Poetry and The Wind Chime

Let me make known to you another aspect of me. I write poems. I am no professional....but i have my own way of expressing through the rhytmic ripples of poetry. The last time i wrote a poem was 8 years back!!! I have a decent collection that i call 'My Poe(m)-Tree'!!!


Most of my compositions (oh wow....such a strong and professional word for my amateurish rhymes!!!) were conceived by me when i was betwen 16/17 yrs---the most poetic phase of my life so far. When i read those poems now, I get nostalgic about those good ol carefree days, and yearn to scribble more of those artistic expressions!!


Recently the itch to write another poem took over me and i let myself rekindle the dormant poet in me and scribbled a few lines (not exactly...this time i typed!!). And the chosen topic?? what else but the title i selected for my blog baby!!


Twigs and branches of my 'Poe(m)-Tree' will be coming up soon but i'd like to share the newest leaf for now.....So here goes....my latest creation for my 'Poe(m)-Tree'!!

The Wind Chime

Have you ever ever heard

The wind laugh and giggle

Hang a chime in your home

together they tinkle and wiggle

But now my chime hangs still

waiting for its knight of yore

a delicate dangle on my sill

looking yonder the sea and shore

Lo! The knight in shining armor arrives

rolling, tumbling gliding along

past the hills, the valleys and the skies

reaching his darling erelong

He greets her with a touch

She trembles and tinkles

He has missed her too much

She dances to his jingles

She calls out to him softly

He breezes her all around

My home is echoing deftly

with their laughter and their song

These are the tales

of happiness and springtime

when these lovers come together

the Wind and my Chime!!!

I know there are many of you out there who are much more talented poets and all your constructive feedback is gracefully welcome. Please feel free to correct/suggest me so that i can polish this artistic expression of mine and hence build a stronger 'Poe(m)-Tree'!!

Pennies and Promises

Hi again....hope you are doing well!!!


I have been thinking of starting a blog from quite a long time........but then i am at times a lazy person and was afraid i wouldnt be able to devote enough time to my blog baby (as i have two babies at home; hubby baby and my lil princess baby!) and hence was apprehensive about leaving it unattended and neglected. 


But u see, in this head of mine, in addition to all the nerves and neurons and grey matter, many thoughts go whizzing by.....some happen to linger in the crevices a little longer while others get lost in the folds of thoughts. (I could be a rich person u know...if someone were to give me a penny for each of my thoughts!!!) And the lingering thoughts started forming into ideas and kept whispering to me to spill them out, to share them........to give form to them with letters and spaces and characters and words....so that this time they dont get lost but live on, be it as minute as possible, in this great world wide web!!
And so the urge to share and share alike all the pennies in my head overtook my apprehensions and so here I am...blogging away....
I am not expecting myself to be a regular to this space as i have a family to look after at home and a project to build in office!! But i promise that as when i find myself free i shall definetly add something here.
So till then......Cheerio!!

Shubh Aarambh---Kuch Meetha Ho Jaye

It is in our Indian tradition to having something sweet before starting anything so that the results of our venture are favourable!!


Keeping in mind the same notion, I start my blog with a 'sweet' entry!!


Few days back I happened to make a coffee cake inspired by Sailu of Sailu’s Kitchen.


So for my Shubh Aarambh, I share with you all my Coffee Cake with Coffee Butter Cream frosting recipe!!
(With negligible variation to Sailu's recipe)


Ingredients:


For the Cake-
1 cup Maida
3/4 cup Brown Sugar or granulated Sugar
3/4 cup Oil/Butter  ( if using oil, make sure you dont use groundnut oil coz it will lend its nutty smell to the cake too....)
2 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla Essence
2 tbsp Instant Coffee Powder (dissolved in 1tbsp boiling hot water)
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 cup Milk


For the coffee butter cream frosting-
1/3 cup Butter
1 cup Icing Sugar
1 tbsp Instant Coffee Powder mixed in 1 tbsp boiling hot water
1 or 2 drops of Rose essence (rose essence is very strong, so limit it to just a few drops)


Procedure:


Start with blending together the sugar and the oil/butter till well combined. To this mixture add the eggs one after the other and beat to get a creamy flowing consistency.


Rain the baking powder into the flour and mix the two well. You can also sieve the two for better results as it is important for the baking powder to blend into the flour.


Fold in the wet mixture into the flour and add the coffee mixture and the vanilla essence. Combine the batter well.

Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees. In the mean time grease your baking pan. Also, dust the pan with flour and pour the cake batter into it.


Bake the cake for 45-50 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool the cake on the rack before reversing it from the pan.

While the warm cake fills your home with the aroma of coffee and vanilla and tempts you to dig into it, prepare the frosting by beating the butter and the icing sugar till smooth and creamy. Add the coffee mixture and the rose essence to the frosting. Pour the creamy coffee butter cream frosting onto the cake and sides. Garnish as per your choice. Chill the cake for 30-35 mins or till the frosting sets. Slice and serve!!!

The butter needs to be soft to get the frosting to a pouring consistency. Mine was not soft enough and so I had to add a wee bit of water to get the right pouring texture. But then my 'wee bit of water' became a tab too much and I ended up with a butter cream frosting a little on the watery side. So when i poured the frosting onto my cake, most of it settled at the bottom and around the cake. However, after chilling the cake, i was able to scoop the frosting from around the cake and cream it onto the top. But then my runny frosting didnt do much damage and actually added more flavour to the cake in its own way. Since most of the frosting settled around the base of the cake, some of it was absorbed by the bottom. So when we bit into our cake, we were treated with a creamy frosting on the top and a moist base........yummmmmmmmy!!