Happy Birthday to me!

As always here I am celebrating my birthday on MindBlogging with all of you! For everyone who wished me through every means possible – Email, Facebook, Orkut, GChat, and most of all phone calls, thanks a million! It did make my day further super-ultra-special! You know how I love getting wished and never shy away from reminding everyone who doesn’t want to be reminded either. But so be it! Happy Birthday to me!

S did all he could to lift the day as well. And last evenings’ friends night out was capped at 12am right in the midst of the colourful Opera quartier and was super special too! Thanks S, SA, KB, AB, AI, PA, and RD! And today was a lunch-movie-phone day and I couldn’t have asked for more. But I did get one little extra perk to step up this birthday’s ego. And I have a variety of hints and puns for it.. So here goes.

I am a kindled spirit… pretty easy? Here’s one easier – I have a kindle of joy… well, DUH.. S got me a Kindle for my birthday and really, there couldn’t be a better present! Thanks, S!

I leave you with an image, as always..

My kindle of joy – What’s better than reading Harry Potter on it too?

And so, Happy Birthday to me once more! Thanks everyone :)

The foodie birthday

In honour of the husband’s birthday, I cooked. A lot. Here’s only a glimpse of 3 of the dishes.

The starter…

Baby corn crispies.

The main course

Vegetable dum biryani.

The dessert

 Hot and creamy – Carrot halwa.

And there’s always room for cake! Presenting one of the best renderings of black forrest that I’ve had. Ever. Period. And before you all freak out that I bake it, I will go on to credit the nearby boulangerie for their flawless effort. Light yet creamy.. sweet yet subtle, it was the perfect cake for the occasion.

 The chocolatey perfection – Black forrest cake.

Happy Birthday S! Hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed doing it for you. :)

PS: For recipes for any of the above (except cake), drop me a line and we can revisit them!

Happy Birthday to me

Well, I am obviously not one of those people who shies away from getting whatever wishes possible from whoever. In fact my friends will recollect many years when months before my birthday I start hinting around for things/favours. It's all as a joke of course. And I think it was inculcated in us from a very young age that the birthday was a big deal. Many people I've seen have outgrown "celebrating" it. I mean everyone probably does the dinner outside thing. But very few go the length and do surprises and cakes n candles and all. And this is strictly when you are out of grad school. In fact so many people share the perception that it is just another day in the year. I am of a slightly different opinion. Yes it's only another day. but it's ONE of 365 and in a lifetime, with any luck you'll have like 80 or more. And when it's that countable, it's worth the celebrations.

Traditionally I have been the 12 o clock person. I love to wait for midnight and get hugs and wishes and calls. I also love getting wishes all day, phone calls from friends and family, ecards, emails... everything is an indication that you matter to these people so much so that they've taken the time and effort to do what they can to make your day a little extra special. But things have changed over the years. It's a bell curve of sorts, having reached a peak between 18 and 25. I once remember having had 98 phone calls on a birthday, it having been a holiday. It was a highlight of that year. Traditionally, my family's always been excited about birthdays and for as long as I can remember, we've had a midnight cake cutting. Add to that the gifts. When we were very young, the day dominated the celebrations - wearing "colour" dress to school and standing out, making it obvious that it was your special day, handing out chocolates to your classmates, getting "Happy Birthday" sung to you and all that. And then the early dinner with the family. That was that. As we grew, it included night stays from close friends. All our Kadalai nightstays on all our birthdays formed the crux of our celebrations and still forms a crux of my fondest memories. With all the friends that mattered and the family of course. Grad school - it was different. Everyone who was new in your life tried to etch their way into it. And it worked for the most part. Some of my most cherished friendships were made here and my 4 birthdays away from home was made very very special by roomies and best buds alike.

This year was even more different. Not just was I half-asleep by 11:30pm and S had to hold me up to wish me and for the cake and all, it was just the 2 of us and I was looking forward to just spending it at home. No fancy parties, no major things to do. But I did get a "birthday dress". Having had that in common with every birthday of mine, I didn't want to break the pattern. Things change I guess. But this was as subtle as special, having an adoring husband try to add his touch to your birthday. It was sweet and very special.Thank you S. And thanks to everyone who's called and mailed and scrapped. Each of your wishes makes this day extra special. :)

Scorpion Avalanche

Orkut tells me that 27 of my friends have their birthdays over the next 10 days. That's more Scorpions than I bargained for... And that doesn't even include the ones whose birthday has passed in the Scorpio calendar so far or the ones that will come after these 10 days (including my own). And obviously it doesn't include the unique breed of people who are not on mundane networking sites like Orkut. It's insane! Who knew I had so many friends of the same breed? Who knew that so many people with the treacherous Scorpion traits like jealousy n possessiveness amongst many others could be friends and good ones at that? Just goes to show that my Linda Goodman days are long over. And people are to be treated for their merit and not their sun-sign's. And that sun-sign compatibility is to be left behind with the undergrad days of joblessness. For example, my hubby's a Scorpion. I guess that's the end of the story.

Birthday Blues?

Note: To everyone, who called, mailed, sent ecards, scrapped, thank you very very much. You made the day that much extra-special. :)

My Birthday. Its over. And surprisingly, this time I didn't have that rush, that unbridled excitement that I used to have when I turned 16 or 18 or even 21. I guess thats what happens when you turn mid-twenty something (you didn't think I was going to reveal the numbers, did you?) I had a fantastically normal day, except for the cell phone jingling every few minutes all morning. It began with a super chocolate cake that SM had baked at night, lunch with a sweet colleague in the morning, and ended with the San Diego jing-bang for dinner, dessert and gang talk. Simple and sweet. None of the cake-on-your-face-and-hair business. Sort of the perfect end to the perfect stay at San Diego.

The brownie candlestand...

It was my Birthday yesterday and my friends had already had a surprise party for me on Friday (the aim was to really surprise me and surprised I was!). And so to commemorate the actual occassion, my roomies baked a brownie for me. And the area they spread it over was huge and so the poor brownie barely rose.... With the candles embedded, it was a perfect candlestand... the most yummy one I have tasted (I haven't tasted any other!) There are some real funny pictures of me trying "cut" the flattened surface and feed my roomies... But I'll save that up for later. For this brownie's part, it had the honour of being the reason to name one of my gifts after it... a teddy bear that one of my roommates gave me.... Isn't he adorable?