Posts filed under ‘Other Musings’
Of simple birthdays and cakes

Chocolate Birthday Cake

I love my wife. She knows exactly how to make my birthday special – she cooks me all my favorite foods on this day, helps pick out a stylish birthday outfit, and buys me something kick-ass every year (a sweet pair of basketball kicks this year).  And more importantly, this is the one time of the year she uses the oven to bake me a delicious chocolate cake.

I am the baker at home; I go on crazy baking marathons where, in an effort to be energy efficient, I make sure I atleast cook 4, if not more, dishes once I switch on the oven. My wife? Not so much; she is much more of a stove-top cook, and the most she comes in contact with the oven throughout the year is to help take out the pizza from the oven if my hands are tied up preparing the chicken roast that will go in next.

Yet, for the past couple of years, on the night of my birthday, she surprised me by baking me a chocolate birthday cake all by herself -  now, she still uses those cake-in-a-box mixes, but they still involve measuring out proper amounts of the mix-ins, mixing up the batter (a tiring job for my delicate little Princess), and baking to exactly the right temperature to avoid a not-yet-done or burnt cake. And for all her baking fears, she gets it right every year – and always makes me appreciate the simple things in life that we really need to have a wonderful life.

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Posted on January 29th, 2010 | Comments Icon No Comments
New decade, New energy

Monster-energy

Happy New Year everyone! Or, should I say, Happy New Decade? Yessire – the Aught’s are over and we are now in to the 10s. Somehow, calling a decade by its collective name doesnt seem really interesting till you get the to 20’s, don’t you think? Well, the 2000’s sure went by fast, leaving behind quite a few global phenomenon in their wake – Y2K, the scary world of terror, the ubiquity of reality television, social networking, and the resurgence of food as entertainment.

The 2010’s promise to get a lot busier and crazier – Avatar launched a 3D madness that will soon bombard us with multi-dimensional madness;  the new tablet from Apple will ensure that the interweb will not leave your side even as you simply rest on the couch – you will WANT to get the later twitter updates even if you’re just relaxing, no?; we will probably need security checks to even get on a freaking bus in the near future; and who knows what other new global phenomenon will claim to make our lives simpler by making us spend more time buying and interacting with objects, rather than taking time to ourselves or spending it with actual, live, touchable humans?

Whew – just thinking about the upcoming decade makes me tired. It might just be that I am also dreading the slow decline of my body from my roaring twenties into the dreaded 30-land. While I have a few more years to get there, being on the wrong side of 25 definitely gives you certain indication that the limitless energy you used to have as a youth was indeed with limits – there are no more three straight party days, or marathon basketball games. And I don’t just mean physically – mentally too, as we slip into the rut of careers and jobs, we tend to become zombies and walk through weeks without enojoying the little things around us. The thought of a little wee one eventually joining the wife and I only heightens my urgency to figure out a way to retain enough energy to enjoy everything life is going to throw our way in the upcoming 10 years.

Hence, my resolution for the decade is a simple one – ‘Stay energized’.

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Posted on January 2nd, 2010 | Comments Icon No Comments
Food, love and oranges. Yes, oranges.

Orange Juicer

I love food. Most of my cherished memories of the 20+ years of my life so far involve food in some way or the other. The people I am most fond of – my wife, my family members, my close friends – all have some food-related references associated with them in my mind. Food has been a solace to me during bleak times, a pleasure to seek out during happy times, and a mnemonic for subconscious memories that transport me back to various other times in my childhood and young adulthood.

Through all the vivid signposts food has left for me so far, none will mean more to me or last with me longer than the lingering scent of oranges after tatayya (my maternal grandfather) used to squeeze summer-ripe mosambi’s into a glass of sweet golden juice.  This is where my love affair with the orange began, and fresh squeezed orange-juice will always remind me of the two special people who were the most responsible for all the good in me: my tatayya and his wife, my ammamma.

♥   Continue reading Food, love and oranges. Yes, oranges.

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Posted on November 15th, 2009 | Comments Icon 1 Comment