My first cake baking experience !

" So did you finalize on the recipe? " my hubby asked me 2 days before Christmas.I said "Every recipe here seems to me like I have never tried any of these ingredients even once before.But...wait except for this."I pointed at one of the ingredients in the list which said 'RUM'.He smiled and said " I guess you were Irish in your last life".

Finally,we decided on the recipe,bought all the necessary stuff that day.Next day I soaked all the nuts and cherries in rum till late evening and started making it around 10 in the night hoping to have it ready by 12am before we wished 'Merry Christmas'.

We were using the new Oven and we were making cake for the first time.What happened to the old Oven?????By the way,when we bought that one in Dec'05,the sales guy said we could heat anything and therefore we used it as a room heater for almost 2 winters but in vain.We also used it for drying our kitten after giving a bath.When we took it out,it had a new look.After it refused to work,we decided to pick a new and bigger one (as we have a biiiig dog now to dry ).

Let's get back to baking a cake.When we smelt something was burning,we opened the Oven door and found cake was ready and hot.It was creamier and had some black spots indicating over baked around some portions of it.We decided to remove that later and kept it for cooling till 12.When the clock struck 12,we ran into the kitchen and hurriedly picked a knife,wishing each other we cut the cake....!!!! Alas,it looked totally different.My hubby looked at me and said " Chells,what did you add to the mixture?". I said "...hmmm,Charcoal...!!!??"

We tried to get it right for couple of times but in vain.Then we took the mixture to my in-laws place and baked using their Oven to get it in proper form and finally we did.Now we are using our Oven to dry clothes and our dog.

What's your pick? Crazy or Not-So-crazy!!!

Just as this blog-friend of mine said,it's self tagged.Thought it was interesting to pick things that I have done.Just in case to remind myself of the crazy/not-so-crazy/not-crazy-at-all things that I have done so far :) and here it follows ;

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula !!!???
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone.
08. Said “I love you” and meant it.
09. Hugged a tree.
10. Bungee jumped.
11. Visited Paris.
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea.
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise.
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne (Never on champagne,can say Tequila/Vodka.)
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment.
27. Had a food fight.
28. Bet on a winning horse.
29. Asked out a stranger.
30. Had a snowball fight.
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can.
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and didn’t care who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day. - tried putting on a Mangalorean accent while speaking in local language.
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk. (It has helped me to switch roles later :))
42. Had amazing friends (Still have them:))
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign.
44. Watched whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe - I have packed my bags in Europe though. Does that count?? :o)
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Taken a midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love.
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them.(Doesn't matter whom you sit with when stomach is making a lot of noises,does it?)
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs - Cassettes actually.
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day.
60. Played touch football.
61. Gone scuba diving.
62. Kissed in the rain-(does shower or elevator count too?)
63. Played in the mud.
64. Played in the rain.
65. Gone to a drive.
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a .
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken (still in love,why would it break?)
69. Toured ancient cities.
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight ????
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party.
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a Tatto - a temporary one :-o
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on a television news program as an “expert”
83. Gotten flowers for no reason.
84. Performed on stage.
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music - @ home :)
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror.
96. Raised children
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Passed out cold.
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country.
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking with the windows open.
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you should’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart.
111. Helped an animal give birth.
112. Won money on a TV game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for 30 hours in a 48 hour period
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. States
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about.
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Touched a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes ???
134. Read The Iliad and The Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care (medical care?It was a nightmare!)
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life

I guess i have done very few of them so far.Aiming to do more of these kind :)

Two sides of the coin :)

My husband and I are the two sides of the same coin.Why? Know it yourself.

Flip Coin 1:

Me: " Chells,time to take shower".

Ed : " Sure hon,go ahead."

Me: " It's time for you to take shower."

Ed : " Do you like Deepika Padukone?"

Me: " What's that to do with you taking shower and no,I don't like her."

Ed : " I knew it.You both have different opinions as well."

Me : " Like you know her personally."

Ed: " You keep saying take shower/have bath blah blah blah and she says when you have bath it washes away the essential skin vitamins. See..?"

Me: " And she says what to use to avoid it if you are such a follower of her."

Ed: " Nah,my point is made."

Flip Coin 2:

Me: " Chells,do you like Shabana Azmi?"

Ed: " Who? Shabana Azmi?..." (ahem ahem)

Me : " I thought so.You are not cautioned yet."

Ed: " What ????"

Me: " I like her and she says 'Go Single....' "

Ed: " Helloooooooooo,I have seen that hoarding.The complete sentence is 'Go Single after 40' . "

Me: " Oh yes,I will go single when you turn 40.Point made." (Wink)

We are dynamic !

How dynamic are we? Our focus keeps shifting from one to another with the frame of time.Till the beginning of this week we watched,read,spoke about Mumbai Terrorist Attacks and today it's changed to Mumbai Politicians' Attack.All we keep hearing now is new CM of Mumbai and Rane accusing Ashok Chavan & Sonia Gandhi.Ever body's a** is on the fire but for different reasons and everybody has to watch their back carefully.Is this why we have democracy?

There happens a rally in Bangalore which jams traffic for nearly a day,ruling blames it on opposition and opposition blames it on impatience of urban residents.The question is not who wins in the argument but the question is,the insensitive people elected by us take no ownership of any such events.Is this why we have democracy?

We the people of India,keep blame it on everybody else.So what resolutions have we made to change it and be stuck to it? How many of us have decided to ,

• Use the right of Voting
• Be vocal about what we want with right people
• Fight for right reasons
• Be the change we really want to see in others

We all know we are not a secular country.Just by living under the same geographical conditions no nation gets secular.We know the tolerance level for each other here.Small issues are made bigger,like;

• Mr.Bachchan opening a school in UP faces opposition in Maharashtra.
• Karnataka opposes Cauvery Water Release to TN.
• Abhinava bharath acts against other religions.

Thanks to the terrorists for making US and UK nationals their obvious targets for we have the biggest powers of the world pushing us to fight.I don't even want to imagine what would happen if they were not with us.We are neither democratic nor secular,we have never been one but definitely DYNAMIC.

Make hay when milkman comes ! - 2

Contd..........

The Milkman pulled over,turned back and started walking to us with his hand inside his pants(pocket).I asked my hubby " Ed,why does he have his hand inside,he's a milkman,rite?" ."Exactly and that's why..." my hubby answered.I looked at him and tried to whisper I was scared he might pull out a weapon and that was my actual question but by then milkman got close to us pulling out a cellphone.I exhaled and pulled the blanket over my head.

He looked at us and asked " are you guys terrorists? why are you following that man?" He pointed at an officer in navy uniform.We never knew we were following that officer,so I felt irritated while my hubby was happy that a common man was being cautious.I was more scared now at the mention of terrorists and of the media hype.In case of media,it's like smoke spreads even before the fire breaks.By the time the thought crossed my mind, I could hear someone saying "The milkman has alerted the city about the two terrorists who were following a navy officer....."

I realized the media had already gathered around the milkman.My hubby quickly pulled our blankets down and stood among them looking at the milkman.He looked confused by the questions media was asking him.Now he couldn't identify the two people whom he thought was terrorists.When he looked at us,I exhaled again and made my belly look bigger than the baby inside me.Looking at the expectant mother,media focused all the attention to get some emotional news.

Some of the questions they asked me were as below,

"So ma'am,did you happen to see anybody?"

" It must be really shocking to see them first thing in the morning for you,do you think it will harm the baby inside?"

"Is this your first time....I mean to witness a terrorist in real?"

"What do you think they were doing here?"

"Did they harm the Navy officer walking by?"

"Do you think the Govt. is responsible for the health of an expectant mother who is horrified by the sight of them?"

"Do you agree that our CM,dy CM and Home Minister should resign from the respective positions"

"Would you be able to make it for our candle protest this evening in front of Vidhanasoudha?"

..................................................................

And then I heard one of them saying,

"A brave expectant mother and her hubby along with the milkman spotted out two terrorists...."

The moment each one started posing before their cameras to send messages to the corresponding news channels we escaped from the hostage condition and didn't forget to pick our blankets before getting into a rickshaw to reach the place where we parked our pulsar.By the time we reached home and turned on the TV,there was another couple ,again an expectant mother and a man with her,being questioned by the media.Some of them were asking the milkman(who was still there) if found out anything unusual.

We switched off the TV and decided to use our cooking gas and butterfly Stove at the fireplace we might have when the baby came or use an Oven to say fireplace was advanced.

Make hay when Milkman comes ! -1

On thanksgiving it struck to me that Christmas was soon to come which was followed by the Santa Clause thought.I told my hubby that we needed to have a fire place in order for Santa to drop by.As we are going to have a baby soon,we need to materialize all the things we are going to tell her/him and therefore my hubby too agreed (which is a rare thing between us,because he never gets to choose).

Now the question was,how to set it up?and where to get the firewood and make a chimney.Me playing the genius told him to use hay instead of firewood thus by indianizing the fireplace and easy to avail.He agreed again and we were flooded with thoughts as to where to get it?After thinking for long hours(I was almost asleep and I could hear him snoring as well),he broke the silence and said " Sweets,let's check it out with our milkman.He should have piled up hay to feed his cows"(how thoughtful of him).We decided to follow our milkman next morning in disguise.

Next morning we woke up around 5:30 and kept a watch outside(that watch was stolen.I'm glad we didn't keep an eye as my huuby said).We were speaking for a while and then I heard a vehicle sound and woke up it was 8 in the morning and that was our milkman's TVS sound.It was highly unprofessional of the milkman to turn up so late,at 8am.I even told my hubby that he was late and we should talk to him about his punctuality.My hubby said he comes around the same time everyday but it goes without our notice because we wake up around 9am.I had nothing to say after that.

As my hubby reminded me of our mission,we left immediately on our pulsar in disguise (with a blanket on us) after him but we couldn't keep following.We were always ahead of him,then we thought for a moment.Parked the pulsar by the road side and started walking after his TVS to keep up with the pace.I'm sure he got suspicious even after successfully following him without hinting him......

to be Contd..........

That's when I'm due !

It's time for me to recollect the feathers I shed over the past years while trying to fly all by myself.It's time to re-tell the stories I heard when I was a kid,sing the songs to which I opened my eyes everyday,learn the same game which kept me busy all day......yes,it's time for me to switch roles again (prev post Switching roles with Mom at http://gee-pos.blogspot.com/2008/04/switching-roles-with-mom.html) !


When sitting by the wall,reading a book or watching TV,there's this feeling of movement within and I know it's one of the miracles of nature,a life inside another life.Now I know for sure this is how close one can get to the life.I guess this is how the feeling of belongingness began to take shape.

Spring is the season which is believed to be the time for renewal and arrival of new lives.That's when the leaves turn green and first flowers begin to bloom.A pleasant change as the winter passes by and a soothing sight everywhere.....and that's when I'm due !

Life is larger than anything ???!!!

What's the difference between a war and a terrorist attack? Former happens at the border and latter doesn't have geographic limitations.

What's the similarity between the two?
In both,people are fighting to protect/promote some one else's ideas,ideals and thoughts.And in both the cases there's a huge loss of life.

I wonder how many people here amongst us worry about the geographical area of the nation and who belongs to which religion?How many people think it's the definition of patriotism to draw a border (LOC) to separate ourselves from the rest of the world to say it's mine.How does it help to remain humane in one's life? What do we all want? A family,a home,a few friends,a decent living and be let to live in peace.Isn't it same across globe? Then why do we separate ourseleves based on color,religion and culture ?

Why do people who fight for destructive purposes have more power than those who fight for the welfare of the people? Isn't it because of the degree of faith they have in their beliefs than those protecting us? Why can't we have a stronger positive energy?Is it because we keep fighting within ourseleves? We spend all our energy dividing people inside that it becomes diffiult to fight an invader all united ?

Today if we all are suffering,it's because,in any given part of the world,at any given time,there are a number of people who are getting prepared to fight to protect some one else's Brain work and this someone else is called a leader,be it political or religious.If only we knew to stand up for each other whether it comes to form a Govt. or pull it down,probably we would have been better people.Do we know what we actually want?

I get reminded of the saying "Life is larger than anything" ,so doesn't it mean it's larger than ones' beliefs,practices and religion.If destruction is what their perception of religion is,how far are we going to put up with those kind of propaganda ????