The date was August 14th, 2003.  I had been working in the city at the 399 Park Avenue office of Lehman Brothers.  All I had was a bagel with cream cheese for breakfast that morning in the office after my usual morning workout.  Then around 11 AM my stomach began to hate me.  At first I thought it was nothing because I hardly ever get sick but then I realized after a good hour that something was not sitting right and the cream cheese I used must have gone bad.  I immediately told my boss that I had to go home and take the rest of the day off.  After I got to my apartment I tried to sleep it all off and then around 4 PM my roommate came home.  I proceeded to tell her what had happened to me and then she said, “You have no idea what is going on do you?  The entire city is shut down, there is a blackout, and I had to walk all the way home from work.”  I won’t bore you with the details of our adventures for the rest of that weekend but needless to say, being sick during a blackout was not the funnest adventure especially when our water shut down a few hours later.  Let’s just say that Blackouts and I just don’t get along.

That is true……until you fastforward to March 16, 2010.  I organize a book club through a non-profit organization I volunteer for called NetIP (Network of Indian Professionals).  March 16th was the launch of our very first meeting in the city.  It was also, Ugadi – the Telugu New Year.  I was so excited about the book club that I invited my Mom to read the book and come along with me.  When we got to the book club venue in the NYU area, we decided to walk around for a bit and find a cafe to get a quick bite to eat.  As we walked around, we quickly stumbled across a small cafe.  When we got there, I ordered a bagel bread sandwich with cream cheese (can you believe it, I still crave cream cheese after my 2003 blackout escapade), cucumbers, and tomatoes.  My Mom spotted cupcakes and decided to order one to go with our sandwich and coffee.  Normally, we both don’t have a sweet tooth and I especially don’t particularly love cupcakes – or understand the cupcake craze in this country.  But she ordered it…..and what came next was 3 whole minutes of both of us DEVOURING the cupcake.  The cupcake was out of this world.  It was called the BLACKOUT.  Here is a picture:

The taste of this semi-sweet chocolate cupcake felt like heaven as I bit into it, consuming the chocolate custard filling topped with cocoa crumbles.  Forget Magnolia, Buttercup, and all the other cupcake magnets in NYC – Cafe Angelique on Bleeker Street (http://www.cafeangelique.com/) is the hidden gem to all cupcakes!  My Mom and I immediately ordered a half dozen to go so we can take it home and devour those bad boys for the rest of that week!  We then went to book club, met some great people, drank some wine, and discussed our first book, One Amazing Thing, by Chitra Divakaruni.

That night after we both got home, we talked about how New York City will never cease to amaze us – it is only in this city where you can just walk a few blocks whereever you are and just stumble across amazing cafes and food of pure greatness.  You don’t have to even try and you just get surprised second by second on all that this city has to offer.

As a tradition, Telugu people celebrate our New Year by making a special Ugadi “pachadi” (chutney) made with sweet and sour mixed ingredients as a symbol to taste  unique experiences in the year to come.  We didn’t get a chance to make our Ugadi pachadi this year but my aunt told me not to worry as we shared different views from different people at our book club meeting – and I discovered a good taste to a different kind of BLACKOUT – just like how we make Ugadi pachadi with mixed ingredients.

If that is so, then I don’t mind experiencing a BLACKOUT to kick off my New Year!  Here is a recipe I found on Food Network on the Blackout Cupcake if anyone wants to try it out at home:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/gale-gand/brooklyn-blackout-cake-recipe/index.html

Ok so I am not a baker AT ALL.  But I always try and bake something during the holiday season to get into the holiday spirit!  I don’t invent my own recipes when it comes to baking because I hardly ever do it – plus I don’t have a sweet tooth at all (although I have come to appreciate sweets now as an adult more than I did when I was younger) so I tend to follow recipes.  This year I used the following recipe to bake Shortbread cookies in the shape of snowflakes.  Here is the recipe:

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/shortbread-snowflakes

I have to say that I loved adding cardamom – I actually wish that I added more of that so if you do decide to follow this recipe I would recommend adding a bit more cardamom.  Here are some pictures: 

Snowflake Shortbread