Beautiful Moments With My Stunning Spiced-up Hot Chocolate

I just noticed - it’s a beautiful morning!

The autumn is receding, the winter just a call away. In this part of the world, it’s not even a winter. Noon time temperature soars to 37-38 degrees Celsius. The early morning gives the chills, we pull up the sheets and head for another small nap until the alarm goes off loud and shriek. Later, after handing over lunch boxes and packing the children off to school, while sitting by the window to finish a quiet breakfast, or enjoying the calm with a warm drink, one might experience a little shiver. And then if one looks at the sky, it’s so serene, so blue, with little dumplings of white cloud creating a tranquil deception to the sound and hustle underneath. That’s when I realized, it’s such a beautiful morning.

The slanting rays of the sun warm up the myriad of concrete high rises in the neighbourhood. The leaves on the palm and coconut trees are as green as green can be. The sunlight slips from their polished surfaces, touches the eyes, and delights. You feel a spring in your heart, and ponder on a small walk. But then, such mornings don’t happen often, so you decide to sit back in the quietness and soak it all in. Life is put on hold, business will happen later. This is the time to nourish the soul, that precious moment that fuels you, energizes you for the struggle and busy days ahead. This is the moment to keep quiet and feel. And remember. Soft, smooth music wafts in with the breeze, and you remember moments that you had loved.

Egg-less, Butter-less, Cranberry Muffins

It’s time to empty the fridge. It’s time to pack the sacks. These kept us busy the whole of last days. Picking, throwing, cleaning. Packing, planning, setting aside. Packing, wrapping, asking friends if they need that blue ceramic, that coffee machine, extra unused spices, the new crockery set right inside the package. And much much more. Should go unsaid those pangs of breathlessness, those hard lumps in the throat to leave behind favorite pieces, collectibles, moments that would never return.

But there’s excitement at a new beginning. There’s thrill to ponder on the shape this space will take in a new ambience. I am already planning the new avatar. And that’s the essence of today – Shubho Noboborsho – wishes for the ’Bengali’ New Year (along with the beginning of a new year in several other countries and cultures).

It’s absolute fun to see Lill Bay Leaf enjoying the move. Without any practical realisation. Our bed goes, and the empty space gives her more options to explore new dance steps. Overjoyed, she jumps around trying to embrace the gap in her arms.

Trondheim, Chocolate, and Pears, in a Nutshell

A migration is on the cards.

Now that’s official and known, I have no hesitation to admit that it’s getting beyond control. The preparation, the wrapping up, and the closing of an episode. 

How should one feel to move base after four years of thriving in a place? Do we grow roots so fast? Does it hurt to loosen up? Should I feel excited to get into a new life, new environment, new challenges? Or should I feel sad at leaving Trondheim behind?
Frankly, I haven’t yet had the chance to be pensive about the move. There’s stimulation, there’s responsibilities for projects yet unfinished, there’s a terribly busy schedule which should be strictly adhered to, and there’s Lill Bay Leaf who makes your life busier, and entertaining all the while, with her thousand antics and new vocabs.

And, of course, there’s revisiting Trondheim.

While the packers and movers do their job and we finish ours, our minds are recapitulating what we liked about this city over the past four years. We are trying to visit those options, we are trying to cement those memories, and make our albums heavier. In the coming few posts, dears, you are going to be bogged down by my Trondheim memoirs. And what about it?

Roasted Butternut Squash with a Nut-and-Cheese Filling

What’s the difference between a butternut squash and a pumpkin?

Pumpkins

~ Are round with a flattened top and bottom. It has green stripes and can be transformed into a glass carriage if you have a fairy godmother.

~ Grow with the least care and negligence on a small strip of land beside your house. Needless to say perhaps, that has to be in a warm tropical country. They grow even when you accidentally or deliberately damage their stems while deweeding your garden.

~ If you love (to eat) their flowers, you normally build a vine for them to grow well. And then you might have 2 or 3 of them growing after 3 or more months of waiting.

~ Are the most wanted during Halloweens. Then, they grow to sizes of enormous balloons and roll from one side of the store to the other. This is the time when you do not much care what colour is its inside, that is, if it’s ripe.

~ If you have had a grandmother with a sharp eye on the fruits and vegetables maturing in your garden, you probably had the sweetest, crunchiest memories of pumpkin fries in gram flour dips or a side dish of lightly fried shredded pumpkins with onion seeds.

Butternut Squash

~ Looks almost like pumpkins probably because they belong to the same family. Wikipedia informs, however, that the butternut squash originates in and around Mexico while pumpkins come from South America. And I thought pumpkins are found only in India.