Eggless Dark Chocolate Coffee Walnut Jar Cake

Quick Chocolate Cake

 

It's a relax easy Saturday at home. No travel for a change. I want to eat something chocolaty, something very soft. I check my fridge... wow... Dark Chocolate Bar... Time to make a quick chocolate cake ... my first jar cake ... never thought that it will turn out to be sooooo yum!!! 

Recipe for my quick super easy and super tasty jar cake which takes only 7 mins to make... You can make it in a cup or jar ... Break dark chocolate bar into pieces, put in the jar/cup. Mix sugar, coffee powder and butter. Add one tablespoon of milk . Microwave it for 1 min . Stir well.  Add curd, mix well, add flour, a pinch of baking powder, half a pinch of baking soda. Mix well (adjust curd quantity depending on how soft you want your cake). Add walnut pieces and mix well. Stir the cake dough for 3 to 4 mins. Top it with some walnut pieces. Bake it for 2 mins. Bake it for another minute if required. Let it cool down and enjoy it with hot coffee.  👍😊

Travel portals will either hate me or love me for this

Love to Travel

Do you like traveling? Do you like to go to new places? Is traveling your hobby? If answer to any of these questions is yes, then this post is for you. Leave everything you were doing, give full attention to my post , it's for your own benefit . 

Travel New Places

I am a vivid traveler, I travel every month. I also encourage people to travel. I haven't come across a single person who doesn't like traveling. Many people told me they want to travel but couldn't travel because of one of the three reasons... no time, no money, no time  and money. For the first reason... no time... trust me everyone has time, it is all about organizing your priorities. For once keep travel as your top priority and recheck your calendar. You will be amazed. Dear so called family people busy with kids, family responsibilities bla bla bla, give at least 7 days to yourself out of the 365 days in a year. Trust me, you won't regret it.

Second reason why people don't travel is... no money. This is a genuine reason. That's why I want to share my ideas, which work for me, hope it works for you too. I am not a super rich gal, still I manage to travel every month without making a dent in my pocket. Many people asked me how do I manage to travel so much . How does your company gives you so many leaves? Let me tell you, I am a career oriented woman, for me work comes first. If you see my leave balance you will be surprised, I rarely touch my privileged leaves. What I do is I plan my trips months in advance. In the beginning of the year I will have the year holiday list in front of me. I will club weekends with holiday dates wherever possible. If required I take one or two days leaves but I avoid taking leaves. Next thing is list down the places you want to travel. Once you have the dates and places to travel, next is booking flights/trains/buses. One piece of advice... Stay away from holiday packages offered by many travel portals and agents. Make your own customized holiday package and you will save lots of money. Trains and buses normally don't come expensive and if you book train in advance you will easily get seats. For super saver flight deals, follow below tips and tricks.

• Subscribe to all travel portals promotional emails. They share good deals over emails and SMS.
• Book your flights 2 months ahead.
• Don't book a flight by directly going to travel portals. Google your travel queries. You may end up finding some unexplored promo codes or coupons which offer heavy discounts or cash backs.  
• Book your flights near the end of the month and not on weekends . 
• Never book your flights on or near festive dates like Diwali, Christmas etc .

Hope the above tips are useful for you. Unfortunately I have no idea on how to travel at zero cost. You still need money to travel. Don't give yourself "no money" as an excuse. Now is the time to travel. If you are able to read this story from your smartphone or computer, trust me you have money to travel. Happy Traveling!!!  

Life in a Delhi Metro... Episode 14

Life in a Delhi Metro

I was heading to MG Metro Station from MGF Mall Gurgaon. A mother and daughter were coming out of the metro station. You must be wondering how can I be so confident that they were mother daughter. Well the little girl exactly looked like her mom. But the strange thing was the mother looked simple with no make-up, she was wearing a simple track suit but her daughter who must be around 8 years old was completely decked up. She was wearing a fancy T-shirt and short ripped jeans. Her costumes were not the problem, problem was her tiny little face was decked up with make-up from shinning eye shadows to mascara to lipstick . Her loud make-up totally covered her innocence, innocence of a child. I wondered myself ... When I was 8 I was busy playing with my dolls, chasing butterflies and fireflies, playing with my brothers and sisters. It is very sad to see that a chunk of this generation is gone all plastic. 

Dear Parents, I hope this is not your story .

Live Life Kingsize at Kumarakom

Travel to Kumarakom

During my college days, Kerala was like my second home. During short holidays I used to stay at my Malayali friends’ places. I have many good friends from Kerala, lots of fond memories. Happiness is we are still best friends even though we are now in different corners of the world. One great thing about having friends scattered around the globe is anywhere you go, you are not alone, someone is there to welcome you.

View of another houseboat from our houseboat 

I am a traveler - a backpacker, not the one who looks for luxury trips. That is why I prefer Airbnb where I get to meet new people, homely stay, home cooked food etc. But this trip was different. I and my travel partner booked a private houseboat at Kumarakom Kerala. Kumarakom is a small village in the backwaters of Kerala. The place is around 2 hours from Cochin airport. We went to this place directly from the airport. We reached there around 4pm. We were welcome by the houseboat Captain. I was amazed to the see the houseboat – beautiful inside and out. I thought since we have taken a private houseboat, it would be small with one room. But it was like a proper house – Open drawing hall, bedroom with attached bathroom and air conditioner, dinning hall with air conditioner and kitchen. 

Panoramic view from our houseboat

Captain started the engine, houseboat started to sail. I stood near the captain enjoying the view of greens, water and sound of different kinds of birds. Captain told us to freshen up, hot lunch would be served in 15mins. And in no time, cook came to tell us that the food was ready to be served. Varieties of food were served. Cook told us that fish was freshly caught from the water. It was indeed an amazing experience to enjoy the luscious lunch while sailing and enjoying the beauty of nature.

Food... sooooo yummmmmmy 

After a lavish lunch we continued to enjoy our houseboat ride… cool breeze, beautiful lotus plants, different varieties of birds flying around and chirping, small houses on one side of the water, paddy fields on the other side of the water. After sometime, we were served tea with pakoda. It was getting darker, captain brought the boat to the dock. The team then covered the boat with net so that mosquitoes and other insects did not enter inside the houseboat. Houseboat was equipped with LED TV and home theater. We played some good music, we danced, we sang too. Captain got us the Kerala local wine Toddy. After sometime, my Malayali friends joined us, we had Toddy together. Toddy had a funny taste but too strong for me. After spending some good time together, my friends left.

Can you see the beautiful lotus flowers?

Village at the backwaters

Kerala Backwaters

Next day morning, we woke up to find ourselves in the middle of water. I asked myself… What if all my mornings were like this? Cook served us hot coffee while we continued to enjoy the royal treatment, the royal beauty and greenery around. This trip was different from my regular trips… there were no hopping from here to there, no food on the go. It was vivid luxury.

Nolengur Ice-cream - Heaven Food

Heaven Food

 
If you live in Delhi/NCR and you are a Bengali food lover then you must try Nolengur Ice-cream at Oh! Calcutta Cyberhub Gurgaon. There is another Oh! Calcutta in Nehru Place Delhi which serves equally good food. But the Oh! Calcutta at Cyberhub serves best Bengali food.