Tag: Charlotte (Page 1 of 2)

For the love of Pizza

December 1, 2025 / queenbee / 0 Comments

My earliest memories of pizza are from my childhood, when my friends and I would haunt our favourite Global Bakery, order a small pizza, eat a slice each and go to our evening tutions.

When one of our friends had their birthday, we would celebrate with a pizza along with 200 ml each of Coca Cola or our desi favourite, Thumbs Up. Those were the best days, of no worries and screen-free childhood!

The nearby, Country Oven was somehow unsuccessful. Everyone preferred the Global Bakery.

Anyway, schooling was the time my love for pizza started.

Once I progressed to college, getting pizza delivered became a routine. Mid Land Bakery got most of our business. These orders grew manifold, once I began earning.

I miss those days when the Technical Division team girls had a fun lunch at the Pizza Hut and ate to our hearts content.

After marriage, when Mr.Bee and I, made Charlotte our new home, pizza had been the go-to lunch or dinner, during our lazy days.

Even though I have been in love with the Pizza, this post is not about me!

I remember my first ever pizza in Charlotte, which had nothing but mushrooms as the topping. (I hated the Mellow Mushrooms pizza, by the way. I am not a fan of mushrooms, even though they are one of the rare sources of protein for vegetarians.)

Then came the particularly soft Papa John’s pizza, who knew my heart and always sent extra pickles for this desi girl, Queen Bee! I could savour their soft pizza, thanks only to their pickles.

Then there was Vapiano Pizza, which had the best ambience and was the true Italian pizza, but I felt no connection! (Sadly, it was shut down during Covid lockdown and now the new pizzeria in it’s place is, the Bella Ciao)

The Pizza Hut pizza was good too, but could hardly conquer my taste buds.

The Fuel Pizzeria’s Garden Fresh Pizza with my all time favourite topping of Basil had me salivating like never before. Mr.Bee loved to have a Margarita Cheese Pizza. At Fuel, we ordered half and half, one half with my choice of toppings and the other half with three kinds of cheese for Mr.Bee. Sweet deal! The added advantage was of the ambience, which was friendly, but not too friendly.

Incidentally, the FUEL pizzeria was close to Mr.Bee’s office and that added to the charm. I also loved their Garlic Knots, which were my “soul” food, they made my soul happy!

The day we landed in Charlotte, we had pizza from Mellow Mushrooms, Mr.Bee got negative marks for this choice of pizza! He didn’t know about my aversion to mushrooms. To compensate, he took me to the Fuel pizzeria for dinner and that saved his neck!

Team lunches and dinners for Mr.Bee always meant Pizza, he must have eaten more than twice of my share of pizzas, but still, this post is not about him either!

During the lockdown, the one person who missed pizza was none other than GBee. Yes, this post is about my elder munchkin and his love for the Pizza.

Thanks to lockdown and the after effects of it, we stopped eating out for a while. To satiate our demanding taste buds, we even made a pizza at home, with the head chef/ baker being Mr.Bee and the sous chef / baker being me!

Once GBee saw that we were making him a pizza, he was excited and I don’t remember how we made him sit for full 45 minutes, till it was done.

He was so excited, he rushed outside to the main gate, as soon as he heard the gate open. He shouted at the top of his voice about pizza being made at home. Sadly, the visitors were confused and were in too deep a conversation to even respond to the kiddo.

GBee sharing his happiness with random strangers!

Since we didn’t have an oven good enough to bake a sinful pizza, we made it with desi jugaad. That weekend had been memorable.

Before and After – Homemade pizza

Credit goes to Mr.Bee for the tasty pizza. Guess who loved it the most? GBee.

Although, he picked out every piece of vegetables on the pizza and piled it onto my plate, he still loved it! If only he ate it with all the vegetables, he would have been a bigger pizza fan!

Some day I would love to go to Italy and try the pizza there, probably made by a nonna . Does anyone have similar dream?

P.S :

1. Down the line, when we wanted to feed GBee to some sandwiches, we would bluff that they were just mini-pizza and he would believe us and eat them. Now, he is old enough to recognize the bluffs.

2. KBee, surprisingly doesn’t like pizza. We always order garlic bread for him to eat. Our choice of pizzeria in Hyderabad is the Pompeii. (The pizza is to die for!)

3. Before our flight to India, when we were finally returning home, Mr.Bee and I ate at the Fuel Pizza, one last time.

Mohiniattam, Kathakali and Kalariyapattu : c/o Munnar

October 24, 2025 / queenbee / 5 Comments

Day 5 – Part 2

After all of us took hot water baths, we changed into fresh clothes and were ready for our evening plans to fall through.

N, took us to the Raga Traditional Arts Performing Theater, a 10 minute drive from the White House hotel.

But, as soon as he stopped the car, GBee opened the car door on his side of the car and managed to scrape it against the wall. Turns out N’s boss is the Devil’s reincarnate, because, at once N lost his composure and started reprimanding GBee and Mr.Bee. By the anxiety N was going through, I had imagined the door must have been mangled and is on the verge of collapse, but the scraping on the door was hardly visible, even in the day light! (All this was to probably demand extra bucks from us for which Mr.Bee complied, since GBee was at fault.)

Anyway, with that discussion about compensation out of our way, N allowed us to go inside to watch our program.

The first program of the evening was Mohiniattam. Later Bharatanatyam dancers too joined in the dance and it was one mesmerising show. I love watching dance shows. (Mr.Bee and I have been to actress Shobana’s dance show, where she played Lord Krishna. This memory is locked inside my brain, as a part of Charlotte, USA folder!)

Bharatanatyam dance

The next leg of the performance was Kathakali, which had been my dream to watch live. (Dreams, do come true!) The skit was based on an incident from Mahabharata, Dushasana Vadha, i.e. Bheema killing off Dushasana, for disrobing Panchali, Draupadi, in the court room.

All the performers together at the end

As you can see in the above pic, Bheema is standing to the left, where as Roudra Bheema (when he is extremely angry, because of insult to his wife) is in the middle, while Dushasana is on the extreme right.

The Mohiniattam performer is flanked by Bharatanatyam dancers on either side.

When Bheema is angry, he is portrayed by the guy in the middle and I think that his aura is red and dangerous, hence the costume. He looks very similar to Bhoot Kola performers from Kantara and we had to close KBee’s eyes for him to not be scared. The performance of Roudra Bheema was intense. (They may not be paid as much for the effort they are putting in!)

Bheema and Dushasana- warning each other.

After the performance, the audience were allowed to take pics and selfies with the artists. We took a photo with them and incidentally, KBee was not facing the camera, but one of the Kathakali performers! (It was hilarious.)

Eye catching, vibrant Kathakali performer – KBee’s person of interest!

As soon as we were done with one performance, we had to rush towards the arena of Kalariyapattu! I never knew I needed this!

Kalariyapattu students and their Guru performed various stunts.

The performers pray to their weapons before start of the stunts.

Jumping through Rings of Fire!

Then there is this stunt….

Playing with fire!

It is difficult to explain but, I had most fun watching the stunts live. Even GBee and KBee who were like, let’s go to the hotel and sleep, after watching Kathakali, but Kalariyapattu, brought new life in their dull faces!

With renewed energy, we returned to the hotel. We pacified N again, promising him that we will pay the charges for the scratch.

As soon as we pressed the number 4 in the lift, we understood that the key card of our hotel room is nowhere to be seen! GBee had asked Mr.Bee for the card and put it in his pocket, but it was nowhere to be seen. (GBee had put the key card in his pocket, but before the start of the performances at the Raga, we were made to stand for the national anthem. That must have been the time GBee lost the key card from his pocket.)

You guessed it right, we paid a fine, to get a new key card! Turns out GBee was having a bad day, after all!

P.S:

1. Even after the car door incident and key card incident, we could hardly scold GBee. He is a careful boy, 95% of the time. Today was just not his day!

2. Wait, I forgot to mention, GBee managed to pull a weapon from the Kalariyapattu arena and all the weapons toppled, like you see in movies! Yup, bad bad day! (I was busy running after KBee and GBee managed to create quite a ruckus)

3. Mr.Bee re-lived his Muay Thai Kick Boxing days, by shaking hands with Kalariyapattu experts and taking a photo with them.

Mr.Bee posing with a Kalariyapattu exponent.

4. At one point, the Kathakali performers stood among the audience and KBee was shaken. He is scared of people wearing heavy makeup and costume. He had a similar scare, when he had watched the Varaha Roopam song from Kantara, when he was hardly a 2 year old baby. He had screamed loudly and wouldn’t stop crying till I had turned the t.v. off. (In my defense, he had been playing in the bedroom while I was watching the song in the hall!)

5. All the images of Kalariyapattu stunts are NOT mine. I have downloaded them from search engine.

6. We had a hearty dinner of vegetable fried rice, tomato soup and the usual and retired for the night.

Till the next post, cheerio.

The Bully at the Potter’s Wheel

April 19, 2024 / queenbee / 0 Comments

While I was busy cleaning out some stuff and making space for the new junk, I came across my USA journal where I had written stuff that needed to be posted in the blog. I was so into pottery in Charlotte, so here it is, the new post.

– – – – – –

After reading the title, you must have put two and two together and arrived at the conclusion that the Potter’s Wheel is the name of the studio I had begun my journey as an amateur Potter. It is not actually Potter’s Wheel, but I have named it so for privacy sake.

There I was, just out of the cab, with my off-white canvas tote bag, stuffed with my black striped apron hanging out. I didn’t waste a minute and began walking towards the studio in-front of me. That was when I saw him!

He looked round, well fed, dark, with shiny eyes, waiting at the studio portico, for unsuspecting innocent people like yours truly, QueenBee!

I walked past him, trying to look breezy and cool, kind of aloof. But secretly I was observing his every move, from the corner of my eyes. I thought I had escaped his attention, but I was wrong. He followed me to the door!

Yikes!

I looked over my shoulders, as I typed the security code in a jiffy. He was neither tall nor trained to know the security code…..

I opened the door after the beep, enough to let myself in and shut the door behind me in a hurry. I could still see him looking at me through the glass doors!

Breathe, breathe, damn it, I said to myself….

I think I have an enemy on my hands, I thought.

I reached my station, took out my bag of clay and began kneading and measuring clay for use. I set up a bucket full of water near my wheel, ready to throw clay on the wheel. (Throwing is the term used by potters, when they begin to make shapes out of clay)

My dream Pottery studio looks something like this – Pic Source : Google

Then I remembered that I had items to be bisque fired. (Clay is first kneaded. Then potters throw clay to make bowls etc. Then the bowls are bisque fired. Then glazes are used to colour the bowls, then fired again. The final product is then ready to be used. Each article goes for firing at least twice.)

Here I was taking my bowls for the first firing. On my way to the firing station, I saw that he had entered the studio! Someone must have opened the studio door and let him in. (Such ignorant people) Once again, he began to follow me, in and out of the firing station. I could hardly concentrate on anything.

‘Meow‘, he said at-last, probably bidding me goodbye, before finally ditching me . He met new people, probably ‘cat people’, to stalk. He got many rubs on his back. He got all the attention he needed and that must have satisfied his ego!

Thank God, I sighed. So much for the Potter’s Wheel bully!

P.S:

Although I am an animal lover, I never go too near either the cats or the dogs. I don’t mind touching a fish or sting ray for that matter, but I stay away from cats and dogs. I can even baby talk them, but I refrain from touching them. I prefer cows! (When Mr.Bee and I visited Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta and also in Charleston Aquarium, I got the opportunity to touch sting ray and a medium sized fish. They felt rubbery!)
I dearly miss pottery. I would have probably become a master by now, since in 2 years I had graduated to intermediate level.
*PJ alert* Incidentally, I am a hobby potter, who is a Harry Potter fan!

Till the next post…cheerio friends.

Of the Ocean and the Beach!

October 31, 2023 / queenbee / 0 Comments

Day 10:

All the four of us are lazy souls, so we wake up late, at every possible chance we get! We don’t have exams to prepare for or have a flight to catch, so yes, waking up at leisure is not that bad. (Warning; Don’t try this at home! If you get beatings from your parents for waking up late, it is not my fault!)

As we were lazing on the beds, watching Insta reels and FB posts, the caretaker assigned for us at the resort came up to our door, begging us to come have our breakfast! It was hardly 8 A.M. (Either he had other stuff to do or is a punctual guy!)

That’s when I took the matters into my hands, woke up both the kiddos, gave them baths. All of us were ready by approximately 8:40 A.M.

Our caretaker brought us 4 thalis filled with neer dosa, onion poha and slices of ice cold watermelon, along with yellow coloured kesar. I don’t know if people in Mangalore ate sweet for breakfast, but I hardly eat sweet 10 times throughout the year. I prefer sinful chocolates and sinful is not a brand name!

Anyway, breakfast was a bust. What is this Neer Dosa? I couldn’t eat it, even if my life depended on it. It was bland and soft to touch. I like dosa which is crunchy and crispy and nothing could change my prejudice against neer dosa, not even the chutney or the sambar. (I had to wash it down my throat with huge sips of water or neer, maybe that’s why it is called Neer Dosa!)

neither crispy nor crunchy – no second chances! – pic source: Google

The breakfast menu sucked big time, mostly because I am also not a fan of poha, but if it were batata poha, the breakfast would have been in my tummy in a jiffy, thanks to the potato, but onion poha was a no-no. (It seems, the caretaker is not a specialist when it came to making breakfast!) Interestingly, this caretaker guy thought that both my kids, who are less than 7 years old combined, would eat as much as us, adults. Their plates were exactly plated like ours, in adult portions! Such wastage of food, that too, the food which none of us like!

After our not-so-satisfactory breakfast, we rushed to the beach, applying 2mm thick sunscreen and continued playing till black spots began appearing before our eyes. (Playing under the scorching Sun can do that to your eyes!)

Three to Tango!

We returned to the resort, showered under the shower head and got into the pool. We continued our fun in the swimming pool for more than half an hour, before returning to the room, taking baths again and changing into fresh dry clothes. It is hard to make the kiddos come out of the pool. Their favourite pass time is playing with water and they love swimming pool, more than anything.

The Ocean meets the sky in the background while the foreground has a cutesy pool.

For lunch, we had Veg Fried Rice, Paneer Sabzi and a foot long glass filled upto brim with masala buttermilk.

After an hour or two, we returned to the beach, with the plastic tools bought in Subrahmanya, to make the sand castles. I would make a sand castle and the baby KBee would have a hearty laugh after stamping and razing the buckets of sand, every single time. He would laugh out loud and once he is in his fits of laughter, he ends up with hiccups. So ya, its interesting watching him laugh between hiccups! (I know who he takes after!)

We also fought each other in the sand, took some pictures and again had brief fun at the swimming pool before calling it a day.

Baby with an Umbrella as a shield – KBee after a sand fight!

I took loads of pictures of Sunset and one Mr.X, an uncle of a close friend advised us that it is not a good omen to take pictures of ourselves with the setting Sun. So, there goes our beach photo session in vain! (We decided not to show them to others, lest they pass any such comments!)

Morning to noon – empty beach

Another click from my cellphone….

Coconut trees on a beach have a charm of their own.

We ate paper thin pulkas, dal tadka and had fresh watermelon juice to finish off the dinner. Both the kids are extremely picky, so the only juice they like having is that of watermelon and I too order watermelon juice if mosambi is unavailable.

With a completely satisfied stomach, we ended our day, with the background music of the rising tides of the ocean waves. Another day of leisure comes to an end.

P.S:

Sorry folks if I offended anyone about the neer dosa, but honesty is the best policy and I follow it everyday of my life. Andddd, people do have varied tastes and thank God for that!
Even if Mangalore is a beach city, we didn’t feel the humidity at all, maybe because we dressed appropriately for the beach. Food for thought!
The caretaker looked like a pukka South Indian, but turns out, he is from Assam and had relocated to Mangalore during the pandemic! That maybe the reason why his South dishes failed to impress us, whereas, pulkas and rotis were fabulous! I still can’t understand, how anyone can make a paper thin pulka! I am not giving neer dosa another chance though. It is completely opposite of everything I like, it is a no-go!
Visiting a beach on weekday, from morning to noon is the best thing one can do. No human traffic, which means, we can have the beach to ourselves. Beach at Mangalore felt like a private beach for a whole day!
Like I mentioned in previous post, never miss the masala buttermilk in any city or town of Karnataka. It is the best.
Sometimes, when Mr.Bee and I drive to far off locations, with mountains and hills, we remember Charlotte and miss those beautiful mountains, we would frequently visit, every month! I miss you GrandFather Mountain, Gatlinburg and Mt.Soma! I miss you too, Pigeon Forge and Chimney Rock!

Cheerio, till the next post.

Bengaluru Beckons!

June 19, 2023 / queenbee / 2 Comments

Mr.Bee and I had planned a short vacation, way back in November 2022. But LIFE happened and we cancelled our trip at the loss of some hard earned money. So this time, we wanted to travel, but with a flexible itinerary, to avoid cancellations and to not be disappointed. That is how we started our 14 day vacation, with 2 year old KBee , 6 year old GBee on our nearly 6 year old Vento!

Since Hyderabad felt like a sauna, we decided on a cooler destination and immediately zeroed in on Ooty. (I have fond memories of Ooty from my teens and Mr.Bee had never been to Ooty.)

Our trip started with buying loads of healthy snacks for our drive, a 10 litre Milton cooler for water needs of the kiddos, emergency medicines, medical kit and 4 suitcases full of clothes for all the 4 of us!

Day 1:

…..Started with our drive from Hyderabad to Bengaluru . We started at around 6 a.m., (originally planned on starting by 5 a.m.) drove to Kurnool, on time to have our breakfast. (Both the kids had fallen asleep on the car-bed we had installed on the back seat. ) I had masala dosa and it is the best I had in recent times. GBee demanded cell phone to have his breakfast, but thanks to the dozen or more police officers having breakfast at the Hangout, he stayed away from throwing tantrums and had his plain dosa in silence. (GBee is afraid of the police.)

Even though it was still 8:30 a.m., the Sun was already showing his might. So we kept ourselves and kids hydrated by drinking water and Gatorade in alterations.

At Ananthapur, we bought the juiciest and sweetest guavas ever. I ate two in a sitting. They were awesome. Thanks to the seller, we also had some guava leaves, which I placed on top of the dash board, to test my theory. Plants and flowers attract heat and cool the surrounding areas, so the leaves on dash board meant, they took the heat and the passengers have none. (If you are going out during peak summer heat, place an onion in your hand bag or shoulder bag and get on with your business. The onion prevents sun strokes by absorbing the heat, especially in tropical climates, it is very helpful.)

We reached the outskirts of Bengaluru at around, 1:30 p.m. and had our lunch at Nandi Upahar, near the road to Nandi Hills. There was a waiting line and although the restaurant needed a face-lift, we had our lunch and started our drive into the City of Traffic, Bengaluru! (Don’t get me wrong, I love Bengaluru and its pleasant climate, which is similar to that of my second home, Charlotte, NC,USA.)

We reached Mr.Bee’s colleague, R‘s house, at BTM Stage 2, took our time to freshen up ourselves and by the time it was 5 p.m., we went to the nearby park. GBee and KBee had a blast playing there. Once it started drizzling, we ran out of the park and rushed home. Our dinner that night was Dominos Pizza, because, the food delivery showed a waiting time of more than 1 hour, thanks to the heavy rain that night. We had a Vegetarian Gourmet Pizza, with added basil seasoning and it was good. GBee was over the Moon thanks to the junky dinner!

We slept, for a night of peace. Both the kiddos slept like logs, a long drive can do that to anyone!

I woke up at 7 a.m., as usual and was mesmerised by the silence of Bengaluru. I saw atleast fifty people going for walks, jogs in fitness gear. A retiree continued with his stretches, all the while, nodding his head to one or two familiar faces. Everyone was going about their business in silence. This pleasant scene tempted me to ditch Hyderabad and move to Bengaluru. But then, I am a pukka Hyderabadi.(Also, I had temporary lapse in judgement!)

R even tempted us guys by saying that the plot nearby was ready for sale! As if! We just enrolled GBee into a new school and that’s when it hit me, how easy it is to take decisions before having kids and after! We moved to India, in the blink of an eye from Charlotte, but something like that is unthinkable now.

Anyway…..

For breakfast we had scrumptious thatte idli (first time eating it) and medu vada with tasty pudina chutney.

Thatte Idli – Image Courtesy Google Search Engine

With that done and stuffing some Mango leaves onto the dashboard, Mr.Bee, I and the kids bid our farewells and started for Ooty! Chalo Ooty! That’s how we started our Day 2!

P.S:

Interestingly, if you want to convince your mom that you don’t want to go to school or college, an onion in one’s armpit, raises the body temperature and causes fever! Now take a blood oath that you won’t tell your mom, this is where you read it. I don’t want any mothers cursing me!
It is always better to check leaves for caterpillars. Thankfully, GBee was quick to observe that the mango branch of Bengaluru tree had a very active caterpillar. I jumped out of my skin, car came to a sudden halt and the branch went right out of the window! No one was hurt by the above incident!
I couldn’t post for more than 3 weeks, because, we were busy with the vacation, the return, the laundry, the school induction programs, the books, the uniforms and the likes. Hopefully, I will bore you guys silly with more posts. The next post will be about Udhagamandalam, Ooty for short!

Cheerio till the next post.

Sketch Please!

April 24, 2023 / queenbee / 1 Comment

If all you have with you are different pencils, a couple of white papers and time to kill, then , sketching is a good hobby for you! I started to sketch during my class 8 summer vacation and continued it well into my early twenties. But then, life happened and my hobby took a back seat!

For S, let’s go with Sketching!

According to the great internet God, Wikipedia, Sketching is the process of drawing of a rough outline of a final piece of art.

Drawing a rough outline of fighter figures! – Basics of Sketching

Sketching is also about using different strokes to complete the drawing. The different strokes of sketching are..

A sketch made with basic pencil strokes…

Tree during the Fall

One fine day, Mr.Bee and I decided to see who was better at sketching and the winner is obviously not me! Mr.Bee and I decided to sketch Marilyn Monroe and see who was better, but mine sucks. I have refrained from showing my piece. This one is Mr.Bee’s sketch.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Marilyn Monroe! – by Mr.Bee

While I am not posting my Marilyn Monroe sketch, to save my face, I would like to post, something else…

Girl in a Flower Crown – by QB

The easiest of all the sketches are the ones of nature, landscapes and hills. I have loads of those in my sketch book. Will post more of my sketches in later posts.

Sketch of a Hill Station – Probably Ooty! – by QB

All you need to start sketching are H and B pencils. H is the hardest pencil and so lighter in drawing, whereas, B is for darker shading, since they are softer.

Graphite Drawing Pencil guide

If you want to start sketching, why not start with a simple one like this …

Fallen leaves – Best beginner’s sketch for learning to shade

Go ahead, get sketching!

P.S:

The other hobbies starting with S are Sky Diving, Soap Making, Star Gazing (or Amateur Astronomy) and Snorkelling.

Mr.Bee tried his hand at Sky Diving, in Charlotte,NC,USA and enjoyed it thoroughly. You can watch the video here.

2. The images which don’t have my logo on them have been freely copied from the internet. Thanks to all the sources.

3. During our stay in USA, when Mr.Bee was busy in his office working, I would either go and make dozens of pottery or sit and watch movies.That is how I ended watching some of the movies of Marilyn Monroe, Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck, from Netflix. I loved watching Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, the Seven Year Itch, Roman Proposal, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, The Good, Bad and the Ugly,to name a few. (I need more time to refresh my memory to remember the other movie names!)

Resin craft

April 20, 2023 / queenbee / 0 Comments

Today’s hobby has wide range of uses across various fields. Not only is it used in jewellery making and furniture industries, but also in Dentistry! Yes, that’s right!

Today’s hobby idea with R is Resin Craft!

Resin Table Top – Sea shells, Conches and Star fishes used as decoration

Resin Crafting is the process of pouring synthetic liquid resin into moulds and letting it harden. The surface is then finished off with a varnish.

Resin crafting has uses in making prototypes in industrial settings as well as in dentistry. Composite Resin is used in the place of decayed tooth or portion. Even base of dentures is made with resin.

Thankfully, resin is mostly used by hobbyists and artists for other purposes like, resin jewellery.

Mixed Dry flower Resin bangles

If you want to preserve some article or items with sentimental value, resin craft is the way to go. Some people make jewellery to preserve the flowers that have been used on their wedding day, as a souvenir of their memories.

Move over gem cabochons, resin cabochons are here!

Some new mothers even preserve breast milk through resin craft . (Go ahead and read it)

Bookworms like me would rather prefer resin bookmarks, more than anything. Don’t they look beautiful?

Beautiful Resin Bookmarks, make reading worthwhile!

If you have two naughty kids like I do, you will surely have loads of colour pencils lying around the house! So why not use them to make a fruit bowl?

Resin Bowl made with used colour pencils

Is the cell phone your life companion? Not after you see the beautiful resin chess board, which encourages us to stay away from online chess games and concentrate on the physical one. Take a look. This particular chess set can also be used as a table lamp too!

Wood and Resin Chess set

What are you waiting for? Go ahead and get busy with resin crafting!

P.S:

The new fad of making resin based table tops is the best one. Thanks to all the youtube videos, we now know how they are done. Although resin crafting is fun, protective goggles, appropriate clothing and respirator are necessary for ones safety. If you don’t want to use a respirator, well ventilated places are best to resin craft.
Mr.Bee bought me dry flower resin bangles from etsy.com some years ago. I really love them.
The other hobbies starting with R are Reading, Racing, Roller Skating, Riding Horses and Rafting.
I tried my hand at rafting at White Water Rafting, Charlotte. I nearly poked a fellow rafter with my paddle! That was scary, for her!
I dream of reading, on and on, with a never ending supply of wonderful snacks to make my life blissful. Let’s see!

Till the next hobby post, Sayonara!

Passion for Pottery!

April 19, 2023 / queenbee / 2 Comments

Have you watched the 1997 film, Titanic, directed by James Cameron? What is the most memorable scene that comes to your mind when you think of the movie ?

Some remember the last scene of Rose on the wooden plank and Jack freezing to death in the ocean, some remember an old couple dying together in their bed, some cheerful people remember the famous titanic pose! But what I remember is the 100 Yr old Rose making pottery, in her very first scene! That was the moment I thought, wait, I need to learn pottery! (Love at first sight!)

Bam! More than 15 yrs after watching the scene, I land in Charlotte and learn pottery for nearly 2 years, spending minimum of 24 hrs, each week!

My first love is, was and will be pottery!

So today, P for Pottery.

Pottery done by Queen Bee!

The above image shows part of the collection of pottery I made. I have nearly 60 pieces of pottery with me. (I, especially shipped them to India, thanks to Mr.Bee for understanding my passion for pottery. One or two pieces of my collection ended up broken, but its fine. I can live with that!)

Pottery is the art or process of making articles or vessels with clay. There are two basic techniques in pottery, hand building and wheel throwing.

Let’s see what wheel throwing is about….

Firstly, the required lump of clay is shaped or kneaded, just like how we do with roti dough! This is the most important step. The air bubbles are pottery’s worst enemy. They can cause cracks.

There are different methods of kneading too!

Then the kneaded or prepped clay is thrown on the potter’s wheel, which is run through an electric motor and different articles of varied shapes are made.

A creamer pot and a cookie jar – Any external design is added at this stage.

Once the required shapes are made, they are let to dry and then fired in the kiln. There are many different firing techniques too. But I only tried electric firing. I wish I had tried the Japanese Raku. (I was expecting my first baby GBee when we were taught Raku firing and I skipped the class!)

Bisque fired Creamer pot and Cookie Jar

Once the pottery is bisque fired, it is then glazed with different colours. They look something like this.

Glazed pottery is fired and the finished pottery looks something like this.

That’s the process of wheel thrown pottery. But if are into creating something unique, then hand building is for you.

I tried my hand at hand building to make an elephant. It is a tedious process but very gratifying and satisfying! Even bowls , cups and vases also can be made through hand building.

The Elephant – My only hand built pottery!

So, did you like pottery?

P.S:
1. Pottery is an ocean of an art! More posts on pottery will be out in future. I can’t fit everything about it in a single post.

I miss pottery. Hope to get back to it. The couple of coffee mugs in the first image are the ones I made for me and Mr.Bee. All the images except the one with the kneading of clay are my own.

2. Some glazes are not safe for food consumption. Proper warning is generally given, if the pottery is unsafe for food consumption.

3. The only advice I would like to give as a former potter, is that, if at all any or the porcelain or ceramic articles you have at your house is chipped or develops a crack(even a hairline crack), do dispose it and don’t try eating/drinking in those. It is highly dangerous chemically as well as a hazard if you end up consuming the chips of the articles by mistake!

4. The other hobbies starting with a P are Polo, Painting, Para-sailing, Para- gliding and Photography. (which is Mr.Bee’s passion!)

Till the next post, alvida!

Precious Lapidary!

April 13, 2023 / queenbee / 0 Comments

I am hoping against hope that none of my readers ever heard about Lapidary, especially if you are from India. (I am being extremely preposterous! It is better to teach something new and unique, which, lesser number of people have heard of, than talk about stuff people already know.) If you are a Geologist or a person who takes particular interest in stones, then you might know what Lapidary is about.

Without much ado, let’s get into L for Lapidary.

Lapidary is the art of shaping stones into Cabochons or even faceting precious stones . Lapidary involves cutting, grinding and polishing stones or gems.

Cabochon Gemstones – Dome shaped at the top and flat at the bottom

If you are a fan of any kind of diamond jewellery and if you especially love diamond solitaires, you probably know that there are different kinds of diamond cuts. Each diamond cut has a different number of facets. Who makes the cuts? A Lapidarist does!

Diamond cuts and different facets

The best kind of diamond cut is the Round Cut. It is also the costliest cut too, since the shine of the diamond increases manifold, thanks to the round cut. The second best is the Radiant Cut.

***Flash back begins***

The state of North Carolina is famous for its Amethysts. During our stay in Charlotte, Mr.Bee , I and D (Mr.Bee’s friend) went mining at Emerald Hollow Mine, during a weekend. I should say, that was the most fun I ever had. What with Geology and anything related to stones,rocks or gems being my favourite. Each of us bought a bucket of dirt taken directly from the Emerald Hollow Mine. We were given tools, we sat near the sluice and had fun washing away the dirt in water to reveal beautiful gems. I found myself a number of tiny Amethysts and a 3 inch Agate. There is also an in-house Lapidarist and I got myself a silver Amethyst ring made (they shipped it to my address, after a month or so) and an Agate Cabochon. That’s when I came to know about Lapidary.

***Flash back ends***

If you ever go to Gem stone mining areas and if at all there is a Lapidarist nearby, do go and shop for your heart’s content. That is what I did at Chimney Rock, North Carolina. I got myself a beautiful blue Topaz ring. (I swear by gem stone rings. I collected quite a few of them during my USA stay. Gemstone rings are popular there, unlike in India, where we mostly run after gold and diamonds alone.

Do you love Lapidary so much? If so, why not buy a Lapidary Bowl? (In India, you can get these from Jaipur, the unofficial Lapidary capital of India!)

Rose Quartz Lapidary Fruit bowl

P.S:

The other hobbies starting with L are Landscaping, Listening to Music and Letter Writing.
While we were at the Emerald Hollow Mine, I could only find tiny Amethysts, but the ring I got made was from the Amethyst Mr.Bee found. The Agate Cabochan was made from the Agate I found. Yay to me, for getting two gemstones!
Russian Lapidary is mostly about huge bowls made of rocks. Inlays done on stones also comes under lapidary. Go ahead and check it out, if you want to know more.
Till the next post, cheerio!

Baking is fun!

April 4, 2023 / queenbee / 0 Comments

Pat-a-cake, Pat-a-cake baker’s man,

Bake me a cake as fast as you can,

Pat it and roll it and mark it with a ‘B’,

Put it in the oven for baby and me!

so goes the rhyme….that is how much fun baking can be, if you put your mind into it!

B for Baking….

If you search the net for the definition of baking, you will know that, baking is a process in which cooking is done using dry heat, like that in an oven or cooking on hot stones or even hot sand. (I remember when my mom used to make yummy Osmania biscuits, which she baked on hot sand and fed us poor souls! She loves to cook, so I have tasted many varieties of dishes and that has made a picky eater like me into a complete foodie. Thank you Amma.)

Thankfully, baking doesn’t only mean cooking in oven or on hot stones and sand, it can also be done through steam, called steam baking and our own pressure cookers are the perfect examples of that. You can even buy Steam Oven if you are invested in cooking healthy!

But it is difficult to talk about baking and not to mention French Bakers and their breads. While we lived in Charlotte, NC, USA, Mr.Bee and I used to visit a French Bakery Amelie, which always had a heavy inflow of customers, coming for their chocolate eclairs and croissants. Although I didn’t mind eating there, I still missed the curry puffs from our Desi bakeries, back home! I love their bread, though. Never seen so many different shapes of bread and I found heaven on earth. (Bread makes me salivate!)

Anyway, baking is a good hobby. I managed to bake a cake on GBee‘s third birthday, during peak COVID lock-down, with the help of Mr.Bee. I decorated it with crushed Gems, because GBee loves them, like a lot!!

The cake may not look like it, but it was yummy. We made it with bourbon biscuits, thanks to my friend K. (Even Marie biscuits can be used to bake a cake. They are Indian alternate to Graham Crackers) Even though the cake had a wonderful taste and vanished into our mouths an hour after our baking, GBee hardly had a spoonful. He hates cakes. Even now, he only eats the chocolate flowers or balls which are used on top of a cake for decoration, but leaves out the main cake!

Now that I think about it, Mr.Bee baked me a cake, a year into our marriage. He made it from scratch, moulds, multi purpose flour, whisking, baking in oven etc etc. (we were in USA then) I think it was a chocolate lava cake or something. Thank you Mr.Bee, once again!

Mr.Bee made the cake, topping it with my favourite fruit, strawberry.

So, have you even tried baking as a hobby yet?

P.S:

Cooking in a Tandoor (clay) oven to make naan comes under baking.
The French bread that I love is the Wheat Stalk bread, which I had at the Venetian, Las Vegas. (That might be because I loved the place as well!)

3. I love watching MasterChef Australia. It taught me so much. Although I don’t cook most of what is shown in the series, I enjoy watching chefs exhibit their creativity.

I also love a webtoon, Gourmet Hound, which taught me so much about French Baking!

Let me add Li Ziqi in the mix! She is a Chinese vlogger, whose videos I watch, which promote healthy traditional way of living.

4. The other hobbies starting with a B are Barbecuing , Badminton and Body Building. I have a long list of hobbies to post, so there will be a windfall of posts this month. Till the next hobby post, cheerio. Oh, do check out all the links in the post, if you want to go deeper into the topic. Au revoir my French bread loving friends!

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