This simple chocolate loaf cake gets its luscious
fudgey appeal from a twist of fresh pumpkin.
While you cannot distinctly taste it, the
pumpkin contributes much to the texture of
this relatively low-fat cake. Married with
warming hints of cinnamon, coffee and molasses,
it adds just enough of a rich caramel flavour
for that feeling of contentment that we all
look for from a bite of chocolatey indulgence,
but also from life itself.
The recipe is an easy straightforward one
as it is just a matter of getting the correct
measurements and then mixing everything together.
By the way, if you want the recipe in text
format, you can get it on our website, I will
leave the link in the description box below.
So, as I make chocolate cake for you today,
I am simply going to share with you a few
thoughts on life from my experience.
To simply put it, there are no ordinary moments
in life. We are all so focussed on achievement
and working towards our goal for the next
big thing to happen that very often we forget
the beauty with which life unfolds. At this
current age, it has come to a point where
we have fallen into believing that we need
to get as much done as possible in the least
amount of time. We buy into the idea that
if, what we call work or chores (based on
our preconceived ideas of them), are done
faster, then the more time we will have for
ourselves. We try to pack in as much as we
can in our daily schedule. But the truth is,
when time and attention is divided, try as
much as we may, there will never be enough
time in a day to keep up with the pace; we
are left with a sense of lacking and unaccomplishment.
Even if we do get things done, eventually
it will never be enough; something is still
missing.
It took me a good number of years to understand
the beauty in every moment. I have a sister
who is pretty laid-back, carefree and relatively
slow-moving, by definition. She just has her
own pace. It took me long to realise what
life was teaching me right there, in front
of me all this time. As her elder sister,
I was made to believe that it was my responsibility
to help her, or train her even, to hurry up,
so that she doesn’t miss her opportunities
in life! But it was years later until I realised
she was teaching me what life is about. She
would always take her time in everything that
she does, whether it was taking her shower,
combing her hair, getting dressed or eating
her food. She was the last one in the family
to be ready for whatever else there was to
do. Our words did little to make her hurry up.
One day, I realised I was being a bully to
my own sister. All this time, I thought I
was doing her good, trying to get her up to
speed to society’s standards but it was
her who was teaching me something without
even realising it. That day, which was a few
years ago, I saw life in a totally new aspect
and decided to just let her be. As I watched
her do her things, I started to realise that
somehow her life unfolds in a magical way.
Because she did not have any resistance, things
around her would still happen for her within
her pace and sometimes even better than what
anyone would have expected.
Living life in a hurry is living out of fear,
the fear of “what-if”, which is something
that does not exist. Infact, it is not living
at all; we are just closing so many doors
on ourselves.
The best way to show our loved ones that we
care about them is by taking care of ourselves.
And there is no better way to do this than
taking the time to actually live.
Life itself is our best teacher, if we only
allow ourselves the time to observe everything
and everyone that surround us. There are no
ordinary moments in life.
We tend to think that time is money but money
does not stay, no sooner than it comes, it
goes away. And time, time is eternity.
We won’t need a break from life if we start
living from life’s perspective itself. We
just need to stop, smell the roses and understand
the language of life, something that we have
forgotten for far too long.
I choose to live from moment to moment. There
is no tomorrow, this moment is eternity in
which I start to be life itself and appreciate
the simple delights of each moment, one of
them being the bliss in taking a bite into
a piece of chocolate cake.
