'Twas a rainy day. Sis and me had spent the day lazing around and all we needed to top off a perfect day was a perfectly gooey chocolate cake. So, I put on my chef's hat and came up with what is my best cake recipe ever.

For those of you who have never baked a normal chocolate cake before, here's the ingredients. For those of you who know the drill skip to the last two magic ingredients.

* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 cup superfine sugar or just sugar.
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* About 100 gm butter- salted works just fine.
* 2 large eggs
* Vanilla extract for flavor.
* 1/2 cup of curd/ milk (for if you use one egg)
* Cocoa AND drinking chocolate
* Secret (Not so secret after this, but whatever) Ingredient No1. Marie gold biscuits or (any other biscuits- I use these because they have a very mild flavor and don't complement the chocolate).
* Secret (ditto) Ingredient No2. Jam. Preferably grape/strawberry. Natural. Not Kissan and all ok?

Now, first add the butter and sugar into a food processor and beat until smooth. Next add flour in half cups interspersed by an egg- or you could just put it all in together. You could use one egg and the half cup of curd/ milk. Else, two eggs should do it.

Add about a teaspoon of vanilla extract and the baking powder.

Next, you need to add only about one large spoon of cocoa and about three-four spoons of drinking chocolate- mix the entire thing. If you want more chocolate, add more drinking chocolate, NOT cocoa, unless you like your cake bitter.

The magic bit- to about two teaspoons of the jam add about a teaspoon of milk/hot water, and whisk it into a smooth paste. Add this to your cake batter and give it one last shake.

Grease your baking dish with butter, and dust with a little bit of flour. Put the biscuits (around ten-fifteen) into a plastic bag and crush them using a rolling pin. Crush the slightly larger pieces into finer dust/ smaller pieces using your hand. Layer the baking dish with an even layer of this.

Pour your batter into this. And bake. If you use a microwave oven, bake at 160 using the forced air option for about 10- 11 mins. Bake for an extra 1-2 mins depending on how "gooey" you want it to be.

When done, dust with a little icing sugar, and serve!! Alternatively, take a fork and dig in.

Saturday night- in PJ's and talking to myself (on my blog)- the excitement could make a more slight person dizzy. I'd be depressed, only it's great to finally have had a proper meal- the "old people" ka khanna was driving me nuts. Now that I have a whole KFC burger inside me, I'm all set to dance on the ceiling. Breathlessness or no breathlessness.

I was going through some stuff the other day, and came across this word omphaloskepsis- contemplation of one's navel as part of a mystical exercise. Have you heard of anything more bizarre?!

I'm going to be posting a little less often from now on. Or maybe more often, considering the nervousness and fear that is going to start crippling me. Either way, you have been forewarned.

I love photographs. I don't take too many of them, but I'd love to someday. The artist in me loves the use of many colors almost as much as she loves the magic that can be created using just one, and sometimes none.

Flickr found this for me. And I love it. It's called "The Kiss".



I had more to say. Only, this picture makes the words fade away and their place is taken by a small smile.

• I started writing, only to realize I was rambling, as usual. So I need to edit that post before I put it up.



• People surprise me every day. Not all of the surprises are good. A friend of mine saw a muslim guy, a student, walking towards us in college and promptly said, " I'm scared. Doesn't he look scary? What's with the beard and all? "
  

  People, educated people, can be extremely illiterate in their views.

  
  I could have strangled her. Is this how education helps? Is this what "jehad" is supposed to accomplish?



• There's some words that I just love. They don't mean "great" things or anything. I just love the drama around them or the way they sound. Like "flummoxed" and "umbrage".



• Redefining deep sleep- you don't hear your cell phone beep.



• Another not so pleasant surprise was when in college, again, the people I was sitting with commented on why this particular girl was even wearing a "dupatta"- it wasn't covering what is was supposed to.
  
  It made me sad.



• FUBAR is an absolutely brill word I found out.



• I like black and white as much as I love color.



• I found my first white hair. And I've kept it safe. Proof of my wisdomousness.



• Making "blockquotes" or pullquotes as they are sometimes called and customizing them to suit your style is really easy. They look nice and people ALWAYS read them. Will put up a post regarding them soon.



• I think the look of ones blog is very important.

  What would make me want to read your blog?

  A first time visitor either reads ahead of doesn't based on very few basic things- name of the blog and the tag line, aesthetics and the title of the post. The length of the post comes a quick fourth.
  
  Sure, for them purists, writing is all that matters. But if you really want people to read what you've written, you have to create an atmosphere that will encourage them to do so.

Me is done. Hope you guys are enjoying the day off. I certainly am, given the fact that my nasal passage has cleared and I've fought my way into being allowed to bathe. Too much detail, I know :D

Oh and by the by, the title has nothing to do with my love for bananas or lack of it. It's a song by Jack Johnson. One I'd recommend.

All my love!