Crushing Over Crush

 

Now this is more of a confession, I am a die heard romantic and I am addicted to the amazing feeling of having a crush on someone. There I said it (Ohhhh dear). But the fact remains that I love to be in love. Even when I am not in a relation, which is my actual state of relation, I go ahead and develop a crush or an infatuation. I do all sorts of teeny love acts, like admiring them from far, save their messages and read them again and again and maybe even ask them out for a date.

But that’s just about it. I don’t really take it through because I feel relations are more of a more serious stuff and you should only go serious with people who are worth so much attention in life.

I don’t really break hearts or burst into emo tears over crushes or infatuations, it’s just a fun feeling of having your heart skip few beats when someone special pass by. I know I sound completely crazy, and I get a whack on my head a million times by my best friend who thinks I have lost my mind and need a shrink real bad.

And today I was just reminded of how amazing that feeling of having a crush on someone is, when one of my old crushes gone cold, showed up out of nowhere and it was like someone pressed a repeat telecast button. I was falling for him all over again.

My friend is so going to kill me for this, but this feeling, it’s addictive.

Anyone else out there who is just as crazy as I am or am I the only one of her kind?

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Bucket List: Never ending list till life’s end

When I first came across the term Bucket List, I thought it was nothing more than just a wish list. It was not untill recently when I realised that a bucket list is not just a wish list, it’s a list of things to do before you die.

Or as I like to say, it’s a life list to death.

This got me all excited and it took me no time to start writing my own Bucket List.

So here is my bucket list, it’s still work in progress, guess it always will till I die:

1. Run away for a day without telling anyone and just roam around the city
2. Do bungee jumping from all bungee jumping spots in this world
3. Go stargazing
4. See milky way
5. Visit all the states in India
6. Visit ALL the countries in the world
7. Visit all the wonders of the world
8. Run a marathon
9. Start a business or work or job doing something I love
10. Go Skydiving
11. See northern lights
12. Climb a mountain
13. Write a book
14. Fly in a hot air balloon across a country/city
15. Learn as many musical instruments as I can, especially guitar, piano, violin, drums. Saxophone
16. Learn all types of ballroom dances
17. Go on a bike trip
18. Go on a road trip across at least 9 locations
19. Go backpacking across at least 9 locations
20. Pack my bag and go for a random trip to a random place with no pre planning
21. Live in a European country for at least 6 months
22. Go trekking in a rainforest
23. Camp out in wild
24. Visit angel falls
25. Swim in an ocean
26. Go snorkelling
27. Watch cherry blossoms in Japan
28. Visit a volcano
29. Ride roller coaster rides in world’s 10 most dangerous roller coaster rides
30. Visit live concert of one of my fav singer/rock band
31. Go on a cruise
32. Live in a castle
33. Learn sign language
34. Learn Urdu, Arabic, French, Spanish, German, Russian and any other language that catches my fancy
35. Ride a gondola in Venice
36. Go paragliding
37. Learn to roller skate
38. Learn to ice skate
39. Drive a speedboat
40. Go golfing at world’s 10 best golf clubs
41. Learn horseback riding
42. Learn to ski
43. Ski at top 10 ski resorts in world
44. Eat at world’s 100 best restaurants
45. Learn to fire a riffle
46. Attend an opera show
47. Attend a ballet show
48. Learn to scuba dive
49. Go on a helicopter ride
50. Visit a volcano
51. Go rock climbing
52. Take a trip on the Orient Express
53. Travel in Palace on wheels
54. Travel in world’s top 10 luxury trains
55. Travel in Trans-Siberian railway
56. Go zorbing
57. Ride in world’s top 10 largest Ferris wheel
58. Experience zero gravity
59. Visit world’s top 10 planetarium
60. Go whale watching
61. See a platypus
62. See a polar bear
63. Go on a safari
64. Visit grand canyon
65. Witness a meteor shower
66. Visit Victoria Falls
67. Visit Death Valley, California
68. Visit Yosemite National Park in all 4 seasons
69. Visit Uluru at night
70. Visit a glacier
71. Check out my complete list of places to visit
72. Stay in an ice hotel
73. Visit Germany during Oktoberfest
74. Visit rio carnival
75. Visit carnival in Venice
76. Go on a movie marathon for a week
77. Visit a striper’s club
78. Spend a weekend at the world’s most expensive hotel
79. Drive a hovercraft
80. Meet Dalai Lama
81. Visit Tibet
82. Open a cafe
83. Eat at top 10 restaurants in India
84. Eat at top 10 restaurants in the world
85. Have dinner in the sky
86. Eat at underwater restaurant ithaa
87. Hunt for lochness monster
88. Hunt for UFOs
89. Go on a romantic trip to Greece
90. Go gambling in Vegas
91. Stay awake for 48 hours at a stretch
92. Write a thank you letter to all those who helped me in any way in my life
93. Write a letter to everyone I love telling them how much I love them

I plan to strike-out and add to this list as life progresses.

What does your bucket list look like?

Soupy Noodles

When I’m at work, I do not crave for food. However, coffee is my major craving during work hours. But on days when I am home early, my tummy starts its hunger pang cries and I am desperately looking for something to shush it up. During those times of struggle, quick is the word.

Considering that most of the times I am cooking for hours, anything that I can cook within half an hour is quick for me.

One of my quick soul happy dishes is noodle soup. I have to say, it’s quite a favourite of my family.

So here is what you need

Ingredients

•  A big bowl of seasonal vegetables finally chopped. (I generally go for cabbage, carrot, beans, spring onions because these you can find in your kitchen or market during any season)
• Small bowl of sliced mushrooms (if you don’t have any you can skip it)
• One small onion/shallot finally chopped
• Two cloves of garlic chopped
• Half a teaspoon of ginger finally chopped
• A handful of egg noodles (you can take any flat noodles if you don’t have egg noodles)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Pinch of turmeric
• A handful of fresh coriander leaves finally chopped.
• Fresh lemon juice (half a lemon is good enough)
• Water
• Butter

Method

1. In a thick based pan, put a small cube of butter. Put the gas to low flame
2. Add chopped onions, garlic and ginger and let it cook till onions turn brown.
3. Add spring onions and let it cook for a minute or two
4. Add rest of the veggies. If you wish, you can boil the carrots before you put them in the soup
5. Cover the lid of the pan and let the veggies cook in their own steam for around 5 min
6. Add water to the veggies. I generally don’t measure the water as i add it as per the requirement. But it is close to around 500 ml of water. Make sure your veggies are submerged and a lot is still left for noodles to soak in and the final dish to still look like a soup.
7. Cover the lid and let the veggies cook in the water for around 10-15 min. This is also a good process to make vegetable stock.
8. Once the veggies are soft and cooked, add salt, pepper as per your taste and a pinch of turmeric.
9. Add noodles and let the noodles cook in the stock
10. Once noodles are cooked, add coriander, lemon juice and switch the gas off.
11. Serve in bowls and enjoy the soup

 

The best thing about this soup is that there is plenty of room for improvement and scope for innovation. You may add chicken or fish as per your liking. Add green chilli paste to give it a Thai twist, or just add a bit of cream or milk to give it more texture.

Let me know if you made any changes or if you tried it.

Quick at Sandwich

Breakfast is my favourite part of a meal. For me breakfast is like that perfect beginning to a perfect day. The way a good breakfast can make my day, only a great vacation comes anywhere close to that feeling.

However, thanks to the hurried busy work life of a weekday, all that I can offer myself during those rushed hours is toast and butter. Not that I hate it, I think a well toasted bread when topped with butter makes a perfect comfort food on go.

Come weekends and my heart crave for something more but that is when my lazy brain whispers “Why bother. Take it easy, its weekend”. And either my heart or my head wins.

This weekend I decided to listen to my brain and heart at the same time and come up with a yummy breakfast which can be made quickly, easily and would make me feel the weekend happiness. End result?

A simple tomato mushroom open sandwich:

Ingredients:

• One medium fresh red tomato
• Two-three big button mushrooms (if you have medium or small button mushrooms, maybe you would need to keep few more handy, in case you run short of them)
• Butter
• Cheese
• Salt to taste
• Black pepper to taste
• Dried basil or parsley (you can always go for fresh if you are lucky)
• Bread slices (type of bread you ask?? One which will make you more happy I say J )

Method

• Slice tomato in round slices and slice mushroom in long slices
• Spread butter, a little generously darlings, on the bread slices
• Sprinkle a pinch of salt, pepper and dried basil/parsley
• Put tomato and mushroom slices on the bread randomly
• Put a cheese slice on top and sprinkle basil/parsley
• Put the sandwiches in the oven for toast
• Toast the sandwich till the cheese starts to melt, but don’t over toast it as bread will turn hard
• Take it out and enjoy it with your favourite dip or sauce or just a humble cup of cold coffee

 

Note: To add more kick to your sandwich you may replace tomatoes with sundried tomatoes and add olives or jalapenos. Since I love my breakfast sandwich with less complication and simple flavours I preferred to keep it basic.

True Beautiful You

While I was doing random reading on net lately (yah I do random reading on net as well), I came across a much read blog about ‘being feminine’. It talked about how to be feminine. The writer of the blog suggested that to be feminine a woman should wear dresses, skirts, have long lustrous hair, should paint their nails, wear heels, talk softly, apply makeup and more of such blah-blah. I decided to put a pin on that thought while I stepped out to spend my Sunday with my girlfriends.

While I was enjoying with my friends, one of my girlfriend said, “What’s it about you? Guys can’t seem to stop noticing you?” I followed her vision and ended up looking into a cute face openly checking me out. I did mention he was cute right, so I had to check him out as well.

But what really got my attention was my friend’s statement ‘What’s it about you?’ and I decided to study my friends. Both my friends were dressed as per the ideal ‘Feminine Look’. Dresses, heels, makeup, heavy hanging perfume and perfectly set hair. They looked perfect examples of how a feminine female should look like. Compared to them, I looked dressed down in my denim, t-shirt (Ironically I had bought that t-shirt from guy’s section as I could not find a marvel comic hero t-shirt in girl’s section), sneaker, hair tied up in a bun and sans makeup. Yet I was getting more looks than they were.

How? Why?

And then it dawned on me that being feminine is not about the clothes you wear. It’s not about how you style your hair or how much make up you wear. Being feminine is about how you feel inside your skin. You can wear denims and sneakers and you can still be more of a woman than girls in flowing dresses with high heels. Because being a feminine is about being happy being a female. Speak your mind and being nice to people.

I am happy and proud of myself. When I walk, I walk with my chin up and a smile on my lips. I love myself, however I might be. I am just as comfortable in dresses as I am in denims.

More than how to be feminine, one should focus on why one should be feminine. Many girls think this is the easy way to catch a guy’s attention. Well, which guy would get attracted to you if you are too bothered about your hair, make-up, and dresses showing not showing too much? This just shows how unnatural and artificial you are and just how uncomfortable you are being you. Compared to my friends, I was more comfortable in what I wore, which made it easy for me to carry myself well and have a good time. I was laughing and enjoying myself while my friends were busying fussing over themselves. It’s no wonder guys didn’t notice them.

So my advice to all the lovelies out there is ‘You can’t be feminine or a lady if you can’t be yourself.’ Nothing is more attractive than confidence, be it in a guy or girl. Be happy with who you are and learn to except and enjoy yourself. If you are comfortable in your skin than you are more feminine and attractive than any woman in dresses and makeup.

Back in Business

I have been away from by blog for so long, I feel rather guilty. Since I would rather not make promises, all I can say however is that I would try my level best to be more frequent in my posts.

While I was away, I had been doing a lot of homework on self. Sometimes we get so busy with what we are doing, we tend to neglect or ignore what needs the most attention ‘Self’. And by the time we realise, it’s either that we are already a mess, or are in the process of making a mess.

I too realised the flaw after I had made a complete mess of myself. However, thankfully, a very good and close friend of mine, decided to help me out with all this by being my life couch and showing me light, where I thought none existed earlier.

I can’t say that I am completely out of the wreck; however, now I can proudly say that I am happy to be me. I enjoy my own company and I love to bring smiles on all the faces.

I would be sharing a lot of my own personal experience via my blog, in a hope that it might be able to help someone, or save a soul that needs saving. And I would love to hear your views and comments on what you feel.

Till I pen down more, Stay Happy and Keep Creating.

Love to all.

Coffee Choco Chip Cake

Sometimes my love for coffee and chocolate gets into a war, and it becomes impossible for me to take sides.

So call it peace between the two, I decided to make a fusion cake this weekend. Result was a harmonious Coffee Choco Chip Cake. Here is the recipe of peace.

Ingredients:

1. 1/2 cup fresh cream
2. 1/2 cup powdered sugar
3. 2 tbs diluted coffee (see notes to know why diluted)
4. 1 tsp chocolate essence
5. a pinch cinnamon (See notes to know why cinnamon)
6. 1 cup all purpose flour
7. 1 tsp baking powder
8. 1 pinch baking soda
9. 1 pinch salt
10. 2 tbs kahlua and bailey’s cream
11. handful of chocolate chips (dark, milk or white)

 

Method:

1. Preheat the oven on 200° C
2. Mix all the wet ingredients in a bowl, sugar, fresh cream, eggs, essence, coffee. Add a pinch of cinnamon to the same. Beat the mixture till it is a little fluffy. Since its a tea cake, we are not trying to make it soft and fluffy.
3. Sieve the dry ingredients together, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt. Add the mixture in the wet ingredients in small portions.
4. Mix the batter till all the lumps are gone
5. Add choco chips to the mixture, and slowly mix it to the batter
6. Grease the baking tin and dust it with flour
7. Add alcohol to the mixture and mix it well, and pour the mixture in the baking tin
8. Put the batter for baking in the over, on 180° C, for 30-40 min or till well baked.

Take the cake out of oven, cut into small pieces and enjoy it till it’s still hot 🙂

Note:  The reason why I have added diluted coffee is because I feel that diluted coffee gives more flavor of coffee than adding coffee in powdered form. A pinch of Cinnamon gives the dish an earthier flavor and enhances the richness of coffee. This of course is just my opinion.

Wonders of layers

As I was moving away from the slim side of the scale, getting ready in the morning for office was turning into a task.

Trying to find ways to hide that unwelcome flab, otherwise called my tummy, was making me think innovatively of my wardrobe. Till I discovered the miracle of layers.

How did layers come for my rescue?

I came across an article where the writer swears by the goodness of layered clothing to hide that flab. I thought, if you are already heavy, wont adding more and more clothes to your torso make you look well a bit extra covered?

But not discouraged by the thought, I decided to give it a try. What I did was layer my loose t-shirts with a longer, tighter and dark colored t-shirts or tank t-shirts. And sometimes with lose t-shirts with shirts.

Now did it work? Like hell it did. Which it added more colors, dimension and depth to my dressing, I realised that as the inner t-shirt gave a more free flow to the outer layer, making it rather impossible for anyone to see the flabby tummy.

What I liked best of this style, was the compliments I got. People in office loved my style and think that I slimmed down.

Miracle of layers could not have made me happier.

Definition Friends

Friends, one of the most commonly used word and relation. But somehow it has lost its value, definition and importance with time.

 I had a common definition for friendship which I could easily relate to with all my friends. Friends are those who are part of you, but are not you. Does not make sense does it? No it does not to many. It means, friends know you, understand you like they are a part of you. Yet they can be completely different people, with choices contrasting to yours, thoughts different from yours, yet it never creates any rift between the two of you, because friends are accepting and forgiving.

 But my thought got clouded when I started work. Office friends have a different equation. My friends of office are somewhat towards a selfish mode. They are highly demanding, prefer people of same wavelength, and are not at all forgiving. I need to tread carefully to make that friendship last.

 Which makes me wonder, if that is what we need to do with friends, than how do we define friendship?

This one for my mother

My mom, although the best cook on this planet as per me, is a very fussy eater. She would prefer not to eat stuff which is generally cooked by me.

I know it puts me in a wrong spot, but it’s simply because she is not a big fan of chocolates when it’s baked. And my baking generally revolves around chocolates as it’s my first love.

So while I was recovering from cold and lethargy over a boring Monday, I decided to makes something for my mom, for a change. She is big fan of ginger and lemon. She has to have her cup of lemon and ginger tea to make her day better.

My creation for my mum? Lemon and ginger cookies.

She loved them so much; she has already finished half the stock by herself, with no help what-so-ever from my Dad.

 Ingredients

•  250gm butter
• 250gm icing sugar
• 250gm all purpose flour
• One table spoon lemon rind
• One teaspoon fresh ground ginger

  

Method:

• Grate rind off a fresh lemon
• Take a piece of ginger and roughly beat it up to create a kind of paste or rough small pieces. The aim is, that the pieces should not come in mouth while eating the cookies, but the flavor of the ginger should definately be there in the cookie 
• In a bowl, mix butter, lemon rind, and ginger pieces. Beat it for some time till the butter is creamy
• Add sugar to the mixture till mixture turns a little fluffy or doubles up a little
• Add flour to the mixture.
• If you feel the need, mix yellow color or lemon essence to the mixture, I on personal account prefer to keep the color and flavors as natural as possible.
• Cover the mixture with a cling wrap and keep in the fridge for 30 min
• Preheat the oven on 180° C
• Take the mixture out of the fridge, take small piece of one teaspoon, make them in small balls and press, or you can give it a desired shape.
• Put the cookies on a greased cookie plate and put it in the oven
• Cook it for 15-20 min or till light golden brown
• Take it out of the oven when done, and let it cool till it’s turned into crispy crunchy constancy

Note: If you want, you can keep the cookie batter in fridge and use to make fresh cookies everyday