My First Cake… I made it!!!

Since childhood, “cake” has always felt special to me. Whenever my mom baked a cake I always felt that she has created something very special. It never failed to make me super excited. And so this reaction remained within me every time I saw someone make a cake. “Cake” was so superbly special for me that I always assumed that to bake a cake required a great deal of expertise. I don’t know why I thought so, but that’s how I felt until very recently when I finally dared to bake my own cake.

It all started with me watching the various cooking shows on the food network. The cooks on the show would bake such delicious looking cakes that I was tempted to bake one myself. But as I had this huge inhibition about cake being a big deal, I thought that I needed to have my very own hand mixer to whisk and whip all the ingredients together. Being a coward, I assumed that if I attempted to bake the cake by my hands and a simple whisk, I would not be able to bake a cake at all (or it would be too tedious and I would just not succeed). So I ordered a hand mixer (thanks to my hubby). The day it arrived, I felt that now my hour of exam is finally here. Now let me see if I can really make a cake. Although I love cooking and love experimenting in the kitchen, I don’t know why baking freaked me so much. So I decided to confront my fears by taking a small baby step into the world of baking. I went to the store and bought a Betty Crocker’s cake mix (French Vanilla flavor). This cake mix required me to add just 3 eggs, 1/3^rd cup vegetable oil and 1 1/4^th cup water and whisk all together into a smooth batter. So it was my first cake and the first time with the hand mixer too. My husband came into the kitchen to share my excitement. He too was excited about the fact that I was finally baking a cake (ya, it was SUCH a huge deal with me and the cake J ). So we both formed a team. While I whisked the batter, my husband poured in the ingredients into the bowl slowly. And whoa, in a matter of mere 5 minutes (wow! Hand mixer works!!!), I had the cake batter ready. All it needed were 40 minutes into the oven. And out came the much awaited yummy cake. My husband and I were so pleased with the outcome that we couldn’t stop gushing about it for a long long time. And the cake was all the more special since we both had baked it together. It was like exploring some new place together. I think baking with family could turn out to be a fantastic means of strengthening bonds.

So friends this is how my first cake was baked. Of course boosted by the first cake, I am ready now to experiment (without inhibitions) into the world of baking. This experience has led me to once again believe that “The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are”. If you have not yet tried baking a cake….please try baking one now…involve your family into the process and see the outcome…I am sure you would love it, the cake as well as the experience of baking it with family.

Cheers to unexplored territories and simple new beginnings!!

Book Review:My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

We had my husband's colleague and his wife over for dinner some days back. As the evening progressed I told them about my avid interest in book reading. And so it turned out that they sent some books over for me which they thought were interesting. They sent three books - all by the same writer named Jodi Picoult.

I must confess that although i do read a lot, i hadn't heard about Jodi Picoult before (duh!!). So ‘My Sister's Keeper’ is her 1st book i have read. In fact as i kept reading i realized it was a first of many sorts. It is a book that is completely on a different level than any book i have read so far. It is so intense that i haven't been able to stop thinking about it ever since i turned the first page of the book. The plot is so interesting; the book captures your interest the minute you read the synopsis. ‘My Sister's Keeper’ tells the story about a girl named Anna, who has endured countless surgeries and procedures ever since she was a month old infant in order to help her sister, Kate to fight leukemia. In fact Anna was brought into this world ("genetically designed") so she could be the perfect match, the perfect donor to her sick sister. Every time something goes wrong with Kate, Anna is used as the ultimate fix. Like borrow Lymphocytes from Anna or take her bone marrow and stuff like that. But now Anna is thirteen years old and is starting to question about who she truly is? Would she even be in this world at all if her sister wasn't diagnosed with leukemia? As then the need for a perfect donor would not have arisen. She instigates a lawsuit against her own parents so she can have medical emancipation (meaning she gets to decide about any medical treatment/procedure being done to her).

Could the plot get any interesting? Oh yes. As the book proceeds it unravels so many different facets to the characters in the story, so many ethical issues. Jodi Picoult has done an amazing job of telling the story through various characters. She proceeds with the story as if each character was speaking and giving his/her own version of the things. It’s surprising how she does justice to each character in the story. It’s not just an interesting plot, but a very carefully thought and well written story. The story holds all the elements that have rightly made it a bestseller. Kudos to Jodi Picoult for crafting such a sensitive story! A must read for every book lover. I am looking forward to reading more of her works.