A fair amount of the picture you saw on this blog have been taken either with my iPad, or my phone. I only use the SLR when the light is low or I need a very detailed picture (typically my food pictures). And, I rarely use my point and shoot camera these days.

There seem to be that misconception that phone cameras will by default give you substandard quality pictures. That it is the type of camera that only comes handy in a pinch. The type of camera that only serves to post silly pictures on social medias.
Thanks to these clichés, a lot of people probably feel like taking picture for your own blog is out of their reach entirely. I already told you about free stock pictures you can use, and free Apps and softwares to edit your pictures.

Now, I am going to share a few tips to take good pictures with your phone.

Know your phone
Not all smartphones out there have been created equal, some have more sensitive cameras, some offer built in camera features other don't. So before you decide that the camera on your phone is crappy, get familiar with it. You'll get to know its strong points, and where it's weaknesses lie. Experiment with it. This is the beauty of digital pictures, you can delete them if they suck and it doesn't cost you a thing to take a bad picture anymore (those that knew film rolls and developing costs will know what I am talking about).
On iOS, you can download a better camera app than the one coming by default, it will allow you more control and option while taking the picture. I never checked with Android, but my HTC phones always came with in built features.
Both my phone and my iPad also let me refocus, brighten or darken a picture before taking it. This is a nifty little feature a lot of phone camera apps have that people overlook. Tap an area on the screen to tell your camera to focus on, and it will automatically adjust the overall light and focus around that specific point. Again tap around a few times to experiment and find the best light quality your camera can take at that specific time. Then, and only then take your picture.

Don't use the zoom.
The zoom on phone cameras usually SUCK. There said it. It makes the picture blurry, reduce the pixel quality, and you are just really better off without. You can always edit a picture later and get a much better result zooming and cropping in the photo editing app.

Favour close ups
The strong points of all phone cameras is that they are great at capturing close up details. They still will do fine capturing landscapes but this is not where they will really give you their best performances. Their lens is too small for that. After all, people tend to use their phone to capture candid moments, their loved ones, pets, food or even themselves.

Wipe your lens
Your phone probably reside in your back pocket or the bottom of your purse. That enough will ensure a lot of dust and grime will stick to the camera lens. Your fingers are likely to be all over the camera when you are making a phone call. And, a dirty lens will take a bad picture. Remember to wipe your camera lens regularly with a lens cleaner and a soft cloth. Which you already have around since it is the same product you use to wipe your touch screen clean. Before you take a picture, check if the lens is clean, and quickly wipe it if needed.

Edit your pictures.
I went over this in a previous blog post. Photo editing is a must for all pictures nowaday. Some will of course require less editing than others, but all will benefit from it.
There are plenty of free softwares and app to do it (I shared the link at the beginning of this post) and most are pretty easy to use. While filters are great, I use them only when I really want to make a soecial statement. Most of the time, I use the good old classic : brightness, contrast, clarity and saturation tools. It gives you a more unique and tailored result.
Also, do not hesitate to crop pictures, especially if you snapped a subject from afar. The cropping will bring what you wanted to be the focal point of the picture back in focus.

The photographer matters.
Phone cameras come pretty close to basic point and shoot cameras nowadays. The pictures taken even do great on prints. So do not let people tell you that taking pictures with your phone is dumb and going to be low quality. And remember, even a SLR will take a horrible picture if the person doesn't know how to use it.nthe quality of a picture depends greatly on who is behind the camera.

Are you ready for the tastiest, most filling and ridiculously simple Summer salad ever? It's name is the Caprese, pronounced "Caprayzay" not "kapreesee". This salad has its roots in Italy, and even bears its flag colour.
An authentic Caprese is made with fresh Mozarella made of buffalo milk. A thing you can now find made in India.

In Europe, this salad pretty much screams Summer and the instant fresh basil comes in season the salad makes its appearance. To keep basil fresh supermarkets in Switzerland usually sell it in pots and not loos leaves, one plant will easily last the good season and possibly longer if taken car of properly (unless you have a brown thumb and kill them...no further comments from my part...)


As I said, it is also ridiculously easy to pull, and always looks stunning on a plate (you really can't fail and ruine this dish).

All you need to do is slice your fresh mozarella, slice the freshest, ripest tomatoes you can find and place them on a plate, alternating between a slice of tomato and a slice of mozarella. Then, sprinkle some freshly snipped italian basil leaves all over, drizzle a little olive oil on top, and top with freshly ground black pepper...Voila! You salad is done. Serve it with your choice of bread, preferably toasted.

This salad might not look like much, but believe me, it is filling. It is the perfect lunch to have when the weather gets hot. That salad alone can be credited for making this Summer much more bearable already, and is a favourite of Ishita's as well.

Ok confess, you let your kids watch a lot of TV during the Summer break. I know I relax the rules around the idiot box as the Mercury and humidity rise. We all do it.

There is a big difference though in increasing the amount of TV time and watching TV all day long. I am and always be against the later. TV all day long is dumb, and will only drive everybody crazy. You can't have crazy when confined indoors most of the day with no breather and escape possible. Kids have more energy than adults, and need to spend it constructively for their sake and yours.

The good new, is that they really don't have to spend all their time glued in front of a screen. Think about it. If your childhood was anything like mine, we had a very limited amount of TV channels growing up. And I am saying 2-3 at the max when I say limited. These channels had to have just about everything on them, not just cartoons the whole day long. And our moms had to deal with us during our Summer vacation just lie we do, heck they didn't even have tablets and smart phones loaded with kiddie apps.

And we turned fine didn't we? And ai don't think many of our own mothers turned completely neurotic not having the luxury of endless TV to keep us occupied while they went on doing their household stuff.

Frankly I remember my own mom managing to give us a lot of activities we could do on our own without her help when she needed to get other things done, or simply relax with a good book. There was no constant hovering and pressure to make us do the perfect Pinterest worthy craft project, or entralling us to bake the perfect organic, sugar free, and gluten free pie.
I had the right balance of independant activities and "mom and me" activities. And as you know already, I also had to help out around the house too. The option my mom had that I don't have in the Summer break is taking us outside in the middle of the day. Summer in most of India kicks your butt far more than it does in Switzerland.

These past two weeks, I have been busy collecting craft supplies, finding reading books, puzzles and indoor activities to keep Ishita occupied and entertained until the evening when we can finally venture outdoors. I let her watch the TV all morning (until 10-11am) because during that time I need my breather to gather the strength to go through the day, and then have all the usual household duties that come with the job of a SAHM. I then enrol her to do some cleaning, and we then have some screen less activities. Or together, or her alone while I read a book or write something.

Resist the urge to hover, this is very important for the sanity of everybody evolve. Kids should learn to do things on their own, and parents have to understand that letting kids play with a pack of play dough on their own is not child neglect.

Here are some of the things Ishita and I do at home during the Summer:

- Colouring and drawing. Nothing structured here, she takes her crayons, and do as she please, the only rule I have is that the scribbling stays on the paper. Doodling on the walls, floor and furnitures is not allowed (and punished).

- Painting and crafting. This we do together most of the time, she works on her own project, while I do mine. And now I have a special trick to make cleaning easier...more on it later (don't rob me of one blog entry forcing me to reveal it now)

- Loom bands. You know these colourful elastic bands your crochet together to make bracelet and other ding-wings? The ones that everybody seemed to have been into in the past year. We decided to take the plunge this year. Ishita can do simple bracelet on her own while I browse through YouTube to find tutorials for more complicated ones. This is something that is not only loads of fun, it also help develop a good hand eye coordination and sharpen mathematical skills (counting, patterns recognising and making...)

- Reading practice. Ishita's teacher asked me to make her practice her basic reading skills as she did have a little difficulty with it during the year. So, we bought a lot of early readers books with a lot of the sight words and easy words she has been learning all year round and she has to read one book a day, all Summer long. It is cool, she even gets to fill a reward chart each time she does.

- Unsupervised play time. She gets a lot of it. And don't go all crazy on me, I am just asking her to go play in her room with the toys she have. No dangerous substances or tools involved. Unsupervised playtime with building blocs, dolls and cars encourage kids to come up with their own stories and role playing. It develops the creative mind and help them solve problems on their own too. Meanwhile, you are free to cook lunch or dinner, or just sit down a couple of minutes to catch your breath...your choice.

- Puzzle time. As in jigsaw puzzles that is. Ishita surprised me this week by asking to do a puzzle, so we bought a 300 pieces one that we can do together. Puzzles are awesome. I grew up doing them. They were my mom and I favourite way to spend long Winter evenings. As I grew I frequently did 1-2000 pieces puzzles. And the more fun is that you can redo and old puzzle and still be challenged by it. We would put it on the big dinning table and do it whenever we had time. Some days we were just happy if we put about 20 pieces together in one evening (we choose them hard on purpose). Jigsaw puzzles are not only relaxing, they also sharpen the mind, analytical skills and spacial skills. I owe a lot to my years of jigsaw puzzle solving.

- Play dates. Kids can be very social, and need their friends. Invite some of them over, along with their moms. Let the kids play together while you enjoy a cup of tea, a few munchies and an adult conversation with your own peers. We all need to vent with our friends. The other moms around you are all going through the same challenge this Summer...think about it.


The whole point is that your kids need to have their mind challenged to grow. And , no, you don't have to be their personal entertainer 24/7. This micromanaging craze is something the internet invented to make parents who serve ready to eat meals once in a while guilty.

Repeat after me, you are not a bad parent for letting your kids have some independence...repeat again...and again, and again. Isn't the Summer break looking better and less daunting already?

One of the biggest danger in hot climates is dehydration. With each drops of sweat goes both water and minerals. Which leaves you energy less.
And I don't know about you, but I tend to feel seriously less hungry than usual. A thing which of course isn't so great when you sweat buckets and loose more than just water through your pores.

Fortunately, there are plenty of natural options that will both quench your thirst and re-energise you. The good old Indian "Aam pana" (raw mango water) is one option. Then there are all the various vegetable and fruit juices you can blitz in a blender or juicer, or even homemade iced tea.

Today, I will share one of my favourite Summer drink, which is not only healthy but also super easy to make.

Rental properties come with their own sets of challenges, especially when it comes down to home decor. In India, people usually don't stay more than a couple of years in a rented house or flat before moving to the next one. Landlord whims and job demands oblige. The most desirable arrangement being of course able to afford AND live in your very own property, which in this time and age is getting increasingly more difficult.


Because of this rental constraint, people are usually wary of spending too much on home decor, and with reason. What is the point of spending a fortune on wall treatment and custom furnitures when you know you are going to have to leave the place in just a few years? Then, there is the landlord issue, most aren't too crazy about their tenants carrying on big home improvement plans in their home.

Living in a rental pretty much means that you are going to be stuck with the walls and flooring that came with it when you signed the lease. That, however, does not mean you need to live in blah, bland and dull quarters. There are plenty of ways to instil character into your home on a budget. None involve painting the walls, and all can be packed and moved to your next home without problems.

The problem, is that when people of home decorating, they usually visualise expensive custom made furnitures, lavish wall treatments and customised lighting solution. All of it are possible (though seriously not even necessary) in a home that you own. Home decorating is thankfully not limited to this, and it is possible to have a really nice looking home without spending a fortune in the decorating department.


Here are a few cheap home decorating ideas you can easily implement in your home, rental, or not:

- First, invest in basic but quality furnitures. I know, that one might not really appear to be "cheap". But, believe me, it is in the long run. When you relocate often, cheap laminates and plastic furniture then to break more easily in transit than solid wood ones. Heck even without relocating, crappy laminate will barely last you a year or two without starting to fall apart. I speak from experience, trust me.
Pick quality over quantity, and keep them simple. Your furniture should be versatile to adapt to your switching homes often. I myself recommend to pick all of them in one range of colour, so that when the chest of drawer no longer fits in the bedroom, it can still look great in your living room matching the dinning table.

- The best way to give a personal touch to any space is by using soft furnishing. Think curtains, rugs, throws and pillows. You are guaranteed to find something fitting your budget and it can be taken down when you move or even get bored of it. If you keep a few sets of cushion covers and curtains around you can switch them regularly and alter your home decor at will. And it will not even take you more than a few minutes to give a room an instant makeover.



- Lend character to your boring off white walls by hanging pictures. The big problem in rental homes is that you are usually stuck with white or off white walls (and trust me it is better than the salmon pink I got once). The beauty if this neutral wall treatment is that no matter what you hang on these wall, it will pop and look good. So, take advantage of it and have your favourite pictures professionally printed and framed.
Don't limit yourself to pictures though. Have you accumulated a few cute postcards and greeting cards over the years? Turn them into wall art. Have an artistic bone in your body? Grab a canvas and paint. Found a few cute carvings, plates or flat baskets in a bazaar or on a holiday? Pin them to your walls...
The possibilities are endless and it can be neatly packed when you move out and on to the next home.

- One of the biggest problem in rental properties is storage. I've lived in rental all my life. In India, you are often stuck with whatever wardrobes and cabinets the flat or house came with. This means that you will have to get creative to get all your belongings to fit in whatever storage options. Sometimes, it even has to be left in plain sight (or almost). Fortunately, the market is inundated with storage options : bins, boxes an canisters come in all shapes, colours and sizes, and pretty much at any prices to fit any budget. Pick some that go with your decor and store all that clutter away in your shelves and cabinets and you are good to go, from home to home.

- Last but certainly not least, unleash your DIY potential. Repurpose and paint old jars and boxes. Turn old clothes into cushions and throws. Make wall art out of paper, card or magazine clippings. Internet is full of inspiration, go nut!

All in all, giving personality to a space is neither requires a lot of money, nor a owned and paid dream house (or apartment). With the prices of real estate going higher every year in India, and the fact people move around a lot more and much longer for their career, it is likely one will spend more time in a rental property than in their own home. That doesn't mean you have to put home decor on hold and live a life of generic blandness and boringness.

First, thanks you all for visiting my blog in the wake of the Interview on Madh Mama's blog. My blog statistics took to the roof, I hope many of you will become regular readers.

I have been keeping an eye on the comments on that interview. One person pointed out I was one of the oldest Indian expat blog around and came to India at a time it was still a challenge.

There is a lot of truth there. And it amuse me a little when I come accross people who just learned that I live in India and utter a surprised "Really? India???".

There is that idea that India is a though place to live in, where no one can possibly have a decent standard of living and basic things are hard to come by.
I'm not going to deny that it CAN be hard. And, if you live in smaller towns and rural area there are a lot of things that you won't come accross easily.
That said, big cities and metro are fairly cosmopolitan, and even without living on the short term expat company package, life can be good.
That part has always been there by the way. Contrary to what documentaries want you to believe, not everybody lives in tin sheets shanties with no running water or electricity.



But, a lot of things DID change in a decade. Things that could seem very trivial to non expats, but make a world of difference when you are trying to settle in this country without feeling too homesick or culture shocked.
Back in the days (boy do I sound old?), even cities were fairly concervative. Few were the ladies that were out of college wearing western wear. And if they did, it was formal office wear. It gradually got down to more jeans wearing and now many SAHM wear capri, or even shorts, if not skirts.

As an expat, I also used to get a lot lot more stares in 2003-2004 than I now get in 2015, be it in metros, or smaller towns. I still get them, but way less.

The biggest challenge any expat face. No matter where they come from, and where they relocate, is food. There are different degrees of food frustrations.
I know Indian expats in Europe have had a less though a time finding basics to cook Indian food than I had finding stuff to just cook one basic dish of pasta circa 2004.
Back in 2003 when I was still living in Switzerland I know for a fact that there was basic chutneys and spices available. My local supermarket even had papad making kits and finding garam masala or even dried curry leaves wasn't all that hard either (and wasn't even costlier than continental spices and herbs).

My lot in India was then sent into panic mode reading a recipe wondering where the hell parsley could even be available.
Scratch that, just finding pasta that didn't turn to mush while cooking them and didn't require you to sell your soul to the devil (or take a mortgage) was a quest worthy of the Holy Grail's.

For years, you could even forget the idea of finding any lettuce. It didn't exist in the market. I know some people who could have killed for a few leaves. Or, went to Subway or Mc D just to get the half handfuls of greens in an otherwise blah burger or sandwich...the things you stoop to just to get some of that homely comfort...
Don't get me wrong, Indian food is awesome, but when you come from another corner of the world, you end up missing certain things. The same way Indians abroad can't see themselves eating continental everyday.
So much so, that the day my local supermarket finally stocked 3-4 leaves of half soggy iceberg lettuce I was ecstatic. Who cares if these sad few leaves set me off 60 rupees? It was LETTUCE...I could finally get tossed green salad for lunch! This was in 2006, after 3 years of doing without.

These days, I can get a whole head of lettuce for that price, and not the iceberg kind (which is fairly bland and watery). Nope, I am talking arugula, romaine, oak leaves or frisée. Well some of them are even cheaper than that damned 60 rupees for a handful. Other things that didn't happen before 2006-2007 were regular access to mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, red radishes, italian basil, and dried continental herbs (fresh herbs came later).

Another thing that has been a big game changer is e-shopping. Many cities that still aren't super cosmopolitan can get access to items and even pantry food stuff via internet. Pots, pans, clothes, toys, quality home linens and home decor are all found on the major e-retail sites and delivered in most cities.
The question of where to buy what which litterally haunted me in my earlier year is no more. I know that if all fails, Amazon and Flipkart will come to my rescue.
The increased blood pressure and heart rate while reading an exotic recipe in Femina, or coming upon a craft project are well in the past.

Now, of course, there are things that still haven't changed much. Some people attempting to charge me 3 times the regular price for something simply because I look like a foreigner. Daily and frequent power cuts if you live anywhere outside Mumbai. And, of course dust, pollution, lazy and cheating maids, corruption and traffic jams...But, they are fairly manageable still.

My friend and fellow blogger Alexandra is running a very special serie every Saturdays on her blog "Madh Mama". It features couples who are in any sort of intercultural relationship, not just from India.

She gets us all to answer a couple of questions about our relationship and the challenges we face. This Saturday, it was my turn. Go have a look and learn everything you wanted to know about my relationship with DH (well almost...).

There is nothing like painting your own glasses, jars and vase to add oomph to your decor, and on a budget.
I have done it quite a lot over the years and always with success.

This week, I decided to give a make over to a nice but rather dull square vase I got free with a bouquet of flowers. It was sitting in the study in all it's plain glory with a candle inside all winter long. The candle got dirty, and the return of the ceiling fan made it fairly useless. So much so I repurposed it as a container to dump data cables (which we seem to have no shortage of). To make my new wire dump attractive, I decided to pain it.
Where it differs from my other projects, is that this one, had a few glitches along the way. And the end product is not what I had all in mind when I started.

My idea was for once to do something that didn't involve 3D glitter glue (a far stretch for the addict that I am). So, I decided to use acrylic paint to do the job.


My plan was to paint stripes in gold and black paint. And to get straight and even stripes, the best way is to use masking tape to prep the surface. I used a roll of washi tape I don't use often do do this since I didn't have any regular masking tape around at this time. As long as it is paper based and comes off without leaving ugly mark you are good. Because, yes the tape will come off in the end.


I then painted my stripes in the area left without tape and let it dry. To ensure a proper coverage, I painted two layers, just as I normally do (the first layer always act as a primer).
This is where the initial project went wrong. Both the gold and black paint came from the same brand, but behaved very differently.
When the time came to remove the masking tape and reveal pretty stripes, the black paint stayed on the glass but the gold one stayed stuck to the tape. It lifted of the glass like a stripe of plastic and all my pretty gold work was gone!

Instead of trying to repaint something that was likely to come off all over again, I decided to try something else. And, fortunately, I had a roll of gold washi tape that came to the rescue. I used the tape to replace my paint stripes. And, because it looked a bit duller, I decided that 3D glitter glue is after all not something I can do without. I edged all the stripes with gold and black liner and averted a disaster of a project.

It now sits nicely on my desk, holds my mess of wire and while I was taking pictures, my cat got jeallous of all the attention this thing was getting so she photo bombed my pictures :

In Europe, when you mention Summer, chances your mind will conjure a picture of a fresh Mozzarella and tomato salad. Or any cold dish made with that amazing Italian white cheese.
Few know that mozzarella isn't just that grated cheese you find on some pizza but is also a fresh cheese that bears a lot of similarities with cottage cheese and paneer. The one you find on real italian pizza is often the aged product, while the one made famous by the Caprese Salad is the fresh one.

In India, mozzarella was sadly synonymous (and probably still is) with that lump of cheese flavours rubber that barely melts and taste like crap. A cheap processed cheese that bears no resemblance to the real thing. Those wealthy and insane enough could chance upon some fresh and imported mozzarella if they were willing to pay an arm, leg and possibly their soul for it.

Not anymore!



India nowprocesses and distributes it on a domestic scale. Which I am surprised wasn't done earlier to be frank. You see, mozzarella, the real deal is made with buffalo milk. An animal that is by no mean a rare sight in this country. Then, as I stated already, the process to make mozzarella is very similar to the process used to make paneer.
The whey and milk solids are first separated using citric acid, then the solids are worked and kneaded into the final product. Bengali paneer used the kneading process in question. Mozzarella seem to only differ in its use of enzymes to coagulate the milk solids. In Italy it was traditionally it was rennet that was used. An enzyme found in the stomach of ruminants such as cows. There are of course vegetarian version of the enzyme, and this is precisely what this brand is using here in India.

The cheese in itself is very soft and high in moisture and is almost always sold in a container of brine to keep it that way. This brand is no exception, each package contains two lump of approximate very 100g each packed in brine so that the cheese reaches you in perfect condition.
At 250 rupees a pack, it is not a cheap cheese of course. BUT when a pack of frozen mozzarella of suspicious freshness sells at 800 simply because it was made in Italy, you'll agree this is a steal. It is also a cheese that is containing no artificial colours or preservative, making it a far healthier option than all the processed cheeses on the market.

As of now it seems my local supermarket has trouble keeping stock, it sells like crazy. There are plenty of salads and sandwiches that can be made with it. A few of which I will share recipes, including the copycat version of the Starbucks Basil Mozzarella Tomato sandwich.

The real mango season in Mumbai kicks off in April. And today, we had our first of the season for breakfast.
Some of you might wonder why I said April when Alphonsoes have bee on the market for a solid month already.
That is when you'll notice I said the REAL season. Alphonsoes have become so ridiculously popular that the demand has pushed farmers and distributors to pluck them off the trees early, and then ripen them artificially for all those who just can't wait.

I am not one of these. First because the March bulk of not so ready to eat fruits taste odd, and then because they are outrageously pricy for such a substandard fruit.
To be fair I was all for delaying buying some another week or two. But, Ishita could really no longer wait begged for some. And, with the season for all the other Winter fruits reaching an end, there wasn't much to distract her from the king of fruit.
Fortunately, these looked healthy and were tasty enough (but would probably be better toward the end of the month).

Mangoes in India are inevitably associated with Summer. This is pretty much the only local and in season fruit you will find around at this time of the year. And, India grows over 200 varieties of Mangoes. in Mumbai, the king of the kings is the Alphonso. One variety I find myself a bit divided upon.
Is it good? Definitely. Is it the best? Not so sure. I enjoyed Malika mangoes in Bangalore a great deal more than Alphonsoes to be fair. Alphonsoes, as good as they are seem to be a bit over rated to me. They have been made the poster boys of Mangoes by default.

That said, mangoes, regardless of their varieties are THE fruit that will make Summer bearable. Their only drawback is that they are a bit of a pain to cut and eat.
I like mine straight from the fridge and eaten as is, DH likes his in mango shakes, Ishita will eat them just because they are mangoes, and my dog begs for the peels. The only one we haven't gotten on board is my cat. But cats are known food snobs anyway...