It’s crazy to think that we are in the final month of the year. In a few days we start living in a whole new year. At work, we have been slowing down a little. As clients head on for leaves, so do we and it’s a great time to begin the process of the annual introspection. Funnily enough, yesterday we had a little party and we around in a circle to share our highs, lows, and resolutions. Now, while I love my work colleagues, I don’t really think I have a relationship where I can be as vulnerable as I would like to be however, this blog seems to be my comfortable space. For the most part, it feels like a blank canvas where I talk to my own self which is never bad thing. So with this in mind, let me share some of my highs, lows, and goals for next year.

Lows

• This year was hard on finding time. I miss having office days. Regimented times to come and leave office. It defined everything else in my day. It also led to me being more active and not only creating good content but also feeling a lot more socially active. I am not extroverted which means that being social requires effort from my end. I need to spend social capital to actually interact with people. I think this year has reduced the amount of social capital I have. Something, that I had been working on increasing since I came back home. I have been a big proponent of going back to office and hopefully Omicron doesn’t stay for too long (the forecasts don’t seem to be very positive however)

• I gained a lot of weight :( This too will need to change. I have talked about this at length through the year but I am positive to see some growth on this front in 2022.

Highs

• Content creation has definitely grown a lot! We continued to work on the podcast and streamlined our production process. Bringing Natasha in has been a blessing and together we have really been able to plan some amazing campaigns from IWD month, Diwali, Christmas, and one more that I forget now.

• In 2020, the blog had really peaked. Now, a lot of that had to do with 2020 being the year the entire world realised that cooking wasn’t just a thing to look at on Instagram but a life skill for everyone. The website saw 100k unique visitors through the year. In 2021 this number went down to 60k but to be honest, this is still huge for us. The fact that more than most of my Instagram followers are hitting the website means that there is general word of mouth for the content

Goals

In 2022, fitness and getting back to mindful eating is going to be key. I also envision some more healthier food to make its way to the blog too. I want to take you through what a day looks like for me when it comes to eating. Ps. It’s a lot of eggs.

I also want to explore audio more aggressively. I really like our podcast Getting LOST with Archit and Shirin however the production time on that is a lot. A big reason for that is also because there are too many moving parts and too many stakeholders involved. I want to build one that is actually just 15-20 minutes long and super focussed on content creation as whole.

Lastly, I want to upskill. There are so many things to learn out there and the one thing that the pandemic has done has made distance learning a lot more acceptable in the larger scheme of things. There are a bunch of courses on Coursera that I want to pick up for weekend adventures. Another course that I find interesting currently is the stoa school. If any one of you have attended stoa, do share your experiences with me in the comments!

This Christmas Carrot Cake will be the last new recipe for the year and boy is it a beautiful one for so many reasons. For starters, I made this as a bundt cake which while challenging, has been on the bucket list for quite a while now. Secondly, I always make an update to the carrot cake as part of the winter content calendar and this year I incorporated it with the rum soak itself. Lastly, the frosting came out so well! Unlike like the sugar glaze on the OG Christmas cake, this one has a little substance of its own. I loved the colour of the frosting. Most creators add food colouring to their glazes and I am all for natural ingredient focussed colourings (side note: I hate cakes that say that they are a certain flavour but all that flavour is just in their frosting). We dressed them with some very bougie pink peppercorns (definitely optional) and some star anise to give it an added christmassy vibe. If you are making this in an 9 inch round tin then reduce the ingredients by 1/4th amounts though even if you stick to the recipe, it shouldn’t be an issue at all. And as always, make this egg-free with a cup of Yogurt! I hope you do try this recipe! Merry Christmas 💫

Glimpses from the week

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose white flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup rum soaked fruits

5 eggs or 1 cup of yogurt

¾ cup olive oil

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

4 medium carrots (2 cups), finely grated

For the Rum Cream Cheese Frosting

120 grams cream cheese (½ package), at room temperature

2 tablespoons butter, softened to room temperature

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

1-2 tablespoons rum soak liquid or rum

Method

1. Preheat oven to 175 Celcius. Coat a 10-cup bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.

2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and soaked fruits. Whisk together until evenly distributed and combined.

3. In another, whisk together eggs, olive oil, sugar, and carrots until smooth.

4. Pour the wet mixture into the dry flour mixture and fold together using a spatula until just combined and no dry ingredients are visible.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared bundt cake pan and bake for 60-65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.

6. Let the carrot cake cool for 10-15 minutes in the bundt pan on a wire cooling rack , then turn it upside down onto the wire cooling rack to remove. Allow the cake to cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting

1. In a medium mixing bowl , beat together cream cheese and butter until smooth and creamy. Add sugar and rum (½ tablespoon at a time) and beat until smooth and desired consistency is reached. The icing should be thin enough to pour but thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. If the icing is too thin, add in a little more sugar. If it is too thick, add in a little more milk or rum.

2. Use a spoon to slowly drizzle the cream cheese glaze over the cooled bundt cake and sprinkle with pink peppercorns and star anise