Friday, July 13, 2007

Turning a year older....


The chocolate making session was a big hit and I had a sense of satisfaction….I was happy that I finally did something that made me feel brave!! Of course the fact that I ruffled the feathers of the already established chocolate czarina of Hyderabad came as such a shock…I mean I thought all those phone calls the lady in question made to me were out of friendly concern….one doesn’t expect someone who’s an established name in the business and claims that with all the media attention she received and is inundated with requests for sessions, will take the pains to point out that I was said czarina’s student (which I have been proclaiming….) and that I may be new to the business and her more experienced hands may beget better results….K said he couldn’t believe she was even figuring in my thoughts…..but with a few phone calls too many mentioning the czarina, I didn’t think it was a coincidence…..anyways, I am not made of wax and refused to be cowed down…the battle lines are drawn…..post the session I conducted, I have a well rehearsed speech that I give all my enquirers. With Saturday and Tuesday fixed up I have loads to look forward to…..
Two days after first session was moi’s birthday….last year I am ashamed to say that I spent so much time fretting over turning a year older that I missed the fun and made K quite miserable…I think he was ready to sock me and smother me all in one!! This year…..maybe with age and wisdom, I decided that its all in the mind and managed to keep quite calm……infact I was overwhelmed with the number of calls, mails and messages I got….thanks orkut!! I think I spent about 4 hours on the phone and said about a gazillion thank yous…..o I forgot to write about the trip to church……I generally go on the Sunday before my birthday to give thanks for the year gone by and ask for blessings for the year to come…..so I made the trek to the evening service only to find an empty sanctuary…I panicked and was told by the chowkidaar that service begins at 6.30 and there was no need to feel incredulous because I had landed there earlier…anyways, saw a long lost cousin who asked if I would read the bible lesson for the evening and I obliged….then they announced holy communion and I was grateful for the sign….post service…..which seemed to drag on forever….the pastor thought I was new and said so, I embarrassedly told him that I don’t come regularly….this guy is new and is visiting members on their special days and is compiling data on it by collecting it from members….so when I filled in the form he said he would come home the next morning which happened to be birthday to wish and pray for me…I thought he was kidding cos I live quite far…(which is the excuse I make for not going in the first place)…anyways, he arrived on the 9th on the dot at 7.30, I managed to wake up brush teeth and hair and look less bleary eyed…we had a good chat, he had coffee, cake and prayed and left…I was quie happy…told mom that if anything more, I might just sprout a set of wings and a halo!! To keep himself occupied while I was at church the previous day, K ventured out to buy me a shiny new N70 as birthday gift…..which till date doesn’t work cos of faulty sim card from hutch…..getting it fixed is proving to be a pain….amidst the phone calls and emails and messages, I was quite tired ….K came back home bearing gifts some more a la Santa Claus…there were crystal vases numbering five, a gold etched image of Christ and a Frederique Constant Watch!! Another one!! His watch fetish will get to me soon….went out for a quiet dinner with friends and thus ended the big bang of a birthday……………
Amidst the sessions, the writings and the cleaning up of house, I’ve had no time to Blog…..hence this is a summary of sorts……I finally met up with A yesterday…..we’d been on conversant terms at the previous place of employment and she was always someone I felt I should have spoken to a little more…we all tend to get buried under our work…anyways, we had the most unpretentious conversations in a long time (for me at least) over pasta, cheesecake and brownie!! I had a long shopping list and was planning to hit general bazaar post lunch….had to stock up on chocolate making supplies plus things to buy for the Bangalore trip next week………conversation with A culminated in the both of us going together….I had such a good time….we had so much in common…we’re both sort of at the same stage in life and share similar interests in hobbies…crafts, sewing etc…I mean sort of Jane of all trades types….poor thing carried bags almost heavier than her!! We’ve made plans for a few other things that we need to get done….and thought tackling them together would be less painful………I was so thrilled that I finally got to see what a china bazaar looks like from inside…I mean K would’ve killed me had I ventured close to it when he was around!! It has taken me a better part of two hours today to sort out and put away all the stuff I bought yesterday!! Current status of my pantry is LOADED!! And I have to cook continuously for the next whole month to ensure I finish off everything!! Infact I’d better hit the sack now, cos today has been one of those hyper active days for me…….Post the marathon settling and arranging the kitchen and pantry, I made about 2 kgs of chocolate…I had offered to make a small hamper for the people the priest visits as my contribution and I have to take them to him tomorrow….making, packing in foil and making the hampers took almost 3 hours…this will hopefully be a monthly activity…….the hampers look damn cute….all packed and pretty…I hope people like the chocolate as well……I made jam tarts with my new tart moulds and baked a chocolate brownie…..didn’t feel like cooking after this so ordered in….my flavor of the month seems to be dal makhni and veggie do pyaza!! This post has taken the next day to finally get published…while I write this I am totally kicked about the new toy I have….a brand new multi function printer, scanner, copier to make my little home office complete…yay!! Now I don’t feel like I am pretending to work anymore!! Its all set up and I even took my first batch of photocopies for tomorrows chocolate making class!!

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