Merry Christmas!

We hope your holiday was as relaxing as ours!

Sheaves of Wheat and The Nutcracker

As usual, Mihir and I are keeping very busy. Of course, we only have weekends to spend together, so we try to make them as restful and entertaining as possible. Last weekend we visited the Dallas Museum of Art specifically to see a special exhibition of Vincent van Gogh's paintings. I was lucky to visit the van Gogh Museum in the artist's native Holland three years ago, and that was wonderful. But this exhibition was the largest van Gogh collection on display in the southwestern USA in many years, and I felt so fortunate that it was a mere 30 minutes from our home. They had several paintings depicting rural Dutch and French life in the nineteenth century, by van Gogh and some of his contemporaries, such as Monet, Gauguin, and Millet. We had a nice time browsing the collection. After that, we drove to our favorite Indian restaurant, Madras Pavillion. That is always a treat! They have the most wonderful vegetarian food I've tasted. The biggest challenge, for me, is not to overeat at the buffet because everything is so delicious.

Last night, just in time for Christmas, we went to the Texas Ballet Theater's production of The Nutcracker. I saw a college production while I was studying at Alma, and I fell in love with the music and the dancing. The college does an absolutely stunning production every two years. I was excited to see how professional dancers could do it, and I wasn't disappointed. The venue was Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth, which is a truly beautiful theater. It was a beautiful production. It even snowed on the audience after the dance of the Snow Queen!

Thanksgiving

Let the holidays begin! Last Thursday Mihir and I kicked off traditional American holidays with our version of a Thanksgiving dinner, complete with the all-American roast turkey (my first!), stuffing, cranberries, and dinner rolls, along with Indian-style potatoes and green beans. I made a pumpkin pie, and Mihir made a beautiful blueberry cobbler. It was all delicious--good thing we hit the gym early Thanksgiving morning!

The next day, Black Friday, Mihir and I braved the crowds and did some shopping, first at Willow Bend mall in Plano, then at the outdoor mall in Allen. The most bizarre part, for me, was the weather: as we meandered through the outdoor mall, listening to Christmas carols, it was probably close to 80 degrees. Strange! I have to admit to missing snow and crisp cool air, though I understand that even my friends and family in Michigan have yet to experience too much of that weather. Everyone, think of me as you scrape snow off your cars this winter!

We rounded out the weekend with two movies: Stranger Than Fiction and the new James Bond movie, Casino Royale. Both were good, but my favorite was definately the Bond movie. Daniel Craig makes a great Bond!

The pictures, clockwise from left: Mihir carving the turkey, the Thanksgiving table (notice the patio door is wide open--it was about 75 degrees) and Alfie enjoying his Thanksgiving feast--a pig's ear.

Deepawali - Diwali, the festival of lights

Better late than never! After a long hiatus, I'm back again to report on our Diwali party. We were determined to do the whole shebang, in terms of decorations, and sweets and cooking. We invited Carlos and Deanna over for dinner and brought out our new dinnerware. After much hunting, we located Royal Sweets, an authentic mithai store in Irving and got some samplers. We also found ourselves an "Aakashkandil" (literally a hanging lantern, in this case one made of paper) - combined with the lights, this Diwali was sure to be a bright one. I tried a mix of pav bhaji, some poriyal, jeera rice, and some sambhar. It wasn't too bad! Steph made some carrot halwa (which like always, obeys the law of diminishing returns, and looks smaller than the effort put into it- it was perfect!). Alfie was a good boy - we had to gate him, but when we let him out, he took a liking to Carlos - they are dog people too! We hope to have many more such dinners again.

- Mihir

Enjoying the rich cultural scene in Dallas-Fort Worth

I'll be the first to admit that I did not expect the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area to have much to offer in the way of culture. I'm so glad to say I couldn't have been more wrong. In recent weeks, Mihir and I have visited the Kimbell Art Museum, where we saw an exhibition about Hatshepsut, the ancient Egyptian pharaoh, along with other wonderful, famous paintings. Last night, we were lucky to see the Tennessee Williams play Vieux Carre at Theatre 3 in Dallas. It is a rarely seen Williams play, largely thought to be very autobiographical, and we really enjoyed it. I'm hoping to convince Mihir to see the British play Frozen, which is coming up soon.

Next weekend, we're venturing out to the Texas State Fair. Stay tuned for details on that!

Gratuitous picture of Alfie:

Ongoing Adventures of Alfie the Dog

A word about our dog: CURIOUS. I suspect he's like a child in that he has a keen sense of what he is not supposed to touch...and promptly snatches it as soon as he's able. But he's having fun. I suppose, in spite of all his shenanigans, I am having fun, too.

Here's a picture of Alfie playing with a proper dog toy, courtesy of my friend Katharine:

And here's a picture of Alfie with his preferred type of toy: something forbidden. (Note the puppy chew toy in the foreground)

Meet Alfred!

As some of you may know, Mihir and I decided to add to our little family--by getting a Lhasa Apso puppy, Alfred. Little Alfie, as we call him, is 3 months old and weighs in at 6.6 pounds. He'll grow to approxmiately 15 pounds, but right now he's a bundle of furry joy. In the week that we've had him, we've already witnessed some milestones, such as climbing the stairs all by himself and taking his first "big boy" walk on the leash. A lazy boy, Alfie prefers to be carried. Here are some pictures from a recent trip to Cimarron Park here in Irving:

Congratulations, Emily and Kirk

Last weekend, we had the pleasure of attending a wedding in the beautiful North Woods of Minnesota. The bride and groom were Emily Farrell and Kirk Madsen, friends of Mihir's for many years. It was a truly spectacular event in a beautiful natural setting. All seemed perfect We wish the couple many years of happiness! Thanks to that trip, Mihir and I hope to return to Northern Minnesota next summer. We figure it'll be the perfect place to retreat from the hot triple-digit Texas temperatures. Below is a picture of Mihir and me posing on the shores of Elbow Lake, the backdrop for the wedding.

Back in the World

Hello! As most of you know, I sat for the Texas Bar Examination last week. It was a grueling 3 days, and while I can't guarantee the results (keeping fingers crossed), I CAN say how relieved I am that it's over. I studied incredibly hard, and because of that, Mihir and I were unable to fully enjoy the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area has we had during our first couple of months here. We did our best to make of for it during my first weekend of freedom by dining out at Queen of Sheba, a wonderful Ethiopian restaurant in Dallas. It was SUPERB--one of my definate favorites so far. Mihir also surprised me with tickets to a musical called Brooklyn. It was a great show! Former American Idol runner-up Diana DeGarmo was the star, and she really has a great voice. We also did lots of shopping--we finally got some much needed bookshelves for our study. We got unfinished wood so we can paint them any color we want. We're hoping to accomplish that next weekend. It feels so good to have free time again!

Cow pokes

We spent a good part of a lazy Monday on this long July 4th weekend exploring the stockyards of Fort Worth. It was a bit cloudier with intermittent rain, a good thing for Texas, but it wasn't heavy enough to disrupt our plans. We started off with a good ol' cow herding demonstration and then sauntered to some Texas style barbeque meat.


I had half a chicken, and Steph ate a chicken sandwich - what can we say, we avoid red meat, and even this occasion wasn't a good enough excuse. We then spent a good few hours visiting the knickknack stores searching for a replacement for my armadillo keychains which broke last week. Armadillos are out of vogue though and we had no such luck. We got Steph a nice cowgirl boot keychain. Myself - I'm stuck with a plain label type :). We then had an even more fun time building a bear in the Build a Bear workshop for some friends of ours.

Oh, to have a new green couch

Two months ago, when Mihir and I moved to Texas, we were confronted with an unfortunate catastrophe: our couches could not be maneuvered up the stairs and into our second-floor apartment. When I stepped into the apartment for the first time I knew almost immediately the full-sized couch wouldn't fit, but I was surprised when even the two-seater couldn't go around the curve. To this day, those two couches are stacked neatly in the garage, waiting for a new home. Luckily, we had a futon to fill the void, at least temporarily.

Almost immediately, we acquired some lovely rattan pieces from Pier 1. I think they remind Mihir of India--we even chose lovely Indian-inspired cushions. Luckily for us, South Asian decor is all the rage right now, so there was no shortage of cane-style furniture or Asian-inspired accessories. Luckily for retailers, popularity allows them to charge high prices.

We still needed an upholstered couch to complete the room. Fully aware of the tight fit up the staircase, we decided it would be wise to find a couch that A) could be disassembled at least long enough to come inside our apartment and B) looked nothing like a couch that could be disassembled. We found what we were looking for at IKEA, a ridiculously popular Swedish furniture chain. We went to the local IKEA, in Frisco, Texas, and there it was, the couch of our budget-conscious dreams: the EKTORP, available in about 12 colors. We chose Idemo light green. Ideally, you buy it, throw it in the back of your pickup truck, haul it home, drag it up the stairs, spend days putting it together, and voila! you have sophisticated furniture. Simple? Not quite. Mihir and I don't own a pickup truck (how very un-Texan of us!) so we had to order it. So order it, we did--SIX WEEKS AGO! It turns out IKEA isn't nearly as convenient when you don't have the proper mode of transportation. After many agitated phone calls and emails to find out the status of the missing couch, they told us it was "unaccounted for" (Translation: They lost it.) and they had to start from scratch with a whole new Idemo light green EKTORP sofa. I was MAD. To say the least. But finally, after all these weeks, the couch is here, fully assembled and gorgeous. I've taken a photograph of how the whole room turned out. It wasn't a conscious plan on my part, but I managed to put together a room with a very pleasing autumnal overtone. I find that comforting, since I do not believe a Texan autumn can hold a candle to what I've experienced in Michigan. We'll see about that. In the mean time, I'm just glad to have a couch!

In other news, Mihir is no longer traveling to Ohio every week for work. He has moved on to the lovely (if not lively) city of of Baltimore. I'll have opportunity to visit after the bar examination. I promise to tell you all about it.

When I'm not studying, I'm usually at the gym. When I'm not studying OR working out, I try to read a little non-law material. Lately I'm completely absorbed in a book entitled Another Day in the Frontal Lobe: A Brain Surgeon Exposes Life on the Inside by Katrina Firlik. Ms. Firlik is one of a scant 200 (!) female neurosurgeons in the country. I don't know how she found the time, but she has written a darned interesting book about the human brain and her rather mysterious medical specialization. It's good. So good, in fact, it inspired me to read AND work out at the same time. Not every book warrants being propped on the elliptical trainer while I pursue the Body Wonderful. ;-)

--Stephanie

More Wedding talk

Mihir and I have been married for almost a week now (already!) and we're both floating above the earth. All the cheesy stuff you hear is true...I could go on for hours about how profound the vows really are. I'll admit, there were moments just before the ceremony when I regretted now having a normal wedding, but I honestly haven't thought about it once since the moment I said, "I do" and I don't expect it to be a lingering regret as the years pass. All that matters is that we're married, I didn't stumble over my vows, and the day was perfect right through dinner at Ferre, a wonderful Italian ristorante in the trendy West Village section of Dallas. Sure, it would have been nice to be surrounded by family and friends, but at the end of the day we were happier than we've ever been. Besides, how many people get to have a tiramisu wedding cake?

As long as we both shall live...

We got married this Monday! Stephanie had been trying real hard to get a justice of the peace and behold, there was one in Irving who would marry us on June 5th at 3:30 pm. Ravi and Asmath, friends from my early days at i2, agreed to be our witnesses. The ceremony was short but very powerful, the judge told us about the importance of love and those words still resound. The gravitas of the ceremony is not diminished by the lack of pomp or rituals. We celebrated at Ferre, an Italian restaurant in the West Village, and began the week as a newly married couple.
-Mihir

Memorial Weekend in San Antonio

Hello! Memorial Day weekend is over. It was a good one for us. We had a visit from Mihir's cousin, Aditi, and the three of us travelled to San Antonio, Texas. We spent Saturday touring the Alamo and San Antonio's lovely River Walk area. Aside from extreme heat (even by Texas standards) the day was good. I've posted some of the pictures taken near the Alamo. We would have taken more pictures of the actual fort, but they've actually banned photography in most of the interesting parts, such as the Davy Crockett shrine. Any photos taken from within the walls of the Alamo would have been pictures of tourists milling about--nothing interesting. Note to all future San Antonio tourists: If you hope to sample some of the region's famed Mexican food, be sure to make reservations in advance. We tried to eat at Casa Rio on Saturday evening and faced a 30-minute wait to put our name on the list for a table--after that, the wait to be seated would have been at least an hour. We're sure the food was lovely....but we opted for the restaurant at the hotel instead.

Mihir and Aditi saw The da Vinci Code Sunday evening (I was studying contract law in preparation for the Texas bar exam). In spite of poor critical reviews, they seemed to enjoy it. Maybe I'll see it on DVD later this year.

And so it begins . . .

Greetings! Mihir and I wanted to create a website to document our ongoing adventures here in the wilds of Texas. We realize that almost everyone we love is far away, so we hope this website helps everyone stay connected to our lives. Hopefully, we won't get too lax about updating it, because our life together is sure to provide endless entertainment for those of you who faithfully read the site!