Absolutely yummeh masala dosa and vadai, Madras Cafe, Sunnyvale.
Rainy Day Kebab
Cold winds and a cold shake
Chocolate and coffee quake shake, Ghirardelli Square, San Francisco
Weekenders
I love weekends. Long walks, lazy breakfasts, forty eight hours with Jay, movies and lots of awesome food. Last weekend we decided to go to an American joint – Billy Berke’s. It is located approximately a mile away from where we live. We decided to walk to the restaurant, at night (when the characters of San Jose come out to play), in the cold (it was like eight degrees or so). But the reward at the end was worth it. A huge platter of nachos with amazing jalapeno bajjiand the best succulent Louisiana prawns with butter garlic sauce I have ever seen.
Totally worth walking in the cold for.
Totally.
I would do it again.
I cook dinner every week night. A couple of months back I never thought I would do this. I was always very good at eating. Please don’t mistake that for gluttony. I was just very interested in eating. I never thought I would be able to cook. Aunties of the family advised me to go for cooking classes prior to the wedding because, the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, girl, didn’t you know that? I knew. But just chose to ignore it.
Here I am now, whipping up dinner every night. Some days its veggies and other times it’s a full on meat fest. It amazes me that I’m able to create something edible. I guess I have to thank my mother’s genes for that. She comes from a family of good cooks. I guess I did inherit a tad bit of that. A few weeks back I would spend an hour and a half cleaning, peeling and cooking. Now I take less than an hour for all that. I’ve never been more proud of myself. All those hours spent peeping over my mother’s shoulder in the kitchen have come to use. Funnily enough, I’m starting to mimic her in the kitchen. It’s funny but it also freaks me out.
I am also very lucky that the man I married is a whiz in the kitchen. Jay helps out a lot around the house and that makes me a very happy cookie. Except that this man, who is the supposed boon of my existence bans cookies in my house. Oh the blasphemy!
But I must applaud him for strongly supporting cupcakes. There’s the reason why I married him!
I leave you with a couple of happy cupcakes from Kara’s Cupcakes in San Fransisco :
Hello fall!
The weather has been pretty chilly here in the Bay Area. I say pretty chilly ’cause I’m only just getting used to the climate here. As much as I like the chunky knits and warm hugs that fall brings, I’m not a fan of the cold nose and freezing toes. The Madras Girl in me hopes that it doesn’t get colder than this. I can handle the blazing Madras summer heat waves. What I can’t handle is the five degrees at night and walking out without a proper jacket.
Fallen leaves.
Men’s shirts from J.Crew – the best shirt for this weather.
Prettiness outside my house.
Fluffy clouds on a beautiful, rainy day.
Rustling fallen leaves.
The smallest things make me happy these days. The sun came out today and I was happy. It’s been so long since I felt the sun on my face or even broke in to a sweat, for that matter. I guess that’s what living in Chennai makes you miss. So once the sun was out I decided to go for a pseudo run. So I ran. On the wrong side of the road, I think. And almost bumped in to one uncle who laughed it off. Crossed the road and had one Aunty say “Yes! You made it”. It felt good to have some one cheer me on like that. I’m thinking of hiring a cheerleader to cheer me on when I feel down. Oooh maybe I should just hire an entire squad! I should put that in my list.
So on my run today I crossed a gallery where an artist painted on the walls along the streets. I saw this little gem and my heart skipped a beat. It felt like someone had taken that thread of thought that’s been running through my mind lately and decided to plaster it on the walls. I could feel a little smile creeping up and the sun just shined brighter today.
23
I turned 23 a few days ago. I managed to have a pretty good birthday in the middle of all the travelling and moving. I also had a fabulous Godiva chocolate cheesecake that was probably the highlight of my life. It’s been four days since I’ve had it and I’m experiencing withdrawal symptoms now.
I don’t want to admit it but Alhamdulillah, I’m honestly enjoying this time. After the stress of the wedding I’m enjoying spending time by myself (okay, and Jay when he is around) eating, sleeping and watching too much of the Kardashians.
Every year my birthday came around I used to get apprehensive and felt like nothing would satisfy me. But this year I didn’t feel any of those things. Maybe it was because I was busy but for the first time in a very long time I felt good about myself and that to me makes this birthday pretty awesome.
Happy birthday, Zarine, you fabulous person you!
Ahoy there.
I have been thinking of an apt word that would describe the past three weeks. The only word I can think of is whirlwind. That is exactly what my life has been of late. A whirlwind, with no time to stop and think. I had a whirlwind wedding, at least that is what it felt like. The wedding was fun, I guess but the only thing that worried me was the biriyani. I really wanted to have dinner on my wedding day. Fortunately, there was enough.I love Chennai rains and they didn’t disappoint me this time. The rain came down in full force just as I got in to the car. It’s funny how the exact same thing happened on my engagement day too.. and when we just decided to leave the wedding hall to have dinner. I had to walk in the rain (fine, there was an umbrella), but I had to walk in the slushy mud lifting up my extremely heavy silk saree and subjecting my beautiful new shoes to mud, rain and just general trash. It was borderline romantic I guess. I mean, everyone thought it to be so why not. I’ve learnt to just go with the flow.
Two weeks later I jetted off in to the sunset with my tall, dark and handsome man to the land where the streets are paved with gold. No, they are not. But it didn’t matter ’cause my beau has a heart made of gold. I know it would be awfully dramatic for me to say I didn’t know the man I married but I did know him and he has been wonderful in every sense of the word.
People call me up and ask, “OMG!!! You’re in America now! How does it feel?”. Honestly am I supposed to feel any different? I didn’t feel different the day I got married and I don’t feel any different now. I’d rather just feel and be myself no matter where I am. But for those who ask, America is nice. The people are nice and the weather here is proper chilly.
I was in New York this past weekend. But that calls for a separate post. The City of Lights deserves that much.
“I don’t know what’s worse: to not know what you are and be happy, or to become what you’ve always wanted to be, and feel alone.”
– Flowers For Algernon, Daniel Keyes
Maybe In Madras 
