Thank.God.It's.CHRISTMAS!!

Away in a Manger

Away in a manger,

No crib for a bed,

The Little Lord Jesus

Laid down his sweet head;

The stars in the sky

Looked down where he lay,

The little Lord Jesus,

Asleep on the hay

Nibbling away at my penultimate piece of Christmas Cake and listening to the smoky vocals of Bing Crosby as he "Dreams of a White Christmas"....I feel replete and even blessed.

It was a beautiful Christmas day, picture perfect and straight out of a snow globe!! Meeting up with friends and neighbours.....forcing my baked goodies down their throats and gulping down equal quantities in return.....driving around Bandra, taking in the sparkly lights and the beautifully decked churches followed by a pop-your-trouser-buttons heavy dinner with family .....and finally, finally I am done for the day!!

Here’s are the pictures of my Christmas Pudding and the goodies that I baked.....

Rudolph gets the pink slip!!

The Planet Mars is going to be unusually bright this Christmas Eve, and with the full moon providing it's additional wattage......it looks like Dear Santa can give Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer a well-deserved break!!



So the good people at Yahoo! have reworked a certain reindeer song, to make it more understandable to kids and dim-witted adults like me!

Mars is a red-tinged planet
With a very shiny glow
And if you look to see it
You will find the moon in
tow.

All of the other Yuletides
Santa would have at his
side
The shiny nose of Rudolph
Acting as his big sleigh's
guide

But this very Christmas Eve
Santa came to say:
"Rudolph, now with Mars so bright,
You can stay at home
tonight."

Then all the reindeer teased him.
And they shouted
out with glee:
"Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer
Outsourced to
astronomy."

Hot Cocoa....here I come!!

With all the mixing, stirring, tasting and baking I have done today........my brains have taken a vacation too. I can't think of anything noteworthy to write about, so am just going to post another picture I found on Deviant Art.

This is how I would like to be on Christmas.....nice and cosy....with my fingers curled around a steaming cup of hot cocoa. Everything's seems right with the world and am nicely wrapped in my very own security-blanket!!!

Christmas In The Woods

I am well and truly getting into the Holiday Mood....despite the fact that the Coconut Ice Fudge I made yesterday turned out to be a miserable, congealing mass of petrified coconut. Ah well, one of my bad days.....this is what I get for promising my buddies with Christmas Confections!! (note to self...***keep big yakking mouth shut till absolutely sure that the christmas goodies do ACTUALLY turn out as portrayed in the recipe book!!!***)

To drive out the cooking-fiasco blues.....I lugged out this heavy (and I mean fall-on-you-foot-and-fracture-it-heavy) book of poems, hoping to come up with a neat passage to add a nice touch to my Christmas Greetings. And I came across this simple and wholesome poem about Christmas in the wilderness. It has it's cutesy-pie charm and is straightforward...with no hidden nuances. Morover it reminded me of a picture of a beautiful red fox I had come across on deviant Art.
Here it is.....

Christmas In The Woods

Tonight when the hoarfrost falls
on the wood,
And the rabbit cowers, and the squirrel is
cold,
And the horned owl huddles against a star
And the drifts are deep, and the year is old,
All shy creatures will think of HIM.
The shivering mouse, the hare, the wild young fox,
The doe with the startled fawn
Will dream of
gentleness and a Child.

The buck
with budding horns will turn
His starry eyes to a silver
hill tonight,
The chipmunk will awake and stir
And leave his burrow for the chill, dark midnight,
And all timid things will pause and sigh,
and sighing, bless
That child who
loves the trembling hearts,
The shy hearts of the
wilderness

~ Frances Frost

Chocaholic-Alert!!

I am currently reading The Chocolate Lovers’ Club by Carole Matthews and finding it the perfect accompaniment to my baking escapades. I can’t give a detailed review on it, cos’ I am only half-way through.....

But what’s not to like??? Four friends, four different personalities, each with problems of their own but all joined together by a common cause.....the no-hold-barred love for Chocolate!!

I will write more when I am through, but as for now.....am just going to wallow in the gratuitous chocolate scenarios that pop up in almost every page!!!

The Motorcycle Diaries....

A movie am looking forward to see.....a road-trip in the life of the legendary Che Guevara which seemingly changed his destiny. To read more about the movie, click on: http://www.stfrancis.edu/historyinthemovies/motorcyclediaries.htm

Salon-Set to Rat-Tails......all in 15 minutes.

After months of postponing.....and coming up with a million excuses, I finally…FINALLY went and got my hair chopped off. Ok…that’s more drastic than what I actually did.

In reality it was just a snip-happy hairdresser and me cringing at regular intervals. Months of “grown-out" hair fell away like a line of pigeons enjoying a mornin’ poop! I was feeling lightheaded (literally) and that took getting used too! But all the length-related misgivings went up in smoke with the finishing touch…the oh-so lovely blow-dry!!

Suddenly my hair looked good.....no....GREAT.....even SENSATIONAL!!...It’s swished and shimmered and caught the light at all the right angles!!

I could almost here the angels sings. It was a divine moment. Under the benevolent smiles of the parlour-ladies and the happy woof of the parlour-dog (yes, it has a resident dog and he smells like a freshly-mowed lawn.....seriously!!!) …I headed back, in search of more compliments (yep... I had crossed over to the land of the delusional!!)

The ride home.....which had more than it’s fair share of dust ‘n’ wind worked blunders for my new cut. By the time I was ringing the doorbell…..I looked like the scatter-brain I always was……bye-bye salon sweetheart…..welcome back Raggedy Ann!!

Needless to say.....compliments were a bit late in coming, since my family’s tends to place a lot of stock by thick, long hair!! And with the well-styled look M.I.A, they failed to see what I had spent good money and valuable time on!!!

Ah well.....time to “curl up and dye”!!!.....(couldn’t resist using that….just couldn’t!)

Second.......third and many more helpings to come!!!

I did my second reading of “Second Helpings” by Megan McCafferty (please excuse the unintentional pun!).....and let me just that this could very well be the tome at which all YA Novel-Authors, wannabe writers and bursting-with-beans teens/adults with an overactive/hyperactive/mile-a-minute imagination should prostrate themselves……and pay homage to this magnificent book!!

I can’t write a review which would do justice, so am just going to leave you the link where people with more than mere mush for brains could give you their opinion!!

Editorial Reviews : Second Helpings

The Cookie-Monster has NOTHING on me!!!

Yep..it’s that time of the year again. A time for overindulgence and no-holds barred gluttony.....when all thoughts of calories.....trim tummies and non-existent love handles are put on the shelf.....(to be revisted at resolution-making time ofcourse!!)

And what screams out Christmas more than home-baked Holiday Cookies!! From the easy-peasy Sugar Cookies to the tangy Lemon Bars to the deliciously decadent Coconut Macaroons……there’s something to entice everyone.

It is extremely gratifying to whip up a tray of perfectly done.....golden-brown cookies. Thoughts of home, hearth and all things cozy and comforting immediately leap to the fore-front. Your first inroad into a crisp yet crumbly Gingersnap and everything seems right with the world. Something akin to the whole “butterbeer” phenomenon!!

And yes……I am going to be nauseatingly perky, bursting with holiday cheer and goodwill….atleast till the new-year. So please bear with me…it’s a temporary phase and I can sincerely swear that it happens only once a year. As 2008 rolls in…..I’ll be back to my charming impression of the “bear-with-a-sore-head”!!!

Getting back to the cookie-craze……please feast your collective orbs on these delectable concoctions and undesrtand the method behind the madness...

My Visual DNA

I am a big fan of Psychological tests…infact, anything that delves into the deepest darkest recesses of the mind and spews out the so-called “REAL ME”. I don’t know if it’s another one of my infamous ego-trips or just good, ol’ fashioned inquisitiveness!

Get me within writing/clicking distance of a personality test and I am instantly poring over it and answering feverishly.
So when I came across a new site: imagini and saw a Visual DNA Test, I had give in to the inevitable. The outcome of this trip down cranium-lane goes somewhat like this:

PERSONALITY : MOODS
GOGETTER (har-de har har!!)
You are a bit of a romantic with a taste for the exotic. You love feeling the sea-breeze in your hair, sun on your skin.....slip of those shoes...you like to kick back (yes...yes...yes and a resoundingYES!!!)
When it comes to art you are definately unconventional - seeing art in all corners of life. (that explains why I was poring over that cinkly potato chip yesterday with acute concentration!!)
As for music....it's the soundtrack of your world. You like to unwind and switch off: it gives you a break from reality (as Gloria Estefan very chessily put it....The music IS going to get you!!)
Your choice of treat shows you crave relaxation. Maybe you lead a pampered life (this is where I snort in an undignified manner and the cofees spurts out of my nostrils..) - or maybe you are so busy you don't seem to get any time for yourself (!!!)

PERSONALITY : FUN
ESCAPE ARTIST
You love to be far away from your everyday life. (well, not really. Except when I get hounded by the matrimonial brigade!)
You love the sun and like to live life at a slower pace than others. For kicks, you like to indulge in your grand passions. You are fiercely loyal and passionate. (I sound like a cross between a labrador and an aging-theater actress!!!)
You like to be part of something big. You love the chance of being in the wilderness and the freedom of being in charge of where you are heading (watch out Tarzan......there's a new 'Queen of the Apes' in the jungle!!)
What grosses you out? You favour the natural look and can't stand a pumped and plumped, plastic appearance (knowingly plunging needles in your body??? Good God, why!?!?)

PERSONALITY : HABITS
NEW-WAVE PURITAN
Even if you have a healthy approach to life, you still have your vices and a craving hunger drives your needs. (say hello to the bottomless pit!!)
Clean and pure....your choice of drink shows that you care about your health and make sure that your putting the right stuff in it (damn, this halo is BRIGHT!!!)
As for the home you are traditional: you invest in quality and history. You like your home to be as stylish as you are. (I love the way that "blink-and-you-miss-it" complement got squeezed in!)

PERSONALITY : LOVE
LOVE-BUG
For you love is about long-term commitment, it means devotion and tenderness. (yep, lobsters mate for life and am waiting for my crustacean comrade!)
When you think of freedom: you think of living for the here and now....

And this is a Visual representation of my personality.....Say hello to the benevolent beatnik from Bandra!!