Bring on the summer!!!

Well not really.....all that bringing on has brought me a throat that feels like a prickly cactus is breeding super fast there...

But well, it's summer, and I got a free tinned can of pineapple, and I spied cream cheese.....and one thing led to another, and that's how life began...(er....wellll...)

Anyway so I scouted the web for a good cupcake recipe, but I got distracted by some really yummy things and pics, so, when I started in the kitchen with the can of fruit, I was still without any particular recipe or direction(The story has a happy ending.....really...)

So I did what I do best, dumped a stick of butter in sugar, and let my cupcake monster personality take over. I even have a crazy laugh....well it sounds like "wheeeeeeeeeeee", and I maintain it has nothing to do with the sugar rush...!!!

Here's how it went...
(Recipe for 12 cupcakes)
Half a cup of sugar needs half a cup of butter to tango....

An egg, a tablespoon of pureed pineapple, a drop of vanilla essence(that's all that I had left), and 1/2  teaspoon pineapple essence ...

random

I gazed upon the mighty Earth, she looked a little blue
what ails u sweet child; I asked of her; is it that human flu?

That is when she hacked and coughed, her body racked with pain....
Dear father it doesnt go away...and you're the one to blame...
who told you to shine just so bright and nurture the evil human brain?

That is when I smiled and said, just some centuries more before you and I will be one...
There isnt a race yet born, that will survive in the Sun

Orissa!! - Puri to Bhubaneshwar and back(Images)....

Places on the way from Puri to Bhubaneshwar
Walls in Puri are painted with scenes and art:

Orissa!! - Konark (The sun temple) and Chandrabhaga beach

Konark defies expectations....It's beautiful, it's old, mind boggling and huge. It's difficult to believe that it is a temple! There are a lot of legends and conspiracy theories floating around that lend a mysterious and magical feel to the temple.

The smaller front portion is the dancers hall, with carvings of different dance poses and figures with musical instruments. The taller building is the common hall. There was a taller structure behind this, almost double the height of the common hall, that was the actual temple that housed the Sun god. That has however been destroyed long time back by natural forces and invaders.

The dance hall was for entertainment, and has strageically placed pillars that allow the first ray of the sun to pass through to the temple from any angle(which changes with the season)

Orissa!! (or Odisha?) - Puri(Day1 & Day2)

The first thing that happens when you reach Puri is you smell fish. Everywhere....
Puri is a strange town, it's more of a hotel town......and frankly none of the hotels are really clean. The one we stayed in, was supposed to be the cleanest, and by that benchmark, I shudder to think what the average clean looked like. The best part of the hotel room was though the brilliant patch of sea view...a little away from the "commercial" part of the beach. We used to wake up to fishermen pulling in neverending lines of fishnets and the continous lulling crash of waves...

The Jagannath temple -
Frankly I would have loved to give it a miss.....the free for all loot fest starts right from getting a "Panda" who takes you to the main temple. He promises that the only money you will have to pay, will be whatever you wish to give the Panda. "Apni khushi se" is the most abused phrase throughout Orissa.