Silence of the cell ….. And a baking experiment

• Prolonged periods of cell-phone silence leads to depression

• Prolonged depression in turn leads to cell phone being switched off

Where does it start ? Where does it end ? Whatever the answer maybe, a sure-shot test to figure out my condition is to check if my cell phone is switched off :)

Felt like baking today [ Had no dinner, of course. I have fat reserves to hibernate for rest of the year :) ]

When I started off with the ingredients, realization dawned that I was a bit short.

I had only a quarter cup butter as compared to half cup needed. A quick glance at the essence expiry date told me that the bottle and my daughter were almost comparable in age :-(( I am still struggling to shake off the mental picture of an essence bottle in uniform sitting next to my daughter in school ….

I was also out of stock of my standard savior, cashew nuts. A lesser cook might have balked at this hurdle, but the Master Chef ?? Never !!

And hence was born the “masala” cake. A Hodge-podge of butter, sugar, eggs, condensed milk, regular milk, pineapple pieces, cardamom [essence substitute], maida and baking powder.

The end product looks like more of a sponge cake. Which suits me fine, because I had been on the lookout for a sponge cake recipe !!

How does it taste ? Well, that is really for the guinea pigs in office to tell tomorrow. I sampled a piece and according to me it is my best effort ever !! :-)

But then I have not had dinner, I may be biased because I have used the greatest sauce ever known to mankind ---- hunger.

I have to add that my new hand held Philips cake mixer is of great help !! Saves me lot of manual labor in mixing.

So that I can continue to build up my reserves for the long hard famine ahead ;)

He who burps the last, burps the loudest …