It's a new day!

Everyday is a new day. Everyday is a gift given to us so we can carry out what God has called us to. It's easy for me to blog about it, talk about it and preach about it. But not to live it. So, at the end of 1st January 2013, this new year 2013, I pray that I treat each day as a gift to do something for God's glory. 

The past year has been eventful. Some people might think their year has been eventful only if someone got engaged, got married, had a baby, got a fantastic new job etc. None of those happened to me in 2012 but still to me, it was eventful. I spent half the year in Madras (Chennai) studying at Alliance Française de Madras. I finished levels A1 and A2 and I did really well. I then planned a trip back to Glasgow. Something I've been wanting to do since I left. And at the end of July, I went back to the UK. I saw old friends, made new,  went to Dublin, Ireland. A place I always wanted to. If you know me well, you'll know why. It was an amazing time and I am so grateful for it. I spent the last few months of 2012 with my family, helping them out. I spent Christmas with my whole extended family, met my cousins babies, had lots of christmas parties, had friends visit etc. And I spent New year at Madras with my sister and good friends at church. I cannot complain (but I still do). 

The year has also unleashed a hidden evil in this country by the death of a young girl. A girl who was raped and left to die by 5 men. In a bus. In the capital. And she was not alone. These issues have always happened but this case was made public and made India open her eyes to the injustice. This is not the only injustice that is happening. Poverty in some cases, prostitution, child abuse, child slavery, slavery, corruption, misuse of power etc. I pray we open our eyes more. To see things through the Eyes of the Most Kind. To see things not for our benefit but for His glory. Again like I said, it's easy to talk about it but hard to live it. 

Most of all, for this year, I wish for Love. I am reminded of these verses

Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God- 1 John 4:7

And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love 

- 1 Corinthians 13:13

A couple of very wise men wrote these in the Bestseller of all time, so it must be pretty important. 

There's no real theme to this post but I felt I had to write something on the first day of the year. 

If someone is reading this, Have a blessed 2013. 

Do not gloat when your enemy falls

I woke up this morning and was putting my phone to charge when my dad walked into my room and told me,"Osama bin Laden is dead!". To be honest, I was surprised and had to see it for myself to believe. The American president Obama (those two names are very similar and causes confusion!!) confirmed his death and 100's of Americans were out celebrating. In some ways I understand how they must feel but a small part of me was sad because this man who killed so many did not know Love. His heart was hardened and he was seeped in so much hate, I felt sorry for him. He needed God, the real God who is called Love. And God loves us all, and that is proved in Christ who gave Himself a ransom for the ones who turned away. I wish Osama bin Laden could have repented, I wish he knew. I remember praying for him many times to repent and turn to God cause he is a powerful man and had many followers but sadly, he didn't and I have no answers. One of my facebook friends put this as his status this morning:

Proverbs 24:17 "Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when they stumble, do not let your heart rejoice."

 So, in all honesty I am not ecstatic like the millions around. The death of a man who did not know God is a sad affair.

Extreme chocolate cake

I saw a recipe called Extreme chocolate cake on allrecipes.com and wanted to try it ever since so I did today and halved the recipe! It was good but ONLY for a true chocolate fan like my sister. A small slice was too much for me and I don't think I can have chocolate for a while!
Here's a picture of me icing the first layer

And the next picture is the final version with some white chocolate sprinkles

My so called small piece :)

After my sister and I took our pieces(and then she took the rest of the row)

It's an easy recipe(I only make easy recipes) but it really is chocolate overdose so don't make a whole cake and eat it by yourself!!

Meat Loaf!

Today I decided to make something I've always wanted to try- Meatloaf! I have never had meatloaf in my life and I don't know why! I searched for a few recipes online and finally found a base recipe in this! I used only half a pound of meat and I cooked the meat first and saved the broth for a gravy. I also used a bit of garlic powder, black pepper powder, salt, a hint of thyme, a tsp of barbecue sauce and a couple of chilli crackers in addition to the recipe on the link. I cooked it for about 30 minutes on 175 deg C. 

I know the photo doesn't look very appetizing cause I used a small loaf tin and it only filled half the tin and I used the camera from my phone but it tasted pretty good! I made a mushroom gravy using the broth from the meat thickened with cornflour. It was good! A very simple and easy meal to make. Took me about 45 minutes in total (including baking time).  Could add some veggies to make a well rounded meal!

Random cooking spree

Today I decided I wanted to make dinner and I made a baked fish with some rosemary potato wedges. The fish was really flavorful and nice.

I marinated it with lime, a bit of mayonnaise(like half a teaspoon per fish), chilli powder, parsley, pepper and salt. Then I coated it with breadcrumbs and drizzled a mixture of olive oil and butter and baked it. 

The rosemary potatoes are really simple and I used olive oil, dried rosemary, a hint of garlic powder and salt and pepper.

I also made some paneer tikka in the evening for which I used ready to use paneer and marinated it with thick yoghurt, a dash of tomato ketchup, chilli power, garam masala and salt and baked it with a bit of olive oil. 

Hope you all enjoyed these low quality amateur cooking photos! 

Cute cupcakes

Yesterday my mother told me that the Church asked me to bake some cakes for their fund raising sale. And they wanted the regular good old yellow butter cake. I have a usual recipe that I normally make but today I decided to try this one and i tweaked it a bit, changing the 8 egg yolks to 2 full eggs and 4 yolks and I topped it off with a fluffy white frosting. This was the first time I was making a meringue type icing and while I would like liked it to have set more (have harder peaks) it was good and my sister liked it! This was a very random post but I was bored :D

Blind date

As many of you might know I went to Delhi last month. One of the highlights of my trip was meeting a "friend" I met on Facebook! Some people called it my blind date. Let me tell you the story of my blind date that wasn't nerve- racking, uncomfortable or disastrous.

It all began in 2008 when I was planning to go to Glasgow to do my Masters in HRM. I joined the University of Glasgow 2008-2009 group on Facebook and in one of the discussions met another girl from India who was planning to come to study. We soon took our chats out of facebook and into gtalk and found out we had lots in common and she was a lot like my sister. She lived in Delhi (not common), single, Tamil, Christian, odd quirks, love for food, had a sister etc.  I was super excited she was going to Glasgow as well and told my own sister that i'm going to have another sister in Glasgow. This girl, promised to make me cinnamon pork and go on long walks with me. We also vowed to be each others wing women! I was really excited! But things don't always go according to plan so she didn't come to Glasgow finally but we still kept it touch and I even met one of her weird Scottish friends in Glasgow!

So December 2010, I was talking to a long lost cousin of mine who lives in Delhi at Madras about my visit to Delhi and how I have a friend there who I'm going to meet and turns out they know each other too, small world. And then people asked me how I know said girl.. a very mumbled reply came from me...facebook... I was teased for being a stalker, a creep etc. Anyway, in February I go to Delhi and get ready for my blind date with a girl who I've known for more than 2 years but never met and it went just fine. It didn't even feel like we were meeting for the first time. And surprisingly she ended up coming to Nagercoil a week after I got back. What are the odds? So here's to Rina, a friend met in quite an unconventional way and proof that Facebook can help you make real friends :)

My one and only, always and forever

I live with my parents in the house I grew up. Recently they built a new room for me upstairs so I had to move all my old things. I hadn't opened some of the drawers and boxes in years. And opening them, I felt I was 15 again. They were FULL of boyband magazines, smash hits, TV hits, TOTP, etc. And the majority was of course, Boyzone and Stephen Gately. I found print outs I made with pictures of Stephen Gately and Michael Jackson with the words "My favorite people in the world". I found old "questionnaires" I filled up and My favorite boy was Stephen Gately, my dream lover was Stephen Gately, my favorite singer was Stephen Gately, my current crush was Stephen gately with the words "my one and only, always and forever" in brackets, my aim in life was to meet Stephen Gately etc. Now Stephen Gately is dead. I wonder what that girl who I once was would do if she knew. Yesterday while clearing out, I felt like her and I was so upset, I had to keep reminding myself i'm not 15 or 16 anymore but I dreamt about him last night, something that hasn't happened in years. I did feel like I was 16 and still in school and still madly in love with a pop star. But I'm not.

 Tomorrow is St.Patrick's day and the 35th birthday of Steve if he was alive. I have had birthday parties for Steve when I was younger, I have given chocolates to friends in school for his birthday, I was what people would called mental!  So, for the girl I once was, I wish my one and only, always and forever a happy birthday.