Happy Hour At The Hyatt

Every evening, the Grand Hyatt puts on a coctail hour for its elite/club guests.  Part of the deal for me staying there was that I was able to go.  Free drinks, free food.  You can tell how beautifully it's presented from this photo of the cold part of the food.  They also serve two hot dishes daily - one vegetarian and one non-vegetarian.  Almost all the food was spicy, except for the beautiful desserts.  It was nice to unwind and be treated well at the end of the day.  Many times, the food here was more than enough and I didn't eat dinner.

Not Real Quesadillas

I violated my mother's advice again and ordered quesadillas in India.  Mistake.  They were filled mostly with cilantro.  I don't mind cilantro in moderation, but when it's a cilantro salad inside the quesadilla, with little cheese and a bit of tomato - not my thing.  These were from the lounge restaurant at the Grand Hyatt, where I stayed while I was in Mumbai.

Indian Cotton

I bought this cotton yarn at the same place I bought the long stitch kits.  I was surprised that they had a wide selection of wool and acrylic yarns in Mumbai's climate, but the proprietor explained that he's the only shop in Mumbai to stock such things.  He does a good business in it.

Trims Indian Style

I found a sari trim shop in Bandra, close to where I was staying in Mumbai.  These trims are what I narrowed down to buy.  The shop was packed with all kinds of trims.  It was great.  I could have bought a lot more, but was frugal.

Long Stitch From India

 
I found a needlework store by accident while on a walking tour of Colaba.  Surprisingly, my guide let me in.  He was both interested and confused, as he didn't know people actually did these things for leisure.  These are all Indian designs and were about half the price of the same kind of kit in the US.

Pretty Stationery

I am a complete sucker for pretty stationery.  This is inked in silver and sparkles in the light.  It was also about a dollar and a quarter.

Some Stars

Stars to put in the new place.  I hope we have a well built house in Kosovo.

Paper Stars

These little triangles fold out to become three dimensional five pointed stars.  I can't wait to put them up in Kosovo.  We were so disappointed with the housing here in Angola that I never really decorated.  I hope Kosovo is much, much better.

Spicy

We bought spice from a local market in Mumbai.  Some of it was for gifts, and some for us.  I am most excited about the most expensive - saffron!  I will be using this for cooking soon.

Skirts And Scarves

These tubes are broomstick skirts with printed borders.  They're very full skirts and just need waistlines.  The smaller tubes are matching scarves.  Now to get the time and space to make them into what I want.

Pretty Dupioni Silk

These pieces of silk are going to become purses eventually.  For now, they feel and look beautiful - especially for the price I paid for them.

Embroidered Shawl

One last all cotton shawl with embroidery over about half of it.  The embroidery is on the front and then the rest drapes behind.

Handwoven Cotton

An NGO came in to the Mumbai consulate to sell stuff, and I found this beautiful handwoven shawl.  It's well over 150 threads per inch and whisper thin.  The colors shimmer.  Of course, this has the same problem as my other shawls at the moment - the cat.  Argh.

Shawls

I bought these three shawls in Mumbai.  All are soft and pretty, but out of different materials.  I'd get them out of packaging and wear them here, but my husband has decided to keep letting the cat into our adjoining closet on his side.  I hate cats.  And I hate cat fur on things I want to wear.  He doesn't get that, so they stay packaged until I can get away from this dreadful house in this dreadful place and enjoy wearing what I want to wear without cat hair.

Amethyst Ring

A silver ring with an amethyst.  I just thought it looked nice, and it wasn't overpriced.

Small Purse

One of the groups that came into the Mumbai consulate was selling these cute, but very small, backpack purses.  I was taken with the color of this one.

Magnet For Andreas

One of the shopkeepers gave me this magnet especially for Andreas.  It's got the Gate of India and the Taj hotel on it.

Sapphires For Me!

Sapphires and white gold from my husband!  Andreas insisted on buying me some heirloom jewelry while we were shopping.  I love them.

Hearts!

These papier mache hand painted hearts are so cute, I had to get them.

Pendants And More Earrings

Andreas took a photo of both some earrings and my pendants.  I think he was getting tired of taking so many photos.  I like both pendants, and I am especially enamoured of the malachite earrings.