The Workings of an Overactive Mind

        I speak Tamil very fluently but when it comes to reading Tamil, especially literature I stumble & fair miserably. Till i was in Xth standard the day before my Tamil II exams, I used to go to my Aunt who was a Tamil professor to learn from her. When my results came & I scored 90 marks in Tamil she was shell shocked. She blamed the correction methodology for me getting high marks. In her evaluation i would have only scored 60. Believe me this is not a fashion statement or something I'm proud about. There is a world of tamil literature I'm missing because of this serious flaw. I search for English translations of tamil works. The ones I really enjoyed so much are Ponniyin Selvan series & books by Perumal Murugan.     When you read his works, you'll be subjected to see our beautiful state in a different eye. His books have always left me feeling strong emotions & makes me question the tolerability of everyone around m...

         Baking is my happy place. Precise measurements & perfect timings make a beautiful cake/brownie!!! When i got married in 2010 PV used to have rotating shifts. My favorite passtime was watching cookery show in TLC, Fox Life, MasterChef Australia etc... Nigella Lawson, Nigel Slater, Jamie are few of my favorite chefs. I used to bake/cook around 1 AM or early mornings since that is the most peaceful time with little to no sounds around.     I am not a huge fan of Brownies. But once I tried this recipe it was a match made in heaven. It's so simple and addictive to eat. You just cant stop with one. Recipe: Flour - 1/2 cup Cocoa powder - 1.5 Tbsp Baking powder - 1/4 tsp Salt - 1/4 tsp Chopped Chocolate - 1 cup Butter - 4 Tbsp Coffee powder - 2 tsp Brown Sugar - 3/4 cup Eggs -2 Vanilla Essence - 1 tsp Method: 1. Preheat oven to 180C 2. In a double boiler add Chocolate, Butter & Coffee Powder to melt. 3. Add ...

    I have been missing from blogging for a few weeks now. Before you assume that i was busy, I was super duper lazy. Binge watching Netflix, Prime series and reading numerous books(12/52) along with office work. I have also started a coloring book to work on my concentration skill.     One of the reasons for this break was my MIL. Before u let ur imagination wild, she made every single thing at home. When I come out ready for office, my hot breakfast & packed lunch is waiting for me. When i return back there is a warm dinner & she takes care of Varun too. A true blessing.     I have been always on my feet completing all tasks, ticking all the imaginary boxes every single day & this break gifted by her was unexpected & I was finally able to put my feet up & relax a bit. Now that she's gone back, this week was super yucky & I'm struggling to return to routine!!!!     Made a Mocha Brownie as a pick me...

    The World of Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hotstar etc.....     I still remember my childhood days when we waited for Friday evening 'Oliyum Ozhiyum' song show in DD-Tamil to watch latest movie songs. There wasn't any other channel to compel/compete to change. On one occasion my family had booked tickets for 'Kadhalan' movie & a song from that movie was aired in 'Oliyum Ozhiyum'. It was great treat for us & it built the anticipation for the movie.      Then came the age of Sun TV, Raj TV, K TV, Vijay TV & then Star World, Movies, HBO, TLC, FOX Life etc. I used to plan my day around the various programmes. Today we have Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hotstar, Youtube & many other Pay-per view channels. After joining work I never really had time / energy to watch TV & the constant fight for screen space with Varun, Rajesh & my MIL made me to move on to Fire TV Stick. I was against having a TV in our bedroom for so ma...

    The teasers, songs & trailers set a building anticipation for this movie & I wanted to watch it. All my favorite stars Vijay Sethupathi, Simran, Trisha cast in the movie gave me even more reason to watch at the earliest possible.     So on a Monday night the day before Pongal, after a full day of work, Rajesh & I along with Varun set out for second show. This was Varun's second Rajini movie in theatre & he was super duper excited. Our biggest mistake was giving him ice cream, not any ice cream - COTTON CANDY ice cream. Add Pepsi to this & we had a super pumped, sugar charged toddler. For Rajini's intro we all cheered & clapped. The movie went uphill & Varun headed south. He couldn't sit still, he was hitting the front seat (Facepalm!!!), shouting & wanting a separate seat. Finally after the interval he fell asleep & the movie started to drag(Y God Y!!!)     This is a complete Rajini movie. You get ...

Book 5: Rusty - The Boy from the Hills by Ruskin Bond      A few years ago I got to read an e-book of this author & from that point I'm a huge fan of his works. His books are written mostly for children but they have so much message & frankly anybody can read them.      This book is about the childhood of the author himself. His life with his grandfather is so adventurous & laugh-out funny but nearing the end of the book the author will make you cry for the little boy. The author literally paints pictures with his words & illustration that sometimes you'll be transported to the various places in the book. You get a glimpse of all the places in the book through his words. The book was so engaging, entertaining, thought provoking & I'll rate it 5/5.     

        My weekdays are super busy with packed breakfast & lunches before 7.30 in the morning & one pot dinners in the evening. To come up with the menu itself is tiring. So on saturday I dont go anywhere near the kitchen. We usually get from outside. But Sunday's are different. I feel guilty for not cooking on Saturday & make something special for my two boys.     Fish is the favorite non-veg for all of us. A picky, choosy eater like Varun just sits & devours the rice if there is fish. So I made fish curry, fish fry, payaru thoran, Kerela red rice & papadom. The name of the fish curry is Thatha curry(Grandfather curry). My mother's maternal grandfather lived in a village alone after the grandmother's death. His daughter Ponnu Aachi who lived in the next village Kadukkarai sends his lunch every afternoon. The fish reaches the village in the 12 PM bus. By this time, the rice is ready & the gravy will be boiling in ...