Bacardi Rum Cake

For years I have been watching my mom preparing Bacardi Rum Cake for us on my behest. It was some counted years back I was able to thorough her cake-making-didactics. This is a time-tested recipe known only to get better with age. An irresistible temptation, Bacardi Rum Cake is prepared out in advance and happens to be the best to parcel or mail (short distances) to friends or relations. Try out this special cake recipe to make your Christmas extra-ordinarily special. Interestingly, I have taken help from Q n A section of IndiaHotelReview site to prepare the cake.
Time: 25 minutes
Ingredients
---Cake---
• 1 cup fine-chopped-toasted pecans or walnuts
• One 15 ounce (4 serving size) vanilla pudding mix
• Four eggs
• Half cup cold milk
• Half cup vegetable oil
• Half cup Bacardi dark rum
---Glaze 0r Icing--
• Half cup butter
• One fourth cup water
• One cup sugar
• Half cup Bacardi dark rum
Cooking

Cake: Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour 12-cup Bundt pan. Sprinkle nuts on bottom of pan. Combine all cake ingredients. Beat for 2 minutes on high with electric mixer. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool in pan. Invert on serving plate. Prick top with fork. Drizzle glaze over top of cake. Use brush or spoon to put extra dripping back on cake.
Glaze: Melt butter in saucepan. Stir in water and sugar. Boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in rum. Note: The rum will cause steam. Be careful not to burn yourself.
Note: Although I have prepared this cake n number of times, I feel it is just not a Christmas dessert but also a breakfast delicacy. The cake never dries out fast enough but the fiat is: The longer this cake sits, the better the taste. In any case, watch your rum cake drying out beautifully, and freezing even much more beautifully.

top 5 Christmas Destinations in India

The “jingle bells” time of the year is back as Christmas is knocking on the door. Just few days away, the Christmas pomp and lights have started showing in the air. A traditional way of celebrating Christmas is at home, with friends and family. But with tourism department’s material contribution, festival trends have changed. This Christmas check out the places where you can ladle your Christmas celebrations to perfection.
Shillong, Meghalaya
104 km from Guwahati, Christmas in Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya, under the snow-clothed pines, golden oranges are a pure fun. You can evidence the festive processions of people singing and humming Christmas Carols with colourful lamps in their hands under a starry sky.

>> Darjeeling (West Bengal)
Darjeeling revs in a good chance of having a cool white Christmas. You can participate in the festivities of Windamere Hotel where entertainers from London West End Theatre perform every Christmas. Don’t miss to take ride on toy Trains—World Heritage Site.



>> Goa (West)
Christmas at Goa is pitched in with a different hue. By the side of the sea, under the clear sky, Christmas celebration is zingful at Goa. You can witness the celebrations that spill out on roads from the church. Markets get a new makeover and processions are marched out on the street. Christmas food in Goa such as Pork Vindaloom, Rum Cake, Sorpatel, Babinca, Prawn Balchao are too yum to gorge on.



>> Pondicherry, Union Territory
Xmas celebration in Pondicherry is all about huge-herd-cathedral mass and regale celebrations as well.5/6 hours from Chennai, Christmas is all about binging on the Christmas and going greedy-guts. Laze by the stony beach side and share in the Christmas Carols tune.



>>Kochi, Kerala
A melting potpourri of Portuguese, Dutch and English influence, Kochi is enfolded with starry lights during the Christmas season. Kibosh at the famous market called the Broadway market to pick some of the glittering Christmas tree embedded with famous names of Bollywood. Fairs, firework and ornate home are just some of the distinct flavor of the day. Special seafood is a must for all.
A Merry Christmas to All

Majuli River Island

On Saturday, after I blogged Kaziranga, the very thought of slipping out of Assam within next 24 hours made me revert, view and review the camera screen for elephant photographs again and again. Nevertheless, my idea of Assam winters got a ‘thud’ and carrying a bag full of woollens starts feeling shunt. Winters usher in pleasant time here; I could combat it with a thin shawl.
Shunting to Majuli from Kaziranga NP
I travelled back to Jorhat from Kaziranga NP to Nimatighat (on the bank of Brahmaputra River) in a hired car for a decent amount of Rs 250. Subsequently, an hour ferry services transports you to Majuli Island. It feels great to be a part a colossal, unending river—the mighty Brahmaputra River— while on a ferry boat. Aquaphobics should tad guard themselves against untamed waves of waters here.
Accommodation
Here and after, accommodation was no-way-a-trouble. To the sheer delight of readers, Majuli has two localities, Garmur and Kamalabari, lined up with accommodation facilities. However pre-designed holidays help in booking these properties through Assam State Tourism Corporation or www.indiahotelreview.com
Majuli River
Next morning brought me outstanding view of Majuli clad in a foggy garb, so heavy so that piercing a gaze was impossible. A quarter later, everything fell in place, the sandy shore, the gloom and the palm trees. The island is one of the largest in the world and it appears large only when seen from right angle. Majuli is frilled with ghats through four sides. I take a launch across to the Island’s Kalambari Ghat where a four wheel drive awaits me. The scenery I passed through was too gentle and bucolic: a patch work of tiny boondocks, some of which has oxen harrowing and ploughing up the rice stubbles. The birdlife is prolific, with lines of egrets working the freshly turned plough lines, adjutant storks sentry as motionless as statues and multi-hued kingfisher. Large stands of banana and giant bamboo give evidence to island’s fertility.
Auniati Satra
The ferry was heading toward the Auniati Satra, one of the most important of that 20 or so neo-vaishnavaite monasteries found on the island. This monastery had small museum dedicated to island’s culture that has curious set of artefacts harboured inside. Leaving Anuiati behind, I move back to Kamalabari Village, being lead through the monk’s living quarters. That was all for the first day.
Amguri Village
The very next day, I revisit the island in the hunt for Amguri, a tribal village on Majuli Islands. This beautiful village belongs to Mishing tribe that make up around 40 percent of the total population. Mishings have large and pronounced feature than other tribesmen on the island. Next, I was led to the stilted house where a group of women are weaving on flat-weave looms from here I picked up handicraft. Farming and fishing are the premier occupation here and rafting and boating are best mode of transport.
The government of India has tried twice to have Macula recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site—first in 2004, and again in 2008—but failed narrowly on both occasions because of the ineffective lobbying.

Kaziranga National Park

(This post also appears in an article section of some other site.)
I have been on a NE spree! After Gangtok and Lachung, I set on to explore Assam’s Kaziranga National Park. Reaching Kaziranga National Park from Guwahati is a day’s affair. And Why Not? Of all the living beings elephants have appealed me the most. Possessing some predilection for elephants, I was throughout haunted by idea of visiting their land. Thanks to my office PC that granted me one chance to visit Kaziranga National Park. It was on my PC that I got stuck with an outstanding photograph of a group of elephants on Flickr uploaded by India Hotel Review site.

Zipped to Kaziranga from Lachung
Took a taxi from Lachung hotel to New Jalpaiguri, which took me 8 hrs to reach the destination, followed by 8 hrs train journey, Dbrt Rajdhani (2424; all days) to Guwahati! I stayed overnight in one of the Guwahati hotels. Next morning was the commencement to Kaziranga National Park (4 hrs); and to mention with a break at Nagaon district. It took me a day to reel off to Kaziranga from Lachung. Kaziranga National Park lies on the NH37 that cuts the park across.

Accommodation
I entered Kaziranga National Park at sharp 12:00 followed by my check in at the Bagori Rest House. Kaziranga has ample of accommodations with ITDC’s guest house to forest rest house’s and forest lodges for the tourists.

Kaziranga Elephants
The greens did appease me but going by the notion of visiting with guides was not my idea of vacation. My desire made me go a long way. I decided to go and catch some of them in their proclivity, hiding myself, as my presence would have been deterrent to their god made frolic. After going through the swampy lands of Kaziranga and enjoying the jeep safari, I was still not influenced. Climbing the elephant and spotting one or two hither-thither made my sedated desire, to a lesser extent find a gushing vent on the second morning of the trip.

The (Elephant) E-Day...
I left my Forest Rest House in a complete mess, hurrying my steps to way out exit of hotel while some wild thoughts acted as fillers for my empty mind, which was about to be flooded with ferocious faces of a tiger or some melodious rhythm of a sweet cuckoo. Owing my concentration to these elephant I could not have allowed other images to engross my psychoactive plane.

While I tried making my way into the dense forest I caught one or two uprooting a tuft of grass with their trunk and dusting it off against their knees. Those, of course, made me stop for a while, only interrupted by the rumble of young tuskers who romped on the bank of a breathtaking watercourse at Kaziranga National Park. The tusker show was to commence as it gathered the initial froth. Soon after this I encountered the sight of the wild herd that pranced their way towards us. My eyes got fixed on one bull (the male elephant) who seemed to be the Don. He pulled a mouthful of vegetation and casually flapped his ears, played some acrobatics and trumpeted on a regular interval. The other gang members played mischievously, in a free reign, with their trunks and plucked a trunk of green leaves from the tree. Interestingly, the younger most was not comfortable to share its space with the birds of Kaziranga as it often rolled its trunk upwards on a chorus perch. On account of viewing my hidden day time jungle matinee, I candidly take the pleasure to announce my liking for the bull for the reason that it was the 'Don'. And the Don exulted as he talced himself with the dust of the forest floor. I captured one shot in my camera which is now a desktop of my Lappy.

Seeing an elephant in the wild was one unforgettable experience, more of watching an entertaining drama on TV. When a herd of elephants feed themselves together, it can be like a giant kitty party, with dozens of trunks reaching out to pluck the most succulent leaves. Feast apart, sitting on the back of the elephant made me realize that an elephant can carry you places where 4x4 vehicles can't across rivers, through dense grasslands and jungles- an indomitable 5x5, counting its four legs and trunks. Despite their bulk, these animals move with a remarkable silence. Elephants are much more interesting to watch when they go out for bathing in groups. A flying glimpse of elephants under water turned to be an hours drama show, reminding me with a humanly emotion mother- child affection. While under water the matriarchs do exercise their limits of control with a great degree of affection by jostling and twining their trunks. It was a scene that lends great penetration into elephant's emotional plane; their tears, laughter, and incredible memories they have. Just when I was dwindling for these thoughts, i caught a glimpse of an elephant playing between an elders' leg, rolling in the mud and spraying them in water. The ele-babies are raised and nurtured by their so called 'aunties', or just to say the elder elephant’s cow.
The tedious task of capturing the sight of elephants in a mood to celebrate was really adventurous when serendipity pronounced on me and soon …

In the evening I spent an hour watching an elderly bull wallowing in a backwater pool. He kept lifting a submerged tree with his tusk, then letting it fall with a splash providing entertainment for him and us. Back, after jungle feast, in our resort, we re-counted many new discoveries about the elephants. Some of them goes like this an elephant's trunk can get very heavy and it is not uncommon to see them resting their trunks on the tusks. Elephants are sensitive beings where the entire family rumbles when the baby elephants complain. I forgot the most important to share that elephants do not drink with their trunks, but use them as a tool to drink with.I went to sleep with the idea of gifting a travelogue to my much eager and yet interesting idea of visiting Kaziranga National Park.