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| My yummy sugar caramel canape ice cream in Malaysia |
'I scream, you scream We all scream for Ice cream.'
As a kid, I considered that as the most perfect, ultimate rhyming poem. As a teenager, I reflected that Wordsworth, Shelly and Shakespeare's verses in all their glory, were not a patch on this Ice cream rhyme. The very word ‘Ice-cream’ sends a chilly tingling sensation through me! It was love at first taste for me, when the first dollop of ice cream hit my taste bud and did I experience a symphony of ecstasy? Most certainly yes and I was hopelessly hooked!
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| My ice cream bucket planter |
I still remember vividly, standing impatiently in my mom’s kitchen as she churned ice cream in a manual wooden ice cream bucket .That wooden ice cream bucket, the source of a great deal of icy raptures and bliss, is still with me, but then, the wooden bucket coordinated perfectly with my living room decor , that the poor ice cream churner now serves as a container for my plant ! It really does look so very cute though!
Once, while sitting through a very boring sermon half asleep, I heard the word ‘ice cream’ My ears pricked up and I was all attention personified. The preacher was saying that our Maker is like an ice cream maker – he creates us in different flavors. Awesome! What a delightful thought! God, an Ice cream maker? Well, this concept impresses me. I think I would like to be the minty choc chip flavored ice cream, with maybe just a little hint of Kahlua liqueur for added flavor? Done, that’s decided.
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| A birthday sundae I had at Singapore |
Back then, while growing up, Vanilla, Strawberry, Pista, Chocolate and Mango were the only flavors available here, while there were about a couple of exotic deserts like peach Melba and Banana split and a sundae containing two or three scoops of assorted ice creams with chocolate sauce and nuts topping. That’s it!That’s about all ! Surely the present generation will shake their heads in utter disbelief at this measly choice, but we were quite happy, after all, icecream is icecream. Then came along another slogan -‘Monday, Tuesday, we want Sundae.’ Sounds adorable! Now the market is flooded with unimaginable amazing flavors of ice creams and gelatos! I don’t know if the following story is true or a myth. It seems, an ice cream vendor at a fair, did not have enough vessels to serve ice cream, so he took the help of a waffle maker and rolled up the ice cream in waffles and served . Thus, waffles and ice cream were invented. A real innovative genius, in the category of Edison and Newton! Thro’ my life’s journey, I’ve learnt the following frosty icicles of wisdom- “Ice-cream transcends all ages... Ice-cream never lets you outgrow it.’ How very true! The internet is also cashing in on the icecream passion where e-cards sites call July 13th as the Ice cream month! Ice cream cone day is supposed to be on July 23rd , Soft Icecream Day on August 19th, Banana Split day on Aug22nd , Icecream sundae Day on Aug 2nd and so on and so forth. Well, well.. what can one say?
And finally, in conclusion I’d like to add, a teeny weeny twirl to the Bards famous words:
”Age cannot wither the fascination for ice creams nor custom stale its
infinite flavors”
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| My sister and I in Singapore. |
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| Why am I eying my niece's ice cream ? |
Copyright © 2011 Laila. All Rights Reserved
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| Coconut leaves |
Look around your garden! You will find umpteen varieties of twigs. Why not make an arrangement out of those twigs? Nothing is as satisfying as making your own arrangement. This twig arrangement was made out of the stuff from my garden!You need.
- A cane bowl or any bowl,on which twigs can be stuck.
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| Materials |
- Styrofoam or oasis
- Soft twigs. (I had used dried coconut leaves cut into strips)
ethod Step 1. Apply white glue on the container. Gather the soft twigs and spread white glue on it as well. Smoothen the twigs and press it on the container. Press it well. Let it dry. Step 2.
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| Glue twigs onto the container |
Cut the styrofoam or oasis to fit the container and arrange the twigs and flowers according to your imagination. Step 3. If you want to paint the container to match your décor ,use a suitable matching paint. I had painted it dark brown, to go with my decor. Step 4.
Place the dried arrangement inside the container.
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| Paint Twig and place the arrangement inside the twig container |
Yes, that’s it! Your home made twig arrangement is ready!
(Never mind if they are grand moms , moms in law and in-waiting moms in law)
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| The Seven Damsels |
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| Party time! |
There are these seven damsels,Tucked away in a remote corner
of South India, But then, there burns a flame Inside each one of them, To make footprints in the sands
of time.
Munira, loaded with fun ideas to
create terrific get-togethers, Bindiya, the fashion diva, Uma, the dancer with delightful twinkle toes, Sureka, the writer and journalist, Lashmi, the resourceful, handling everything over her cell phone, Shashi, the social worker and Tamil poet And last but not least, Laila the dreamer!
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| Potluck Lunch |
Like crayons of various hues, This bunch of assorted damsels Share a common love for Laughter , fun and cooking . Each damsel is an unique individual Doing her own thing her way But together times are beautiful times!
These damsels sowed seeds
of friendship,two and a half decades ago,
And now they reap bushels of amity and happiness!
Like fine wine their friendship has gotten sweeter, Like antique it has become valuable, Like river it just flows! Whether they could make footprints in the sands of time one cannot tell, But they have certainly made footprints in each others' hearts!
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| The Trekking Damsels |
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| The Eco-Friendly damsels.. |
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| Planting trees at Lakshmi's estate. |
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| The Symbolic Damsels on Women's Day! |
I’m back! Back to our world! Back to our normal, regular good old chaotic world. Good. But then, where had I been? Maybe, kidnapped to an alien world? No, I was just sort of sucked into a virtual world, a world that had me in its clutches for a year and a half. I was dangerously close to being devoured by this virtual world’s quicksand.
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| My villa and crops |
It all started in such a harmless manner. I bought a piece of land in this virtual idyllic world, where I built my own house, my sheep and pig pens, nursery barn, chicken coop, with the help of amazingly wonderful neighbors. I ploughed , sowed the lush virgin soil and harvested bushels of crops, raised chickens , watered the seedlings ever so lovingly and grew them to trees. I even bred polka dotted and star sheep and not to mention the checked and striped pigs. Awesome! I had a stable with a variety of such handsome stallion and mares, that they could put any Arabian horse to shame. I was so very engrossed tending to my farm from morning till midnight , that I shunned my real-time friends and outings. I abandoned my passions like dressing, cooking and writing. But the biggest casualty was my figure. Did I go out of shape? Of course not, I am still in shape! Round is a shape is’nt it? The virtual world to where I was transported is, FARMVILLE- a farming game in Facebook. It ‘s a wonderful ,peaceful and beautiful world where neighbors lived in perfect harmony - ever ready to help you out, the animals and birds were so cute and colourful and to top it all, you could even harvest cupcakes, fruit bars and grow cotton candy trees, bubblegum trees , gem and crystal trees as well. Is’nt it just perfect! The ultimate Eden. Let me hasten to add that I am not giving up on Farmville totally but just spare it a limited time each day!
Returning back to reality, I decided to rehabilitate myself by doing the following:
- Wrote this blog
- Cleared my outdated cosmetics and expired dated cream and lotion jars.
- Emptied my closet of those nightmarish clothes I used to hang around at home while working hard at my farm.
- Enrolled myself at a gym
- Planned a shopping spree over the weekend
My friends and loved ones rejoice that they have found their lost one. Am I a prodigal daughter?
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| A corner of my English Country side |
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| My fruit-bar crops |
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