A new start

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Nosh

Indian food has always been such a comfort. The warm, the spicy, the rich and the mysterious. Eating wonderfully balanced Indian food is like a little roller coaster in our mouth and there is no better what to welcome the weekends.

The above, for example, was a spiced potato mash with a cool yoghurt sprinkled with smokey paprika and some unknown dark and sweet sauce. Also with it was a chickpea curry because curry makes everything on Earth seems better, more acceptable.

I have, after-all, been called the yellow M&M. :]

Simplify with hot cross buns

Sometimes I’m very difficult. Principles are difficult. Self-imposed sense of righteousness is difficult. Mostly, anticipation and turning down other offers is difficult. But it is from this difficulty that we learn; we learn about how we deal with things, about the silences we can adopt and those we cannot. These difficulties mould us, and then we let them go, because there is no point in reliving those moments.

I’m a very difficult guy, and I would hate to hang out with myself.

However, when my mood isn’t good, I turn to the oven. Things are simpler in the oven. I add things and I get what I expect, minus the occasional burnt raisins or dripped batters. But nothing is perfect, and no cake is a complete circle. What we do is decide if we want to notice these imperfections. I try not to see the flaws, I call uneven browning of cakes and different sizes of buns “rustic”. In most parts, I think I get away with it because no one argues with me — perhaps because I’m difficult.

Go make yourself some hot cross buns. Lightly spiced yeasted breads (one-third wholemeal, see I do care about you) and lightly sweetened with raisins that make wonderful breakfasts and beautiful teatime snacks.

It has been said that sharing hot cross buns with your friends would ensure life-long sustenance of friendship. That sounds like a good deal to me, so here we go, a recipe adapted from the ever reliable Bill Granger.

Bundled deal

Mornings are the best for seemingly inconsequential understanding, little pieces of realisation that make for nothing important but sustain us so. A croissant is an absolutely charming way to start any morning, especially if the morning includes studying and slaving over a table while the world outside goes on, again.

Any decent croissant comes loaded with the problem of escaping flakes. It is always messy and a little frustrating, knowing that part of the buttery croissant would end up on the plate and not in your mouth. It is, as I have come to realise, a part of the process, the entire journey of eating a croissant.

Loss has always been, and will always be, a part of joy.

Two times the deal

Spicy chicken thigh, mashed potato and a salad dressed with basil vinaigrette.

Spicy chicken reprise, brown rice (that was really hard to cook), sauteed portobello mushrooms and a fried egg over-easy.

Bought a basket of marinated chicken thighs, fed two persons twice.

1. Brown rice is really hard to cook.

2. This studying thing is really quite exhausting.

Salmon

Pan seared salmon, blanched long beans, potato dressed with a creamy cheese sauce and a simple green salad.

Play pretend

Awesome breakfast at an amazing cafe. Restaurant more like but in the mornings, it felt like an easy-going little cafe with the owner coming in and front-of-house singing the blues on the radio. The kind of place you want to spend hours just lounging around with a cup of coffee and a plate of greasy English breakfast. The subtlety from the poached egg, the saltiness from the sausage, the distinct flavour of the black pudding, the crispiness of the homefries and the overly generous use of Tabasco.

A weekend breakfast to take the mind off things–things that haunt us in its constant presence.

But cheer up, because it takes effort to be happy. Play your part.

Realignment

Nothing like black magic.

Yourself

When your world is a little dull, deal with it. Go get yourself a lovely breakfast you can look forward to before you hit the bed and wake up in the morning refreshed and revitalised.

When you think that there is sombre realisations every day, manage it. Take a little something from your morning ritual and change it up, excite and reinvigorate it.

I often tell myself to lighten up a little. I think I would be a much happier person if I were not so particular over things that are of little significance. Also, I know it would be much better if I were generally more easy-going and less prone to angst. I see happy-go-lucky people and I wonder how they manage it, how they can be that cheerful person every single day.

I cannot let things go for I am burdened with an ability to overanalyse, to over-think and to over-complicate.

It doesn’t help that I have stories I cannot share.