My alone time

I haven't found time lately to blog, inspite of having a lot to say...like always!!! Reasons being...I have temporarily taken up another role at office and have been very caught up with work. Another thing I have not found enough time to do is cook....put food on the table!!! As crazy it might seem, I actually feel guilty when I don't cook a meal for a couple of days....the guilt might be due to a variety of reasons - eating 'oh so unhealthy food' from outside so often(family of mine - are you listening??!) and of course not being that perfect person who is responsible for preparing the daily meal!! The funny thing is when I was unemployed for a few months and spent a lot of time in the kitchen, I would feel guilty about not being at work, earning my own living and so own. It's really difficult getting the right balance of home and work and when it doesn't happen the feeling of 'not being good enough' sets in. At the same time, I have to salute all those women in the past - our mums and grandmums who have achieved this balance so well. Atleast nowadays we have things that make it easier for us - grinders, blenders, ready mixes and what not. Also the men in our lives feel the need to assist and will always oblige to a cry of help from the kitchen....sometimes you might have to cry extra loud, but it works!! I doubt it was as easy in the past.....and yet we(well atleast I) find it difficult. While on the subject on cooking, I really enjoy the time I spend in the kitchen...it's my alone time. I never considered myself very creative. Lefties are supposedly very creative by nature and I was an exception!!! I couldn't draw, paint and was never very good at even origamy(remember those books?! I collected the nice colour paper we would get with it!!). But ever since I started cooking, the little bit of creativity is being put to use. Today Zac and I experimented with making dosas and the joy when we got one right!!! My husband is always a guinea pig for the various dishes I try....but he has always been very appreciative and he says it is because he was deprived of good food as he was in England! Indian food is very easy, everything usually has the same 3 or 4 masalas and you can't go wrong...why even Shilpa Shetty cooked a chicken curry on TV for the first time... and apparently it rules!!! The only thing I have problems with are the names of things...the multiple words from various languages that are used confuse me....I mean can someone(I nominate Shweta) tell me the names of the different dals with the hindi, english and if possible the tamil names? Now that I've got that out of my system...here are few of my favourite foods : Fish n chips
Beef fry
A good home made chicken curry
Dosas
My mum's homemade biriyani...very diff from the restaurant types
Subway cookies...chocolate in any form (wait does that qualify as food)
Sticky date pudding
Death by chocolate...back to the C word!
I think I should stop thinking of all this food....the gym calls!