Monthly Favourites: May 2022.

 Hello Loves! 

Month end means time to list some of my favourite things from May. 

May...was a strange sort of month. 

Felt too oddly long. 

Too hot in parts.

There was a smattering of much needed rain. 

I read some big books. 

Read some goooood books. 

Didn't buy a single book! Go me. Look at me being sensible. 

:) 

I watched a lot of things and a LOT of very good things. 

I was in a world of pain from Carpal Tunnel. I could barely journal or write and spent just the bare minimum time on my planners. I had to rest my hand and still it's not gotten much better. :( 

Ugh. 

Summer sadness was a real bedfellow this month. 

But let's focus on the good instead. 

Here are my May Favourites. 

1. Summer Rains and Blooms: While most of the country was burning up due to horrible heat waves, we, in my corner of the world in North Bengal, had many mild days thanks to a spot of rain. I have loved these low key rainy days and seeing our garden come to life has been nice too. 

2. Mangoes: Uff! The best, best part of summer in India are mangoes.I love them in every form. As is, in milkshakes, made into ice-cream...the possibilities are endless. But this month I've enjoyed them most in this delightful concoction..the humble Aam Makha. 

You take two or three ripe mangoes. 

Take on kacha mango. 

Sprinkle pepper, salt, black salt. a bit of Kashundi (Bengali mustard) and a squirt of lemon juice. 

Mix. 

Oh you can add a few sprigs of fresh coriander leaves.  

And you have a plate of absolute delight. 

This has been my lunch on very hot days and has brought me so much joy. 

3. New Ceramics from Chumbak: I don't know if I ever said so on the blog, but if you follow me on IG, you know that last year my sister won a 10K worth of hamper from Chumbak for sharing a picture featuring a mug. Yay! So over the last year, we've been slowly using this very generous hamper to buy little things from them. So far we've bought mostly mugs, we also got a watch and some other little bits. This month we got ourselves some more ceramic goodies. Two mugs and a bowl and a plate. I love mugs...a little too much some might say. I love these new additions to my coffee drinking. The plate I've used for my mango binging and I love it. 

4. Tote Bags from Ayenaa: I shopped very little this month. But I loved these totes and sling bag I got from this shop on IG called Ayenaa. Love the art and the colours and I can't wait to carry them around. 

5. May Journal: I sadly didn't really get to journal much this month due to my left hand being out of commission for most part. But I love, love, love how cutely I decorated my journal. I had so much fun doing this and this journal will be a roll over into June and I am hoping to fill up these pages with thoughts and ideas and musings. 

6. Reading Tote: Early in the month I set up my Reading Tote. A tote to hold my current reads ( I do tend to read more than one book at a time lately) and other reading paraphernalia, namely my Kindle and book journal and little scrap books for bookish notes and thoughts and a handful of highlighters and some of my pens. Wow...that's a lot! See, this is why I needed a tote. I will share a proper look into my tote at some point. I've found having a tote super useful and a good way to keep my things in one place. 

7. DIY Notebooks: Remember how back in January we made two tiny notebooks from unused paper from older notebooks? Well, in May it was time to make me some new notebooks from allllll re-used materials. The paper itself and even the cover was reused packaging. I love these tiny notebooks, I use them to jot down quick thoughts while I am reading. My on the go reading journal if you will! 

8. Affogato: I love coffee. This month we started making ourselves some late night Affogato as a special treat on hot nights. 

Brew your coffee as you do. 

I add a splash of caramel sauce to my brew. 

Pour over vanilla ice-cream. 

Done. 

Yum. 

9. Reading: Reading was very good this month. I read all sorts of books and some books that are some of the best books I've read all year. I read some 15 odd books...maybe even more. A good month of reading, I'll talk more about it in my Reading Wrap-Up tomorrow. But my favourite book of the month was In The Language of Remembering by Aanchal Malhotra. I loved it so much! 

10. Favourite Shows and Film: This has been such a gooooood month viewing. So many good things were watched and loved. For starters, I started re-watching an old favourite of mine- Criminal Minds and it's so good to be back with an old favourite. 

My favourite things I've watched this month has got to be Panchayat Season-2. Uff! What an incredible season. Funny, heart-warming and adorable and sweet and then that last episode comes and knocks the air out of your lungs. So good. Best. I laughed and cried and fell more in love with these folks! 

Also there was Stranger Things-4!!!! After three long years! So good to be back with these kids and back to the 80s. 

My favourite films this month was- Jhund, which I loved so much. It's streaming on Zee 5. It's such a wonderful and important and moving story that you need to see. I am so glad I watched it. 

I also watched The Lost City recently I loved it so much. It's funny and silly and wholly entertaining. An adventure and laugh filled caper from start to finish. 

So there are my May faves. 

Little joys and little things. 

Hope May was decent to you too. 

:)