Bosnian lunch and Hindu Temple

Yesterday we took a field trip to Gwinnett County, the most ethnically diverse county in Georgia. It was an opportunity for us to get out of the office, see what's going on, do some outreach, and a little staff bonding too.

The itinerary was set by our Bosnian staffer so we went to a pizza place run by Bosnians. I had Ćevapčići / ćevapi, basically ground beef formed into little sausage shapes (but it's not sausage), served in a wonderfully chewy leavened flatbread, with a side of kajmak (sour cream) and ajvar (pureed spread of red bell peppers, eggplant, garlic, and chili pepper). The 'j' is pronounced like 'y' as in 'sky.' Anyway, it was good and actually better than what I had in Serbia.

We finished the field trip by stopping at the BAPS Hindu temple. It opened this past weekend and will be open to the public starting September 1. Even though it wasn't officially open, they welcomed us to walk the grounds. Here's the article from the newspaper.

All in all it was a really good field trip.

'A piece of India' dedicated in Lilburn

Largest mandir of its kind in the United States opens after volunteers spend more than 1.3 million man hours in construction.
By D. AILEEN DODDThe Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 08/27/07

It towers from a hilltop in monumental grandeur, a hand-carved house for God built using the ancient traditions of India and planted on red Georgia clay.

Hindus came from half-way around the world Sunday for the inauguration of the $19 million mandir in Lilburn.

Colored rice decorates the entrance to the $19 million BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Lilburn. The world leader of the BAPS organization flew in especially to consecrate the mandir, as people from around the world attended.

The BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir heaved from marble, limestone and sandstone by the careful hands of Indian artisans, is the largest mandir of its kind in the United States. It is the fourth traditional BAPS community temple in North America. And a source of pride for Hindus nationwide.

The world leader of the BAPS organization, His Divine Holiness Pramukh Swami Maharaj, flew in especially to consecrate the mandir. The inauguration comes during the centennial anniversary of the BAPS religious heritage.

Sunday's ceremonies celebrated the link between Indian and American cultures.

Balloons in the colors of the American and Indian flags floated overhead. The national anthems of both countries were sung.

"This mandir is not just for the Swaminarayan faithful, it is for everyone," said Pramukh Swami Mahara to his faithful Sunday. "God resides in this mandir. ... We hope the volunteers who worked on it serve as an inspiration to others."

Volunteers spent more than 1.3 million man hours building the mandir.

Thousands of devotees gathered in the shadow of the temple after the opening ceremonies, eagerly awaiting to step barefoot inside of it.

For some of them, seeing the ornate temple beneath the canopy of trees was like a vision from India. The strip malls, the aging subdivisions, the stream of traffic traveling Lawrenceville Highway in Lilburn disappeared for the moment.

There was only the chanting of the sadhus, the monks of the temple. The sound of Gujarati rolling off tongues. The gazes of the ancient forefathers of the Hindu religion staring down from their stone perches, from Vyas Muni and Vishnu, to the sacred images of Swaminarayan and his successors.

"You do not have to go that far away from home to feel like you're in India," said Hetal Patel of Duluth. "I can come here to pray and have peace."

People traveled from London, India, Africa and across the nation to celebrate the opening of the mandir in a place many of the devotees had never heard of before — Lilburn. Families were reunited for the special occasion.

Hindus wore their Sunday best just to stand in line in the sweltering heat. The women wore long silk saris dripping with sequins and beads, the men wore hand-embroided cotton pants with shirts to the knee as the sun beamed down relentlessly.

"I'm so excited," said Sheetal Desai of Buford. "I can't believe it's finally opening."

Sanjay Patel of Jacksonville, Fla., paid $3,000 so his in-laws could fly in from India. The family drove several hours Sunday to see the mandir. His wife, Jaya, painted her hand with decorative henna.

"There is no temple like this in Jacksonville," Patel said. "It is important for us to be here."

The Hindu devotees were joined by three metro-Atlanta dignitaries who were welcomed with fresh garlands of carnations. U.S. Congressman Hank Johnson delivered a proclamation from the House of Representatives. Gwinnett County Commission Chairman Charles Bannister and Lilburn Mayor Jack Bolton also were among the crowd.

"This certainly has put Lilburn on the map," Bolton said. "It is a grand addition to our city."

It took 17 months to build the mandir and nearly 35,000 pieces of stone. It is made of Italian carrara marble, Turkish limra limestone and Indian pink sandstone.

Artisans have been carving stone since 2005 for the temple. Their work is so detailed that you can see the whimsical expressions on the faces of the sages and devotees on the ceilings and columns of the mandir. One, a scholar, is wearing glasses.

The mandir will be a place children and families can return to their roots and celebrate their culture. It will be used for meditation. A Family Activity Center nearby will teach native languages, instrument lessons and provide other services.

Metro Atlanta is home to about 500 BAPS followers. There are 1 million worldwide out of about 1 billion Hindus. The BAPS strain of Hinduism, one of many offshoots of the religion, has roots in 19th century Gujarat. It was founded in 1907 by Shastriji Maharaj. Pramukh Swami Maharaj is regarded as the fifth spiritual successor of Bhagwan Swaminarayan, the central figure of the Swaminarayan faith who lived in the 1700s and 1800s.

Members practice non-violence, strive to maintain high personal ethics and a commitment to community service. They are strict vegetarians who believe in reincarnation and worship Bhagwan Swaminarayan. BAPS also is a civic organization dedicated to community service worldwide and the preservation of Indian heritage.

Looking at the sages on the mandir, Deepa Patel, a Lawrenceville student studying law in St. Paul, Minn., was reminded of stories from her childhood.

"It like our little corner of the world here," she said. "It feels like a piece of India placed in Lilburn."

Current Passion

All of a sudden, I want platform ankle-strap heels. I'm seeing them at a lot of stores I usually shop and even though I've never liked platforms, these I want.

They're 3.5 inches tall, about an inch taller than I usually wear. Even if the platform is half an inch, I don't usually wear anything taller than 2 inches.

But I want these.

Shoe lust, totally irrational, so easy to give into, with on-line shopping.

What I should do is stop in somewhere and actually try them on. For all I know, they might look totally ridculous on me. Or if they look good, then I can get them immediately, without having to wait for it to be shipped.

Perhaps I should leave work early today to go shopping....

Making History

It's been quite the week at work.

First, there was a contract bid due on Thursday at 1pm. So there were some late nights working on that. The technical proposal had to be submitted in a separate envelope from the financial proposal. And there had to be 5 hard copies and 3 CDs made of one proposal and 2 hard copies and 2 CDs of the other. I'm just glad it's done.

Then Thursday as well, the archivists came to collect our documents at work. So excited. My organization donated our papers to Georgia State University's Library Archives, specifically the Women's Collection. Social movements are made by individual people and organizations and so often the notes, newsletters, meeting minutes are just thrown away and lost to history.

Lost, like the press pass I had that both Bill Clinton and Al Gore signed when they were campaigning. But I've moved so often since then, who knows where it is?

So to prevent all our hard work to disappear in time, our organization donated our papers and the archivists will clean and organize them. Eventually I will be able to go to the library, and figure our the organization's history. But most exciting is that because these documents are in the library archives, academics across the US and into the future, will be able to access our documents!

There will be a record for all time of what a group of refugee and immigrant women did to make the world a better place. Like Margaret Mead said: Never doubt that a small group of dedicated people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.

Folk Fest, Korean Food, and Borat

It's been an artsy craftsy weekend.



Saturday Husband and I went to Folk Fest organized by Slotin Folk Art. We didn't buy anything, but were very tempted by several pieces.


We saw Robert Griffis, an artist whose paintings I have seen at art festivals for years and finally bought a small piece from him at the Decatur Arts Festival this summer. One of these years I'll get one of his big pieces.


We say Bart Webb, who made this fish that we bought from him at the Decatur Arts Festival too.
Okay, I had a nice long post about Folk Fest, and somehow only my first sentences made it to the post. Anyway, the exhibitors are listed on the Folk Fest website.

Folk Fest was held at the North Atlanta Trade Center, in Gwinnett County, the most diverse county in Georgia. So for dinner, we hopped onto Buford Highway to go to a Korean restaurant. I once saw a Korean restaurant called Baden Baden, which is the name of a city in Germany, so I wanted to see what that was all about.

But we couldn't find it, so we ended up stopping in one of the zillions of multicultural shopping centers on Buford Hwy that had a Korean restaurant. Can't remember what it was called, but I could probably find it again.

What's cool about Buford Hwy is that the shopping centers have signs in Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Amharic, and other languages. As we drove around, I looked for Korean, but it could have referred to nail salons, doctors offices, or restaurants, for all I know.

At the Korean restaurant, ______ Garden, all the signs were in Korean, our waitress didn't seem to speak English, and the other diners were Korean, Chinese, and white.

It was our first time going to a Korean restaurant. Usually I have Korean only when I go to visit Sister and Husband never goes to DC with me. I've been there at least a dozen times since Sister's lived in DC, but Husband never wants to go, even though he wants to go see the new Udvar-Hazee aeronautical exhibit.

So the dinner started with about 15 small bowls of different kinds of kimchee. The spicy pickled daikon radish and the spicy pickled eggplant were the best. I did not like the spicy pickled grape leaves. Too sour. Other dishes were unidentifiable, but still good.

Husband got the spicy pork, which came with spicy pickled napa cabbage, and I got bulgogi. Nummy nummy. It was a huge amount of food so we have leftovers for the rest of the weekend.

We ended our cultural day by watching Borat. I thought it was pretty good, and cringe inducing. Knowing that he's being sued by some of the people in it, I kept wondering how they managed to film it. Plus, having seen clips from the film at award shows, talk shows, etc, it seemed that I've already seen the movie before.

Adventures in yarn dyeing

Friday night, I started kool-aid dyeing some Knitpicks Bare in fingering weight. The instructions are at http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=32548 and at http://www.knitty.com/issuefall02/FEATdyedwool.html. I used the microwave method.

I was trying to match this:

The orange and yellow yarn is sock yarn from Fearless Fibers, which I held double. I love the variegated effect of holding it double.

I had enough to make 36 squares, which are 4 rounds of the Spinner pattern from 200 Crochet Blocks by Jan Eaton. The 36 squares sewn together are only about 21 inches by 21 inches. Not big enough.

So I needed more orange/yellow for the border. I took a skein of fingering weight superwash that I had already dyed pale yellow using lemon flavor drink mix and over dyed with orange mix, using a 2 inch wide boar bristle brush to paint it on.

The first attempt yielded neon orange. When the instructions say be careful, they weren't kidding. The yarn sucks up the dye very quickly and the color easily becomes more intense than you expect. And I used a lot of bleach cleaner, wiping up any stray drops. That drink mix will dye formica countertops as easily as yarn.

So I threw in a dash of blue raspberry mix which toned it down to this burnt orange:

This is the Old Vienna swatch from 200 Crochet Squares, which I made from Bare, so it dyed well.

My first thought was ewww, burnt orange.

My second thought was I can make an afghan for Sister out of this and Bare, since she went to the University of Texas -Austin, and their colors are white and burnt orange!

My third thought was Am I nuts? I have to finish her sweater first and all my other works in progress and gifts for other people before she gets another hand made gift! Gotta spread the love!

So in the end, after microwaving the yarn over and over again, this is what I have:

Pretty, is it not? It's still a brighter orange and not as much yellow as the Fearless Fibers yarn, but close enough.

Then Saturday morning, I dyed a skein of worsted weight Bare in the blue raspberry mix and this is what I got:

So here are my first handpainted yarns. The orange in fingering weight, the blue in worsted weight:

Saturday night, I started crocheting with the orange yarn, while watching Borat. It was very funny and appalling. Sasha Baron Cohen is a very brave man.

The yarn is no longer soft. I microwaved it so many times, that it feels like the CotLin instead of the soft wool. I'm hoping that the agitation from machine washing and drying will bring it back to life.

Now I'm thinking of signing up for Dye Day with Claudia from Claudia Handpainted Yarns at Knitch. However, it's $175 for 6 hours and I am trying to save up for a new(er) car.

I think I'll stick to playing around with 25 cent packages of kool-aid and $6 skeins of Knitpicks Bare.

What my car says about me

Found today on MSN.com: an article that describes a person's personality, based on the car they drive. http://msn.match.com/msn/article.aspx?articleid=8406&TrackingID=516311&BannerID=544657&menuid=6&GT1=10287

I drive a Honda Accord and here's what they had to say:

The car: A Honda Accord or other sensible sedan
What the car says about its owner: Someone who drives this practical vehicle is most likely educated and intelligent, Dr. Orbuch says. “This driver probably likes discussing politics and is very well-read and mature,” she explains. “People who drive these kinds of cars don’t take big risks in life, but hey, that mentality has served them well up to now!” What you may find pleasantly surprising is that the driver probably has a lot of savings socked away. “This kind of person has invested his or her money well and may very well be enjoying a cushy lifestyle, but is just smart enough to know that a car is a horrible investment,” she explains. Ultimately, he or she cares about value, not flash.

What the car says about its owner’s love style: Its owner will most enjoy someone who likes to converse about life, Dr. Orbuch suggests. “He or she thinks that support, friendship, and honesty are essential to a good healthy relationship,” she says. Additionally, he or she probably doesn’t mind spending a lot of money on a mate—“especially when it comes to travel, fabulous hotels, and great restaurants,” she says. The thinking is: “I save when I can to splurge when I want.”

That's rather accurate.

Ghost Month has begun

Ghost Month is the seventh month of the Chinese calendar, which is a lunar calendar. This is the month that ghosts come back to the living world. There are rituals involved but as a non-observant Chinese, I don't know what they are. I had to go look up Ghost Month in Wikipedia.

Sister e-mailed me that Ma left her two similar mesages.

Apparently Ghost Month is even worse for her (born in the year of the pig) and Brother Two (snake) than it is for me and Brother One, because they are at risk of actually dying this month. Therefore, to ensure that they continue living and have long lives, they have to eat clear bean thread noodle in the mornings of 8/19, 8/29 and 9/8. At least Brother Two lives somewhere that has a decent Chinatown (he just moved to New York City) and he can find clear bean thread noodle.

I don't know shy she's complaining. Sister lives in Washington, DC, which has a Chinatown too, and her particular neighborhood is actually very ethnically diverse. Plus, there are Chinese restaurants everywhere.

When Ma called the third time, Sister was at home and had a long conversation about the importance of this month. Ma seemed really agitated until Sister promised to do this stuff (even though we never did it before). And Ma told Sister's Boyfriend (born in the year of the horse) that he had to wear a jade necklace from now until midnight of 9/10 or else the ghosts will not leave him alone. So, he thanked her for her concern and promised to wear it.

The day after the call, Ma called again to check that Sister's Boyfriend was wearing the jade necklace, which he is.

All this is kind of weird, because Ma has never been superstitious before. However, Sister made the point that Ma is getting older and becoming more worried. When Ma was younger, she used to laugh at Grandma for her superstitions and now Ma is believing them.

On the other hand, given the toilet problem yesterday, perhaps she has a point.

Speak of the problem, the office has not been cleaned and it smells mildewy, awful, and gross. So I declared an office holiday and told everyone to just go home.

I went over to the leasing office and told the manager that the wet carpet has to be cleaned today, and that we should get a discount on the rent, for all that we've had to put up with. He called the carpet cleaner while I was there and then said he'd think about what kind of concession he could give us. I reminded him that we were very good tenants and have been long time tenants.

Then I went and got my hair done (dyed it blacker than my natural color and now feeling Goth-y) and did some yarn shopping at Knitch. Love that shop. It made me think of Purl in NYC the first time I went.

Three skeins of Cascade 220 yarn in Kentucky blue for Husband's afghan and one skein of this cotton yarn, Twisted, by Suss yarns, that I've been coveting for about a year.

COLOR: Navy/Cloud
CONTENT: 100% Slub Cotton
WEIGHT: 50 grams
LENGTH: 108 yard
GAUGE: Chunky: 3.5 stitches per inch
NEEDLE SIZE: US size 7 - 9

It was the last skein, so I grabbed it.

And Brother One wanted to know when would be a good time for him to come get some red yarn to tie around his waist. I guess it can't hurt....