Food and ado

 I will start by posting pics of  the new items I've tried cooking over the last week.

The Bengali fish fry was pretty money. I kinda cheated by using the coriander paste and ginger garlic paste I have at home, instead of grounding it fresh, but I have a feeling it was all the better for it, especially since I wasn't patient enough to let it marinate for a few hours.

Next was this Albanian dish called Tave Kosi. Also my food from foreign lands for the week. Not a bad-tasting dish, but not a favorite either. It smelled great going into the oven and as I cooked the lamb. But the less appealing part is the yogurt. I wish I could have substituted it with cream or cheese or even milk. But then it wouldn't be authentic. The standalone layer of tartness from the yogurt, is not the greatest, may be if one could spice up the yogurt some more...

I thought I will try out some healthier treats and I started with a hunt for Italian ice recipe and ended up in the sorbet section. Thankfully, this pineapple sorbet turned out really well. Pretty simple to make, the main thing is to get the flavors well-balanced and repeatedly rake the ice for that perfect consistency. It also gave me the opportunity to put to use the gelato containers I've been washing up and saving religiously.

Cooking has been a determined effort at being happy in the moment, at doing something in my life that is truly for my pleasure and well-being. I would put exercise in the same category, but I managed to get sick (so I couldn't really eat the sorbet either : / ).

I want to elaborate on this getting sick business. Once upon a time I used to sleep at around 10 or 11, 12 at the latest, and wake up whenever daylight woke me, that would be anywhere between 5 and 8. Over the last year, I have taken to sleeping much later, so that Mike and I can go to bed together. I should probably never have bothered with this, but you know, that sense of togetherness and all, of being comatose next to another human being. Anyhow, the problem has been that I have been waking up more or less at the same time, despite hitting the bed late. Our bedroom happens to be extra bright. Sounds lovely, but not for me. Even with the windows closed, the light streaks right in. In the last 4 or 5 months, this has been particularly problematic with my being tensed and restless on account of conferences, proposal defense and the job market. In the meantime, I realized that I can sleep like magic in the room right across because it is windowless, an absolute cave, the exact opposite of the said bedroom. For reasons of economy and inability to find appropriate blackout curtains, Mike suggested that we switch the furniture between the two rooms, and in doing so, it would suffice to say, I paid for our lack of hygiene with this stupid cough/cold. It was a good move nonetheless (for me), my sleep has been wonderfully restored. Mike, has been grumbly, because hes unnerved by the whole waking up in stark darkness. Since I wake up earlier than him, I have promised to open the door to the ex-bedroom across the hall, before he rises. If adjusting to a difference in sleep patterns can take this long and inefficient a path, I do wonder how equipped I am (we are?) to deal with the long journey that is marriage. Nonetheless I think we will manage, he is surprisingly sweet when I don't expect him to be, and we compensate for each others shortcomings.

A few weeks ago, on our way back from one of our nightly visits to the froyo shop, Mike asked me if I would mind if our child (the one we will have far into the future) did not get married. The answer was a definite no. I have always wanted companionship, the presence of a constant steady partner is something that has always been a need for me, but it is not an ambition. And I see no earthly reason for it to be an ambition for anyone. People and relationships (the right ones) are a source of happiness for me and I suppose for most people, and so I hope my dear ones are all blessed with it. They come easy enough in youth, but later on, not as much, especially in the Indian context, so marriage is one way to lock down a companion for yourself, I suppose. But a marriage can easily be a burden, especially when you have other priorities in life, like sleep.