A Cooked up Story

Hello Folks!!! You may eat them sweet or savoury, with your fingers or a fork, soaked in syrup or sprinkled with sugar, but we agree- waffles are wonderful. Got an instant craving? Then keep reading to make yourself some crispy yet light and fluffy waffles. During my school days, weekends during hols were meant for sleepovers and fun time with my friends. As soon as the exams were over and the school bell rang, the silent corridors turned noisy, and we would run across the passage to meet at our secret hideout- the wooden bench under the tree. That beautiful spot brings memories even today. Most of our ideas came to life over there. It was where we shared our snacks, planned our next adventure, and waited for our parents to pick us up on sunny afternoons. Though we were experts in addition and subtraction, we were still trying luck with multiplication and long division. Our love for creativity, precision and challenge made us 9-year-olds work better at certain subjects. Whether it was ...

Hello Folks!!! Last night, my mother was heating some egg roast for dinner while the rest of us set the table. The egg roast is a very simple, semi-dry side-dish, where eggs are coated in luscious thick sauce made with red tomatoes and caramelized onions. I wouldn't say this is a super quick dish, because you need to let the masala fry for a while in order to let the flavours blend with each other properly. But, with a little bit of patience, anyone can always cook up a magic potion. It's a wonder in itself that tastes equally good.  Interrupting my short happiness of watching the buttery smooth onions and tangy tomatoes swirling around the pot and bubbling into thick sauce, my garrulous little sister picked up a silly conversation. She started off by saying that she was ready to sacrifice her share of the egg roast and remain a good child who can 'sometimes' sacrifice good things. It reminded me of the story "The Sacrificial Egg" by Chinua Achebe, and all the...

Hello Folks!!! Last evening my sister and I were fishing through our cupboard to find something interesting. To pass our time and do something creative, we thought of going through our old stuff. We rediscovered our long forgotten board games and thought of playing chess for a while. This reminded me of an incident. When I was little, the Bishop of Francistown once came to our home and I was so afraid of him. The kind and gentle Bishop Frank asked me why I was scared. I told him that I was scared because the 'bishop' kills. Poor Bishop Frank had a hearty laugh and said that he only kills flies! The game of chess, the bishop, rook, knight and pawn still evokes a sense of mysterious charm and fascination within me.  My sister being smarter, each move of hers looked like a well planned trap to capture my kingdom and establish her dynasty. Her eyes bolted across the board, measuring the little distances and making clever calculations to note safe points for her knight to take shelt...

Hello Folks!!! Last evening was simply beautiful, with the day fresh from the gentle drizzle and sweet-smelling air loitering into my room, swishing through my hair playfully, creating a sort of music in my ears. It was like beautiful magic, wondrous to behold. It surely was the best time to do some reading and so I settled down with a cup of hot tea and “Whitethorn Woods” by Maeve Binchy. It felt as though it was forever and a day- like how Shakespeare calls it- since I felt the smooth pages of a ‘real’ book, smelt and ran my fingers across the letters as my eyes hopped joyfully from one line to the next. It was as though I was there with the characters, helping them with their busy lives, basking in their joys and languishing in their sorrows. A calm and gentle lady of not more than 52, Ms Hannah Harty offered to bring some steak and kidney pie, and almost instantaneously my head went pop , quickly drawing me into a land far from where I am, and a sudden homesickness clobbered m...

Hello Folks!!! It was yesterday that I completed my exams and now I have all the time in the world to do things that make me happy. So overjoyed that I had finally completed my degree, I couldn’t wait to celebrate. We planned to have a long night filled with movies and chocolates. But just before that, Rule no. 1 - Grab some snacks to binge eat. It was then that my eyes fell on a packet of chocolate chips.   This brought in a rush of memories and scenes of three years ago, when my sister and I were at our native. We stayed at our cousins’ for over a week and had the best time ever. My aunt and uncle were at work so, we were by ourselves at home- the best thing that could ever happen when you are with your cousins, because that’s when you are known by those three very dangerous words- ‘Partners in Crime’. Dancing, singing, playing, cooking, watching movies, staying up late at night… if there was a to-do list of “all things fun to do with your cousins”, we had achieved more than th...