Suvir

Orange Cake - Delicious to taste and easy to make!

Charlie woke me up with morning tea and a slice of cake on President's Day.

The cake was a surprise. It is my favorite cake. He made it with the Satsumas from the grocery and our own meyer lemon, harvested from one of our guest bedrooms. The cake had a scent that was seductive beyond words and a flavor that was on point. 

It reminded me of President Obama and his leadership of our nation. Always correct, endlessly sweet and positive, and never tedious. 

Harsh Dayalani: A Tapestry Prodigy

What Harsh Dayalani lacks in terms of chronological years, he more than makes up for in maturity, focus, and a gifted palate: advantages that enabled him to pass the first two exams of the Court of Master Sommeliers at age 21.

Born in India to a family of great home cooks, and raised in Lagos, the cosmopolitan capital of Nigeria, Dayalani grew up with a passion for good food of all kinds. His grandmother, a lifelong vegetarian, had the ability to prepare one of his favorite meat dishes -- Black Pepper and Cardamom Goat Curry -- with seasonings and flavors exactly on point. His father loves to eat out, so, as a boy in Lagos, Dayalani was exposed to cuisines from all over the world. His mother, meanwhile, would delight the family with excellent home-cooked fare, and was always happy to have her son at her side in the kitchen. He's pretty certain he was the only one of his peers home watching cooking channels, instead of engaging in sports and other more typical pastimes. He did develop a love of aviation, but less-than-perfect vision ruled out a career as a pilot.

A star with starry constellations of talents

I don't often do this (put in a plug for a non-food-travel-politics-related person, place or thing), but my dear friend (dear old friend, I should say) Abhimanyu Katyal is a poster-child for mid-life crises. He quit his corporate career in 2011 to pursue an acting career, moved to Los Angeles, has acquired his first few acting credits, and in July of this year, just "to continue his foray into indignity", started his own astrology practice (Western astrology, not Jyotish).

The quoted words are from Abhimanyu, who has generational circumspection and modesty in his blood. His is a star with boundless luster. His talents staggering. His charm intoxicating. His talents unlike those of any other.