family on S Anand

Birthday Sandwich Cake

Fri, 27 Feb 2026 12:27:16 +0800

It’s not every day your daughter turns 20.

But it is nearly every day that annoying commitments stop you from doing important things - like buying the birthday cake and candles - especially when my wife is traveling.

So, late at night, after useless meetings and well after when shops close, I asked Claude (the most creative of the lot):

I have bread, Nutella, peanut butter, jam, and the usual household supplies. How can I celebrate my daughter’s 20th birthday with a birthday cake using stuff like these? Any creative ideas?

It was excited. (It’s always excited. Sycophancy’s bad, but … that’s like puppies … and then you can’t say anything.)

What a fun challenge! Here are some creative ideas using what you have:

It began listing ideas. I was hooked at the very first one.

🎂 “Sandwich Cake” (Smörgåstårta-style, but sweet) Stack several slices of bread into layers, using Nutella, peanut butter, and jam as fillings between each layer. Then “frost” the outside with Nutella (it spreads beautifully like chocolate frosting). Decorate the top with swirls of peanut butter and jam. Slice it like a real cake — it’s surprisingly impressive and delicious.

What a brilliant idea! So, I did exactly that.

Toast 4 slices of bread. Level 2. Bendable, warm, with barely a tinge of crispiness and golden yellow.
Spread strawberry jam and peanut butter. Classic PB&J. But I know a trick from decades of experience: less jam tastes better. So, a very thin layer. Also, the heat made peanut butter more spreadable.
Stack the layers. I made a 4-layer cake, alternating between PB&J.
Frost the outside with Nutella. I warmed it up in the microwave for 20 seconds (I swear - GitHub Copilot auto-completed this part with the exact timing it took me!) and spread it smoothly. I covered the entire cake with a thin layer of Nutella, mostly with a spoon, and a little with my fingers to get into the nooks and crannies. (Then I licked the spoon and fingers, of course.)

The nicest part is that it looks like a real cake. The ridges of spread Nutella did look like frosting.

Any clever way I could write HBD on the sandwich cake using household ingredients like sugar or peanut butter? I mean, how do I get the lettering right without a syringe or something?

Turns out there’s a smart way:

🥄 The Ziplock/Plastic Bag Trick (Best Option). Spoon Nutella or peanut butter into a zip-lock bag (or any plastic bag). Seal it, push the contents to one corner. Snip a tiny corner off — the smaller the snip, the finer the line. Squeeze gently and write slowly.

But unfortunately, I couldn’t find the zip-lock bag. I heated the peanut butter and tried writing with a spoon but messed it up. So, I mixed the peanut butter with the top layer of Nutella, giving it a nutty texture, like nuts sprinkled on the cake.

Next, I have lots of tealight candles. Any clever ideas with that?

… and its second suggestion was:

🌟 Candle Halo Centerpiece Place your birthday cake (or toast stack!) in the center of the table and surround it with a ring of tealights radiating outward. Magical, romantic, and festive all at once.

Brilliant.

I use AI a lot. That’s trained me to think of AI first. Something I’m glad for, because this was my best use of AI ever.

Happy birthday, Dhyeya!

Moving to Singapore

Mon, 01 Aug 2022 12:57:00 +0000

My family and I relocated to Singapore today.

Most of my major life decisions have involved the distance from Chennai.

In 1992, I wanted to study physics at IIT Kanpur or Kharagpur. My father erased the choices from my admission form and calmly said, “Tick anything in Chennai.” I ticked everything except Chemical Engineering. Prof Kalyanakrishnan saw my rank, said “You’ll get Chemical Engineering”, and ticked it for me. No one heard me say, “But I don’t like Chemical Engineering.”

In 1996, I got job offers from Ramco Systems, Chennai and IBM, Bangalore. I chose IBM partly because my mother said, “Move out of Chennai, else you’ll live in your father’s shadow.”

In 1999, I got offers from IIM Ahmedabad and Bangalore. I picked Bangalore. “You’re declining the best IIM?” my couseller asked. But it was far from Chennai.

In 1999, I lost a scholarship and was insecure during the internship interviews. I accepted my first offer (from Lehman Brothers), though it was in Tokyo. “Well, you’ve already accepted. All the best,” my father said that evening with concern.

In 2000, I declined Lehman Brothers’ pre-placement offer. Tokyo’s too far from Chennai. (60 days of Subway’s Veggie Delight didn’t help.)

In 2001, my matrimonial profile mentioned just 2 things: “He likes curd rice and plans to settle in Chennai.” My wife, Shobana, ignored it. She had other plans.

By 2005, she convinced me to move to the US or Europe. London’s physically and spiritually closer to Chennai than New York or Seattle. So I joined Infosys Consulting in London.

By 2011, I’d had enough. After 2 months of careful planning, I walked home and told Shobana, “I lost my job. Please don’t tell anyone. Let’s go back to India.” We left 2 weeks later to join Gramener.

In 2019, I attended Landmark’s Forum and told Shobana I’d tricked her. (She didn’t speak to me for a day.) We decided to move again. Not the US or Dubai. Singapore’s physically and spiritually closer to Chennai. She spoke to my father, who was OK to move too.

COVID slowed things down (thankfully), but in 2022, my daughter would start Class 11. That’s a logical time to shift.

So as of 1 Aug 2022, we’re in Singapore as a family. At least for 2 years, until my daughter starts college. After that, let’s see.

Comments

Aman Khan 3 Aug 2022 10:48 am: You should have moved near MSD, nobody is more close to chennai than him as per common perception :-)
Arun 27 Jan 2023 8:28 pm: Thank you for sharing this well-written article. Short & crisp. I enjoyed reading it.
My Year in 2022 - S Anand 8 Jan 2023 10:17 am (pingback): […] I moved to Singapore in August. (Cycling and ComicCon were mind-blowing discoveries.) […]
Somya Jain 3 Oct 2022 2:10 pm: Love the way you write sir
The OLX UPI con - S Anand 2 Oct 2022 10:12 pm (pingback): […] moving to Singapore, we listed our furniture and white goods for sale on […]

How to feed a family of 4

Wed, 07 Jun 2006 12:00:00 +0000

How to feed a family of 4 for $45. These recipes are nutritious and healthy. They are low in fat and cholesterol, high in protein and rich in fibre.

Am busy

Wed, 05 Feb 2003 12:00:00 +0000

I have blogged about 5 days last month – my lowest since June 2000. Guess it shows that the combination of consulting and family life cures even the most determined Web addicts. I’m not sure when life will return to normal. Please excuse the infrequent updates until then.