Every day I try something new for our breakfast and evening snacks, so that my dear hubby doesn’t get disappointed seeing the same kind of food again and again. One day if it’s vegetable poha, then there should be some fruit salad for evening snacks, and so on. When I bought the new microwave, I planned to bake a cake to surprise him.

When I was alone at home that afternoon, I took out the new recipe book that came along with the oven. Well, where is the cake recipe? Ya, found it! It’s written, Semolina Cake. Ok, let me try this. I collected all those ingredients and arranged them on the kitchen rack one by one. Now, what I have to do? Well, it’s told that Mix Sooji, Atta, Maida, Soda, and baking powder altogether. I put those things in a large bowl and started mixing with a wooden ladle. In a mixer, I put Curd, oil and sugar and left it to spin for 3 minutes. I added this mixture to the Sooji mix along with some cardamom powder and milk. After a rigorous mixing exercise(which caused me sweating profusely) the batter was ready. Now I kept it in the preheated oven and decided to take some rest. The oven was already set to a desired temperature and auto-cooking timer was on. So I was safe!

Now I can rest and can watch TV also. So got settled on a sofa, switched on the TV, and in no time got fully absorbed in the world of Bear Grylls. Oh, how I enjoy this show! I feel very amused when he eats odd things like snake and all.............today it was a small green frog!!!!!!!!!!! I was enjoying the show, and then suddenly noticed, no light or sound is coming from the microwave! What’s wrong? I went to check! Oops, I did everything, but forgot to on the main switch!!!!!! Well, my mistake! Switched it on, and stood there till it starts spinning properly. Now I have to rush back, or Bear Grylls will eat something else and I will miss that!

Everything went fine for next 15 minutes, then suddenly- Blip! The screen went black, so the oven! Oh no, it’s a power cut! Had to wait, sulking and trying to read a magazine and praying that it comes back soon. God listened to my prayer; power came back within 10 minutes. Once again I had to set the timer and other things. I did so and settled down again. When the timer started beeping, I switched it off and allowed to stand it inside for another five minutes. Now the cake looked ready, I thought. It’s time to check if it’s properly done. I took a fork, and poked the cake. Oops, why it is so hard? Suddenly I realized what I have done! When the power came back, I had to set the timer again. At that time, I set it for 30 minutes again, when only 15 minutes were required!!!!!!!!!!!!! For my intellectual actions, it turned into Sooji Rusk! With an extremely bad mood, I cut that cake into thin slices and stored into a container after sometime.

Now my main aim was that my hubby should not know about it, or he will laugh at me like anything. But it should take some time to get cold. I placed the container on the dining table and went to do other household works. Around 6, the doorbell rang. Who’s this now? I opened the door and froze! My hubby was standing there, with a couple of friends. At that moment only I realized, I am in trouble. I forgot to remove that container from table. And bad luck, the first thing they noticed was that container only! I called them in, and prepared tea for them. When I came back to the drawing room, to my horror, I saw they are enjoying those “Rusk”!!!

One of them said, ”Wow, Bhabhiji, it’s just awesome! Did you prepare it?”

I was left with no choice, ”Yes, I did”.

My hubby said enthusiastically, “That’s what I was telling them, readymade Rusk doesn’t taste that well.” Oops, if he knew the background of that Rusk!! They savoured the preparation, and while going, one took two slices for next day also! I said a silent prayer to god for saving me from sheer embarrassment.

This is my first experience of baking a cake. My sincere request to all, please don’t repeat this mistake when you prepare one.