I wanted to add some beauty into the world today so I compiled some photos I’ve taken in the last two months. Most of these plants are just a walk away but for some I had to literally stop and smell the roses.
…Flowers!
Chaat made with French green lentils
I factory reset my phone 2 weeks ago. It alerted me that it would stop working as a phone should if I didn’t. I made all the necessary saves and uploaded all the selfies I didn’t want to lose. I made sure my WhatsApp was backed up so I would never lose the few messages my dad sent me since I got this phone and he got WhatsApp. That’s all I cared about, really.
…Green chilli and cherry tomato achaar (pickle) from Indian-ish
I recently wrote a personal essay/review of Priya Krishna’s new book Indian-ish – a book she wrote with her amazing mother Ritu. The article made it to the Everett Herald, a local newspaper here in Boring land. Oh sorry, I meant Boeing.
…Dear friend,
As I sit down at my desk to write you this note, it’s 11.21 AM here in the Pacific Northwest. The weather is mild for this time of the year, for summer and yet, the grass in the backyard is parched. From this brown and very dead meadow, hundreds and hundreds of dandelions (and creeping buttercups) are blooming as if to say, “beauty can come from anything”. Yes, they are a nuisance and a weed but ever since last year, they have become my friends. A metaphor for how fast life and seasons change. How everything – even when you cannot see it – holds beauty.
…Cedar plank grilled salmon with ponzu-dill mayo and fried capers
My memory has gotten so much better and so much worse with time. I attribute the latter with how much I use my phone. When I’m on it, I cannot piece together parts of a conversation I just had. I can’t complete my sentences and I genuinely feel lost until I put it down and yes, forget about it.
…New Orleans: Part I
Catching an evening flight out of Seattle to Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans seemed like a great idea when I was booking my tickets in March. I had the place in my mind, the time I wanted to go (May) and absolutely no idea what I wanted to do there except arrive at our destination. It would have been midnight and that didn’t seem to faze me. I was used to being in an unfamiliar city after dark and I figured New Orleans is all about late nights music shows in dark jazz clubs so someone would definitely be arriving along with us.
…Grilled chilli-garlic prawns with lemon-dill couscous
When I first started cooking for myself, I relied on the knowledge passed down to me by my great-great food blog search that I serendipitously stumbled upon on the internet. I was in America and I was bowled over how fast I was taken from a keyed in search word to a website, which wasn’t very fast at all. Compared to dial-up and Goa internet though it was a lightning bolt. (Strange how I take these things for granted in 2019)
…Crispy spring potato salad with an herb-loaded avocado sauce
Shredded lettuce salad with miso dressing + seared tuna
I have been away from blogging for so long that each time I come back, WordPress has a new update. I click update and then most of the stuff comes up new and I need to learn everything again. This is not a complaint. I’m probably getting too slow for technology or rather, technology is as always, too much for my humanity!
…New year new something
Just like he chose a nice December day to be born in 1949, my father chose an equally beautiful day to die in December 2017. The last month of the last year of his life. The end of calendar years are when we’re all taking stock. Place visited, resolutions met, personal triumphs and possibilities for the next time we go around the sun.
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