MORE THAN ONE WAY TO MAKE IT!

I'm experimenting in the kitchen these days and guess what I tried making a few weeks back when my adorable little cousins were staying at my place...ICE CREAM!!!I purchased a packet of Baker's ice cream powder and started making it. I looked at the instructions written behind it and thought to myself, "Piece of cake. Ha!" The instructions went like this,
"Take 200ml of chilled milk in a deep vessel and contents of the pack (100gms). Whip for 10-15 mins for 6-8 mins with an interval of one min after every three minutes to get upto 2-3 times the volume of the soft cream."
I was slightly confused about the timings though. I had to re-read it several times over to make sure. Apart from that it was the most easiest thing to make. The flavour was pista and voila, I had it chilled for 3 hours and ready to serve along with the fruit salad I had made. My darling Sis was surprised that I made delicious ice cream so easily and everything seemed so easy to do until she asked me a question - "Hmmm, Ponzi, how much did the ice cream powder cost you?" to which I answered, "hhmmm, don't think it was much, hmmmm, dunno really". For your kind information Mr.Reader, it costed Rs33!! If you are a miser, you'd also remember that I had to pay for the milk too!!! And if you are a truly stingy miser, you'd also calculate the number of cup ice creams you could've bought with the same amount of money.
The next time I went to the super market to do some shopping, I bought Kwality's ice cream powder only because it had the "Buy one get one free" offer. The instructions on it were a little more complicated. It went like this,
"Dissolve the contents of the packet in half litre of milk and heat the mixture till it boils stirring continously, till it boils.
Remove and cool. Stir frequently while cooling.Transfer it into an aluminium container and freeze for two hours.
Then remove and beat for 2-3 mins until smooth. Pour into tray and freeze."

I mumbled and grumbled while making the ice cream because it seemed forever while I continuously stirred the mix over and over again. The apple pudding for which the ice cream was supposed to be the topping was easier to make. The apple pudding was yum yummy and I didn't have the patience to wait for the ice cream to freeze and so I served the pudding anyways.

SAY HEY TO THE BETTER YOU

There must have been instances when you must’ve thought to yourself, “What on earth am I doing here?” and you wonder what the future has in store for you. For me, it happens so often that I feel it’s like a déjà vu experience…People have told me that everything happens for a purpose…whether it’s the car accident, giving birth to twins, falling in love, breaking up with a friend, saying the wrong things to the one you love, randomly helping a stranger, noticing something nobody else have not even cared to notice, being influenced by the supposedly “wrong” source…I could go on…

Some people seem to get what they want and we’d call them lucky. But I’ve noticed that they don’t often get it the way they planned to. Who am I to say all this? Well, I haven’t made it big in life yet, BUT I will, in my own way. For the time being, I’m content with dealing with the delicacies of life and getting the most of what I have at the moment. However, people who have already made it big in life might have a lot to say. Fate plays an important role in our lives but how we deal with it decides whether we attain our goals or not…eventually!

However, what is important is being ready in difficult situations to PROVE yourself. For this reason, you’ll have to put on the fighting gear you’ll need to travel in the adventurous road called life. Imagine you are enjoying a walk in the woods and you are face-to-face with a bear. You’d obviously feel more comfortable if you could confront the creature with something other than merely your bare hands. In the same way, there are various skills that may not seem very important, but are necessary for you to deal with situations in your life – especially in a moment of crisis. I could name a few like, controlling your emotions, dealing with stress in a productive way, presenting yourself in a genuine but impressive manner, appreciating others for their work, and the list goes on. These are skills that can help you deal with circumstances effectively and further help you to face seemingly insurmountable obstacles you come across – almost like the right amount of salt and spices in your dishes. Big problems will seem easy to handle and people will get to know you as a very easy, go-lucky individual who can handle almost any situation. This is important in your career as well as in your private lives. Of course, it’s impossible for us to do it all in one day, but that’s the exciting part - you learn, experiment, conclude and then make it a part of you once you think it’s going to make you a better you!

BABYSITTING IS NOT ALL THAT EASY!

6th April 2010
When my parents were planning to leave for Kerala I thought I'd have all the time in the world to do what I wanted to and sit down to write a bit. Everything turned upside down when we decided that my two little cousins would be staying over. Well, frankly, I bought it on myself. When the girl looked at me wide eyed saying that vacations have just started and asked whether she could stay at our place while they are away, I said, "Yeah! Of course!" It's been only 2 and a half days and I'm struggling to keep up. Kids are fun but not when you have to do the cooking, cleaning and worst of all scold them when they are up to mischief. When breakfast is over it's already time for lunch and when that is over it's time for tea and it's night in the blink of an eye....

11th April 2010
They've (my cousins) left our place just when I was getting used to them. Today was a real good day. Exhausted with all that cleaning I stretch my back. I couldn't admire enough what my Mum have done all these years. Being the fighter gal I am, I'm not going to give up of course. It's all a matter of time and getting used to the cooking (which have always proved to be a major challenge for me) and it's going to be easy once I get used to it and that's that! Two more days left I wonder how to make the best use of it. Anyways, going out and having dinner in a cute tamil restaurant was refreshing. What added more fun to the entire "outing" plan was cracking jokes and teasing each other (we were sarcastic most of the time but hey, that's what's makes it cool). At the end of the day I'm peacefully sitting with my laptop and eeeehhh...thinking.