White Cake

Ingredients:

White Sugar        - 1 Cup
Butter                 - 1/2 Cup
Eggs                   - 2
Vanilla extract     - 2 tsp
All purpose flour - 1 1/2 Cups
Baking Powder   - 1 3/4 tsp
Milk                   - 1/2 Cup

Preparation:

* Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease the pan
* Cream together sugar and butter. Then beat in the eggs and stir in Vanilla.
* Mix flour and baking powder
* Mix this with the cream mixture
* Pour the milk and stir until the batter is smooth
* Pour the batter into the pan and bake in the over for 30 - 40 mins

Hurricane Vase lamps

                  This is something I came across on Martha's blog and thought would be nice for some special occasions :) Uhmm.. It was for Valentines Day special Dinner at home this time! I made them with just a slight variation.

                   The process is quite simple. All you need are some hurricane vases and color gift tissues. Measure and cut the papers so that they fit the vase. Stack them up and stick them to the vase. Light some nice candles and there they are!! Make sure the candles don't burn the paper up :)

For more detailed 'How to' on this, here are Martha's Hurricane Lamps.

Violators will be mashed into hummus

                           Here is something interesting, that I found in front of a Mediterranean restaurant. I often go there, but noticed this only the last time. I did not understand what they actually do with violators though. Apparently, they are not going to mash them into Hummus :) :)

And.. am on a cooking spree!!

            The 'One a day' I planned seems to be going good though I didn't do all the things I planned for. Contrary to doing one a day I have been doing same thing on all the days :) Yeah I've been cooking a lot, in addition to other small things.

             I planned to try out a new recipe every week. And it turned out to be, trying only new recipes. A few posts on the way about the recipes!! Okay.. no confusion, these are not my own recipes. They are new, in the sense, I tried them for the first time. I will just post the recipes, but this is not going to be a recipe blog for sure. I also started the journal I have been procrastinating for about 5 months now. There are many trades I am a Jack of and I really love to see myself as a master in most of those. So, I think this project will really help. One more art I always wanted to try out was nail art. I am planning for this too. I will just end this post with a nail coloring pic :) The brown I really loved... Revlon Foxy.

One a Day

                 Life's been different after moving to Dallas with so many new things happening. It's been equally good and bad. After almost 3 months, after moving here, I realized how I wish I did a few things that bring me happiness. So, I decided for myself, yesterday, that I will start doing one thing a day, that makes me happy. Every day must be exciting and must add something worthy. I planned an hour at the least, if not more, each day. These days I take very little care about my blogs. I hope I can keep them organized and active too, if I can put into action, my plan :)
                Gayakapriya is making good progress. It's been very very long since I have added any content to it. But, there are enough people who make use of it. It feels really very happy when someone says that my blog is helping them learn something. That solves the purpose of my blog. I planned to put a day aside, for Gayakapriya too. I am targeting a post a week for now. I am sure I will make this happen this time, unlike all the other times when I plan to do something but put very little into action :( :( Wish me luck guys!

Powered by Happy Book

     While I was just writing my previous post, I saw this email sent to me. I thought I can share it.
Basically, it's the summary of what was discussed in a meeting, which I did not attend, as I am a contractor. And, the meeting is something which contractors are not invited for. Am glad that I got to see the summary. It is the summary of the main points explained in a book called 'Powered by Happy book'. What I understand is, these are the things one can do to stay happy. And I think that I saw this mail in the right time. I myself should put into action these points. So, here is what the mails says: 

• Create your own definition of Happiness 
• Have you ever stopped to think about what Happiness means to you?
• Choose happiness and make it Happen
•  If you are not happy, make decision to remedy it.
• Avoid what hold your Happiness hostage
• Minimizing worry and negative thoughts
• Spend too much time worrying about problems, complaining about them, or simply avoiding them, when we could confront them and move on. Need to separate fact from ficiton
• Hang with a gang that gets it
• Being around negative people can not only affect your attitude but also how others see you.
• Dump the to-do list and start an I-Wish list
• Your to-do list might change daily, but your wish list will bring you back to your big-picture life goals
• Take the "Un" out of "UnHappy" and be grateful
• Instead of thinking about all the things that could go wrong, think about all the things that are going right
• Make a high-yield happiness investment
• Think about the happiness you get when you help others
• Oh, Happy day- Get your happiness on the calendar now!
• Make sure to include fun events on your calendar and not just work items
• When all else fails, just laugh
• "Laughter is the best medicine". Be able to laugh at yourself.
• Pack your happiness and take it to work

PS: This is all worded my Terry, except for presenting them in an order on my blog.

When I don't want the night to End..

    It's been really tough for me to manage things for the past few months. Everything seems to be going against me, except for one or two. The happiness of that success didn't last for long though, because of the rest of the things going against me. I am happy that it's all coming to an end soon. I will soon be home. But this mental torment just a week before the end of everything, is what is not expected. From a few days, I keep waiting for the day to end, so that I can be home. Once I was home, I did not want the night to end, so that I need not face the morning which visits with so many 'I did not want this' moments. I do not even feel like sleeping because it feels like the morning is soon there, in the very next minute. I keep encouraging myself, saying that I should get back brave and face everything. But with everything against me and everybody against me, it's really getting tough. I try to convince people explaining everything and requesting them to understand my situation. But the weird thing is, no one seems to understand. The reasons they give, are just blunt and improper. This is what is cheesing me off. I don't find at least one crazy answer to why people are not interested in helping, when they actually can, except for the one that they can't help being selfish. Until a few weeks ago, the phrase 'Like I care' really helped me in facing difficult situations and people. I made a post on this phrase too, but somehow, it's not going to make it's place on the blog. I use this phrase with lots of attitude, and it makes me feel really 'like i care'. Till now, am the one experiencing the anguish. And I feel like that's going to make me strong. I realized it just today, when I talked to someone very strong about what I want to do. And said that it is what I will do, whatever it takes. May be I should behave just the way people do. Looks like, they can understand things only that way. I think all this helps me get strong, but I cannot take this stress. I am hoping that everything will be sorted out soon.