Even pistols have soft spots...

Ok, I admit it -- I can be a real hardass.  (Once, while travelling in Europe, a hotel manager called me a "pistol." To my face. But let's leave that story for another day.)

Despite being a self-described hardass, I do have a soft spot.

Warmer weather means BBQ...

In the last several years, my husband and I have become big. time. foodies.  But that doesn't mean we're food snobs.

Bread and more bread

Every now and then, I get in a baking mood.  (I call it my "Sadie Sadie, the married lady" role.)

A few months ago, I made loaves and loaves of both pumpkin and zucchini bread.  Fall always does that to me -- puts me in the baking moo (especially when it comes to quick breads).

Valentine's

I'm not a Valentine "grinch," but I can't say I totally love the idea that retailers and restaurants jack up the price of things...in the name of love.  (I do, however, love all the heart themed/decorated stuff like kitchen towels and coffee cups.)

Friends for the holidays

I've written about our dog before.

Santa frog and gingerbread monkey
(click photo to view larger) 

If you've been reading this blog for very long, then you should know by now that our dog is a bit...well, neurotic and a big goofball. (Did I mention he also isn't that fond of having his picture taken?)

1 casserole recipe + 1 dessert recipe = a good deed

I was never that crazy about the tv show ‘Friends,’ but I know a lot of people are (were?). My husband has seen practically every episode. Sometimes when I sit down on the couch, he’s watching it, and I end up getting sucked into an episode.

So there’s this episode of “Friends” where Joey’s agent gets him a gig “co-hosting” a PBS telethon. Joey says he’s doing it because he wants to do a good deed, but Phoebe says his “good deed” is a selfish one (because it will result in him being on TV). Joey argues that all good deeds are selfish because they make the person doing them feel good, and Rachel agrees. For the rest of the episode, Phoebe sets out to prove Joey wrong -- by trying to find a true selfless deed. (For those curious, the episode is The One Where Phoebe Hates PBS.)

Not bragging here, but a few days ago, I did a good deed.

Silicon Valley Reads 2012: "Muslim and American"

A couple of months ago, my mom told me about (and invited me to) an upcoming author event kicking off this year's Silicon Valley Reads. It turns out, this year's Silicon Valley Reads theme is "Muslim and American," and they've scheduled over 100 calendar events between January and April (2012) in support of that theme.

Staying "true" to acquaintances and avoiding back-biting

Today I want to talk about a concept that I think is really important.

Muslims refer to it as refraining from "back biting." Other (non-Muslim) people sometimes refer to it as following the "golden rule." Whichever terminology is used, the concept is similar.

10 posts in the last 2+ years that shaped this blog

As I think I've mentioned before, I read a lot of other blogs. I love reading about south Asia, so one of those blogs that I read is Full Stop India. A couple of weeks ago, Full Stop India hit its 2 year anniversary (of the site) and the author published the post Full Stop India Turns 2: 10 Posts Which Shaped the Past Year, which I really enjoyed.

They say that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery…so without hesitation I'm going to say that part of the idea for this post came from that Full Stop India post. The other part of the idea for this post came from the My 7 Links post that I recently did on my travel site, Travel Adventures of a Desi Blonde.

TripBase's 7 links project only did 7 topics, whereas Full Stop India's did 10, so I'm going to follow their model this time. My blog turned 2 back in June, but I'm not going to let that stop me from (loosely) following Full Stop India's model. Their post described topics that shaped Full Stop India in the past 1 year. I'm going to span my entire 2+ years in this post.

Help make my friend Laura's iLatch invention a reality

These days, I'm more active on Twitter than in blogging.  Tweeting is 140 characters (or less!) and blogging requires a lot more time and energy.  For those of you not on Twitter, there's a hashtag called #FF (or #FollowFriday) where you're supposed to suggest someone cool/fun/useful to follow on Twitter.  Several times, I've done #FF for my Twitter friend Laura.

If you haven't heard me talk about her before, Laura writes on her blog, iGriza.  She's super down-to-earth and is full-on cray cray (that's crazy, to those of you not into slang) for all things Apple.  I'm talking iPhone, iPad, apps, whatevs.

I've been following Laura's blog for probably more than 1.5 years now, and a little over a year ago, she had a baby. And you guessed it -- her baby is also into Apple.  From what I understand, he loves to watch stuff on her iPad and iPhone.

Which brings me to the point of this post.