Category: Photography Art

Posted in Daily, Food, Photography Art, Quotes

Donut-art

Posted on by Sugar and Spice..... Among Other Things

It’s morning and facing a severe sugar low; I’m looking for an excuse to eat cake for breakfast. Well, I guess it’s time to have donuts or doughnuts, as the British call it. There’s nothing better to start off the morning commute, the office meetings or even the early evening get-togethers with a bunch of donuts with or without the caffeine and other add-on brews.

Interestingly, although Hanson Gregory claims to have invented the ring donuts aboard a lime-trading ship as he found the raw center of the greasy doughnuts were unpalatable; the earliest origins of the modern donuts are generally traced back to the olykoek (“oil(y) cake”) of the Dutch settlers who brought them to New Amsterdam (i.e.the early New York). However, the donut holes, the filled donuts as well as “the fritter” and “the Dutchie” came later.

As Haruki Murakami said in his “A wild Sheep Chase”, “Whether you take the doughnut hole as a blank space or as an entity unto itself is a purely metaphysical question and does not affect the taste of the doughnut one bit.”

So as I enjoy my morning cup of Joe and donuts, below are a couple of snaps that soundly make “donut-art”!!

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Posted in Daily, Personal Musings, Photography Art, Quotes

Stirrings of Autumn

Posted on by Sugar and Spice..... Among Other Things

Late yesterday as the leaves of various shades cluttered the lawn, I was deeply contemplating on whose turn should I make it to clean up the mess, when the first stirrings of “autumn fever” drafted into my mind.

The lawn and the backyard was a mess; but among all the fallen leaves was my thought that at one point of time, each leaf was a small tiny green point on the branch from where it unfurled through the spring and summer. Each leaf had its’ own world to see. Some were of the sunshine rays and early morning dew , of rain and wind, the little crawlies of nature among various views. At the end of their time, they all had their own story to tell.

Sometimes I feel, our days are like the leaves in fall. There will be times when we will have to stand alone. There will be days when we have to make our choices and sacrifices, face reality and find our own path. All this requires us to find the courage and faith from within ourselves, donning the mantle of true faith in quiet confidence with the willingness to take risks and to settle for nothing less than what makes us truly happy. For by this, we can hope to discover the true purpose of our life.

“Is not this a true autumn day? Just the still melancholy that I love – that makes life and nature harmonise. The birds are consulting about their migrations, the trees are putting on the hectic or the pallid hues of decay, and begin to strew the ground, that one’s very footsteps may not disturb the repose of earth and air, while they give us a scent that is a perfect anodyne to the restless spirit. Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.”[Letter to Miss Lewis, Oct. 1, 1841]” ? George Eliot, George Eliot’s Life, as Related in Her Letters and Journals – Volume 1

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Posted in Daily, Food, Photography Art

Cereal-Art

Posted on by Sugar and Spice..... Among Other Things

It’s Monday morning and here, I am stuck in a toddler war between the boring old oatmeal and the newer version of “Kellogg’s Chocos”. To quote Robert Orben “Remember the days when you let your child have some chocolate if he finished his cereal? Now, chocolate is one of the cereals.”
Never try reasoning health benefits with a two year old !! Everything except the word chocolate falls on deaf ears. So the alternative was to scour the net and spruce up the good old fashioned oatmeal. At the end, a little twist of the photos below with a dash of raisins, a handful of nuts, sliced apple chunks and berries  laced with honey, I ended up with a happy two year old crunching his oatmeal for the day.

Photo by rawpixel.com on Pexels.com
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Photo by Daria Shevtsova on Pexels.com
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Photo by Lisa Fotios on Pexels.com
Posted in Daily, Food, Photography Art

Petit-déjeuner or Le breakfast !

Posted on by Sugar and Spice..... Among Other Things

Being in the house with a two year toddler forces you to revise, improvise and reinforce a lot of the good old ideals. Starting with the morning, getting up is an ordeal and as he is too young to head to playschool; keeping him occupied till breakfast is quite a difficult task. So the easiest way is to get him help in making breakfast. It benefits in many ways; keeps him occupied, teaches him to get involved and more importantly, getting him to eat his breakfast. And believe it or not, besides scouring the net and recipe books for new breakfast ideas, this goes quite a long way in getting a picky eater to start the meal.

Here are a few of the days of what petit-déjeuner  or breakfasts be like and reminds of what Milne’s Pooh and Piglet be like.

 “When you wake up in the morning, Pooh,” said Piglet at last, “what’s the first thing you say to yourself?”
“What’s for breakfast?” said Pooh. “What do you say, Piglet?”
“I say, I wonder what’s going to happen exciting today?” said Piglet.
Pooh nodded thoughtfully. “It’s the same thing,” he said.”
― A.A. Milne

The best part is one can be so creative for breakfast. It can range from brown sugar laden oatmeal or crunchy cornflakes to French Toast or simple toast and eggs with bacon optional to steamed idlis or even calorie laden goodies ranging from maple syrup dripping pancakes to stuffed paranthas, buns loaded with nutella or even rice noodles topped with fresh juice, a pot of tea or the best- coffee loaded with cream and caramel. It is the best meal to splurge on, for the whole day awaits to burn it !! Be it a rainy day or a busy morning, or outside on the sun shaded patio or a windy day; alone or with a group of friends or noisy rambunctious family or a quieter meal for two, breakfast sets the pace and swings in the mood for the day. To quote,

“Everyone runs around trying to find a place where they still serve breakfast because eating breakfast, even if it’s 5 o’clock in the afternoon, is a sign that the day has just begun and good things can still happen. Having lunch is like throwing in the towel.” ― Jonathan Goldstein, Lenny Bruce is Dead

Source: https://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/article-what-chinese-eat-for-breakfast.htm
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Source: http://www.crazymasalafood.com/southern-flavours-20-south-indian-breakfast-dishes/
Photo by Julian Jagtenberg on Pexels.com
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Photo by rawpixel.com on Pexels.com
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Posted in Daily, Food, Photography Art

For the Love for Oreo

Posted on by Sugar and Spice..... Among Other Things

Speaking of cookies, there is one word that any two year old would say and that is “Oreo”. And like the quote says, “Taking pictures is like tiptoeing into the kitchen late at night and stealing Oreo cookies- Diane Airbus”.

To quote Jonathan Mayberry ” I’m not sure I could trust a man who would bypass an Oreo in favour of vanilla wafers. It’s a fundamental character flaw, possibly a sign of true evil.”

Here are some shots below of how creative can the Oreo cookies go.

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Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com
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