Posted on by Zarine Mohideen · 11 Comments

Need. Pani. Puri.

I love Spring. Gentle breeze, pleasant weather and chirping birds, enough to make me feel like I’m in a Disney movie. It makes me much happier than the gloomy winter. My life and moods seem to revolve around the changing weather. If it’s a dark day Zarine is gloomy. If it’s a bright day then depending on PMS Zarine is either gloomy or high on caffeine.

I bought a box of Parle Cheeslings last time we were at the Indian store. I love Cheeselings. They remind me of my childhood which seems like it happened a lifetime ago. Cheeselings and Frooti were everything that basically summed up my childhood. Ooh, and Corn Puffs too. Not any fancy kind of corn puffs but the real cheap one that was extremely spicy and was just labelled Corn Puffs. God, I’d kill for one of those right now.

I think I have one food to represent every phase of my life. Right now I would like some good pani puri to represent this phase but I am yet to find a place in the Bay Area that really sells me on their pani puri. So please, readers, if you live in the Bay Area tell me where I can go to get my fix. Living on an absence of Shri Mithai in my life is not doing me any good!

Posted on by Zarine Mohideen · 10 Comments

How I Make Dinner

My experiences in grocery shopping was limited to driving my mother to the store and later, pushing around the cart while she did the shopping. After moving out (and being married) I have to do my own grocery shopping. Living in the Bay Area it isn’t hard to find an Indian store. You’ve just got to follow the saree clad Aunty and she will lead you right to it.

I love the store we go to. They always play old Lata Mangeshkar and Mohammed Rafi songs. My mum listens to these songs endlessly when she cooks. So now every time I’m at the store I feel like she is next to me shouting at me for picking up the wrong tomato . The only veggies I know how to make reasonably enough are okra and potato, and the staple of any Indian kitchen onions and tomatoes. So I made them for a few weeks oblivious to the fact that there were other vegetables in the world.

One fine day we were sick of okra and potatoes. Jay was being spontaneous and picked out a random vegetable. We didn’t know what it was called. So we did a Google image search (thanks technology!) and found that it was Bottle Gourd. Another Google search later we figured out what we could do with it. And thus lunch was made.

As a novice in the kitchen, I would be right where I started if it wasn’t for technology. But I have now surpassed my own expectations. While I’m not yet a wizard in the kitchen, I can cook a tasty meal to survive. I have to give credit where credit is due and I thank all the amazing food bloggers who help me make dinner. If it weren’t for you, this household would just be a Maggi fest all day everyday. So thank you Nags from cookingandme, The Pioneer Woman and Haathi from Hungry and Excited for doing what you do.

Posted on by Zarine Mohideen

Eating Out 101

I have never eaten alone in a restaurant. I always had someone to accompany in my quest to fill my belly – friends, my mother and brother were my go to options. I’d wake up one morning thinking I just HAVE to eat pani puri today else I will die of a deficiency of chaat. The next step would be to pick one of the above three options and off I’d go with savory dreams in my head.

After living here for close to five months now. Now my only option is The H and yes he is very accompanying of my cravings so that’s good, but on most days when I decide to step out for lunch it’s always a table for one.  At first I didn’t like sitting by myself in a crowded restaurant eating my meal. No conversation means Zarine will eat her food at an intense speed. So that’s ten minutes of polishing the plate and then what? I mostly people watch or eavesdrop (which I find highly entertaining) or read my book. But the secret to eating out alone is, I’ve realized  pretending to enjoy your own company. At first it may seem like a huge task pretending to be interested in yourself. But then for self loving veterans like myself, it is routine.

So you are sitting in a cafe, eating your scrumptious sandwich and you are having this deep conversation with yourself in your own head. No, you are not thinking. You are having a conversation with yourself (I swear I don’t hear voices in my head though). Oh, that’s wonderful Zarine! You are such an interesting interesting person. Do you like your sandwich? Oh yes thank you it’s delicious. Would like some? Yes I’d love to try! You can have some of my drink too. Really? Thanks!

See! It’s not that hard to be a generous person if you practice enough inside your head. Soon you will implement it in your life and people will finally like you. You will thank me for your training.

Coming back to the topic, yes, it is very easy to eat out alone at a restaurant. You just got to love yourself enough and if you really are that boring where you can’t seem to keep even yourself entertained then just bring a book or check your Facebook. That ought to keep you happy.

Posted on by Zarine Mohideen · 5 Comments

Dear Madras,

I hope you remember me. I miss you. It’s going to be six months since we’ve been separated and not a day goes by where I don’t think of you. Every time I walk out it’s silent and beautiful but I can’t help comparing my surroundings to you. I miss the crows cawing. I miss the sound of autos and the blazing heat on my forehead.

Please know it was never my intention to leave you. You know how fiercely I love. And loving you was inevitable. I breathed your air for twenty two years. We might have had a love/hate relationship but love always triumphs. I can’t seem to recollect a time when you’ve wronged me.

You remember the first proper article I ever wrote in college was about you. You play such a big role in my life even though we are miles apart. Remember all those long summer days when I cursed you for being so hot? Well, I could use some warmth right now. Living in a new country with no friends during the dreary winter is the perfect formula for depression to resurface. I’m using all my energy to keep from falling in to the dark pit.

If anyone knows my love for my clothes, it’s you. But here I have to wear a giant coat under my nice clothes and all that black is making me color blind. I miss leaving the house with just a layer of clothing and flip flops.

I miss your sunshine. I miss how happy you made me feel. I miss how I spent the best times of my life with you. You made me feel so carefree. You put me down, you picked me up and gave me the pat on the back that I so needed. You’ve seen my absolute worst and were a part of my best days.

I miss the beach so much it hurts. I want to roll on the sand and jump in the water. Remember that day in Fisherman’s Cove when the water just perfect? That was one of the happiest days of my life. I can’t count the number of times we used to bunk college with my friends and end up going to the beach. The beach played such a big part in my life. I used to drive there with my friends as and when we pleased and we would just have the best time. I haven’t gone to a beach yet here. I can’t wait to see if it matches up to yours. Even if it does, yours is always my number one favorite.

I can’t wait to come back to you again. But I am scared that when I do come around in a few years you would have changed and you wouldn’t be the same Madras that I left back. I want to say, “Please, baby, don’t change.”. But that is selfish of me. But I can say, please don’t become unrecognizable. I don’t want to land there one day and not recognize anything. That is my biggest fear. Please know that no matter where I go in life I will always love you with all my heart. Reminiscing about you will always bring tears to my eyes.

I don’t care if India Today finally decided to rate you as the number one city in India. You will always and forever be my number one city. New York was an amazing weekend. San Francisco always surprises me. You always make me happy. And that is all I ever want from life.

I love you and miss you.

Your girl,

Z

Posted on by Zarine Mohideen

Savory Creep

“So long as you have food in your mouth, you have solved all the questions for the time being.”

– Franz Kafka

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Zorba the Greek with rosemary potatoes and a salmon sandwich in the background, Squat & Gobble, Haight St, San Francisco

Posted on by Zarine Mohideen · 5 Comments

Book Mark #1 – Adobe Bookshop

San Francisco has stolen my heart. This quirky, fun city gets better every time I visit. There are numerous coffee shops on every corner and tiny bookstores on every other street. The city has a vibe of its own. A vibe that is both hipster and high end at the same time. This forms for an interesting selection of people on the streets. I love people watching. People watching in San Francisco is ten times more fun.

Another thing about the city that I love is the used book stores. There are so many used and independent book stores. So I’ve decided that I would visit one book store every time I’m in the city and document it under the category ‘Book Mark’.

Adobe Bookshop

3166 16th St, San Francisco, Ca 94103

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Adobe Bookshop is an adorable, messy little store nudged between a vintage shop and a Chinese restaurant. The store is long, narrow and the shelves overflow with books. The end of the store has a small art gallery for local artists to display their work. Like any other book store/library, there is a smell of old books and worn out pages in the air. They have a wide range of books, fiction, religion, sci-fi, children’s books, history, etc. If you look close enough you can find recent hard cover books for less than half the price.

Adobe is a very welcoming place.  The center of the store has various arm chairs and sofas arranged haphazardly for anyone to enjoy their afternoon siesta.

The store first opened it’s doors on January 2nd, 1989 and now after twenty four years they are on the verge of closing due to the high cost of renting. The older gentleman walking up and down, packing away books is, I guess,the owner. My heart broke watching him take books off the dusty shelves where they have resided for so many years. Shutting down any business is terrible. But seeing books being packed away feels like locking away all the stories that haven’t been told.

Although there was a 75% discount on all the used books and we bought ten books for only twenty dollars I was sad to see a book store run in to decline. I’ve only been to Adobe once but that was enough for it to find a place in my heart.

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Posted on by Zarine Mohideen · 4 Comments

Fantastic Five

Today is the five year birthday of my blog. I started off on the 16th of February  2008, writing my first post about Valentine’s Day and how I was against it. This year on Valentines Day I ate chocolates from a heart shaped box, dressed up and went out to dinner. In five years I didn’t accomplish too much on my blog or write fascinating posts. The only accomplishments and stories I had were personal. Over the past five years I’ve grown to be a much wiser person. The lessons I’ve learnt were imprinted in my soul. This blog has been my one portal that has seen me through everything. When I had nobody to talk to, I would write out seemingly ambiguous posts and would feel like I have a shoulder to lean on. I may not have been very faithful but I always did manage to find my way back. That’s a relationship that stands the test of time.So to commemorate this relationship I celebrated by eating cupcakes – salted caramel and pineapple upside down.

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Here’s to another year filled with cupcakes and happiness.

Happy birthday, you. You know I love you.