Vacation of my Mind

Today has me thinking, it would be so cool to get away:

You know you are in one of those phases of life when meeting all those people you know just doesnt excite you anymore, you would either hang around in your PJs with your spouse only and not socialise at all or maybe you would have maybe one friend or two you would want to meet and shut the rest od the world out.

I am in that phase now and I am bored of being in PJs so I am thinking of taking a mental vacation to Ranikhet with my dream friends list.

Firstly, I would have to have Vivek my best pal coming with us, followed by Madhu and Kaushal and me and Preet of course and Rheya, Himanshu and Khampa with his guitar for company and Bani and Nandita and Uma , Tanuja and her husband.

Now let me tell you most of these people dont know each other and are friends from another life time,Madhu and Kaushal have been constant but Vivek is in the US,Himanshu must be in bbay or blore or Delhi( He is my school friend as is Tanuja) and Khampa and Bani and I are friends from my college days and Nandita is my friend I met at work and Uma is a cousin.

So with this disjointed group who I think of as the most important people in my life after my family, we would go to Ranikhet which is my idea of heaven on earth.There is a place called Holm Farm Resort there, a place where Nehru stayed, a favourite of Tom Alters and where a movie by the name of Kisna was shot( a movie you wouldnt want to ever watch I am sure).

This place is by far the most beautiful place I have ever visited.Its up in the hills in the middle of a forest and totally uncommercialised,the staff is friendly, they cook you what you want from their menu and its home cooked food at its best, when you wake up in the morning and open the doors of your room, you get a glimpse of the Sahaydri range of the himalayas, the weather is fantastic and its a wonderful experience

In my vacation, everyone would be upto tons of stuff, playing tennis or pool, or table tennis or sitting and playing poker late into the night, the morning would bring everyone together for a trek upto the apple orchard...

I wish I could go out with all my near and dear ones and make it a vacation to last a lifetime....If only wishes were horses........................................................................

Caramel Custard

Milk 2 Cups

Eggs 2

Vanilla Essence 1 tablespoon

Sugar

Heat the sugar in a pan till it burns and caramelizes.Add a little water to the pan to get it into a thick sauce like consistency.

Beat eggs with the sugar until the sugar dissolves.Boil the 2 cups of milk and whilst boiling, add the egg mixture in stirring continuously till the eggs completely dissolve in the milk.Add the vanilla essence and boil for a minute more.

Line a vessel with the caramelized sugar until it has coated the vessel completely.Pour in the egg and milk mixture into the vessel and cover the vessel with an aluminium foil.

Pressure cook on low flame for 45 minutes.

This needs to be done Vessel with a plate and turn it over slowly and voila.

Caramel Custard is ready

Life as a Mummy

A lot has happened since I last visited.......

I became pregnant, I was pregnant for 9 whole months (phew) and had a beautiful baby girl.We named her Rheya after the Greek Princess.

i quit my job and since then have been unemployed and for lack of better words, I have now become a house wife a.k.a. home maker a.k.a a stay at home mom.

Working for 8 years left me longing to take a break , a sabbatical, a time to stay at home and do all the things I wanted to but never had the time to .

It has been slightly over a year of my being unemployed and so far my achievement list is not exacly overflowing, in fact it is completely blank.

Having a baby is not an easy job,it created pains and aches I hadnt heard of and the amount of blood they drew out of me was enough to feed an old vampire.

Post Baby , I feel like an old haggard woman now, my back kills me at most times, I feel thoroughly lazy and yet the baby keeps me so busy, she indeed is my own bundle of beautiful joy, she smiles the most amazing smiles, specially reserved for all those who are lucky enough to enter her presence, she cries rarely and loves to kick her arms and legs in the air for activity, i often go sit or lie down very close to her active legs to feel her kicking vigorously and get such pleasure out of her tiny attempts to grow and develop each second each day.

I have started my tryst with cooking now.....and it has been an enjoyable journey...

My nightmare was rotis and I ve managed to overcome it,they look like maps of unknown countries and continents but they are eatable,i am waiting to try my hand at caramel custard soon and will put up my recipes for anyone who cares to read.

h neck and shoulder pain my old friends beckon, talk to you soon !