The Culinary (Mis)Adventures of the Not-So-Adventurous

I love cooking. Not regular everyday cooking that's more like a chore. I love cooking when it's a real fancy affair on weekends and on special occasions. I love going shopping for grocery, and I enjoy filling the shopping cart with oodles of edible delicacies that I can work on for the next couple of hours just to come up with something completely different than what I had planned to make. Nonetheless, I love my little culinary experiments and here are some I tossed up in the last couple of weeks:

Shrimp Tempura with Mango Salsa (the Tempura was made by Hubby:D)

     

Spicy Beef Curry (Thai style)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Purple Cabbage Stir Fry with Baby Corns and Mushrooms

Sticky Vermicelli Barfi

Sfouf ( A middle-eastern dessert made with semolina and flour)

Reminiscing

The pace at which time passes by often catches me by surprise. It seems as if 2nd July 2010 happened just a few days back, when the hubby (who happened to be just The Boyfriend back then) and I exchanged rings and officially started our future together. I vividly remember how tense I was when Mom was finally about to bell the cat, i.e. tell my Dad about the boy in my life, and how relieved I felt when Dad was unexpectedly cool about it. I'm missing all the buzz that was going on around the house this time last year: the planning for the Engagement day, shopping for the outfits, the jewellery and the gifts for the to-be in-laws; fixing the venue and the decorations and menu for the big day. And D-day went by like a dream! Yes, those were fun times and it surprises me that a year has already passed by since then and so many things have changed, yet I feel like it was only yesterday.

This was us, this time, last year:

Flawed

For a year and a half, I had watched you from a distance and wondered how any human being could be so perfect. I had watched you from every angle possible and studied you in every manner possible, and I had been left wondering without a clue. How anyone could be so achingly perfect in every sense was beyond me. You walk into a room and the whole atmosphere wraps sveltely around you. You seem to own the ground you set your foot on; the air wherever you go becomes yours instantly. The second you open your mouth to speak, people drop whatever else they are doing to listen to each and every word of yours with rapt attention. You always know the right words to say and the right thing to do. Never had I seen you to be mistaken or off beam in any situation.  A person so flawless, I didn’t know whether I should look up to you or be scared of you because I could never measure up to your standards. You inspired me and intimidated me at the same time. Until yesterday, when I finally saw you for what you are.

What you are is heartless. A living human being with no warm blood flowing in your veins. An idol with no real qualities to make you human. Flawless in every way and yet so hollow. Charismatic in every sense, yet so distant from all around you. Diplomatic to the core but no fire and passion in your words. Charming beyond words but no guts to say out loud how you feel, no passion to claim what is rightly yours. A demi-god on the exterior, not even a human inside. What you are is lifeless and cold and I’d rather be blood and flesh and warmth and heart and fire and aggression and pain and tears than be stony cold lifeless hollow prude like you.

Mush Ball

I watched this movie yesterday called 'Letters to Juliet'. It was exactly my kind of movie: beautiful people, beautiful places, beautiful story and beautiful dialogues and monologues. This particular one has been sticking in my mind, so I thought of sharing it with you all :

"Dear Claire, What and If are two words as non-threatening as words can be. But put them together side-by-side and they have the power to haunt you for the rest of your life: What if? What if? What if? I don't know how your story ended but if what you felt then was true love, then it's never too late. If it was true then, why wouldn't it be true now? You need only the courage to follow your heart. I don't know what a love like Juliet's feels like - love to leave loved ones for, love to cross oceans for but I'd like to believe if I ever were to feel it, that I will have the courage to seize it. And, Claire, if you didn't, I hope one day that you will. All my love, Juliet"

Yes, I'm a sucker for romance flicks and their mushy dialogues. So while I'm at the subject, here are some more that have remained my favourites over the years:

This is actually a poem from the movie '10 Things I Hate About You."

"I hate the way you talk to me, and the way you cut your hair.
I hate the way you drive my car, I hate it when you stare.
I hate your big, dumb combat boots and the way you read my mind.
I hate you so much it makes me sick — It even makes me rhyme.
I hate the way you're always right. I hate it when you lie.
I hate it when you make me laugh — Even worse when you make me cry.
I hate it that you're not around. And the fact that you don't call.
But mostly I hate the way I don't hate you — Not even close, not even a little bit, not even at all."

And here's one from The Notebook:

“Summer romances end for all kinds of reasons. But when all is said and done, they have one thing in common: They are shooting stars-a spectacular moment of light in the heavens, a fleeting glimpse of eternity. And in a flash, they're gone."

And this is one of my absolute favourite dialogues from my absolute favourite movie My Best Friend's Wedding:

George Downes: The misery, the exquisite tragedy. The Susan Hayward of it all. I can just picture you there, sitting alone at your table in your lavender gown.
Julianne Potter: Did I tell you my gown was lavender?
George Downes: Hair swept up. Haven't touched your cake. Probably drumming your fingernails on the white linen tablecloth, the way you do when you're really feeling down. Perhaps looking at those nails thinking: 'God, I should have stopped in all my evil plotting to have that manicure, but it's too late now.
Julianne Potter: George, I didn't tell you my dress was lavender.
George Downes: Suddenly, a familiar song. And, you're off your chair in one, exquisite movement... wondering, searching, sniffing the wind like a dapple deer. Has God heard your little prayer? Will Cinderella dance again? And then, suddenly, the crowds part and there he is: sleek, stylish... radiant with charisma. Bizarrely, he's on the telephone. But then, so are you. And then he comes towards you... the moves of a jungle cat. Although you quite correctly sense that he is... gay... like most devastatingly handsome single men of his age are, you think... what the hell. Life goes on. Maybe there won't be marriage... maybe there won't be sex... but, by God, there'll be dancing.


So these were just some of my favourites dialogues from my favourite movies. How about yours? Do share :) Have a lovely weekend you all!

Unlikely Friendships

"The world is filled with unlikely friendships. How do they begin;
With one person desperately in need and another willing to lend a helping hand.
When such kindness is offered, we're finally able to see the worth of those we had previously written off. And before we know it, a bond has formed, regardless of whether others can understand it."- Desperate Housewives

My life is a little bit brighter these days, thanks to a great bunch of new friends I made for myself at my workplace. These are people who, when I first met, didn't strike me as people I would get along with very well. And yet, 'hi and hello' slowly led to impromptu lunch plans and coffee and chitchat between meetings and later to 'bitching sessions' about the bosses, and before I knew it, I made myself some great friends who make my drab weekdays a lot more tolerable. I'm so glad I was wrong about how unlikely these friendships seemed :)

Darkness

Have you ever found yourself in a place you don't want to be in, you don't know how you reached, and you look around and wonder where exactly you took the wrong turn that brought you there? You want to retrace your way back and start the journey anew, but alas it's a one way road and the only steps you can take lead you further down that very road you're not comfortable walking on. What do you then? What do I do now? It happens to the best of us I hear, but the 'best of us' surely know a way to find their way out of this sticky situation, whereas I, the dimwit am only getting lost further in the darkness. I feel hopeless. I feel helpless as I find myself falling deeper into the crevices of holes I've dug for myself and I can't even scream out my fear. I feel helpless as an unknown, but real and physical, pain snowballs somewhere near my chest and it's all I can do from letting out the flood of tears I can't let anyone see. I feel helpless as the facade I've so carefully and painstakingly built is about to crumble and I'm once again about to see myself the way I really am. I feel helpless as I once again become the person I have been running away from all my life.

Bliss

Christopher (our pet bunny) has this certain posture he likes to sit with when he's extremely happy, blissful I would say. He spreads his little paws as far as they will go and rests his snowy white belly on the floor and gazes into the distance as if he's pondering on matters crucial to the preservation of Mother Earth. He usually gets this blissful feeling after he's had a bowlful of juicy cucumbers which are gladly provided to him every couple of hours or so. It is a joy to watch him from afar when he's in his signature 'bliss' pose, delighted and content with the lavish care and attention he's showered with all throughout the day, and most of the night as well. His happiness in turn fills us with a warmth and tenderness that can hardly be described in words. 

I'm trying to figure out my own signature posture of bliss, because I can't help but feel utterly blissful right now. The weekend was spent in the company of a dear friend who stayed over,  and we three (hubby, buddy and I) spent a few magical hours laughing and joking and just being our eccentric selves that we luckily can be around each other. The hubby was somehow in a very 'helpful' mood all weekend, making pancakes with me in the kitchen and washing dishes, things he seldom likes to dirty his hands with. I spent an evening of guilt-free relaxation today with a rejuvenating massage with wonderful lotions and potions made from the purest ingredients possible. The warm bath that followed added to the wonderful feeling of detoxification and 'de-stressing', and now as I sit in my bedroom with the laptop on my bed, there's only one word to describe my feeling at this moment: bliss.