Of Cakes and Tees....

Day 3 of WT Fest and we are literally given a free reign ! "Free Write" it is- You could read more about it here...

Off late I have been having a whale of time organizing  cakes, gifts for birthdays and small family gatherings. That instant smile, the unguarded, non -calculative reaction that pops up as soon as the lucky recipient (:-P) lay eyes on it is all the credit you'll ever need. And it's not as if you need a heavy wallet to do this - all you need is some creativity(nee, strike it out - Google zindabad!) and the inclination to do it! Here is what we have been up to last few weeks.....

My nephew is turning three this week and he is a big fan of spider-man. I got my favorite thaddikaaran to put together this pic for me.... The moment the little imp set his eyes on it, he literally went berserk kissing the laptop monitor :-D. Am planning to put this on a cake(a "picture cake") or print it on a Tee.... I cannot wait to see his reaction then :-D. Thank you Thaadikaaro... U absolutely rocked it!

I absolutely enjoyed putting together this cake for my sister's little fellas homecoming... beautiful rt :-D. The design idea was again courtesy Google. My sister's excitement when she saw this was the perfect reward.....

Now why kids alone, when I got this tee(the pic on it was clicked by him) for my peter-pan last year, he actually wondered aloud "How do you manage to do this every-time!". Now this coming from somebody who thinks gifts are his birth right was absolutely exhilarating :-D

That's enough of self-dabba(self praise) for one day no :)

PS: Nee am neither an event planner nor a baker. Am the perfect "Project Manager" - I can come up with "larger than life" ideas but will need people who can execute it :-P

PPS: Do hop onto Pixie's blog where I have done a guest post for her. While you're there, do read the extra-nice things she has to say about me  :-D

Am absolutely enjoying this season WT Fest of words......

Friday the 13th :-D

Does it spook you? Nee not me... at least one superstition that I don horde on to!! The reason thou is got no scientific bend to it.. its jus tht 13th of aug happens to be ma hubbs bday n I cant afford to be spooked if it falls on a friday rt :)

Today - Friday the 13th also happens to be ma BILs B'day... did anybody say "Devil" :-D

Yummy(licious) huh!

The Bday Dhamaka!

Haaa am announcing it a wee bit late... But I happened to celebrate my 3 decades on earth a good days back(Don even get me started on how old I feel.. A post on it later).

Now what was spl abt this bday was the day in itself..... I don hv my bday date on FB. So that meant almost no-action on the 'Social Media' but what that does translate to is that the people who took the effort to remember the day are the ones who mean something to me (another way of saying that my real close ones can well be counted on the fingers... doesnt sound impressive huh). Bottles of Champagne n beer, Yummy cake, 'Communal-cooking'(Loads of cooking), Pot luck is what the day was~~ Nothing fancy abt them  but the keyword of the day I guess was "Warm"!

Jus before u think that I hv turned all wise n philosophical as I turn 30, Lemme break the bubble n admit that a part of me was still looking for the 'birthday Gift(s)' (Time I grew up huh :-D). Looking back, I guess it was one b'day where each gift I received was picked up so thoughtfully(Not jus-yet-another-random-gift). Lemme proudly announce what all I was bestowed with on the D-Day:

• Goggles with power lens(courtesy hubbs) - My constant grouse abt wearing specs is that I cant sport a goggles over it which made me 'V.Uncool' (you can roll ur eyes) n so this gift! Now before u can pat ma hubbs, I got this(good 2 day later) post clear-instructrions given a month back to him (So much for being Mr.Thotful!)
• Ma ever thotful sis roams around in the hot harsh sun trying to get me the 'Perfect Gift'(and getting horribly tanned in the process) and 'Perfect Gift' she did find! A swanky new mobile ~~ My old one was almost in pieces you see!
• The 'Tongue-In-cheek' BIL(Soon-to-be) gets me a big huge ripe Jack fruit(yea u read it rt) cause thts ma fav fruit! But the sweetest SIL taht I am, I made him cut it open and remove it slice-by-slice :-D(If u eva cut a jack fruit, you will know what am talking of!)
• The eva-resourceful sabs picks up this beauty of a dress for me in 'Happy Colors' jus cause thts so me :)

Now lemme admit, all these peop mentioned above would hv anyways been(:-P) in the 'Default Gifting List',  but the one that was really a pleasant surp was a 'kindle' that a frnd sent me all the way from abroad jus cause he knows I enjoy reading(Speak of Thotful peop!)

N ho yea there are few more peop who figure in the 'default Gifting' list but hvnt shown up yet.. But yea don yea worry, Am open to 'B'day gifts' for a few more days :-D

Before I sign off, You can look at the yum yum yum 'mocha Cake'

Linking this to ABC Wednesday(P is for 'Presents')

Happy Bday.....

Sax! Ho yeap the same Sabina Zacharias who keeps popping in v frequently into this blog! Well if you go here and read, you will know tht she is goodness personified. But well well, if u think shes this Miss. Goody-two-shoes, you couldn't be more wronger. Sample her latest FB msg to know what am speaking....

May those who love us love us,

and those who do not love us,

may God turn their hearts,

and if He cannot turn their hearts

may He turn their ankles

that we may know them by their limping ;)))))

She can be this imp and well I guess its tht mixture  which makes her this perfectly lovable n interesting person :). Heres hoping tht this year, she ends up finding the much-awaited professional happiness in her life..... Something which as she keeps saying is "More Than A Job".... This I believe will be the elixir to all her maladies!

Leaving u with the cake tht we baked(ho yes! More of it later thou) to mark the occasion.....

Cakes for you...

Can U guess whats the topping on this pic?

...

here take a closer look

Any  luck? Lemme give u a hint.......This is a click from the small cake I got to celebrate ma litt sis(not so litt anymore!) convocation as she finished her MS (Gulp! Gulp!)........

Still no bells ringing? The topping on tht is supposed to resemble the convocation hat... something like this!

U will not believe as to how non imaginative the people working in these so called top-rung eateries can be.... This one was dished out from Cakewala @ Koramangala in B'lore! I (yea, go ahead roll ur eyes) had to tell them how to get tht topping together....

While am still not happy with what they conjured up, it did serve the purpose of pulling together a small nice surprise for ma sis..... Her expression when she was caught clueless on this was priceless :). At the end of the day thts all matters rt......


Linking this to Color Deckors - weekly stories....

PS: I luv the visual appeal these pics add to the post :)

I Baked a Chocolate Cake!

Yeah Yeah Yeah! Stop rolling your eyes and no its not some easy breezy cake mix that you put in oven and in a zap comes out the cake!! N No its no book's name either!
This was made from scratch with all raw materials ..maida, coco powder, egg, mika, sugar n alll!! Still dont believe me...well well they say a picture is worth thousand words...then so be it!!

Hmm ok now u thinking this looks v amateurish n there is a slight probability that she made it but but but there has gotta be a catch :-D. Sad I say!!

psssst.....yeah yeah there is indeed a catch...Just hop on here to know why!! Easy huh?? N now u become a cake making pro just like me!!! Hee hee hee!! Ha N I bet now u like "what the hell!! Does this work??" Exactly what I thot but trust me it does n it truly yummily does! N u MR.Tintin am sure this would be now a part of ur showing-off-to girls routine!!

May be you could add a few dry fruits n a dash of rum to it n bake or may be have it with chocolate sauce to make it truly relishing (U impressed with my culinary ideas ha! Well well I'll pass on the compliments to my hubbs :-D)

Yours truly was so excited with this culinary discovery that I couldn’t wait to blog it! But as I write this I have my tongue literally hanging out and all salivating!! No No No, dont shake ur head n say Kodhichi(hogger in malayalam)! Its the result of a disaster tht followed!


As yours truly was fetching the bottle of chocolate sauce , there was a drop of what she thot was the chocolate n the kodichi that she indeed is , licked it clean only to realize that it was instead a god damn drop of spicy concentrated chilly n then what followed was something akin to a war dance! Tongue kept under running water, bottles of water n curd at last bought some solace!

What a start to weekend u say!! But now do u believe that am indeed being made to cook...sob sob sob! N dearies before u say it, lemme clarify in the chocolate cake the only contribution of my hubbs was to whisk it all up!!!