..... and everything else

Life had been a big chain of new experiences and changes last full year. I was so busy doing things that there was hardly any time to think. The six months after I quit were difficult ones, a family member struggled with cancer, finally giving in to the disease. The loss left us numb for a while, but the decision to move to a foreign land was seemed good as it would definitely help healing. Life in the new land was full of excitement, surprises, learning. It was as if there was a system reset! I got to define my needs, wants, and got to set all the priorities in life right. Thinking about my life as a professional did happen, though occasionally. But frankly, I was enjoying the new responsibilities just too much to give a serious thought about it. I definitely was not missing being a professional. It was only since few days ago, i started realising that maybe, somewhere I was missing life as a professional. I did miss the technical part a bit, but more I missed was the pressure, th

For an eggless cake with butter, check here.   My friend Smriti first sent me this dairy and egg free cake recipe. It is mighty useful to kids who are allergic to dairy and/or eggs. I have included few variations ahead, where one is fine with milk but only wants an eggless version. Ingredients All purpose flour (maida)      1 2/3 cups Brown sugar                         1/2 cup granulated sugar                    1/2 cup (you may use 1 cup of granulated sugar too) cocoa                                    1/4 cup Baking soda                           1 teaspoon salt                                        1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil                          1/3 cup water                                     1 cup vinegar                                  1 teaspoon vanilla essence                       1/2 teaspoon Procedure Heat oven to 350deg F or 180deg Celsius. Mix flour, brown sugar, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt with fork. Mix in remaining ingredients. Pour int

For a dairy free eggless cake, see here Lot of friends asking for recipe. So i decided it's time I write a blogpost :) Ingredients (The following are portions for a 9 inch dia round baking tin. I usually use half the proportions for 6-7 inch tin A cup is 200ml volume All purpose flour (maida)                2.5 cup cocoa                                             1/2 cup sugar                                              1.5 cup butter (unsalted)                              1 cup milk                                                1 cup baking powder                               2.5 teaspoon baking soda                                    1/2 teaspoon honey                                             2 teaspoon vanilla essence                               1.5 teaspoon If you wish to make a plain cake, replace the cocoa powder with flour, and add 1/2 teaspoon more of vanilla essence. If you wish to make any other flavour, say mango, you may have to adjust the por

The intent of this post is not to rant. I write this because I have observed that teaching children the values you intend to teach  is truly challenging in closely knit families. Do share your experiences/comments if you feel it helps a healthy discussion We have, what i would say a closely knit extended family. That means technically, we are not joint family, we do not tay in the same house; but every festival, birthday, special occasion is spent together. The scene where i am trying to prevent my child from doing a certain thing, and close relatives intervening to state the otherwise can be quite common during family get togethers. For example, during a meal, my son has had good amount of sweets and fried items, and i tell him that he must now have some rice. I would have a bunch of people who would say to me right there, "oh comeon, let him eat what he wants to". I need not tell how a 5 year old can start reacting to instructions after that. This is of course just an