On the joy of handmade gifts and the happiness in the creative process
I may not have blogged much this month, but November has been a month of making. I realised this while I was journaling this morning and listing down all the positives from this month.
This is NOT your cue to eye-roll and mutter – “Goodness, this lady has started off on her braggathon!” ???????????? I do share my recipes, nutrition related gyaan and travel here on the blog with you. But I do think I want to share more non-SEO driven daily life things with you.
This is for a couple of reasons.
- Just sharing recipes all the time gets very repetitive and weary for my creative bones.
- Seeing the kind of response I get on Instagram to my regular life posts such as routines, workout, home decor, general life stuff, I am convinced that you, my audience, will also like that relief from food and recipes alone.
The recipe for the perfect sambar [sorry, couldn’t help but link it ????] can be found on a million sites on the internet, but this post you can find only on my blog ????
Consuming >> Creating
We are increasingly getting addicted to consuming and that doesn’t leave us with much time or energy for creating. Performing any creative process with your hands / mind (this includes cooking, sewing, embroidery, gardening, painting, dancing etc.) has been scientifically proven to be extremely therapeutic. This not only reduces anxiety and stress levels but also makes you extremely mindful. Like I often tell my friends, I love my music time, because it is impossible to multitask when I am practising music. This interesting article explains how busy hands can alter our brain chemistry.
So here’s what I’ve been making in November. I would love to continue this conversation on the creative process either in the comments below on on my Twitter.
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The month started off with a bang, with Diwali.
While I cook and bake a lot, I’m always a bit scared when it comes to Indian sweets and snacks (of the deep fried variety). Probably because as a kid, I was never involved in the process, always kept away from the kitchen (safety reasons). But thanks to wonderful people sharing recipes that were exactly like how it would be at home, I had the courage to try out ribbon pakoda last Diwali and it turned out very good.
I did an encore of that this year and also added a simple mullu murukku, which I made nearly 4 batches of. It is something my son loved too, and it was hugely satisfying to make these.
Also, I decided to make handmade gifts and goodies for some friends as a Diwali gift. In my opinion, time is the biggest currency and if I put in my time and effort to make something for you, that is the biggest gift I can give you. Bought stuff is easy. Yes, you spend money, but all the effort is takes is deciding on the gift and two clicks, and you are done. This doesn’t mean I DON’T LIKE gifts. Just that there’s this extra bit of joy in giving handmade gifts.
I decided to make my instant hot chocolate premix, pack it in pretty glass jars with an instruction label. I also made nankhatai and rosemary shortbread cookies. I have been making this shortbread from the Nytimes website ever since this recipe made an appearance on it.
All 3 make excellent (and pretty) gifts, in case you ever want to put together a handmade gift or a care package for someone. In fact, I highly recommend you make the instant hot chocolate for yourself and for a few family / friends. The process takes minutes and it feels wonderful to sip on a mug of delicious steaming hot chocolate by just heating up water.
Recipe for DIY Instant Hot Chocolate Premix
Recipe for 5-ingredient Nankhatai (Indian cookies)
You can buy these pretty glass jars online. This also saves on using and discarding single-use plastic bags / boxes.
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Goat Milk Soap
In June 2014, I attended a soap making workshop. Since then I have made a few batches of soaps using all natural ingredients and essential oils. This has been a purely hobby based exercise, with no commercial angle to it, which I love. BTW, these soaps make the best handmade gifts.
This also means I make it in bursts and spurts. I make some 4 batches of soaps. With around 100 soaps sitting on my shelf, there’s not much motivation to make more and I take a break for a year or two.
After a gap of two years, I finally got back to soap making this month. I made a camphor and eucalyptus soap with coffee and oats, and challenged myself with a slightly more complicated goat’s milk soap.
Both are sitting to cure now for the next 3-4 weeks and I look forward to giving these to family and friends and also look forward to my shower time a month from now 🙂 Email me if you are well versed with cold process soap making and you would like these recipes.
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There’s something fancy and hip about making your own sourdough bread or granola or kombucha. God forbid, I ever tell someone that I’m making pickles, I’m sure to get the ‘aunty’ label before I even finish my sentence.
But let me tell you how cool it is to learn from an expert who lovingly teaches you the steps of traditional pickle making using a seasonal superfood like Amla. My neighbour had put in a sample of her mum-in-law’s special amla pickle in our Diwali hamper which had us salivating for more.
Aunty agreed to teach a couple us who wanted to learn the process. I came back home with a sample and the enthusiasm and courage to make my own batch. It would be the first time I’m making a pickle (not the instant kinds). From buying quality ingredients, to prepping each one just right and sticking to the process taught by aunty, this was a memorable making experience.
Right now, I have almost 5 kg of this insanely flavourful amla pickle sitting on my kitchen counter waiting to be put into bottles and given to family and friends. Pickle making is way cooler than you think it is!
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Those of you who follow me on Instagram (the rest of you, please proceed here immediately) may know that I have been taking lessons in Hindustani music for over a year now.
It has helped me greatly in improving my singing, confidence, breath control etc.
The class happens once a week, but I end up practising at least 2-3 times a week for an hour to 90 minutes. I cannot tell you the joy I have realised in creating my own loops of notes in raagas (kalpana swaram / taans / alaap). This is something I had imagined would come to me only after decades of learning music. Clearly I was wrong. All it takes is a deep immersion into the raaga and the strings of notes come to you. That’s what I realised in the month of making.
It happens when you hum the raaga continuously and listen to many compositions in a raaga, such that your head is swimming in the notes of this raaga. I cannot think of a more mindful exercise than music practice. I have to stick to the pitch, the rhythm of the tabla, the notes of the raaga, there is no chance of any other thought getting into my head or even the desire to check my phone. While music is not handmade, it is a deeply creative and satisfying process. And one creative process inspires us to pursue another.
Loved the direction of this post! I have never commented but lurked on and off but definitely a follower now. Love your recipes. your attitude towards health, life and not to forget that you are an extraordinary singer too. Good luck in everything!
That is very sweet of you! Thanks 🙂