing for it.
(That doesn't  seem like a lot of minutes to consider,
when you think of all the wholesome benefit.)

That leaves 6,045 little minutes
to ponder ways to show your degree of love;
To show you care about the people around you,
and to appreciate all the minutes from above!