About Me

Background

For as long as I can remember, food has been integral part of my childhood and upbringing. I come from a “khaata-peeta” khandaan. This is largely due to 95% of life being spent outside India. So, not only did I have exposure to traditional Indian meals, but as I grew older, traveled and began working, my exposure and affinity for different cultures and global cuisines also grew. I am so very grateful for these experiences as they have developed my ability to see food in a different way and have sharpened my palette for flavors.

At any given moment, my head is a potpurri of food. Until 2 years ago, my mama and brother were being experimented on with my food combinations. Then, I got married and my husband (who I am so glad he loves to eat!) began to partake in my foodie experiments. We have been married for less than 5 years and I can proudly say that I have figured out the various tricks to feed his pallette and his athletic appetite. However, the challenge is that our careers have kept us in different cities and had made us a long distance couple. So, one fine day, I created a printed booklet of simple recipes for him to prepare when I would not be around and I stuck it on the refrigerator. I name the collection of recipes “Food For My Love”. And thus the blog was born. So, this blog is an unexpected consequence of feeding my stove-top challenged husband (whom I love to pieces!!). I meant for this to be a handy resource for him to look up and cook up easy recipes when he was on his own, and I hope that many others like us can find the same use out of it.

Food is more than feeding the stomach. It is about getting the right nutrition but in an enjoyable manner too. And for millennials like us, balancing our careers and eating healthy is becoming increasingly difficult. So, “Food For my Love” uses simple ingredients available in the pantry (with some exceptions to exotic recipes) and provides detailed instructions for the preparation. This blog is my way to provide my stove-top challenged husband with a handy resource to eat with heatlhy, wholesome meals. I hope that this is just a useful resources for many others in our situation or otherwise. his is meant to be a handy resource for him, and hopefully for many others like us.

Food Philosophy

“Food is symbolic of love when words are inadequate”

Anonymous

We have seen it in movies when cooking a romantic meal makes for a perfect date. We have experienced coming home, after a long hard day at work, to a delicious meal prepared by a parent or a spouse. Why? Because food is a way of showing that you love someone and care for them, without having to say it, but rather to give them a multi-sensorial experience.

I don’t know if I would call it “philosophy”, but I definitely practice certain things when it comes to food:

  • Everything in moderation (the 80/20 rule) – Eat what you want and exercise. There is no reason to give up any foods, UNLESS you have a genuine health condition and have been directed by the doctor to avoid certain foods. This also does not mean eat cheeseburgers and fries everyday. So some level of common sense is required
  • No bandwagons, please! – Being in the food industry, I have a slight advantage of making judgments based on science. So, I am not one to give into fear mongering, I am all about the scientific data
  • I take food safety seriously – It only takes one knife to make you sick. As a food safety professional, I take a lot of pride in what I do to ensure the food supply is safe, and I practice what I preach. I hope to share some of my knowledge with all of you too
  • Cleanliness is next go Godliness – We (at least I) learnt this in school. So I apply this to my kitchen as well. A clean kitchen and workspace can truly provide a calm mind to allow the creative juices to flow

Tidbits about me

  • My inspiration: My mama. During my entire childhood, I have only been seen my mama cook up all varieties of dishes for my brother and I. Where other kids would eat from the school tuck shop, mama would pack a nutritious lunch box for us and would keep a hot lunch waiting for us after school and another hot dinner. There were hardly any repetitions and there was so much variety.
  • Favorite cuisines (other than Indian) – Middle-Eastern and Italian
  • Comfort food – Rice, Rasam and my mama’s uber delicious pumpkin gojju
  • Favorite spices – Asafoetida (Hing), Cinnamon (Dalchini), Cumin (Jeera)
  • Favorite herbs – Cilantro (Dhania), Curry Leaves (Kadi Patta)
  • Favorite condiments – Sriracha (I would eat a bowl of this plain and I carry a mini Sriracha during my travels, just in case, you know, if I need some extra spice) and Peanut Podi
  • Everyday essentials – COFFEE. I do not mess with my morning coffee, neither do I miss one. A morning coffee should be a coffee and every other coffee in the day can be a latte, mocha, cappuccino etc.
  • Favorite activities (other than cooking) – Singing, traveling, dancing