How to form a habit among other things...

They say it takes a week to form a habit. Some say it takes 27 days. It's day two and I hope the 7 day habit formation is working 

This is not even a real how to. I am not going to teach you how to form a habit coz I don't know it myself. Read one of those self help books that you keep buying. 

  It has been a long day and it's almost my bedtime. Yeah, I know it's only 10.20 and I hate

to admit that I am sleeping relatively early these days. I am after all, trying to wake up early too. That's another one of my resolutions. I have been trying to lose weight/inches and also get fitter/healthier and so I need to exercise. (You can't really diet, when you're baking, can you?) So new year resolution #2 exercise for atleast 20 minutes each day. I have been exercising for a few months now, but the resolutions kind of makes it more compelling, you know. I missed it on the 1st coz you know new year's eve blah blah blah. (For the record, I was sleeping, texts, calls and fireworks woke me up.) 

So I downloaded these fun zumba videos and some basic workout thingys and I am going to exercise everyday for the next 365  363 days. And eat healthier. 

Speaking of food, I have been using Kitchenbug which is a Beta app that helps you collect all the recipes you find online. This has helped me tremendously. It gives nutritional info and the format of the recipes are print friendly. Check out their facebook page too. 



I have one more thing I want to share with you ( A little much needed self promotion here) As you may or may not know, I now own my own business Melete and I am also blogging about food, sharing recipes, and blabbering about my business at my new blog. Show it a little love. It's a newbie and needs loads of attention. 


And since I will be writing everyday *fingers crossed* and I don't want to ramble; I will be planning a few things for Pigeonheadophobia. Expect a few challenges, guest posts, How To's, loads more fiction, poetry (well, maybe). And maybe a makeover. 

It's gonna be an interesting year!
Anyway, ciao
see you all tomorrow

Resolutions, races and well it's 2014 already!

Hi!

It's the first day of the year and well after eons I've made new year resolutions (thanks to my sister). And one of the resolutions is writing a blog post everyday. I don't know how I'll manage it but a girl can be ambitious, right? 

I just randomly said that I want to like to write 365 blog posts in the next one year. Well, for the last few months maybe, I have been sort of not-so-inclined to write; in the sense that I have not gotten time to put my thoughts down to paper. I had a lot of things I could write about; probably; but never did. That's really pathetic of me. Sounds really pathetic.

Anyway, first day of the year and here I am. 2013 was amazing and I was pretty  morbid about it ending yesterday but I guess it's fine. 

Today was definitely fun. For the the first time I went to see a derby race. It was undoubtedly amazing! Half of the crowd were fashionistas waiting for cameras to click them. The other half were people like me; excited about the races. 

I have been wanting to go for a few years and Calcutta has a huge and amazing racecourse and I have always wondered about horse racing. 

I don't like horses that much, because they stink. Or I should say that the horses I  have encountered stunk. I think the well kept ones, don't. Horse are possibly one of most beautiful animals (and someone told me, one of the dumbest.) It was an amazing experience; to see those horses gallop. I wish I had gambled. though. Somehow that didn't happen. 

Even though we didn't gamble, I predicted the winner and he won. Beginners luck? I chose that horse coz the jockey was cute. He was lanky and very very thin! 


The race lasted for hardly 3 minutes. Before you realise it, it gets over! And there you have it, a winner. 

The first race was cancelled for some reason. We missed the 2nd one because  we were busy eating, and looking around and trying to find our box. We saw the next three races.

A pleasant start to the year, I hope the good things continue. That's what we all want, don't we?

It's 2014! That's gonna take a little while to sink in. I am expecting a lot of changes to happen this year. Jittery about them, excited about them. I mean, it's weird that you can be both excited AND scared about the same thing. 

But here I am. A new challenge; a new year and this will sound a bit cliche; a new beginning. New year= new beginning blah, blah, blah. 

See you tomorrow!

And yes,
A very happy new year to all!

Dropping your smartphone too many times is hazardous to health

So my phone conked off today. And I realised that the phrase-" I can't live without my phone" applies to me too! I depend on my phone, a lot. For people so used to smartphones and internet access on their fingertips, living without a phone for a day or two is next to impossible. I am trying and trying but it's increasingly difficult.

Day 1

5.15 am. The reason I can wake up at 6 am is my multiple alarms. One at 5.15, one at 5.40 and another at 6. I will have to set multiple alarms on the feature phone I am using. I guess this is not a major problem

6.30 am. I track my exercising routine on my Endomondo app. No phone, no app.

I don't wear a watch and use my phone to see the time.


7. am I check my whatsapp. Send a quick hi to A. That can't be done today.
9. am I want to make a note of something on my phone memo but I cant.
9.30 am. A quick google search to verify news about Nelson Mandela's death is also not possible. I have to wait till I switch on my laptop, but then I will be caught up with work.

10. am One of my friends is very ill, I want to be updated about his condition. And all my numbers are saved on my phone. So now I can't contact anyone. I am worrying about him.

11 am. I  give a status about it, asking for help. I also do a google search. Many threads have suggestions but none of them work.

12. 15 pm I give up on my phone. It's sort of liberating.

1pm. Mom wants to whatsapp me but can't. No phone checking, no notifications.

2 pm.Someone wanted to talk to me and had to call my mom. I run a business and can't afford to be un-contactable.

3 pm. I am wondering how to contact people I urgently need to . I try reviving my phone again. It doesn't work.

5.20 pm. I find a spare set and put my sim in.

9. pm I want to do a quick search for a recipe but well I cant! This is really difficult!

11.pm, No phone, no music. 

Day 2

10 am. Gave my phone for repairs.
7pm Repair guy says he wasn't able to do anything. (Is it time for a new phone?)

Day 3

Zilch. 

Day 4.

Gave my phone for repairs at a different place. Using a Nokia feature phone. My first phone.  It's been little less than 2 years but I am so used a smartphone, that I am feeling lost without it. I so want a smartphone(mine or a new one) within this week. I am not some vagrant or sanyasi!

*fingers crossed*

Yummy cuteness in a mug

Today I baked a cake.

 In under 5 minutes. 

In a mug. 

In my microwave. 

I used one of those Internet recipes. 

To my surprise it turned out to be delicious. I had expected it to be less than mediocre. I know that many people have always known the joys  of microwave cooking but for me this was a novel discovery. I have always been apprehensive of cooking things in the micro, always dismissing it as   something people who can't cook or are too lazy do. I mean, it's a quick fix. The cake was easy and hassle free. 

I would have clicked a pic if I wasn't busy gobbling it up

And I was wrong. Sometimes, even people who enjoy cooking don't want to spend hours in the kitchen(Not that I am implying that I spent all my time in the kitchen. I don't) So it's not laziness. Okay, maybe sometimes it is laziness. And tremendous hunger. And less time. Whatever the reason be, the food turns out  to be great. For me it won't replace conventional cooking methods but once in a while it could be fun.

I tried it today because I came across an article listing things that can be made in a mug. I love lists. Mugs are pretty good too. And the pictures looked great. I wanted to try it. It would take only 5 minutes of my time. And the instructions were easy. So I made a cake. And it turned out great. Then I got excited. This was a great quick fix. When you're craving cake and don't want a store bought one and certainly don't want to spend an hour, measuring, beating, greasing, baking, de-moulding; this is the thing to do. Find a recipe you like. (There are plenty online). I added my own variations to the one I found by the way. And it was egg less. Just imagine: A dessert for one in a mug. Ready in 5 minutes. I saw the time. The actual cooking took only 3 minutes. Prep time was two.

After I made and ate the cake I found a french toast recipe. Ya, french toast in a mug. How cute is that? I got back to work but at around four when my sister came home I made french toast. In the micro. In a cute little mug. With very less fat. And it was yum. 


I tried an omelet too. My own recipe. Nice and fluffy.

So I am pretty excited now. I am going to try countless  microwave recipes. I plan to make a nutella cake soon. And this time I will remember to take pictures. So that I can show off on facebook.


P.S : I have never blogged about food but this is my second post in a row about food. What has gotten into me? 

Burnt expectatons

It happens to all of us. We try to do something new in the kitchen with loads of grand expectations. And then we fail. Something goes wrong, so wrong that we start doubting our abilities.

In  some cases you can still re-use the what you think "inedible mess". It's like resurrection. And it takes a lot of creativity. And guts. If you don't try something with it, it will anyway go into a dustbin so you might as well as try to make it edible.

So what do you do when you decide to make chocolate at home and end up burning it? You DON'T throw it. That's sacrilege. And cruel.

Chocolate does get burnt you know? You are always supposed to and I repeat always supposed to melt chocolate slabs on a double boiler. Do not ever take a short cut and put in in the microwave or even worse the stove! If you think of doing that then you should just buy yourself chocolate and not try to make it. Remember making chocolate requires patience. It's not something you do in a hurry.

You don't want this to happen to your chocolate

So back to what I was talking about-how to redeem burnt chocolate. Here are the few different ways

1. Mash it with a spoon and spread it on a biscuit. Then put another biscuit on top to make a biscuit sandwich. 

2. Mash the chocolate and mix it with a plain sponge cake crumbs. You now have a mixture of sponge and chocolate. Make sure you mix it well. Spread this mixture in a glass bowl and a scoop or two of vanilla ice cream. I promise you, it will taste yum. 

3. Let it harden and then crush it into very small pieces of nougat like consistency. You can use this chocolate "nougat" to sprinkle on top of ice cream or mousse or any frozen dessert. In fact, why just frozen desserts? Try your own combinations. 

4. Whatever you do, do not re-heat the burnt chocolate. This will spoil it further and you won't be able to do anything about it. 


Were these tips useful? I guess you will only find out if you ever burn chocolate. I hope that you never do.

Anyway, I was experimenting with chocolate today and here's what I made

Quite pretty, I think

What do you think? :P