It’s all about honey

Cooking is an activity enjoyed when there are people around who appreciate good food (and you:-). Ditto baking. I’d practically stopped baking once the kids left home. But, since I’m going  visiting , this morning was large scale baking.

Honey bake is such a family favorite, that its practically a family heirloom. Still, Im sharing the recipe here so other people can taste the goodness.

Honey Squares

Ingredients:

Flour – 13/4 cup

Baking powder – 11/4 tsp

Salt – a pinch

Butter – 125 g

Brown sugar -100g ( I use 1 cup of powdered jaggery instead which gives a special full flavor)

Eggs- 2

Honey -6 tbsp

Flaked Almonds – 2-3 tbsp ( I used chopped cashew instead)

Mix all the ingredients together well for 3-4 minutes and bake  for 15-20 min . You can scatter the almonds on top for a better look

Nutrition: Honey, eggs, jaggery, almonds are good for you. The rest is good in small doses. And the idea of eating home-made cake gives a great lift.

Another good bake is  Honey Coconut Biscuits. They don’t take too long to make either, which is one of my chief criteria in cooking.

Honey Coconut Biscuits

Ingredients:

Butter-125 gm

Sugar – 1/2 cup ( increase to 3/4)

Egg- 1

Grated coconut – 2 tbsp

Honey – 2 tsbp

Flour – 1 1/2 cup

Baking powder

Grated cocconut -1 cup

Cream butter and sugar, add egg,beat until light and fluffy.

Add coconut and honey, beat well until combined. Fold in sifted flour , mix well.

Roll teaspoonfuls of mixture into balls, then roll in extra coconut.

Place on lightly greased trays at least 2″ apart and bake in moderate oven for 15 min

Happy eating!

The Clean Glow

The first thing on my To-do list this morning was a pedicure. It was there right on top, because it had been on my list for more than 2 weeks and never got done. So, at 9.30 a.m., there I was sitting down watching morning TV with my feet soaked in hot soapy water. It felt a little strange, but my feet look much rather clean and nice now.

So, going the whole way, I went down the path of an elaborate homemade facial too. This takes about 6 steps and some concentration so one should do it when there is someone else around to answer the doorbell, so one doesn’t frighten off people. And  a generous amount of time

What you need are                   

Cleanser
Exfoliating scrub
A toner
Steamer
Clay-based  facial mask
Basic moisturizer

But believe me, you feel very good and your face looks rather clean once you are through. For more details on how to do it, read  ‘Saving Face’, where Lily ,  writes in great detail about the life of a housewife in NY on  ‘A Charmed Housewife’.  She’s truly charming , indeed.

A morning spent pampering oneself  is rather refreshing for the soul. And body. And light on the purse too.

Photo courtesy: Rakka

Rosemary and thyme….

With ideas of trying out more soup and salad recipes, I went out and bought some wonderful sounding spices… rosemary, thyme, oregano and basil. Something I’ve long wanted to do , but never knew what to do with. Now that they are in some neat little bottles,  I have to find ways to use them.

I shot the pic at 8 a.m. in between the cooking with the sun streaming in through the window. Serendipitously, it seems a nice shot.

I’m yours

I bought a new dining table last week in about 5 minutes. Well, not actually 5 minutes but in less than 30. Which kind of astounded me and my family since I usually take a long time to decide about major buys. Shop around, ponder, go back and so on being my style.  I had been going around some furniture shops, but to look at centre tables, which was to be this years buy. Dining table was next year but it got fast forwarded.This one  called to me as the myth goes. And I had just about the price. So it seemed right.

I suspect it was because I have been looking at a similar sized table on a design website which was made out of a recycled door and very good looking. I had been thinking of doing that but thought it could be too much trouble.

Transporting this table all the way up, then bringing it home from the transporters, getting a carpenter to assemble it , took some time.  And since it was from FabIndia, who mostly export things, it must have been designed for Ikea or some tall Swedes and its a bit higher than usual.  So  our old chairs are rather dwarfed and looking like step sisters. Its going to take some time to find seating to match.  But Im still in love with the table.

The table mats, were made by my sister long ago, and of course were safely inside so they wouldn’t get dirty.:-) Now they’ve made their bow too.

The Good Sleep

Today  I had a long walk. It was rather hot and sunny. Followed by a long nap. Lovely.

The cup that comforts

I’ve been researching tea drinking, actually pics of people drinking tea and there seems to be so much joy around this liquid and so many ways of doing it too.

My maid, Jess and I have chai at 11  most days, Indian style,  with sugar and milk, brewed for a few minutes on the stove, to a dark looking liquid which is the way she likes it. Since she is the one making it, I’ve learnt to like it that way. Occasionally on the weekend, I will take the time to brew a more delicate tea without milk into a fine gold liquid when one can really taste the flavor. Sometimes, its tangy lemon tea which I prefer hot and comes as a ready made powder from Lipton. Tea bags though are a no-no.

But recently, I’ve taken to drinking green tea as a healthier option. This morning, Jess brewed it into a rather bitterish liquid and gave it to me in a huge mug. Maybe time for a raise.

But, cupping both my hands around the mug and drinking in slurps as I stared into the computer was so comforting, I was taken aback. Why hadn’t I tried this before instead of delicately sipping (somehow this goes with a porcelain cup), or drinking without really noticing from a steel tumbler, or grasping the handle of a normal mug. None of them had been so satisfying. Even drinking from a glass tumbler at a wayside chai kadai while traveling.

Tea etiquette says “Tea cups with a handle are held by placing one’s fingers to the front and back of the handle with one’s pinkie up again allows balance. Pinkie up does mean straight up in the air, but slightly tilted. It is not an affectation, but a graceful way to avoid spills. Never loop your fingers through the handle, nor grasp the vessel bowl with the palm of your hand.”…

But for me, its going to be both hands around the cup here on……

Family tree

Spent a great deal of the day working on  a small booklet we are creating for my Dad’s 82nd bday next week. Family members have contributed small write-ups of their memories of the times spent in my father’s house at Coimbatore. Most of it is top of the memory and very entertaining because it is straight from their thoughts with very little regard for syntax or sequence. And a lot of comments are about the food that they ate which confirms my suspicion that food is the center of hospitality and forms a core of our existence, especially of people from my family.

I had to spend a lot of time cajoling people to write and its worth it. Now its time to edit and compile old photos and make sure everyone is represented. Since my parents kept open house, a great many people feel they are family and would be very offended if they are left out.

One page is going to be a family tree and we’ve already crossed 100 easily. I find to my dismay that I don’t know some of the names of the youngest generation of extended family.

This part is only my immediate family . I used Simple Family Tree which downloads fast and doesn’t use much space on the computer. And is very easy to use. But looking for some software which displays photos as well.

The idea to create a written tribute was sparked off by a post by blogger Abraham Tharakan, who wrote about an anthology of memories created by people in his family, ( I think) when their ancient tharawad was about to be broken down. Abraham writes with great thought and elegance  about heritage buildings in Kerala and a lot besides.

Stick It out and make it better

S and I went around tracking a project we are working on, through a couple of government offices. And received such negative reviews that it left us dismayed for the whole day. Sometimes, one rebuff can influence all the following activites that they all seem to be coloured with the same grey colour.

So to put some colour back, I went and had lunch with S. She’s recently left an abusive husband and moved into a tiny house on her own.  I looked around at the peeling paint, the bad floors, the clutter all around. She said cheerily,  “Why should I move? I have everything I need in my own cosy nest. And the freedom to come and go with no questions asked. “

“The only thing that I find tough is the rent I have to pay when I have this huge house of mine elsewhere.” she said.

“That is the price of freedom,”  I told her. And that made her happy and put it into perspective.

Putting more zest into me was a little talk by David Shenk  I found on Big think. Its about geniuses, but it did throw light on how much persistence is needed to achieve anything worthwhile.

Forgive us our trespasses..

This afternoon, my little ’study group’ turned up at noon ‘just to visit’.  They used to come to study most evenings but now that they go to the town school, they turn up on odd weekends to read books  or play board games. Wasn’t I proud when they played Scrabble! Today they did a jigsaw puzzle on their own and found to their delight and mine, that it was a pic of Jack and The beanstalk – a book they had  been reading some months ago.

Roja, Vinitha and Ramya

I was glad to see them today because, the last time they had come, I was a bit snappy because they do have the habit of turning up unexpectedly and I have to cope with them. And I had been feeling a bit guilty about that.

When people forgive me my  snappishness and crudities; I feel so blessed that they can still see the good in me and that I have such good people in my life.

Also, that people do understand what it is that makes us all too human and recognise that sometimes -we are like that.

Catching up

Today has been a good day in many ways. I seem to be in charge of my life again,  doing the things I want to do .  Just taking a walk, eating lighter, having a long bath, working on the computer seem good things to do after traveling for many days.

‘Being a passenger is more difficult than being a driver. ‘ Reading that in a book made me feel very good. Because it explained the feeling of slight unease I had been having while going along with my sister and kids.

But one truth that got dinned in again and again was ‘you can’t do it all, you have to choose’, while on vacation. You have to limit the sights you can see, the people you can meet, the number of things you can buy. And you should cut the regrets.

This morning, I extended the rule to focus on doing one thing.   I  didn’t switch on the internet until  I did some writing which I had to do.

Leo Babauta  propagates this kind of focus on his site, Zen Habits. Separate creating/producing from catching up. And  I was able to follow that . And it was good.  Keep reading him and it slowly sinks in.

“What’s hard is sitting down to write.

What’s keeping us from sitting down is Resistance.” – Stephen Pressfield

Photo courtesy: paco CT .  Lovely isnt she? and so focused