Health food attempt 1: Bran cookies

Purpose: To make myself "healthy" snacking options

Proposed item: Bran cookies

Ingredients: 3tablespoons of bran
                 2-3 tablespoons of yoghurt
                 1egg
                 1teaspoon baking powder
                 1teaspoon sugar

Process: Preheat oven to 180degrees
             Mix everything together
             Pour into mould
             Bake for 15mins at 180degrees
             Flip cookies and rebake for 15mins

Recipe source: http://mydukandiet.com/recipes/oat-bran-cookies.html

Adaptations: Used wheat bran instead of oat bran as in the recipe. This is because I had wheat bran at home. Plus used curd instead of yogurt.

Observation: The batter was too little in quantity and actually made just four 3inch cookies

Verdict: The cookies didnt come out as I had hoped. Even after the flipping and browning bit, it was way too soft inside to appeal as a cookie. Might make a better cupcake/muffin. Also needed more sugar.

Way forward: Will try another recipe with all the wheat bran I have at home. This recipe didn't come out as the picture suggested and also the taste was too powdery for me. This was my first time with anything made out of wheat bran and obviously I'm not used to the taste. Maybe that and the lack of enough sweetner explains why I didn't like my creation one bit. Never happened to me before.

Funnily wheat bran is my current muse because we got a box free with the box of oats we bought for dad's breakfast. Since bran is not something an Indian would ever eat out of free will and common sense, our little box had been lying sealed. Our food has enough fibre in it to not need additional additives, especially the farm waste, as my grandma referred to bran as.

Technically it is the same thing as the fodder fed to cattle isn't it? Hmm. Food for thought. And cattle. LOL!

Stumble finds

Stumble-upon.com is seriously amazing for the kind of things it throws at me just to keep me from dying out of boredom. My latest find is worth a share here. The real link is http://img3i.www.spoki.lv/upload/articles/37/379524/images/Gifs-4.gif

The knotty knot

What is it with people around you that think life gets suddenly, overnight complete the day you marry? What's the big deal about marriage anyway? These days, sometimes in their entirety, I contemplate what is marriage all about. Why should I do this whole ritual and what will change for me? I admit I absolutely adore weddings! I mean who doesn't? But seriously, why marriage?

I am no closer to an answer. I have asked around; those who are married, bless their marriage, and those wishing they were married, but I am still not convinced on their logic. And to further derail my inclination towards it, I have a whole bunch of people asking me about it. It's not an age related landmark like puberty! But, sigh, they believe it is. And none is the wiser about why marriage.

There are certain givens about marriages. It draws on a curtain on human promiscuity and ensures children know their parentage for sure. It provides a degree of companionship, understanding and emotional support, though I seem to see the complete opposite in most marriages. It gives another person legal and medical rights to take decisions for you. The last one I read in some relationship column in Mint. So that's it. Hmm.

One thing became clear to me tonight about marriage, arranged marriage at least. It draws on a society's desire to protect itself and isolate and promote its culture. Any civilization that has evolved enough to have overcome the basics of food, shelter and clothing and has amassed wealth starts moving towards the whole arranged marriage concept. They do not want to "dilute the bloodlines". They want to "keep to their kind". In short, they're paranoid of losing their cultural identity into someone else's and giving away their wealth to the not-so-wealthy. That's why the business class will marry their children early and within their society. That is why the royal blue blood retains the genes that are killing them now! It's cultural paranoia!

It's clearly visible why an average, considered uncultured, American would always support a love match vis a vis an old moneyed European who a family lineage as long as the Mississippi! This is why a traditional Indian family would squirm at the thought of a cross cultural match as compared to the more disconnected "modern" American spin offs in the cities!

But at the end of the day, it is paranoia. If not then tell me why.