I was wondering about what to write today, when I came across a blog which talked about what the author wanted in life. This set me thinking and I thought of trying to capture what I want in life.....
1. Live in my own house -- which I have bought, but have not yet got possession of.
2. A lawn with a garden which has jasmine, lavender(if I can succeed in cultivating it in India...I am surely carrying a lavender shoot with me when I go back to India), a small lawn, a lot of perennial flowers.
3. A small vegetable path behind the house which will grow the herbs that I want like coriander, mint , thyme and rosemary (will carry some shoots when I go back and try and grow them there), some vegetables like tomatoes, chillies etc.
4.A fully equipped kitchen with a state of the art oven...I really want to have this with my craze for baking.
5.Time for myself to chill atleast every 3-4 months.....holidays would be good, but even if I can just stay at home and chill thats fine.
6.A room for my books and a large book and dvd collection
7.Interesting work ....but something which will allow me to also spend quality time with my family.
8.Work with an NGO and do something copnstructive either for kids, old people etc.
9.Visit a long list of places in India ....Kashmir, sikkim,ladakh,rajasthan,meghalaya,himachal pradesh and abroad I want to visit Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan, Korea, thailand
10.Master Mandarin
11. Promote organically grown food...I do not have a clue how I will do this.
12. Teach in a school or college

This list will keep changing......so will keep adding and striking out the ones which I achieve......

Today I am in a thoughtful mood......so I decide to write on the things that I cannot live without. Now, its a tricky list because one has to differentiate between things which one wants and needs and different degrees of wants and needs. :-)). But here goes the list in no particular order :

• My family (which includes my daughter, wife, parents, sister, one favourite cousin)
• Food -I know I am superficial...but food is something which I adore.I always loved to eat , but its now that I can appreciate different cuisines, flavours, tastes etc.
• My interest in reading- This is abstract, but I cannot think of a life where I don't have books to read
• Moments that I spend with my daughter...generally playing with her
• Moments that I spend with D....fooling around, teasing her and being silly
• A couple of friends - not many ...can count them on one hand

When u look at this list, its funny that the most important things in life are the things that you have / can do without having too much money...isn't it...and yet all of us just hanker after money thinking that its money which is important in our lives......(not that having money does not help.....but is it ever enough is the question :-)))

Kanchan :If u are reading this, do tell me ur list...will be interesting to know ....

Since Mom and Dad are here we try to make use of every weekend to take them around London. And considering teh fact that this year there is no summer in London, we are trying to make use of every day that Mr. Sun makes an appearance (not that there have been too many of these days). I know it sounds real sad especially coming from someone who has always avoided the sun when back in India.....but yeah...I really miss the SUN.

Last weekend was predicted as sunny, so Pushkar and myself planned to make a trip to the Isle of Wight. We started out as just 2 families, but ultimately we were a group of 15 who made it. We had to plan it out well, since we were making a day trip and it was virtually impossible to cover the whole island. As a person, I hate to run around on a holiday. I know people who take a holiday and then come back more exhausted than before their holiday. Whats the point ?

So we decided to just cover one portion of the island, so that we could spend quality time.The trip was great....nice sunny day and the Isle is beautiful ...especially since it is supposedly summer. The houses just remind you of the Indian cantonment houses ....small and pretty with gardens in full bloom. Here are some snaps of the Isle....(at the top of this post)

Yesterday Jackie and me suddenly started discussing our childhood days. Well....Jackie is 17 years older than me....so technically speaking ,we did not share the same childhood years...:-)...but what I meant was ....the childhood days spent in a developing country in the 1960 - 70s. When she said that my mind went back to all those enjoyable school days (ofcourse they were not enjoyable then....they are now when they are gone). Let me try to capture some of my memories :

I remember how myself and Vicky used to go to the stream (actually nala...we don't have streams in Pune :-))))behind our school and catch ''small fishes'' and take them home and put them in bottles. Well....they were not fishes but tadpoles and so we used to be very surprised when they used to suddenly mutate in to toads....:-)))

I remember my Physics and Chemistry tuitions on saturday and sunday when I used to go atleast an hour earlier so that I could spend time at Vicky's home.....playing with his dogs, cats, looking at his cactus collection...or any new flower that put an appearance in one of his innumerable pots in the garden, climb the tamarind tree to pluck tamarind (my mouth starts watering when I write this....the red tamarind...so sweet and sour....)

I remember the school days when I used to read the newspaper in the assembly and since I was the teacher's pet, I used to get more chances to read to the assembly.

I remember our lovely house with all its fruit trees of guavas, custard apples, jamoon, mango, lime. Wish I had taken some snaps then.....I think we have just one old snap of our house....I remember our n number of cats live ones and the ones that we buried in our back yard (kittens killed by the stray dog packs who used to smell out the new born kittens and return at night to kill them).

I remember my sister taking one of our cats for a walk on a leash...believe that...it was hilarious.....well....since dad refused to get hera dog, she decided to put teh cat on the leash.....and did ms. cat like it....not at all....initially she was a bit curious about this new thing on her neck....but when my sister started walking.....the cat decided that she aint going anywhere with a lease....and so she flipped on her back....and nothing that my sis did would make her get up....:-)))
That was the end of ''sister and the leashed cat''.:-)))

I can just keep going on and on......when u start writing about memories u feel that u don't have too many....but as and when u start typing.....they just keep flashing in to ur mind.....

Needed a break from work....so thought of putting in a recipe which I tried over the weekend. Its Baked Custard Pudding. Now, its very similar to Creme Brulee, however last time I tried it, I used only milk and no cream...so i did not like the consistency.....I have to say, I like the creamy consistency of this pudding...or in short I love creamy desserts..My idea of a perfect pudding is when u scoop out a helping with a spoon, it should just slice the top of the dessert without leaving any cracks on the surface, and the scooped portion should be just creamy without any pores. I know it sounds like a perfect dive wherein the diver just slices the pool without a splash and leaves no ripples....

Baked Custard Pudding

1/2 pint Milk
1/2 pint Double Cream
1/4 pound castor sugar
1 Vanilla Pod
2 Eggs
1/4 Lemon Rind
1 Nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 200 Deg C.
Put the milk on a low flame.Add the cream to it. Slice the Vanilla pod to reveal the black seeds inside. Scrape the insides with a knife and put it in to the milk.Grate the lemon rind in to the pan.Put the vanilla pod left overs in to the milk and let it come to a boil. Keep stirring it with a wooden spoon.

Put off the flame when the milk reaches boiling point and cover the vessel, so that the vanilla flavour can infuse in to the milk.

In the mean time, beat the eggs and the sugar till it becomes pale yellow.

Strain the milk and get rid of the vanilla seeds, lemon rind and pod.

Add it to the sugar/egg mixture slowly and keep mixing it.The heat from the milk will cook the egg a bit. Strain the whole mixture in to a baking bowl. Grate Nutmeg over it generously.

Keep the bowl in a baking dish and pour boiling water around the custard bowl. Put it in to the oven for around 45 mins or till the custard sets and gets a golden crust.If the custard has not set, remove it from the hot water bath and keep it directly in to the oven till it sets.

Get it out of the oven and cool it. Put it in to the refrigerator once it cools to room temperature. Serve chilled with fresh fruit.

It was yummy......the consistency was deliciously creamy and the nutmeg flavour was brilliant...