Light Fruit Cake to celebrate

Not many can have a father

Who’s half as great as you.

Others might try, but they fall shy

You’re a top-notch father, it’s true.
So that’s why on your birthday,

I want to make sure you know,

I admire your sincerely and love you dearly,

And those feelings continue to grow.

I came across this wonderful poem on a site called http://www.poemsource.com/ and this poem was penned by Karl and Joanna Fuchs. And I could relate to the emotion. I am in Chennai to celebrate, among other things, Appa's birthday. I owe this man a great deal. He has always stood behind me in everything I've wanted to do. Pushed me to excel in just about everything I did. And as far as helping me hone my culinary skills, while he always maintained that he can "boil water without burning it", he has been a willing guinea pig. The man who ate semia upma and told his then 13 year old daughter it was delicious. Much later I realized that I'd used twice the amount of water I should have. A lot of my initial cooking happened when Amma was out of town and that meant that H and Appa were left to my "raj". While on the face of it, he may have thought I don't really care about his likes and dislikes, one word of appreciation from him can put me on cloud nine for a long long time. And so, while I didn't exactly learn any cooking from him, he taught me a lot.

I baked a cake late last night ans brought it with me this morning. The first thing we did after entering the house was to have him blow off the candle and cut the cake.

1 cup Raisins

1 cup Apricots

1 cup Figs

1/2 cup Sultanas

1/4 cup Currants

1/4 cup Dates

1/4 cup Candied Peel

1/4 cup Glace Cherries

1 cup White Wine

1 cup Dark Rum

3 cups Flour

1 cup Oil

2 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Vanilla Essence

1 tsp Cinnamon Powder

1/2 tsp Nutmeg Powder

1/4 tsp Clove Powder

4 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup Sugar

Soak the dry fruits for at least 2 days in the white wine and rum along with the spice powders.

Heat the oven to 350 F (180 C). Prepare two 8" cake tins.

Sift the dry ingredients. Add the oil and sugar and beat well. Add the beaten eggs with the essence and then fold in the flour mixture. Stir in the fruits along with the liquid and then divide the batter into the cake tins. Bake for 45 minutes.

As India celebrates her Republic Day, we celebrate the other occasion that makes the 26th of January ever so special. Happy Birthday Appa!

Incidentally, this is my 200th post. I can't believe I've reached a double century. It is thanks to all of you.