Michigan has graced us with four consecutive days of beautiful springtime weather.

This wouldn’t be such a big deal, except, this time last year it snowed for the last time for the season. And it snowed a LOT.

I know it’s coming. I know it. We always get one more dump of snow and then winter is officially over (usually) the second week of April.

I’m not going to go over the logistics; I’m thoroughly enjoying this weather and hope to continue doing so for a few more days.

In lieu of the warm weather I made a most delicious pasta dish full of roasted vegetables. It just makes me think of springtime and warm weather!

You’ll see why I call it Rainbow Pasta if you keep reading.

Rainbow Pasta starring:

•1 pound Farfale (bow tie) pasta (or any pasta of your choice)
•3 carrots, peeled
•1 red bell pepper
•1 yellow bell pepper
•1 green bell pepper
•1/2 cup grape tomatoes
•1/2 red onion (or a whole one if it’s on the small size)
•1/2 teaspoon dried Italian seasonings (marjarom, thyme, oregano, basil, parsley)
•1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
•1 cup pasta water
*S&P to taste

Start by preheating your oven to 450º degrees

Peel and cut the carrots into thin strips. Do the same with all the other vegetables

See why I call it Rainbow Pasta?? So many pretty colors! Makes me antsy for spring!
You could also use summer squash, zucchini, eggplant…whatever you like! I haven’t met a roasted vegetable I didn’t like.

Place all the vegetables onto a baking sheet in their own little piles.

Drizzle some olive oil all over the vegetables and season with salt and pepper. Toss them carefully and lightly, but try to maintain their little piles as best you can.

Put them into the oven and set the timer for 10 minutes.

While that’s happening, start boiling your water and cook your pasta. I used Farfale pasta, or bow tie pasta. Really, you can use any kind of pasta you like. Penne would work great, or rigatoni. I just had bow tie in the house and it’s one of my favorite kinds of pasta, so that’s what I used.

After 10 minutes, check on the vegetables and stir them around a bit. At this point, sprinkle the herbs on top and put them back into the oven for another 10-15 minutes.

This is what they look like when they come out of the oven. The vegetables are done when 1). you can smell them (and believe me, you can!), 2). they look a little wilted, which lets you know they’ve roasted beautifully. More importantly, the carrots are tender and soft.

Let them cool while the pasta finishes cooking. You can also get your grape tomatoes ready. The ones that were bigger, I cut in half. But for the most part you can leave them whole. When they’re in the pasta, they’ll burst in your mouth with amazing flavor – so delicious!

You can also grate your Parmesan cheese.

I buy the real stuff. I’ve said it before, but it’s true: using quality ingredients makes a world of difference. I’m also a food snob when I want to be ;-)

When the pasta is done, measure out 1 cup of the pasta water. The starchy water will help mix all the ingredients together and since we salted the pasta water when it came to a boil, it’ll intensify the flavor of the dish even more! Mmm! Mmm!

Drain your pasta and return it to the same pot (no use dirtying a new dish). Pour all your vegetables (carefully!) into the pot and stir.

Pour a little bit of the pasta water and stir a bit more. Add in the cheese, tomatoes and the rest of the pasta water, and give it one more good stir.

Grate some more cheese on top – honestly, you can’t have enough cheese – and enjoy!

It’s such an easy dish to prepare and it’s colorful, fresh and flavorful. I’m sure you’ll love it!

One month down, 11 more to go!

I honestly thought I’d get sick of the whole take-a-photo-every-day-and-post-it thing, but I love it! It’s making me learn my camera more and more every day and making me see the world through a whole new perspective. Love it!

22/365:

One of my favorite stories of all time is Alice in Wonderland. I love it! Sure, it’s trippy, but I love the imagination Lewis Carroll put into this story and all the weird creatures and people Alice meets. I have a snow globe with the Cheshire cat and he lights up if you flip the switch. Eerie, huh? This was also in light of Tim Burton’s new movie that came out last week. I haven’t seen it yet, but I really want to! It’s essential that I do!

23/365:

I started doing origami again. I wish I could say I did this from memory, but no. I have a book that guides the way. I’m so rusty, though.

24/365:

I woke up on Friday morning feeling as if I’d swallowed a softball. I also couldn’t breathe and kept wheezing from all the coughing. I hate having a cold. Luckily, I had all the ingredients to make some Chai and did so. I truly believe this Chai is the cure for the common cold. I felt better almost instantly. Well, that and some meds made for a very quick recovery. I feel 110% now! If you want to make your own, I did a step-by-step here on the blog!

25/365:

My and REB’s close friends came to visit us on Saturday and we walked all around downtown since it was so beautiful! For dinner, we went down the street to Mediterrano, which is a really REALLY good Mediterranean restaurant. It’s a pretty expensive place to eat, but REB and I are kind of snobs about food and don’t really object to cost if we want a good meal out on the town. This is a photo of the hostess stand. I got bored while we were waiting to be seated.

26/365:

I love anime! I also love manga! My sister got me reading Yotsuba! which is probably one of the cutest mangas out there. I bought my sister the next three in the series since we never know when they’re released in the U.S. Yotsuba also happens to be one of my favorite sushi places here in town! (^__^)

27/365:

It’s been such a beautiful week so far! The sun is staying out a little more each day (in light of Daylight Savings this weekend, I’m sure) and the weather has been warmer and slowly but surely, the snow is melting. REB and I took Gryff on a walk and I took this photo of my one of and only as he was walking away. My uncle inspired me to take photos of objects’ reflections. It’s a really cool way to see things! Give it a…SHOT (ha).

28/365:

I took this right outside our apartment. I’ll be honest, I forgot I had to take a photo and didn’t know what to do. Then I saw the light outside and it was emitting the warmest glow so I took a snap shot. This was the end result. Not bad, huh? It made me think of warm, summer nights. I can’t wait for those nights!

We’re into Month 2 of Project 365! I got a new toy today. Here’s a look at what’s to come:

See you next week! And remember, you can always see these photos and more on my Flickr! Happy clicking!

Having the sniffles, stinks.

I woke up this morning feeling as if I’d swallowed a softball. Blech. My nose was pretty stuffy and my sinuses ached. I stayed home from work and did nothing all day.

Then it occurred to me: What is the one thing that could make me feel better? My mom’s Chai.

Well, my mom lives an hour away and I needed the Chai right then and there.

So I made some. And it was amazing. Chai is the traditional spice tea that people in India drink almost every day instead of having coffee. It’s delicious and so easy to make at home.

And now I’ll tell you how to make it at home, too.

My moms Chai is the cure for the common cold. I’m not kidding. It’s spicy so it clears up your sinuses, it’s hot so it soothes and it makes you sleepy so you’ll rest.

If I don’t fall asleep halfway through writing this entry, please applaud me.

Here’s what you’ll need for 1 serving of Chai (I’ll explain each ingredient after):
•Black Cloves
•Cardamom (in the pod)
•Cinnamon stick
•Black peppercorn
•2 tea bags

I use a British tea, often referred to as Darjaleeng, which is what you see above. It’s the most common type of tea used. You can use loose-leaf tea if you want, but tea bags are much easier (and easier to dispose).

There are probably like 5-8 whole black peppercorns in there. Now, this ingredient is totally optional. In fact, my mom told me she only uses peppercorns when she’s sick since the spice and heat from the pepper helps clear the sinuses. So obviously, I used some today.

5-6 pieces of cardamom, in the pod.

Cardamom is a staple ingredient in Chai. If you don’t have any of the other ingredients, this is the one you should have if you want to make Chai, or garam masala. It’s spicy, sweet and smokey. I love it! Now, a lot of people will wonder why you need the pods because if you open the pod, you get cardamom seeds that look black like what I used when I made garam masala. I use the pods because I like the flavor even from the skin so it’s not just the seeds that help create the distinct flavor of Chai.

Cinnamon stick. Powder won’t cut it. This adds another spicy-sweet flavor. A “mulling” spice, if you will.

You need a pinch of whole black cloves. This adds a SUPER intense smokey flavor that I just love.

Let’s make some Chai! Because I’m still surprised I’m awake…

You’ll need a mortar and pestle. If you don’t have one, they aren’t expensive to buy. You could grind everything up in a grinder, but I don’t think having a powder works quite as well.

I’ve mentioned before how much I love mine. It was a wonderful gift from my parents and a perfect use for making Chai.

Since I made Chai only for myself, this is 1 1/2 cups of water I put into a sauce pan to heat. Let the water get a little hot before you add in the tea.

So while that’s happening, you can make your Chai mixture.

Break up the cinnamon either with your hands or with the pestle (the “bat” used to crush things)

Place all the ingredients into the mortar and pestle and go to town to crush it all up!

This is what you end up with. I inhaled this mixture about a million times, and that alone made me feel a ton better. All the oils were released and it smelled so wonderful.

When the water is hot (not boiling), add in the tea bags and stir. Let it steep for 5-10 minutes.

It’ll turn a lovely mahogany color as it’s steeping. Soooo pretty!

Add in the Chai mix to the water and tea bags. Let it heat through another 5 minutes or so and stir well. As you do, you’ll really smell the Chai and your nose will grow impatient.

When it’s all done, pour the tea into a measuring cup. This will make for easy pouring into your cup.

Using a strainer, pour the tea into your cup.

The strainer will catch all the tea mixture, but leave the great intense flavor in your cup.

Traditionally, Chai is served with milk and sugar. It’s how I’ve always had it growing up, so having tea just straight black, tastes horrible to me.

You really only want enough milk to turn the Chai into a beautiful chestnut color. You’ll need to add quite a bit of sugar to help sweeten it. If you don’t, it’ll be REALLY strong. I mean, I guess you could leave it that way, but I like it sweet.

So there you go! It’s definitely not hard to make your own Chai and beats what ever they serve you at your local coffee shop because that’s almost always pre-made. That’s definitely not my BAG. Heh heh. Sorry, the puns are thanks to the cold. Although, my sniffles have reduced a ton thanks to this tea. I’m not kidding: cure for the common cold. Well, at least I like to think so.

It’s already week 3…or end of week 3 in the project! I can’t believe it’s going by this fast…

15/365:

I’d like to say I baked these but I didn’t. I’m not Catholic but to humble myself I decided to give up something for Lent. I gave up chocolate. Might not seem like a huge deal, but I LOVE chocolate. It hasn’t been as hard as I thought it’d be. Except, when I bake. A lot of what I like to bake contains chocolate. I took this photo because I figured, “Hey, if I can’t have chocolate…that doesn’t mean I can’t eat cookies.” Ha. And no, I didn’t eat the entire plate. I had one and realized they were too sweet for my taste.

16/365:

The previous week I took a photo of Gryff chasing a ball but he was running away from me. Hence “bunny butt” photo was taken. This week, I wanted a picture of him coming towards me chasing his ball. Ugh. He’s the cutest thing ever. I’m sure if he could spend every second outside in the snow, he would.

17/365:

When I was a kid, I found it “cool” to see Americans buying things Made in India because I felt like my people were becoming popular. It’s weird, but I still kind of feel that way. Except, buying Indian things in America can be tough, and expensive. Even if it says Made in India, it’s most likely overpriced. Or so my mom says. One of my sister’s friends went back to India with her mom and sister and got me this purse.  It’s made entirely of beads and has the most beautiful elephant on the front and these black flowers. It’s stuff like this that makes me proud of my culture and makes me admire it more and more each day.

18/365:

These two are the two loves of my life, aka “the favorites” as I most often refer to them. I truly feel like the luckiest girl in the world to have two amazing beings in my life (except for my family of course <3).I don’t know what I would do if they weren’t in my life, nor do I want to think about that. They make everything in my life a million times better.  They’re my support, my hugs, my love and happiness. Enough said.

19/365:

We made homemade cinnamon rolls. The title “baker extraordinaire” still stays strong with me. That is all.

20/365:

The Indian festival of color, Holi, was on March 1st. Since I couldn’t participate in the Holi festivities (which consist of throwing colored powder at each other – super fun!), my coworker/friend JoP suggested I take pictures of colorful things all day. I had so much fun taking photos that day. FACT: I need to incorporate more color into Project 365.

21/365:

In addition to baker extraordinaire, you can add “good Indian wife” (or pre-wife as REB has started calling me) to my list of talents and awesome skills. I make my own garam masala, as pictured above. Buying store bought is blasphemy.

Another great week! Come back next week for the week 4 recap! As always, the Project 365 photos can be seen on my Flickr. Happy clicking!

Garam masala is the one spice mixture you need for Indian cooking. Store-bought doesn’t cut it for me. Call me high maintenance, but you can’t skimp on good flavor and spice!

I make a lot of curries and most every recipe,  if not all of them, requires 1 tablespoon (I like my curries spicy!) of this incredible spice. This is actually a combination of six different spices ground together into a fine powder.

Up until now, my mom made the masala for me because she makes huge batches and loves to share. But now I’m a grown up, so making it at home is super simple and now I’m going to let you in on the secret of how to make it!

Now, you could use the old fashioned method of making your own masala with a mortar and pestle. However, that isn’t ideal if you want to make big batches, like I did tonight.

This guide will show you how to make your own at home! It’s super easy and believe me, once you make it, you won’t ever buy store-bought again.

What you’ll need:
•2 tablespoons black cardamom seeds
•2 tablespoons whole peppercorns
•2 tablespoons cumin seeds
•2 tablespoons coriander seeds
•1 cinnamon stick
•2 whole dried red chilies

You also need a grinder. Like I said, you could use a mortar and pestle, but a coffee grinder would be a better choice. My mom actually has two: one for grinding coffee, and one for spices. Great investment.

Beautiful sight isn’t it? These are the spices you’ll need to make this masala. There are many variations to this recipe and I’m sure you can find them all online, but this is what my mom uses. So by default, this is what I use ;-) It’s all relative (ba-dum-bum pssh!)

Let’s talk about those spices in detail, shall we?

Coriander seeds are little tan seeds, which add a super strong, pungent taste to your masala.

Whole peppercorns don’t need any explanation. They’re spicy and necessary.

One whole cinnamon stick. This is going to add a spicy-sweet flavor to the masala. Don’t worry, you won’t use the whole thing (that would be WAY too overpowering), but this will add just a hint of sweet spice in the background. I guess kind of like nutmeg, but not as mild.

Whole dried red chilies. Yum! These will add such a kick. There is no such thing as “mild” garam masala, so don’t skimp. Add the heat.

Cumin seeds add a lovely smokey flavor to the masala. It’s not quite spicy, but it’s not bland either. I can’t explain it, except that it’s wonderful. Cumin seeds are used a lot on their own in other curries.

And finally we have black cardamom seeds. Cardamom is a very distinct spice used a lot in Indian cooking. Most people know cardamom as one of the main ingredients in Chai. That kind is the green pods, but these black seeds are used in garam masala. The more you know.

So those are the spices! They’re lovely and don’t fret. They aren’t as expensive as you might think. Most Indian grocery stores sell them in decent-sized bags for between $3-7. And believe me, they’ll last a long time, so it’s well worth your money.

To prepare the garam masala, you simply dry roast all these ingredients in a skillet over medium heat for 15 or so minutes.

Dry roasting is essential when making this. This will release all the oils in the spices and will create and incredible depth of flavor.

Every few minutes, lift the skillet off the heat and swirl it to stir the spices around. You want to dry roast the ingredients for up to 15 minutes, or until the air is aromatic. And believe me, you’ll know when it’s done.

Once it’s finished, turn off the stove and place the skillet on a cool burner. Let it cool completely (5-10 minutes) before you grind it.

Remove the cinnamon stick from the skillet and if you have a mortar and pestle, break it up and place only a few pieces back into the spice mixture. So basically what I did was roast the cinnamon to infuse the flavors into the skillet and then only using a little bit of it in the actual mixture so that it’s not overpowering. If you don’t have a mortar and pestle, just use a rolling pin or anything hard to help break up the stick. Save the rest of the cinnamon, too! You can use it in another dish or grate it over tea or cider.

Once the spices have cooled, you can take a little bit at a time and grind it down to a fine powder as shown above. Do this until the entire mixture is a fine powder.

The end result is this amazing little spice mountain of decadence. Store it into an jar or air tight container and it’ll keep for up to 6 weeks! You only need to use about 1/2 a tablespoon at a time when you add into your curries. Unless you’re me. Then you’ll be adding 1 tablespoon or more for that heat.

So that wasn’t too hard, right? The hardest part is finding all the spices, but once you get them, it’s smooth grinding from there.

So simple, so sinful.

I love potatoes. I really don’t think “love” is a strong enough word for how I feel about these starchy roots of heaven.

One of my coworkers and friends JLN told me how he made these mashed potatoes that were to die for, and then he 1-up’d himself and baked them.

That was enough for me to want to try this. I knew the basic recipe had to be easy. But what I really needed from him was the temperature to bake the dish. There are also a ton of recipes around the web about this dish, but I decided to take what I had and make it with those ingredients. Funny enough, the recipe he used, actually used the ingredients I had to use up! (I just said “use” a lot in that phrase..)

So yeah, if you have stuff in your fridge you need to use up, make this dish! It takes up to an hour from start to finish, but it’s well worth it.

Here’s what we used:
•5 russet potatoes, cut into 1-inch pieces. Leave the peels on! I love the potato skin
•5 oz. 1/3 less fat Neufchatel cheese (basically 1/3 less fat cream cheese. It’s what I had leftover from the cinnamon rolls)
•1/2 cup chopped chives (about 15 “strands” of chives I had leftover from baked potatoes we made a few days ago)
•1/4 cup light sour cream (this is optional. We didn’t end up using a lot of this)
•S&P to taste
•1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
•2 tablespoons margarine or butter

Boil the potatoes until their fork tender. Then drain them and transfer them back to your boiling pot (no need to dirty a new bowl)

Add in your cream cheese, sour cream and mash ‘em up! I don’t know why my masher decided to go MIA the one time I needed it, but fear not! Since the potatoes were so tender, we used a fork and it worked just as well. If you want yours super creamy, use a hand mixer if you have one. Would work beautifully for an extra creamy texture.

Then add in your chives and cheese. Chives add a lovely, mild onion flavor. You can totally take this out if you don’t want that. …But why would you NOT have sour cream and chives on a potato…? That’s just crazy talk.

Add some salt and pepper to taste.

Pour the entire pot of mashed potatoes into a lightly greased 9 x 13 glass baking dish (just spray with some cooking spray). Spread the mixture out evenly.

Take the 1-2 tablespoons of butter and break it up to spread evenly across the top of the potatoes.

Sprinkle some leftover cheese (or additional cheese in my case. ahem.) on top

Bake at 350ºF for 25-30 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the potatoes are golden brown.

Mmkay. I clearly don’t need to explain what’s going on in that picture. Did I mention how much I love potatoes?

Just little bites of heaven. Sigh. Love, love, love.

Unfortunately, using up those ingredients to make this dish only created more leftovers for me to get rid of… (–_–;  Ah well. All in the name of love.

Holi is an Indian festival of colors! It usually occurs at the end of February, and beginning of March. It’s a festival to symbolize the end of winter, and beginning to spring, summer and warm, colorful months!

The way Indians celebrate this festival is to literally throw colors at each other. You can either mix the color powder with water, then fill up water balloons to throw at each other, or just throw powder. It’s so much fun!

Unfortunately, since I don’t know many Indians in the Ann Arbor area, nor am I part of the Indian community here, I couldn’t participate in it. Pout.

To make up for it, my coworker JoP told me take pictures of things full of color.

What a completely brilliant idea!

I had thought in my mind that I’d go to places like Jo-Ann Fabrics and Cost Plus World Market because I knew they were bound to have colorful things! However, when I asked if I could take photos in their store, their corporate policy wouldn’t allow it. Boo.

I had to be creative, so I took pictures of things I had around the house – always a good time.

So without further ado, I give you some pictures full of vibrant colors!

Just a couple of wash cloths I had at home! OK, really, I bought these since we needed more, but the fact they were colorful made for a good picture.

Just some plastic straws. Neon, whoa!

What better way to illustrate color than with little rolls of wax! Crayola crayons not only make me feel like I’m 8 again, but the 64 box was full of vibrant colors!

Had some beads laying around. I probably could have been more artistic with how I laid them out (–_–;

Colorful, delicious, little balls of gum that lose their flavor after 2 minutes. Oh well. They were fun to photograph. I bet this photo would have turned out so much better if I had natural light. Next time!

And with that, I wish you all a very Happy Holi and here’s to a colorful, warm-weather spring!

Gooey, delicious, and guaranteed to be horrible for you, these cinnamon buns are amazing.

I can’t in any way take credit for this recipe. My future bro-in-law makes these buns and they are to DIE for. He uses the recipe off King Arthur Flour’s web site. And since that just so happens to be the flour we use, of course we had to try this recipe. He did offer some alterations and some tips for us that is different than the actual recipe, which I’ll talk allllll about here.

Warning: Butter WILL be your best friend in this recipe. So if you’re on a diet, I suggest turning away now. …But I hope you don’t, because it’s so delicious! Also, this recipe will make you lethargic. True story.

OK, so now that I’ve done my part and given you the warnings, we can go ahead and talk about how to make these rolls of heaven.

Cinnamonamaonamonamon buns starring:
The Dough:
•4 1/2 cups King Arthur All-Purpose Flour (or all-purpose flour if you don’t use this brand)
•1/2 cup of granulated sugar
•1 3/4 teaspoon salt
•1/3 cup unsalted butter, cut up
•2 large eggs, room temperature
•2 1/4 teaspoon instant yeast (we just used Red Star-brand active dry yeast)
•1 cup milk (lukewarm – just stick it into the microwave for 20-30 seconds. This is to help the yeast react properly)

The Filling:
•1 cup packed brown sugar (we used dark – more depth of flavor)
•1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened (just leave it out for 1-2 hours)
•3 tablespoons ground cinnamon

The Icing:
•3 oz. plain cream cheese (we used the 1/3 less fat neufchatel cheese, which isn’t as bad for you and has a lot more flavor)
•1 1/2 cup powdered (or confectioners) sugar
•1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
•1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened (that’s 1/2 a stick)

Start to make your dough by adding the milk, a little bit of the sugar (like 1/8 teaspoon) and the yeast to your mixer bowl. With the paddle attachment, start mixing the ingredients.

If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can use a hand mixer, or a wooden spoon.

Next, add the flour, rest of the sugar and the salt. Let the entire thing combine until it’s “cohesive” as the site would suggest. Then you can take it out and knead on a well oiled surface for 5-8 minutes. Or, you can attach the dough hook to your KitchenAid and knead it that way for 4-7 minutes on low-to-medium speed.

This is how the dough will look when it’s all nice and combined

Put the dough into a separate bowl, so you can clean out the metal mixer bowl and oil it. Then put the dough back into it and turn it around to oil it well. Next, turn on your oven to the lowest temperature (100 or 150ºF for maybe 1-2 minutes and then turn it off). Instead of just covering the dough with a towel or something, we put ours in the oven to rise. Just cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put it in the oven for 60 minutes so it can rise.

Go do your laundry, or play a video game or something for the hour while you wait for the dough to rise. It’ll go by quick, though!

When the dough is ready, oil a surface (or a few cutting boards in our case) and dump the dough ball onto it. Roll it out to 16 x 21 inches.

With your softened butter for the filling, spread it all over the dough. I know how horrible this looks, but believe me, you want it to look like this. It was a bit overwhelming, not going to lie. Now, I guess you could melt the butter first and then pour it onto the dough. Our butter was soft enough, so this worked just as well.

Then you want to sprinkle the entire thing with the cinnamon and sugar mixture. Get it all on there, too!

From the shortest end, start rolling the dough up into a tight log.

Cut the roll log into 12 pieces and place into a lightly greased 9 x 13 baking dish. It’s easiest to the cut the log into half, and then each half into six pieces.

Once you get all the pieces in your dish, you have to let them rise again. Cover the dish with plastic wrap, proof your oven again (set it to the lowest temperature for 1-2 minutes) and then turn the oven off, place the dish in there, and let them rise for 30 minutes.

It may not look like they’ve risen a ton, but they have.

Next, set your oven to 400ºF, and bake the rolls for 15 minutes. They won’t take long! So once the rolls are baking away, you can make your icing. You want to make the icing while they’re baking so that you can spread it on each bun as soon as they come out of the oven.

Mix the cream cheese (softened), butter (softened), powdered sugar and vanilla extract. You just use a fork and mix it well and you’ll end up with the most amazing cream cheese icing. Zomg. It took a lot not to eat the lovely forkful REB held up for me…

Moving on…

Spread the icing on the buns as soon as they come out of the oven. They’ll be all golden brown when they’re finished. The icing will instantly melt on top of each of the rolls. Must…contain…self.

If you notice one is missing, it’s because I snagged to take a photo of it. …or eat it. Ahem.

It’s OK to be jealous. Enjoy!

My longest, bestest friend is Mr. Bear. He’s the bestest friend a gal could ask for.

Even after 23 years, he’s been there for me through thick and thin.

You heard me right, 23 years.

I first got Mr. Bear in 1987 as a present from my parents. I moved to America from India, when I was 3 years old, and the first Christmas the year after we moved, my parents got my sister and me each the Sears bear. Might not seem like a huge deal, but I don’t remember any other toys I ever had, so this was pretty exciting!

He’s pretty beat up, too if you can tell. I took him with me every where.

He knows all my secrets, all my fears, everything. I’ve cried on him more time than I can remember when times were rough, and he has scratches on his nose when I threw him across the room a few times when I was angry. :-\ Sorry, Mr. Bear. I’ve never washed him, either. I know that’s kind of gross, but I always thought that if I washed him, I’d wash away all those memories.

Yup. Mr. Bear is the best. I won’t ever get rid of him, and I won’t ever wash him (you can continue to gag if you want :-P). No matter what happens, I know I can count on him to be there.

Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman, is trying to kill me.

OK, not really, but that’s the only way I can justify the photo assignment she’s having this week.

P-Dubs has a photo assignment every now and then, which allows her fans and blog-followers showcase their “best of” photos. Then she picks finalists and gives out sweet prizes. A pretty nice gig if you ask me.

So this week when I saw she was having another photo assignment, I know I wasn’t the only one who was anxiously waiting to see what it was.

This week’s topic?

Dog portraits.

You see why I said she’s trying to kill me?

Does she even KNOW me…?

Mmmmk, don’t answer that.

Everyone knows how much I obsess about my dog, Gryff. He’s the best and cutest dog. No contest. Everyone also knows that I obsess about him so much that I have 600+ photos of him. At least. And I post his pictures here on my blog and ALL OVER my Flickr.

How am I ever going to submit only FOUR (one each day) for this assignment…?? This is like the biggest challenge ever! An impossible feat, if you will.

The first two entries were the following:

Unfortunately, I didn’t make Group 1 of the finalists. There were some adorable pictures, though. I don’t know if first-day-we-got-Gryff picture will make Group 2 of the finalists, but a girl can dream, right?

I’ve never won any of her contests or giveaways (or any contest or giveaway for that matter…). So when I saw this one was about our canine besties, I got pretty excited thinking, “Maybe…just maybe…I have a shot.” And then I saw all the other entries, which put my amateur photography to shame.

It hit me last night that this is too hard for me, as lame as that sounds. Seriously. It’s hard not to submit all 600+ (or is it more like 1000+ now? o_O) photos of him so the world can see how cute he is. Well, actually, not that hard since we can only post one per day – ha. But you get my point.

Today’s submission was an actual portrait I took of him yesterday:

It’s totally lame that I get all nervous and restless over these contests and assignments (darn you, Ree!). However, I’m a proud goggie mama, and I love sharing pictures of him to the world (^__^)

I don’t even know what I’ll post tomorrow as the final submission, but that’s something I can get nervous and foolishly-stressed about later. I do love seeing all the other submissions, though. Dogs are the cutest, most amazing animals ever! And I love that she’s giving everyone an opportunity to obsess about their dogs just a little more than usual.

And hey, even if I don’t make any finalist groups, that’s OK. The Gryffster is always going to be #1 in my book. Well, in the goggie world at least.