Tulika, Author at Obsessivemom

18/02/201215/04/2017

Piece of cake

Girls and boys, brides and bachelors, busy mums and cooking challenged dads… here’s a cake anyone can make.

I’m not much of a cook and even less of a baker. My mum did her baking in that old fashioned round electric oven and then later on in an OTG. All I have is a microwave and I’m not really convinced it can make a good cake. However, I’m always on the look out for easy no-fuss stuff. The other day I stumbled upon this recipe that promised a cake “in less than five minutes” and I had to try it.

The good part
The ingredients are easily available, the recipe is simple enough with no heavy duty mixing/whisking plus it really does get made in five minutes. What’s even better .. it’s just a mug-full of cake, finishes fast so my weightloss keeps on track. Also, the kids can do it almost on their own.

Here’s how it goes..

Ingredients
4 tbsps flour
4 tbsps sugar
3 tbsps oil
3 tbsps milk
2 tbsps beaten egg
1 tbsp cocoa
1/4 tspn baking powder
Few drops of vanilla essence

The recipe uses chocolate chips, which I didn’t have, so went without.

Method: Mix everything together in a cup and put in the microwave (in what we call the ‘donkey mode’) for 2.5 – 3 minutes and it’s ready to be served.

The chefs with their creation. Forgot to get a closeup of the cake in all the excitement.

Now for the catch
Eat it up quickly. Keep it for a while and it turns into a hard hard ‘biscuit cake’ as the kids call it. However, since it’s such a small thing it finishes fast.. so there.

Try it.
http://www.instructables.com/id/5_minute_Chocolate_Cake/

15/02/201215/04/2017

Pride comes before a fall

The other day at the gym, complimenting me on my weightloss, my aerobics instructor said, “So is everyone supportive at home? Your kids and husband must be helping you keep your weightloss resolve, isn’t it?” And I, like an over confident smart alec, replied, “Nope. I won’t share credit for this at all… it’s all my effort and nobody elses.”

What a fall I had… me and my pride.

Less than a week from that day Hrit decided to fall ill. There I was, gym, exercise, soups, walks all forgotten, frustrated to tears, worried sick, spending sleepless nights as I watched him struggling first with the mother of all coughs and then with a fever that refused to go down below 102 and now it’s lose motions. Crocin, Meftal, IMol… cold sponging…. nothing worked last weekend. Sundays are now dreaddays to me. Two days and some antibiotic doses later the fever still hovers in the 100s plus he is has to deal with an upset tummy thanks to the strong medication.

Any child confined to bed is a sad sight. But a child like Hrit is sadder than ever. The neighbour’s noticed how quiet our house was. Says he, “Mama I think I must really be sick, I didn’t even ask to go to Y’s house today.” Y is his BFF.. the one he wants to marry… and that quite sums his condition over these last few days.

What’s worse, he missed the ‘solar’ day at school. He was to dress up as an astronaut while Naisha was planet Venus. Venus turned out to be a cakewalk thanks to MM. The astronaut was the tough one and after I’d run around MG Road (my favourite haunt) looking for all it needed, Hrit ended up not going at all. He’d been super excited about it all but was surprisingly mature about not being able to go. “Only my fever will decide whether I’ll go to school tomorrow”, he declared solemnly.

Here’s what they looked like…

Happiest planet ever

… and another pose

A rather serious-looking astronaut

I have to add that Naisha’s being a dream through all this.. not once did she complain about going to school without Hrit, she went to Hrit’s teacher to ask for his homework on her own, she’s perpetually fetching and carrying.. medicines, water, nebuliser. She’s a good girl.

15/02/201215/04/2017

Hugs

This week’s Thursday Challenge : LOVE (Affection, Hug, Smile, Kiss, Pets, Babys,…)

Edited to add: This was supposed to be published on Thursday.. guess I’m in a bit of a confused state.

08/02/201215/04/2017

Colours of red

The Thursday Challenge: RED (Fruits, Vegetables, Flowers, Clothing, Fire, Signs, Vehicles, Furniture,…) this week was exactly what I’ve had on my mind all of last week. It had to be a red red soup….

Red, Russet, Scarlet, Salmon… call them what you will

… they all come together in a healthy ‘bowlful’

08/02/201215/04/2017

Random ramblings

This is progress — from being an obsessivemom to a ‘versatile blogger’… Thanks Aparna for nominating me, you pretty much made my day. I still feel the award is a bit of an euphemism for a “confused blogger”. But who cares.. I like awards.

1. Though generally not a superstitious person I can’t resist doing “one for sorrow, two for joy” when I see mynahs (at least I think that brown bird with yellow legs and beak is a mynah).

2. I hate eating alone. If there’s no one around to talk to I’ll either switch on the television (completely suicidal for my fitness routine) or grab a book.

3. I have a thing for round numbers. If I’m exercising I need to do 15 minutes or 100 calories or 3 kms. If my time ends at say..2.7kms.. the 0.3 will torment me till I get back on the treadmill and finish it even if it takes just two minutes, making people wonder what I was doing getting on and off.

4. I could spend my life in sneakers. A corollary to that one : I’m partial to informal dos where I can go in sneakers. I’m so not good at formal dressing up even though I love to see others all dressed up.

5. I’m a sucker for happy endings and if it’s not happy, like the great SRK said, I like to believe, that “picture abhi baki hai mere dost.”

6. I love reading, writing, exercising, watching films, gardening, crafting, cooking, scrapbooking among a host of other things, which is why I’m constantly running short of time.

7. I’m a ‘schedule’ person and a planner to boot. Unplanned things get to me… unannounced guests, unplanned delays, upset schedules, irregular mealtimes, odd sleeping hours, late baths. Gosh! I sound stuck up, isn’t it? All I can say is that I’ve improved since the twins came along. I plan all I want they do what they want. I’m definitely planning on getting more spontaneous.

That’s it. Take it up people… would love to know more about all of you who drop by.