Masala Chai

Who starts off a cooking series screaming she is terrible at it and ultimately shares her wisdom in the art?

Me.

Rewind to kitchen escapades#1 , you’d know how I took Chef Gasteau ‘s words seriously , ‘Anyone can cook’ and chanced upon the making of an edible seafood dish.

A year later and still only a dish up my sleeve , I have decided to master the sacred art of cooking. This decision was not taken lightly, the fact that I need to eat when I am in a foreign land with my mom a thousand miles away hit me like lightning and I proceeded to learn the names of the ‘thingies’ in the kitchen.

Long story short,I decided to start off with the much familiar(to you, not me) technique of making tea because who would survive without tea,not me.

Half a cup of milk and half a cup of water on the stove brought to a boil, a tea spoon of tea powder and some, a tablespoon of sugar stirred in and voila, you have tea.

To elevate this so called regular tea into something out of this world, try my recipe, I assure you its EDIBLE, has strong flavour and does that magic only tea can do to your senses.

Recipe for one:

1. Pour half a cup of milk and half a cup of water in your tea pot.
2. Place this on the stove and switch it on. ( This is very important)
3. Add a clove, a pinch of cinnamon or a tiny piece of the cinnamon stick and a cardamom split open to the mixture.
4. Let it boil.
5. Once it starts foaming up, switch to low flame, add one teaspoon of tea powder and one tablespoon of sugar as you so wish in the boiling mixture.
6. Let it sink in.
7. Switch off the stove
8. Sieve the mixture into a cup
9. And voila, you have that cup of tea fleeting aromatic masala notes into your splendid nasal sensors.
10. Now, drink. 😛

Ciao,

Jovi!

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Dopamine rush #2

Being in a rut, and maybe hitting rock-bottom once or twice may have prevented me from my writing escapades these past months. I don’t know if I am passing by or here to stay.

Getting up and getting things done when you are in the void is a next to impossible task.I have a LOT of things on my plate right now and when the question, “What next?” looms above my head like the sword of Damocles, I paralyze and do none of the LOT of things. This is where dopamine comes in.  A burst of that lullaby, that funny book, the smell of vanilla, that little pleasure which rushes up your neurons, gives you that boost and gets your stuff done. When you are down there in the void, or at the bottom of a bottomless pit, get up and do this :

1. Pray

Praying and reading the bible comforts you in a way that no human or words spoken can. Remember to rely on God (Psalms 118:8), that He cares for you and understands you (1 peter 5:7 ) and to Him, nothing is impossible (Mathew 19:26) and that He gives you strength when you are weary (Isaiah 40:29).

 “but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

Isaiah 40 :3

2. Revel in the mundane

There is so much joy and serenity in mundane tasks like watering your plants, making a cup of hot cocoa, doing your laundry, making breakfast, taking a shower,etc.

3. Make a kind of BuJo planner

Checking off a to do list gives you the same satisfaction as when you pop a bubble wrap. It’s a given that you have a humongous mountain of tasks to climb. Make a BuJo or even your own version of to do lists, tick them off one by one and when you stand on the summit of that mountain you have climbed, savour the dusk and the rosy red and golden hues of the sun setting between the peaks.

4. Exercise

Hit an exercise routine. Five minutes of warming up, twenty minutes of Pilates or aerobics or whatever you are into, and close up with cardio.

5. Eat healthy

Your skin is what you eat. You are what you eat. Almonds, nuts, bananas, tomatoes, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, fruits, fish, etc,etc.

6. Self Care

This is the best part. Getting that hair spa or that facial, can make you feel ten times better when you come out with that soft supple skin and freshly stimulated follicles. Do a DIY facial or a DIY  hair mask , if you can’t make it to a spa.

7. Dig in .Explore

The internet is a treasure trove of information. Pinterest, Stumbleupon, Reader’s digest, Youtube, is where you can spend your time digging and exploring new ideas ,concepts and even visit places with a virtual tour.. However, don’t let yourself sink in the virtual world and lose yourself and your time.

8.  Happy playlist

Make your version of a happy playlist and let it play, let it play, let it play.

9.  Learn

Python,HTML, baking,cooking, gardening, spanish, german, french and mandarin, any topic that sparks your interests, I am telling you, there is an online course out there.  Learn and better yourself, take up courses or interests that would benefit your career. Be knowledgeable and smart. It’s not a one day process. It takes forever. Take it one day at a time.

10. Routine

Establish a routine. Get up and make your bed. Making your bed is a keystone habit according to “The power of habit”. It key starts a pattern of other good behavior. Pray, exercise and get on with your day and when you come back to your well made bed at night, ponder over your day and what you have achieved.

Understand yourself, who you want to be and tailor your needs to the above,                program yourself to be successful.

This,my friends, is how you get out of the void.

Ciao,

Jovi!

 

Random ramblings #unknown 2 (I think)

I woke up with a headache. Last night, I had a fantabulous (yes, that is a word) time eating  Pav Bhaji  at a local North Indian restaurant. But of course, I had to wake up with a throbbing headache. It turns out that butter triggers headaches for me lately. Also,flavored ice creams. I had a really buttery toast one day and the next day, *crying emoji* I had a headache worse enough that I could not open my eyes. Why, I wonder. Is there a scientific explanation to it?

Winter is here. It is that time of the year when Sir Summer has snuck off to his secret abode and the cool embrace of Lady Winter has wrapped us close. At dusk, there are flocks of pigeons circling the spires of the tall beautiful church when the sky breaks out in rose gold, and the half Moon up above in a fit of envy gazes at the Earth clad in blue, green and white stunning against the backdrop of that legion of stars. How I wish I was an astronaut up in the International Space Station, I really wouldn’t mind the close quarters for that priceless view.

Winter is here and my favourite beach is closed off for construction. They are tarring very close to the shore and putting up a chain of fast food restaurants. How it breaks my heart. Some places should be left as it is.

There is much more to write and much more to do. However,Procrastination is my new best friend and I must listen to his voice in my head, “Later” and off I go.

Jovi!

Dopamine rush #1

‘Forever is made up of nows’, said Emily Dickinson.

It’s the little things that count. The snippets of joy that erupt in our tiny ventricular chamber are pumped through to the teeny tiny cells of your body by the aortic valve and to your thinking organ and exchanged one after the other through synapses, in effect making you rejoice.

Petrichor, the brick red- orange sunset that lit the horizon, the rustic music of the winds and the waves, the quiet of the ocean, the green of the land, love unlimited.

The coffee you have in the mornings, an evening walk, sunshine peeking through the leaves, that splash when you jump into a pond, the weird looking clouds spread across the heavens. Clouds are little curios. You look at them and see what you want to see- a swarm of turtles, cupid with a tiny arrow, an airplane, a ghost and mostly, a cloud.

Listening to  that one favorite song, that hit of vanilla and baked goodies that makes your kitchen the place to be, a good hour of exercise which makes your muscles scream, that morning walk when the sun breaks out – all of this, the little things that you might think are trivial , they are the nows that make you truly happy.

A road trip with your friends and being kissed by the waves, conquering a fear, writing this article and constantly checking how many people have read it 🙂 , and the sparrow who is perching on your window.

This is what gives you a dopamine rush, things that make you You.

Hold on to them tight. Never let them go.

And with that ,

Ciao,

Jovi!

 

Home

Wandering from one place to another in this gypsy life, I have come to realize that home is never a place,it is a feeling that becomes the zest of you.

It is the quaint street with yellow flowers and picket fences. It is the gush of wind that blows against you when you sit lost in thoughts staring at the endless waters and the mighty waves that kiss the shore. It is the rhythm of the seas. It is the pretty purple shell that you found on the beach.

It is the last time you saw your best friend. It’s the stony pavement outside your school where you sat down like orphan beggars on the road.

It’s a book that found you. It’s that precious smile on your little brother.

It’s going to sleep with stories from your grandmother.

It is your favourite golgapa shop.  More than often it is a person whose love clings to you and pushes you forward. It’s that tug of that heart that love’strong hold

Ciao,

Jovi!

Agape

“Bring me the two most precious things in the city,” said God to one of His Angels; and the Angel brought Him the leaden heart and the dead bird.

“You have rightly chosen,” said God, “for in my garden of Paradise this little bird shall sing for evermore, and in my city of gold the Happy Prince shall praise me.”

I can never be the happy prince(It is one of those stories that twinges your heart). Even if  others are drowning in an ocean of grief, I cannot stop myself from grumbling on my little  problems. The happy prince of Oscar Wilde gave away his rubies and eyes[sapphires] to help the poor in need, to  encourage the playwright who lost his inspiration, to a little girl who lost all the wares she sold in a puddle of water. The happy prince never complained nor did his messenger, the swallow. Don’t I complain or even remember a small act I did as the greatest thing in the world when the happy prince gave his own eyes and the swallow,his life? The swallow who was to fly away to Egypt stuck on with the prince after he lost both his eyes and gave himself to death.

The happy prince and the swallow are  the symbols of self-sacrifice and love, of Christ, the one who sacrificed his life for the whole of mankind so that we may have eternal life.

---

Jovi!

Landour days

One of the best journals that I have ever read is Landour days by Ruskin bond. He captures the magic of writing in a way that no other could.

I can see him sitting on a hilltop on the grass with his typewriter penning down the words that weaves magic into our souls.I can see him taking those long walks on the roads of Mussoorie. When he talks about how being alone and being lonely are two very different things, it surprised me that someone else thought the same things I did. The  winter flowers he talked about, the summer flowers he loved, the cold hills of Mussoorie, the quirky people, I loved them , I smelled them, I met them, I felt them, it felt like petrichor, all the while reading curled up on my bed on a cool breezy rainy day.

 

Lost and found #1

For the past month or two, I have been trying to get up and write, ideas fleeted through and yet when I  looked to pen them down, words vanished.

My last past was “I’m back” but truthfully speaking, I wasn’t though I meant to. I thought about giving up blogging but I couldn’t. I am in some ways lost and this was a medium to rediscover myself, I know some pieces of myself but there are parts that are still confusing.

I have been trying to change my life around, become a better person, more kind, more patient , knowledgeable,  but there are still parts of me that is hard to let go.

To the confusing bits of myself, to the clueless bits of myself, listen : you know what you want, you know who you want to be me, do not give up, strive harder, you know your goal , if it is not working, change the way you go about it.

And with that, I’m truly back.

Ciao,

Jovi!

I am back!

Hello friends, fellow bloggers and you amazing people who read me,

I am back! And with a bang? My English teacher would condemn the use of this punctuation, I do care but I will let it slide this once, “It’s okay, Jovi”.

After a break of more than a month , I am back.

The past month was testing, life changing, humbling, painful and miraculous.

I wouldn’t wish the pain I suffered through on my worst enemy. More about that on a later post.

There was a moment through the last month when my family thought I was going to shed my mortal coil but His steadfast love, merciful love, Agape love, stitched my soul onto my body and kept me safe under his wings. Thank you, Lord!

For now, I am back here in my own little space to write my heart out, to be myself and be happy, content and make a change hopefully.

Love,

Jovi!

The Lord’s answer

Joel 2: 21-27
Be not afraid and be glad and rejoice, the Lord has done great things

Be not afraid for the open pastures are becoming green

Trees are bearing their  fruit , the fig tree and the vine yeild their riches

Be glad, Jovi , rejoice in the Lord for He has given you the autumn rains in righteousness. 

I will send you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before.

The threshing floors will be filled with grain;

The vats will overflow with new wine and oil

I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten. 

I have sent my great army for you

You will have plenty to eat until you are full

You will praise the name of the Lord who has worked wonders for you

Never again will you be shamed

You will know that I am the Lord your God

The Lord who loves you, understands you, cares for you, holds your hand, tells you the secrets that runs in the deep and heals you with his healing blood, the Lord who has watched over you all your life, who framed each cell of your being in the womb, who knew you even before you were born. This is my promise. I will watch over you and I will be be by your side no matter what, loving you.