Food and F.R.I.E.N.D.S.

When I was a little girl, I was fascinated by the speed and efficiency with which my mom cooked delicious and healthy meals at home. As kids, I remember my brother and I being raised on a nutritious vegetarian diet with some eggs thrown in for the 'extra' protein. Never once do I remember going to sleep feeling hungry or bloated. Sometimes, I did complain about the 'eating daals everyday' routine but overall I loved my mom's home cooked food.

As I grew older, like most Indian households, my mom started teaching me easy recipes and then things like Rotis and Khichdis that you can have almost everyday. Suddenly, my fascination turned to dislike as I vehemently opposed the idea of making food every single day (albeit the opposition occured only in my mind!)

Then came college, higher education and so many extracurricular activities that my parents joked about me just coming home to sleep and eat. And cooking took a back seat.

Everything dramatically and drastically changed when I moved to the USA. Four ugly looking electric stoves, loads of veggies in the fridge and 7 Indian recipes cookbooks stared me in the face everytime I ventured in the kitchen. Eating out wasn't healthy, wasn't cheap and wasn't fun (everyday).

And, that is how I started cooking regularly- starting out with baby steps (a simple veggie with rotis brought over from the indian store) to the more elaborate (sabji, daal, salads, buttermilk and rotis brought over from the indian store). Ok, so I didn't cook everyday with my hectic work schedule but I managed to do it atleast thrice a week and in about a month, it started getting less of a 'chore that gets on my nerves' to a 'task that relaxes me'.

I've now ventured into Italian cooking with a gusto- Surrounded by thyme, rosemary and basil I cooked up quite a pasta storm in the kitchen yesterday!

Now, I look forward to reaching home from work exhausted, freshen up, quickly decide a menu, take out the ingredients from the fridge, turn the TV around to face the kitchen and watch F.R.I.E.N.D.S while I cook. It's relaxing in a different sort of way.

Walking relaxes me because it gives me the time to look at things that I miss when I am driving my car. Dancing relaxes me by the enormous amount of exercise involved, Music relaxes me like no other thing and cooking, well yes, cooking relaxes me by being repetitive, its almost therapautic for me.

So while I chop up the fresh yellow and green bell peppers, tomatoes and walnuts for my salad, Joey comes in to say 'How u doin' and I also laugh out aloud with the whole gang- Yep including Chandler ;-)

Spending VS Investing in the Big R

Today I had a very interesting conversation with S3. We were discussing ummm.. rather debating on whether it is best to work on a not very rewarding relationship or move on and invest that same energy in a new relationship.

S3 believes that a person always has his or her sixth sense to guide them away from an unrewarding relationship. So when you think you have tried enough, spent enough energy and think you are running out of passion to keep the relationship alive, walk out. It will initially take courage but once you are out of that area, first physically and later emotionally, you will feel much better about it.

I believe that every relationship is different and has a different set of challenges. You can never be completely familiar with every challenge that a relationship will throw at you. With a new person, there will be a new set of problems and probably a new set of happy moments too. When you invest a couple of years moulding and working on a relationship with one person, you are giving much more than your time- you are investing your soul into it. Do you want to walk out of it just like that?

Sometimes it can take more time for some plants to flower than other's who do in one season. Does that mean you uproot it and sow it somewhere else in the garden? What if you discover after a few growing seasons that there are no flowers yet and guess what? The garden center expert says the first place was probably better for the plant, it just needed some more time!

I feel relationships are just like that- some take longer to reward you and some really flourish in no time. I agree with S3 on one thing though- If you are with a total useless person, don't waste your time and just leave. But on second thoughts S3, don't you think we are intelligent enough not to fall for absolute jerks? ;-)

BTW the weather just got hotter making some of my colleagues and friends go all red, I being the Amdavad gal am enjoying the hot days, turn up the heater a notch up God, I am chilling down here!!

Summer in California

Everyone looks so excited around me today. I can see people's smiles getting broader and their gait getting a little bit more springy, and I am thinking to myself, what is the reason?

It's not just a handful of people at work or in the gym who look happy; everyone I see, looks happy today. The woman at the reception desk said a highly cheerful hello to me this morning when I walked into the office, my colleague in the next cube is singing to herself, the woman at the red light signal waved at me and smiled and I also saw some men on the sidewalk running in their Nike's- their shirts off and their faces wet with the cold Aquafina that they are emptying on their heads.

And suddenly it strikes me- Summer has officially started in California!! It's June 21st, the longest day of the year and the day when summer makes a grand entrance in a Californian's life.

It's true, California is called the Golden state- with sunshine and great weather all year around- But this year, it got pretty cold here with rains almost everyday from December to March.

I guess that explains the fanatic frenzy of Californians welcoming summer with an enthusiasm not seen in many years- they are out to have fun with a vengeance- I am joining in too with an oath to live each summer day as if it were to last forever!!!

Cheers to California summer and the Californian spirit...Ahhh the taste of those juicy cherries handpicked from Brentwood and Ohhh the fresh Apple cider with just the right tinge of bubbly freshness

123 of Blogging

Okay, after almost a year of flirting with the idea of having my own blog space on the net, I finally succumbed to the attraction and opened my account here.

As people who know me closely say- you have opinions about everything in life! I have opinions about music and movies and monkeys and mad cow disease!

The only thing I leave out is having opinions about people- coz that's judging someone and I think that is not very much fun.

I am going to come back tomorrow- renewed and rejuvenated to write more...

Here's some nice one-liners to cheer anyone who reads my post...Ciao :-)

- Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go!
- A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don't need it!
- Only one man in a thousand is a leader of men -- the other 999 follow women!