Quotes – Page 24 – Sugar And Spice… Among Other Things

Daily, Family and Society, Life, Personal Musings, Quotes, Reflections

Snowflakes of Own

Posted on February 6, 2019January 29, 2019 by Sugar and Spice..... Among Other Things

“Please keep calling me a snowflake. I like being different than the next person. Every snowflake is unique. They all come from the same place, but are able to establish their own identities, free and clear of any other snowflake. Snowflakes make this world beautiful.” Ed Krassenstein

From a single ice crystal of the right size, when amalgamated become a white blanket but when viewed separately has their own existence. Each flake, when frozen and accreted in their crystal form give their own individual characteristics with shapes a combination of needle, column, plate and rime of varying degrees. At the core, they all share the principle of dust nucleus of supersaturated air particles surrounded by super-cooled cloud water droplets as they vary thought the differing temperature and humidity zones. With the electrostatic and cohesive forces of varying degrees, each snowflake has their own intricate pattern, design and structure.

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In short, keeping the physics as well as scientific jargon to bare minimum, no two snow flakes of nature have been formed exactly alike. Man being always his innate curious and experimental sense, artificial snowflakes have almost been created that are identical, but this has been done in very controlled and specific settings.

“It’s so fascinating to think about how each snowflake is completely individual – there are millions and millions of them, but each one is so unique.” Kate Bush

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One can never fail to appreciate and marvel the hand behind the existence of nature. In its’ essence nature has taught us many lessons during our co-existence. From the distinguishing fingerprint for one individual to distinct snowflakes, life has thrown each one of us our own pattern of struggles, emotions, achievements and setbacks. Each person has their story to tell during their respective timelines. Like the snow that falls, each one has their own right season. Through adaptability, acceptance and mutual regard; nature shows that life in all its’ phases can be of miracles as long as we follow the principles of coexistence, love and harmony. Like distinct snowflake, reach one is special in their own aspect. Learning to appreciate these simple things, makes life more beautiful to live by.

“Nature is full of genius, full of the divinity; so that not a snowflake escapes its fashioning hand.” Henry David Thoreau

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Life, Quotes, Reflections, Work

Nurture the Patience

Posted on February 2, 2019November 16, 2018 by Sugar and Spice..... Among Other Things

In this instantaneous times that we are a part of, somewhere along the way we began expecting all the events and happenings to occur in a set sequence, allotting each step a limited amount of time set by us. Alas, as nature has time and again shown, the timeline that man sets can never be followed to a “T”. Instead both time and nature have taught mankind the essential art of patience.

Take for instance, the Chinese Bamboo Tree, it takes 5 years for it to reach the 80 feet height in six weeks. In the first year, despite the nurturing through water, sunlight and rich fertile soil; there is no visible sign of growth. Continuing on for three to four years; there is no evidence of the plant growing above the ground. Yet when it reaches its’ magnificent height during the fifth, the tree neither breaks nor bends as its’ strong root system which it has been growing for the past four years holds it firm and strong. Had the tree not developed a strong unseen foundation it could not have sustained its life as it grew. There are many more lessons that nature and God’s creations teach us, from caterpillar to butterflies, ugly ducklings to graceful swans, the radiance of sunflower and the rise of the green shoots through the end of the winter to mark spring.

Never cut a tree down in the wintertime. Never make a negative decision in the low time. Never make your most important decisions when you are in your worst moods. Wait. Be patient. The storm will pass. The spring will come. Robert H. Schuller

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Like nature, those who set their pace with patience find great rewards and inner peace. Contrary to the popular notion, patience doesn’t imply the ability to simply endure or wait, neither it is a humiliation nor a compromise of one’s beliefs, desires or ambitions.

Patience is the ability to maintain the equanimity of the spirit in those circumstances that interfere with the inner peace or composure. Patience also epitomizes the behaviour while we are waiting. Patience is the ability to go towards the goal, strengthening perseverance especially when there are various obstacles on the way. Patience is the ability to maintain a joyful spirit in the midst of difficulties, troubles and sadness. Patience is there when victorious and overcoming the hurdles. Patience adopts the form of courage in face of trials, temptations and tempest. This is what true patience encompasses.

I have seen many storms in my life. Most storms have caught me by surprise, so I had to learn very quickly to look further and understand that I am not capable of controlling the weather, to exercise the art of patience and to respect the fury of nature. Paulo Coelho

People who patiently toil towards their dreams and goals, build their character while overcoming adversity and challenge, setting the strong internal foundation to handle success. Meanwhile those who with impatience use the shortcuts to get rich, famous and earn the stamp of being successful, more often discover that they are usually unable to sustain the unearned sudden wealth. For to support true success, the armour of patience, fortitude and perseverance are necessary to don the cloak of inner peace and triumph.

The two most powerful warriors are patience and time. Leo Tolstoy

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Daily, Food, Photography Art, Quotes

Hot, Dark and Chocolaty

Posted on February 1, 2019November 16, 2018 by Sugar and Spice..... Among Other Things

Watch the sunrise at least once a year, put a lot of marshmallows in your hot chocolate, lie on your back and look at the stars, never buy a coffee table you can’t put your feet on, never pass up a chance to jump on a trampoline, don’t overlook life’s small joys while searching for the big ones.” H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

First believed to have been created by the Mayans 3000 years ago, this drink has been popularized across the world transitioning from religious or medicinal purposes to being a luxurious and recreational or comfort concoction. Popularly known as hot chocolate or cocoa, (aka drinking chocolate and chocolate tea in Nigeria); it would be a grave error for any chocolate fan to give this drink a miss.

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“Love is like swallowing hot chocolate before it has cooled off. It takes you by surprise at first, but keeps you warm for a long time.” Henri Frederic Amiel

Hot chocolate comes in multiple variations including the Latin American spiced chocolate para mesa, the very thick Italian cioccolata calda, Spannish chocolate a la taza to the thinner hot cocoa consumed in the United States. The distiction between “hot cocoa” (from powder made by removing most of the rich cocoa butter from the ground cacao beans) and “hot chocolate” ( melt bar chocolate, already rich in cocoa, sugar and cocoa butter) lies in the cocoa butter, the absence of which makes hot cocoa significantly lower in fat than hot chocolate while still preserving all the antioxidants found in chocolate.

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“Some days you get up and you already know that things aren’t going to go well. They’re the type of days when you should just give in, put your pajamas back on, make some hot chocolate and read comic books in bed with the covers up until the world looks more encouraging. Of course, they never let you do that.” Bill Watterson

Add a higher percentage of cocoa solids and cocoa butter, eliminate or decrease the sugar and voila, dark chocolate (also known as black chocolate, plain chocolate, or bitter chocolate) is ready. Although the percentages may vary as per brand, government and industry regulations; dark chocolate has taken the 21st century by storm. Either way, hot or cold; dark or light, bitter or milky; chocolate still reigns supreme among the desserts, gifts, treats and moments of deliciousness and is here to stay.

“You take dark chocolate, you mix it with white milk, and it becomes a delicious drink. That is the chocolate I am talking about.” Ray Nagin

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Daily, Family and Society, Life, Quotes, Reflections

Screen “Timed”

Posted on January 31, 2019November 16, 2018 by Sugar and Spice..... Among Other Things

The other day, my colleague and I were sitting at a cafe during our break hours. While enjoying our coffee, it was interesting to note that couples or groups at various tables were mostly on their phones. In the case of singlets, I would be able to understand but for couples to be mostly on phones felt strange. Late that day, during my drive back to home, the similar situations were seen among the students waiting for or on the bus, passengers on the bus, at the grocers’ – everyone were on their “screen time mode” be it phones, iPads or tablets. The question that popped in my mind was “how much of screen time do we attend to each day ?”

The sad fact is we all live in our screens. Trips are taken to showcase photos as proof of fun, not vice versa. If one disagrees, then why do we cram up so much sights in one day to see when we go on a break instead of enjoying each hour that we spend.

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Sometimes you have to disconnect to stay connected. Remember the old days when you had eye contact during a conversation? When everyone wasn’t looking down at a device in their hands? We’ve become so focused on that tiny screen that we forget the big picture, the people right in front of us. Regina Brett

Screen time has cost us our ability to talk. We lack communication primarily, because we are too busy staring at the screens, or tired from staring at the screen all day or we are too caught up on thinking about what is happening on the screen. Each one of us have our own coat of interests, acquaintances offline and online, yet when they interfere with our social bonding, family ties, relationships and health; its’ time to re-evaluate.

The drawback of modern communication is that we “message, chat or pictorize” but we don’t communicate or really know how one is feeling or understand and listen to each other. Consequently we lose out on real love, kinship and bonds; instead we get swamped by bouts or periods of loneliness, inattention, superficiality and emptiness. There are many instances in families, communities or campuses, where individuals live under the same roof but know squat about each other. Privacy should be respected, but knowing basics of whether you like tea or coffee, vegan or not, healthy or unwell, address or one’s dislikes and likes is essential to forge and maintain bonds.

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“It’s not just about limiting screen time; it’s about teaching kids to develop good habits in real life As well as managing their screen time.” Cynthia Crossley

The worst hit from excessive screen time are families. They live together but sit in their gadgets, completely oblivious to each other speaking “different languages”. Parents and children forget to talk to each other. There are exchange of words but no connection, intimacy, enjoyment or relaxation to just be together. “The key is to teach them how to be safe with technology, because ultimately, we want our children to be in charge of technology, rather than feeling technology is in charge of them,” as said by Elaine Halligan, London director of The Parent Practice

Knowing to delegate screen time is necessary, as each year in life happens only once. Adults can’t relive their childhood years like their children. Each one will grow up quickly and time will fly. Kids will grow up quickly, and we will not be able to sit with them, read books or just have some fun. We adults might find it late to spend time with someone dear, because life in general is lived quickly. We need to distribute our time to one another. When “screen time” becomes “screen life”, its’ time to change before we too get swiped by a tap.

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Christian, Daily, Life, Quotes, Reflections

Uncloaking the Loneliness

Posted on January 28, 2019November 16, 2018 by Sugar and Spice..... Among Other Things

The eternal quest of the individual human being is to shatter his loneliness. Norman Cousins

The feeling of being alone or utter helplessness have swamped us at some point in our lives. The degrees and hours by which we have succumbed to it may have varied, but many of us have seen what loneliness does when it strikes.

Suffering, failure, loneliness, sorrow, discouragement, and death will be part of your journey, but the Kingdom of God will conquer all these horrors. No evil can resist grace forever. Brennan Manning

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Where does this sudden engulfing feeling of being lonely arise from? Loneliness can be likened to a voice in our head which tunes into the underlying feeling of doubt, unworthiness or insecurities. When we understand the nature and root cause of loneliness, then we realize that those thoughts can be analyzed and weeded out. Loneliness is the sneaky voice of the darkness that tries to convince that we are not loved. For the very hairs of our head are numbered by Our Lord (as said in Luke 12:7) and accounted for. We are His Children, blessed with His Grace and His Love, of the most sincere and unimaginable kind. His Love casts out fear and breaks the deceitful voice of loneliness, which intrudes the harmony of acceptance, music of encouragement and the symphony of Love, Joy and Peace.

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”John 14:18

Loneliness can be suppressed by good books, melodramas, alcohol or even people, for some time. Yet unless we give vent to the voice and put our complete faith and trust in Him, this feeling will keep striking again and again. Let the special residence of God and His Heavenly Grace flow over us, pouring into our mind, body and soul cutting off the voice of the darkness in our mind.

“…..And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Mathew 28:20

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Daily, Food, Photography Art, Quotes

Chocolate to Cake

Posted on January 26, 2019November 16, 2018 by Sugar and Spice..... Among Other Things

“Part of life and part of the enjoyment of life is a croissant and a chocolate cake and eggs and milkshakes and oatmeal. There’s so many things, you have to learn to appreciate it all. When I don’t eat as much as I should, I’m not fun to be around; I’m fussy.” — Nina Dobrev

Almost like development of civilization, chocolate cake or chocolate gâteau made an entrance around late 1800s. Retrospectively that’s a long time considering that chocolate drink was there around the times of the Mayans and Aztecs. Chocolate cake lovers’ need to thank Coenraad van Houten (1828) for extraction of cacao butter and “rock cacao”. With Rodolphe Lindt (1879) developing “conching” for silky smooth chocolate; slowly the experimentation of chocolate began from fillings and glazes to the cake batter.

“Let’s face it, a nice creamy chocolate cake does a lot for a lot of people; it does for me.” Audrey Hepburn

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Chocolate decadence took on full swing with molten chocolate cakes with liquid chocolate centers. Furthermore the cakes were infused chocolates with exotic flavors such as tea, red pepper, passion fruit and champagne were popular. Chocolate lounges and artisanal chocolate makers took on the show.

“I had a little epiphany when I was a writer at ‘Chicago’ magazine. I sat down to dinner at the Ritz-Carlton. Somebody poured a white dessert wine with chocolate cake. It was a wine I would never have expected to make sense. The idea of any wine tasting fabulous with chocolate cake was fascinating to me.” Ted Allen

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There are many varieties and variants of chocolate cake especially chocolate layer cake, fudge cake, Joffre cake and Devil’s food cake to list a few. When one feels like celebrating or enjoying the feel of “breaded chocolate”, it triggers the memories and anticipation of delving into that piece of cake of chocolaty goodness. Besides it would be quite remiss for a chocolate lover to crush the taste buds on “National Chocolate Cake Day”. So here’s to that little splurge of calories but irresistible goodness.

“I like quinoa. I like gingerbread. I feel they should be kept separate. I’m not in favor of this thing of making kind of raw, vegan chocolate cake and saying it’s as good as chocolate cake. I mean, just eat cake and be done with it. And then have a separate meal of quinoa.” Bee Wilson

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Daily, Family and Society, Quotes, Work

Measure of Intelligence

Posted on January 23, 2019November 14, 2018 by Sugar and Spice..... Among Other Things

Being innate hunters and gatherers for the purpose of survival, man doesn’t limit this action to his physical existence alone, but also to enhance his mental, emotional and spiritual thirst for life. From the very beginning, the questions of why, how, when, where and why has always fascinated man. To this purpose, the development of “intelligentia or intellectus” began from a purely scholarly view point to betterment of one’s existence. Fast forwarding to the present day, on the purpose of enhancing one’s intelligence; education, travel as well as acquiring information has been on the achievements list.

The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function. F. Scott Fitzgerald

In fact, many consider an intelligent person is one who reads a lot, received a good education, travelled a lot, knows several languages and bears a lot of facts, data or information. While all this is partly correct, one can have all yet lose sight of humanity. In other words, we can have all the prerequisites of being intelligent and be unintelligent. On the contrary, we can’t have any of the requirements and still be an internally intelligent person.

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Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as think. Ralph Waldo Emerson

For along the way we have lost sight of the real purpose of “intelligence”. The latter which in turn stems from the verb “intelligere” means to comprehend or perceive. Today both comprehension and perceptions are lost in the acquisition of intelligence.

Intelligence lies is not only in displaying knowledge, but also in the ability to understand others. It manifests itself in a thousand and a thousand trifles: in the ability to argue respectfully, behave modestly at the table, quietly (imperceptibly) help others, not to drop litter around themselves, not to utter hurtful or bad words or rude ideas.

Intelligence is the ability to understand, to perceive, it is a tolerant attitude towards the world and towards people. Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev

So this begs the final question of whether we are intelligent enough to change for better and before things go from bad to worse. Or should we cling to what our beliefs and ideals were once formed on, even if they are humanely incorrect, egotistic and narrow minded to the point of stifling our relationships with fellow beings and curbing our growth, happiness and inner peace.

Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change. Stephen Hawking

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