"The smile that flickers on baby’s lips when he sleeps
does anyone know where it was born?
Yes, there is a rumor that a young pale beam
Of a crescent moon touched the edge of a vanishing autumn cloud,
and there the smile was first born in the dream of a dew-washed morning."
Those were the days when we lived in our hometown and those were the days when summer vacations actually meant vacating our house for long days at our relative’s homes. Towards the end of the vacation, we were all returning, taking a five hour road trip back home. Halfway, near the under construction highway lane, we saw a rustic but beautiful foodplace that had recently come up. Although we weren’t so hungry but the temptation was too much to resist. They had those mud and thaw styled huts with cane furniture set in. Each hut was meant for one family only and this was something Maa liked too much. The ambience was absorbing to say the least and the food proved to be even more. After feasting upon the raunchy food, the smiles on our faces were worth tens of selfies. That day we learnt a wonderful lesson; that day we learnt that you can plan a spread but you can’t plan a smile.
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The most beautiful of life's moments are those that you don't plan for. Looking back, you realize that those sweetest memories, that last night train home, that wedding of a distant relative where the whole extended family unexpectedly regroups, that scrumptious food on a roadside dhabha on your way back from vacation- nothing beats the smiles that such surprises can bring to your faces.
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| McCain Smiles (Source) |
Uptil day five, most of the items on her list which, by some unexplained superiority, had got precedence over mine had gotten ticked and again she was shifting into the crisis of
“kyaa khaayein kyaa naa khaayein ye kaisi mushkil haaye”
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| McCain brings smiles on your family's face |
And thus, on the evening of the fifth day, I decided to give her a little surprise by preparing something she utterly loves to eat. Now this one should be something she wouldn’t expect right? And so, I decided to feast her by myself preparing some scrumptious Mccain Smiles for her and bring that smile on her face that I so love. Also, all of this had to be done secretly to keep that element of surprise intact. To do so, I waited for the lovable siesta of hers. It’s usually a window of three hours, 3 to 6, and I had to see my plan through towards the dying end of this window.
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| The McCain Smiley pack bought from the nearest store. Smiles can't be planned but conspiracies can. |
The McCain pack was brought from the nearest store and straightaway put into the freezer. Now we people are spice loving and so the seasoning matters as much as the main food. And so, I prepared one suitable to her tastes as well as to the rest of the family. Maa surely helped in capturing this planning so that we could show each step of this one later to my sister. Here’s how all of this turned up-
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| Here's me with the McCain Smiley Pack. |
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| The wok is prepared for the McCain Smiles |
I like to cook and when it comes to preparing some instant food, my generation takes it with both hands open. Something similar dawned upon me too as I, quite enthusiastically, began the process by putting the oil to heat on the oil.
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| The seasoning prepared for the smileys |
A Bollywood actor once nonchalantly mentioned that the real pleasure of life is in the spices. As I already said, we are spice loving people and so I prepared a seasoning comprising of Coriander leaves, Tomato, Chilly and Salt powder, Jaljeera powder (Yum yum yum :) ) and some chilly hot snacks to go alongwith. I even prepared some fried noodles hiding them from Maa herself.
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| Fried Noodles prepared as seasoning for the Smiles. |
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| Emptying the packet of McCain Smiles |
The McCain Smiles pack needs to be taken out from the freezer just when the oil has gotten hot enough. The moment I emptied the pack and the smileys splattered on the tray, I knew my sister is gonna be happy enough. She is into how things look as much as how things taste and these smiles surely looked to do the job.
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| Frying the smiles :) That didn't sound right, did it? |
Making the smiles for the first time all by myself, I was wondering if the just frozen McCain would be crisp after deep frying but just when I put the first of the smiles into the oil, I knew that the crispiness would be unbeaten.
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| Posing and Preparing- The McCain Game |
Now I know why people take pictures of everything they do. It's not necessarily so that they can remember things. It's so they can put them on their blog ( read social media). By the way, do I look diligent in the picture?
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| The fried smiles with a seasoning of noodles |
Next, the first lot that I took out , I put on a beautiful white China and started the seasoning with the noodles. Deep down, I thought the noodles would compromise the crisp a little bit and so I put it on three smiles only.
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| The smiles with all the seasoning- in all their glory |
Finally, I put in all the seasoning of spices that I had prepared and now it was time to do the dangerous thing.
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| The sleep that shouldn't be disturbed but would be. |
It is always dangerous to disturb my sister's sleep. It's the only thing that she loves more than food. But since it was about a quarter past 6 and she would have woken up by herself in a few minutes, I took the risk of poking up her up.
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| "Jaag utha insaan" |
I told her I had prepared McCain Smiles for her. She took a moment to gauge what I was saying and after a minute or two it dawned upon her.
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| "Hain!! Ye kyaa" and "Wow" |
She looked delighted enough and did not even get up to get fresh before she put in a smiley in her mouth to munch upon it. Surprisingly, it was as crisp as anything even with the noodles and other seasoning on.
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| Bringing the smile on her face |
In a moment, we could see that rare smile on her face. It usually takes some doing but it's worth it.
In a wonderland she woke up,
The aura was worth her dream's grace
With dreamy eyes she saw the plate
the smiles brought a smile to her face.
The McCain smiles I had prepared for her,
The beautiful smiles made for a cute picture;
An evening snack is a sure shot lift,
And McCain Smiles is a wonderful gift.
Here is a video of me preparing the smiles. Do check this out
This post is a part of the contest by McCain India hosted on Indiblogger. (The pictures are all taken by me unless stated otherwise). Here is another video featuring Karisma Kapoor presenting the Smiles Canapes recipe.
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