Kit-Kat Fudge!

Hey there all you beautiful people! Hope everyone is in the best of spirits. First things first, though. Here's wishing all my fellow Indians a very Happy Republic Day! :-D

Today, I thought I'll share with you one of my favourite recipes. I call it Kit-Kat® Fudge (for the simple reason that it tastes uncannily like Kit-Kat®), though technically speaking it's nothing but simple home-made Chocolate FudgeJ. It is very easy to prepare and is one of the few desserts that I confidently make! :-P he he!

Ingredients

1.       1 bar of cooking chocolate (it's your choice if you want to use White chocolate or Milk chocolate or Dark Chocolate; I made it with Milk Chocolate)

2.       1 small pack of any glucose/milk biscuits

3.       1 tin condensed milk

4.       Margarine or a piece of butter for coating the tray

Directions

1.       Empty the contents of the biscuit packet into a small vessel and break the biscuits into small pieces. Try not to powder it. Rough crushing will do just fine.

2.       Coat a stainless steel plate/tray with either margarine or a piece of butter (my personal choice is butter) and set aside.

3.       Melt the chocolate in a non-stick pan. Stir the chocolate while it melts (you don't want any burning happening)

4.       After the chocolate has fully melted and once you are sure that there are no lumps left, empty the tin of condensed milk into the vessel and mix well.

5.       Now add the crushed biscuits and keep stirring.

6.       Remove from the fire and immediately pour the mix into the prepared plate/tray and spread it out to your desired thickness using a spoon or wooden spatula.

7.       Allow it to cool and then refrigerate it.

8.       The fudge hardens on refrigeration and can be cut into your desired shape.

9.       Can be served as it is or with a topping of your choice like a sprinkling of powdered sugar.

Try it out and let me know how it came out.

Bon Appétit! J

Scents,Sensibility & Sensitivity :-)

It may sound queer to many…but some scents do have mood-changing properties. At least for me, there are many such. There are times when I am hit by the blues and almost nothing works to cheer me up. Then suddenly this intoxicating aroma wafts by and I find myself smiling or at least snapping out of my sombre mood in an instant. Not all people will have the same sensitivity towards certain smells. I guess it's all a matter of personal choice at the end of the day :) 

The one that tops my list is that of FRESHLY WET EARTH…the smell you get after the first rains have just drenched your courtyard. I absolutely love everything about the rains. The redolence it creates when it falls on the parched earth, the pitter-patter on the roof, the rain curtains formed by water flowing down from the slanted tile roofs :) …but it's the scent of wet earth that's the best of all. A harbinger of the coming monsoon months ahead :)

On a close second position is my addiction-since-birth, CHOCOLATE! I shudder to think of a life without chocolate :/ Chocolates were a childhood craze and the craze has persisted even till this day. Dark chocolates are my favourite. I have no other choice of flavour in anything…be it ice creams or milk shakes or cakes. It's chocolates all the way! :)

Okay, so we've all seen those snazzy advertisements about AXE DEODORANTS and like most people, I'd thought they were exaggerating it a bit too much. What were they claiming? That men would turn into walking-talking women magnets once they spray it on? Bah! But now, I beg to differ M' Lord! The well-marketed deodorant does indeed have some inexplicably attractive perfume/s that does play smartly on the female odour sensitivity. I love the tangy and musk laced ones best. The Axe Effect, indeed! :)

Ah! The smell of BOOKS!!!! How I love it! I remember I used to flip the pages of new textbooks between my fingers and bring my nose real close to it to take in the smell of novelty! Old and well read books have a different kind of aroma. They have this dusty smell that vouches much for their popularity and/or age. I don't know for sure how many times I would have fallen asleep with a book on my face :) Books are a simple bare necessity for me and their smell is one I love. Did I mention that a library is one of my favourite places to spend time in? 

BREAD!! Who doesn't love the smell of a loaf of bread getting baked in a bakery? The bread term was a generalisation of all the smells associated with a bakery that includes baking cakes or cookies or bread or even making some of our very own Indian breads like rotis and chapattis. I love the smell of warm and fresh bread anytime. A dab of home-made butter and some thick raspberry jam and there! You're ready for the experience of sheer indulgence! :)

Thomas More once said "Plants that wake when others sleep. Timid jasmine buds that keep their fragrance to themselves all day, but when the sunlight dies away let the delicious secret out to every breeze that roams about." He couldn't have been more precise. JASMINE FLOWERS are, in my opinion, one of the most criminally intoxicating fragrances that ever existed. A whiff of this magical aroma and one is transported to another world altogether. It comes as no surprise that jasmine flowers have long been associated with marriage and courtship (and even with…umm, female ghosts :/ ).

I'd like to call it the fragrance of happiness. HENNA / MEHNDI. The ancient Asian tattooing method is an essential part of any auspicious occasion primarily in South Asian and Middle Eastern cultures. Brides have henna nights in their honour when hands of the bride-to-be and of her family are adorned with intricate designs of henna. Henna is symbolic of happiness and the entire room is filled with its aroma. Being and avid henna enthusiast myself, I can't help but love the smell of it. I find myself smiling for no reason :) 

SCENTED CANDLES are a relatively new addition to the romantic fragrances brigade. Until around ten years ago, it wasn't very commonplace to see scented candles except in high-end lifestyle shops. It was verily considered to be a high-class luxury. But today, you could just pick them off shelves in department stores. Most of them are aesthetically designed and add a whole new meaning to the good old 'candle-light dinner'. My personal favourite- Lavender! :) 

And last, but not the least, I can't help but love the smell of FRESH LAUNDRY, especially, if they've been rinsed with some fabric softener like Downy® or Comfort®. They smell just WOW! Sometimes I hold them up to my nose and breathe deeply. The fabric softeners come in such sweet fragrances too. And nothing beats the feeling of wearing a pair of sweet-smelling and freshly laundered pyjamas at bedtime :) 

Les Amicales ou Les Misérables!

Isn't it strange yet so commonplace how we become upset and distraught over the slightest mishap…and yet fail to see happiness in anything other than the overtly obvious? I do not claim to be any different when it comes to feeling grouchy and forlorn when things don't exactly happen the way I want it to happen. Even the very simplest of drawbacks is enough for me to pull a long face…much to the chagrin of many around me. To shake that feeling off is much easier said than done for me. It takes a long time for me to get back to my cheerful self.

I wonder if the case were similar for everyone in case of happiness too. Like say, we were to take every instance of happiness, even if it were only for a moment, as a blessing and revel in its glory for a while. What a happy place this world would have been! I reckon it's all a matter of mindsets.

Earlier, I was a staunch believer that people are born in a certain way and they remain so forever. There were the perpetually happy people (the kind I identified myself with), the naturally sad ones, the 'always-with-a-scowl' people and some people who were just plain frustrated with everything and everyone! I believed that there's just no changing them. It just won't work. And even if they did appear to have 'changed' for whatever reasons, they'd put up a poor show! Duh!

Today, I believe I am in a position to be more judgemental on this subject…having seen more of the world and having come across a wider variety of people from all walks of life. Irrelevant of their genes or family history, I feel that people turn out to be what they are because of their thoughts…and depending on the way they look at life itself. There is an ancient Tamil proverb that translates into something like this: There is nothing called bare hands; bare hands have ten fingers and they are your biggest treasure. That's what I call some serious positive attitude!

Happiness and sorrow, and their intensity, depends to a large degree on how YOU want to look at it. I may be interrupted here with the question of eternal loss. One may ask, 'What bigger sorrow exists than the loss of a loved one? Are we to smile in the face of bereavement?' It is indeed true that smiling in the face of such adversity is not according to human nature. Anyone who does so is looked down upon with contempt. That is not what I meant. But trying to look at if from an angle totally different from the one the rest of the world is looking at from can bring about a sense of tranquillity within our own troubled self. It is in instances like these that I resort to being a child at heart…and try to believe very strongly that the departed soul has finally become a star in the sky and that I can see him/her everyday :') The calming effect these thoughts have on my mind cannot be explained, really. This is just one instance…albeit one of the most difficult ones, where positive thinking can help us a long way.

I am a born dreamer…and I find a lot of pleasure in the beauty of the subtler aspects of life…simple things that people so sadly fail to notice. They know it's there…but never halt to take more notice or acknowledge its beauty of existence. Women, typically, may stop at a shop window and stare longingly at a diamond necklace or at a beautiful dress or a pair of attractive footwear. 'Well, that's what women always do, don't they?' ask the men. Let's make the context a little more general then, for the benefit of both sexes. Say you're on a round trip of Europe. You're standing in front of the Swiss Alps for the first time in your life. Will you start posing for the camera or clicking photographs in frenzy or will you just drink in the beauty of the moment? Will you notice the little yellow butterfly that fluttered by? Or the tiny solitary bloom on the side of the hedge? Or even the freshness of the air? Most won't. 'We didn't come to Europe to stare at a butterfly', you'd argue. It's not WHAT you notice that matters. What matters is enjoying the moment. Your mind's one storage device that is a tad too difficult to corrupt with viruses…if you know what I mean. J You may lose data on external storage devices. But what you store in your mind will stay with you (let's leave out the unlikely possibility of us getting Alzheimer's at some pointL) forever.

I try to find happiness in smaller things and I try not to limit it to material things…like when a dish I tried out comes out well, or when I'm the first one to reach office J or when I see a flock of birds taking flight when my favourite song is played on the radio (total filmy style J). I have often been asked by people how I manage to be so irritatingly optimistic. I guess it's largely because of the way I look at life. You never know what's in store for you in the next instant. So live every moment as if it were your last. 50 years later, when you look back on the path you've treaded, you'll be sure to find a whole lot of smiley faces scattered all around the path! J

Stay happy! And keep a look out for that little yellow butterfly! ;-)

100 weird questions...100 steps closer to knowing me! :-)

1 - First Name?

Raakhee

2 - Pseudo(s)?
Raaks, Rocky, Chi, Ammu, 'Venugopaali' :-D

3 - Girl or boy?
Girl till I die….I have no choice L Wanted to be a guy…still do…keeping fingers crossed for my next birth (if ever there is one!)

4 - Towns? (Birthplace and living town)
Born in happening Ernakulum (Kerala, India), bred in the exotic Middle East, studied in Study-centric Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu) and currently living in Doha-Qatar

5 - Size?
Shoe size-41(!!)…other sizes are indecent enough to be excused:-P

6 - Age?
Flirty 30! Woo hoo! :-D

7 - Colour of hair?
I'd like to call it deep brown…sad that I can't call it something snazzy like 'chestnut brown' or 'ebony black' L

8 - Colour of the eyes?
Same as hair…deep brown. And no, I don't wear spectacles.

9 - Employment / current occupation?
Working as Procurement Engineer with the Qatari Govt.:-D

10- Astrological and Chinese sign:
I'm a true-blue Saggi and a Monkey-Girl who's verily living up to her name:-P

11 - I like/love?

Music, Reading, Computers, Garfield, Tamil actor Surya and my eye-liner! :-D

12 - I don't like/hate?
Slimy veggies (read lady's fingers etc.), body odor, spelling mistakes, possessiveness, criticism (yeah, yeah! I know I shouldn't despise criticism…but I can't help it) and child abortion of any genre (feticide, infanticide, etc.)

13 - If you can meet one person of your choice, dead or alive, known or not, who would this be?
My grandfather J Never seen him…

14 - What do you like to do, generally, during the weekend???
Hmm….just chill out. Maybe snuggle up in a cozy sofa with a good read and something to munch on. Listen to some of my favorite music. But these days, I just spend time with my family. It's the only time in the week when we're really together.

15 - The town/country that you want to visit or even live in?
Wanted to visit Paris since ages but I don't think I'll like living there. India's the best place to settle down for me. Mumbai has always been the first choice but I guess it'll be somewhere down south finally:-/

16 - The first thing you do when you come back from school or work?
Change into something comfy, freshen up and then grab something to eat. I often wonder how the heck I'm able to keep my hunger under my thumb all day long! :-S

17 - Style of music or radio that you prefer?
It's Buddha Bar and Enigma all the way for me. But I guess my choice of music varies according to my mood. Like I listen to a lot of Backstreet Boys (:-D *faints*), The Corrs, Indian classical music, Jagjit Singh, and even some Retro Bollywood.

18 - The most beautiful song, which exists for you?
That's a toughie…. I give a lot of importance to the lyrics of a song and so there are so many to list. So I'll single out a few 'makes-me-go-weak-in-the-knees' songs…

1.      'Neelathamare…' – Neelathamara (Malayalam) (2009)

2.      'Picha Vecha Naal…' – Puthiya Mugham (Malayalam) (2009)

3.      'What makes you different…' - OST 'Princess Diaries' – Backstreet Boys

4.      'Ondraa rendaa…' – Kaakha Kaakha (Tamil) (2003)

5.      'Puthu vellai mazhai…' – Roja (Tamil) (1992)

6.      'Kabhi kabhi mere dil mein…' – Kabhi Kabhie (Hindi) (1976)

           

19 - The singer or band that you prefer?
BandàBackstreet Boys!!! I'm a 100% fan of theirs since 1996! :-D

Singerà T. K. Karthik, Shaan

20 - The reality TV shows that you prefer?
I like Oprah though I don't get to see it much lately. Besides that, I like 'Khana Khazana' and 'Nach Baliye'

21 - The advertising that you prefer?
The cheeky kind ;-) The kind that doesn't really strike the average viewer at first glance and then the message kind of dawns on you and you go 'Ohhhhh! Wow!'

22 - Are you single?
Yup :) 

23 - If no, are you happy?

N/A

24 - If yes, are you happy?

Very much....thank you very much!

25 - Have you ever known an unhappy love affair?

Yup…plenty of them. But I'd be sued if I were to list them out here ;-)

26 - How many Harlequins' collection (books) do you have?
None…I hate those! I've read a couple and I consider the time spent for it as wasted.

27 - Have you ever read "NOUS DEUX" (to make the bond with England, "Nous deux" is a tabloid)?
Nope :-/

28 - The magazine that you never miss?
I used to love 'M.A.D'… haven't been able to get my hands on one since a long time now. Besides that, I like Readers Digest and National Geographic Magazine. The photographs in it are mind-blowing!

29 - Your bedside book?
I usually keep the book I'm currently reading on my bedside table. Right now it's 'Water Music' by T. C. Boyle.

30 - The novel of which you would have liked to be the author?
'Five-Point Someone' by Chetan Bhagat. Our writing styles match J

31 - Your society game (or console) favourite?

N/A

32 - The dish, which you prefer?
I love junk food though I stay off it most of the time. My preference is always junk food but family (read Mom) restrictions limit me to more traditional sit-down meals. North Indian food is my favorite J

33 - What do you buy when you go to the fair when you are hungry?
Maybe waffles with strawberry or maple sauce topping! Or maybe a Cinnzeo® Chocó roll:-D

34 - Drink preferred?
Coca Cola with extra ice! Ooh! When I'm back home, it's the roadside vendor's lime juice that I prefer J

35 - Colour preferred?
Black

36 - Fetish number?
5 and 14

37 - The quotation, which you prefer?
'Cheer up…things could have been worse'

38 - Film counterpart, which you prefer?

Jyothika :-D

39 - Cult movies?
The Goonies (1985)…boy oh boy! Was I a fan or what??!

40 - Preferred series?
The Wonder Years, F.R.I.E.N.D.S and Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi ;-)

41 - Your more beautiful quality?
My resilience after a major downfall is what I consider as one of my biggest assets.

42 - Your worst defect?
I am way too trusting and painfully optimistic L

43 - Your worst nightmare?
Nightmares and I are old buddies. I have a new one almost every night:-P Most of them are about me getting drowned or falling off an edge:-S

44- The worst shame of your life?
:-S It's way too embarrassing to declare in print!

45 - The most beautiful thing, one made for you out of love?
All those cute hand-made cards my sister has gifted me on different occasions :')

46 - The thing of which you are proudest?
My command over the English language… I do realize that I am not the best, but I do know that I am way better than many I know. ;-)

47 - A fairy lends his magic wand to you for a wish: what wish do you make?
A world that knows no hatred J

48 - The first thing you do in the morning?
Get up (okay, that was a PJ!), put the cat out and then brush my teeth.

49 - What you think when you are not able to fall asleep in the evening?
'Now what did I eat/drink that's not letting me sleep? Onion? Pepsi?? Darn!'

50 - What will you bring with you on a desert island?? (5 max)?
My sister, some food for us, my mobile phone, a beach umbrella and a bed-sheet…reckon I'll turn the stranding into a picnic :-D

51 - If you have to buy a handbook to survive, that would be which?
Linda Goodman's 'Sun Signs' J

52 - Your bedroom take fire (or is flooded, it depends of the place), what do you rescue at first?
o_O Nooooooooooo!!!! There are too many important things in there to select just a few! :-S but I guess I'll rescue my University autograph book first J

53 - Quelle(s) peluche(s) partagent ton lit? (What cuddly toy/s shares your bed?)
My yellow teddy bear! (*grins sheepishly*)

54 - What do you have on the wall of your bedroom???
A picture of the Rasaleela, Lord Ganesha, Goddess Lakshmi and a couple of Mom's stained glass paintings. It's the inside of my cupboard door that's more happening ;-) I have a childhood picture of myself and one of my sister, Audrey Hepburn and an old pic of me and my classmates that we clicked when we went to Delhi in 2003 J

55 - Pets?
Yup…cats! And no, I'm not telling you how many I have! I'm superstitious and fear the evil eye K

56 - Do you get on well with your parents?
Yeah I do…98% of the time.

57 - With your brother and sister?
Sure we do…we're inseparable! J

58 - Which is the cartoon which you preferred as a child?
Tom & Jerry and Care Bears

59 - And now?
Tom & Jerry…it never will change, I guess ;-)

60 - Which is the job that you dreamed to have as a child?
Air hostess :-D

61 - Why the lady is big of her belly?
Well…:-/

62 - Tell us your more beautiful memory of childhood.
There are so many beautiful moments I spent with my sister but I guess one of the most beautiful ones of those was when one afternoon, we were playing and fell asleep on a haystack at dad's place. We woke up itching all over and rushed to the bathroom for a cold shower. J

63 - Were you already scandalmonger (to say evil of people behind their back)?
No, I don't think so. I believe in the saying 'One should never do that to another which one regards as injurious to one's own self'.

64 - You have the possibility of saying your four truths to the person whom you hate more in the world, which you would say to him?

I'd tell him/her why I hate him/her and that I hope in earnest that our paths never cross once again in this lifetime or the many lifetimes that follow.

65 - The 'insult' which you say more?
'Bloody Bugger!'

66 - The word or expression, which too often returns in your language?
'Oh…ok' J

67- Do you speak any other language than English?
Yeah I do… my mother tongue Malayalam, Tamil, Hindi and a bit of Arabic too ;-)

68 - Have you already gone in a foreign country?
Lived outside India all my life K

69 - The area (or the place) of England, which you do prefer?
Never been to England…but I'd like to visit Ireland someday.

70 - You have the possibility of making the farm celebrity, would you do it? So yes which activity would prefer you to make?
Is this a 'Farmville' question? If yes, then Farmville and I are far faaaar away :-D

71 - If one day you become hyper famous, in which field would you be?
Maybe as a writer? :-D

72 - What you would you buy if you won the lottery?

I'd buy an Infiniti 4WD for Dad, a new house for Mom, and a 32GB I-Phone4G for my sister J

73 - Where and how do you see yourself in 2011? In 2040?
In 2011, I will (in all probability) be still here in Doha, working and with my family. In 2040, I'll be settled in India and enjoying a retired life, travelling and enjoying my leisure time.

74 – If it is possible for you to use a "Stargate", where would you go?
Maybe to some other galaxy from where I will not be able to return:-D

75 - The Earth is destroyed. You have time to flee, where you go?
If the 'stargate' is still available, I'd use it. Otherwise, I'd go to the moon (unless it's already over crowded already)

76 - The Earth will be destroyed. You do not have time to flee. Which is the last thing, which you do?
Pray that all those stories I heard in my childhood of mythical characters coming to save the good people be true…and then hug my family for the last time L

77 - How many children do you want?
Three…if possible. Otherwise, definitely two J

78 - What would you call them?
That's a secret ;-)

79 – What should they resemble you?
They should have my eyes and my permanently happy disposition J

80 - If you can change a part of your body, which one do you choose?
My nose! L I hate my nose!

81 - You dye hair yourself. Which color do you choose?
I've always wanted to dye it with streaks of mahogany or deep violet…

82 - If you can have a tattoo, what will it be?? And where??
Maybe I would have a tiny \ tattooed onto my wrist J

83 - Are you beginning, intermediary or expert when it comes to acts of Internet?
Somewhere between intermediate and expert :-D

84 - What is there on your mouse mat?
I don't have one…rather, I don't use one.

85 - Which is your bottom of screen on your ordi?
On my what…? :-/

86 - What can we find under your bed (with share the breeding of sheep) ?
My shoes and all the stuff I tend to hit and push down from my bedside table while I clumsily plop my novel before I turn out the lights :-D

87 - How many times a week do you come on Internet? How many hours?
Everyday! At work, I'm on it all the while (almost!) and at home, maybe for a hour or two at the most.

88 - What do you think about the breedings virtual on Internet? (Like kochonland, dadavalley,...) ? Are you registering?
What are those…?

89 - What was your resolution on the new year?
To practice being more laid-back and to blog regularly.

90 - Do you do it?
The first one, it's taking time getting used to it. Blogging…yes! J

91 - The best gift that somebody offers to you?
When they acknowledge that I have made them happy in some way J

92 - The worst gift that somebody offers to you?
A goodbye L

93 - Somebody offer to you a house. You choose an igloo, an Indian tipi, an African box, the same house as your parents, a farm?
I'd choose the same house as my parents J

94. Kilos to be taken?
He he! Again, the figure is too indecent to be declared in public and in print!

96 - The best teacher do you have?
My Mom and my experiences…the two best teachers ever.

97 - The worst teacher do you have?
Some from high school x-(

98 - Dedication this questionnaire with somebody?
I don't think many would have had the patience to sit and read through. I'd dedicate it to the people who actually did. It shows a lot about what you feel about me and how much worth you have given to my thoughts and to what I have to say…a genuine interest in knowing me J

99 - What do you think of this questionnaire?
It's fine…but very time consuming. But it was fun J

100 - Which message of advice you would give?

Nothing is permanent but change… understand this and if not anything else, you would definitely have lesser number of depressing days.


Raakhee