All in the SPICE!!!

I am not a big fan of food.. In fact I rarely entered the kitchen until I started my master's degree. Not too picky about what I should eat, hence the lifelong funky relationship with food.

Company changed all that. By that I mean my husband. He loves to eat. In fact I can safely say that he lives to eat. And here he was, married to a person who does not enjoy eating or cooking. Poor thing. After experimenting from books, listening non-stop to The Wah Chef and the Show me the Curry ladies I started getting the hang of cooking. Experimenting with with I mess a lot. Besides Indian food which I am conversant with, trying to recreate other cuisines is comparatively difficult. I must have tried the Yellow Thai Curry at least 3 times by now, but every time something is missing and I cannot figure out what. Everything was fresh and cooked perfectly. Yet did not taste good overall.

Made many variations, still the amazing taste eluded me. Finally I decided to deviate from the recipe and change the spices. And voila the thai curry was the same you eat in restaurants.

It is all about the spice honey! Whether food or relationships, add a little bit of spice and see the difference. Oh and one more thing.. Never stop trying :)

Leena --<@

Mental Block :)

Ya ya, no matter how much you negate it, we all have mental blocks. I have so many. For example, I cannot run a marathon or I cannot ride a bicycle without hands for more than 5 seconds (yup, 5 seconds is my max). But we all have our mental blocks. No matter how whimsical, they are there. My husband and I love hiking.  We have tried many trails over the course of the past 1 year. Unfortunately we have a mental block. One that involves the 9-12 mile PG&E trail in Rancho San Antonio. We have been on the trail at least 5 times and have never completed it. We would always run away after 6 miles thinking we were too tired to complete the hike. Now we have done more steep hikes like Mission Peak multiple times but the longer ones are more harder. 

Two weeks ago, a friend of ours came along with us. He is a powerhouse of stories. You name the topic and he would know something about it. A walking talking podcast of everything. We were so engaged in our discussion that we barely remember hiking. I just recall that we discussed about everything under the sun. At the end of the hike, we were satisfied and energized to do it again. Our friend had to leave and we were not very sure if we could make it as a couple.

PG&E Trail at Rancho San Antonio

I know what you might be thinking, why not just listen to something and complete your hike. Simple. No quite. When my husband and I go for a hike we make it a point not to use our "i" devices. The reason is only one. If we wanted to listen to our music why are we going together. So no devices, just you, your partner/friend, the trail and of course the nature. Bottom line the conversation matters. I was 100% sure that we would turn around midway after getting bored or fighting. 

At the top of the trail :)

 So here we were walking along the 10 mile loop and we just started talking about all the random stuff. Sometimes talking sometimes just being silent with our thoughts. Something changed in those 4 hours. We started appreciating the beautiful nature. Being one with the mountains, the streams, the animals was so wonderful. We completed the hike. Came home exhausted but very satisfied. Ready for more next week.

Walking through the woods

Moral of the story: It's all in the mind.. There should be no such thing as a mental block :)


Happy Hiking
Leena --<@

Do you own your Happiness?

I know the answer in your mind is," Of course!" What kind of a question is this? Well, most times it is not the case. Would you go to a concert alone? Would you go to a movie alone? Would you go for a game alone? If the answer to these and more is,"Yes" then yes you are the owner of your happiness. I know I am not, since my happiness depends on the happiness of others. My family, my friends all of them collectively define my happiness. 

So if I am alone maybe I am not that happy after all. I don't know what the right state is or should be but I do know this, you should not be dependent on someone else to make you feel happy. That itself is really sad that you cannot make yourself feel happy doing something alone. 

I attended a concert last weekend. I was there with a friend and my husband. There was a single guy sitting besides me. He was silent the entire time before the concert. When I saw him, the first thing that struck me was that,"Oh he is alone, that is so sad." He was listening to the opening bands while we were chatting away, making fun at one another. And then the concert began.  He literally was off his feet the moment the band started playing, enjoying every moment of it. He was screaming, cheering, clapping and I would like to think that he was tearing up a little bit too. Seemed like a big fan of the band.My perspective of that individual changed that moment. I thought,"I wish I could do that!" Follow my happiness and do the things I love no matter if I have company to do it with or not. I used to do it in school where I would go ahead and try different things even if I was not necessarily good at them. But just trying them would give me immense satisfaction and happiness. Now I look for people to do it with. Or just pull my husband along because he does not have much of a choice ;)

My mid year resolution (yes, you can have a mid year resolution:) ) is now to go out there and explore new things that make me happy. If I find new or old friends on the way it is great, but that will not deter me from keep trying :)


Cheers to owning your Happiness!


Leena --<@

2 Minute Noodles

In the old ages. I know I am aging myself by saying this but back in the 90's life used to be so simple. Kids would go to school, come back home, pretend to complete their homework, then run away for playing. Come back home, eat and sleep. Simple. Today's life is so complicated. I agree there are is an App for almost everything you might want to do. But the question I ask is,"Do you really need it?" Where is the effort to learn something? To build something from scratch. To experiment using a new instrument or learning a new sport.

In the age of the i products, all that we are doing is straining our eyes, getting wrist pain and yet not really learning anything on the way.

I listen to a podcast called,"The Moth Podcast". It has a simple concept. Real stories told by people without notes. The stories are funny, inspiring, saddening at times. But it always keeps me coming back for more. At the end of the podcast, the host exits by saying," Have a story worthy week!" Everytime he says that I think back on my week to analyze if I had a story worthy week. Some times I do some times I don't. But I definitely try to make it happen. Obviously these people could not have had these stories if they were huddled on their facebook or twitter accounts. They definitely would not have been speaking if they were in front of their technology products all day long.

The gist is simple. "To keep things Simple." Yes there is a ton of information out there. But how much do you really read and retain or even learn from. If the answer is less than 40% it is time to step away from your gadgets, your facebook and the rest and step out to see what the world has to offer. De clutter your life which will help you think more clearly.

I have so many friends who canbe in front of their laptops for 12 hours at a stretch. But if you ask them at the end of the day what did they learn or what did they get out of the 12 hours, you would rarely get 2 or 3 new things. If that is what you plan to do, there is not much difference between us and the rest of the animal world. We have a brain for a reason. The reason will be fulfilled if you decide and do use your brains. 2 minute noodles are easy to make but not healthy to eat. Think about it :)

Leena --<@

The Cost of a Smile :)

Smile! Seems pretty harmless right. So many sayings that encourage smiling. So many songs written on ladies smiling. Smile and the world smiles with you. Cry and cry alone. Blah blah blah...Yet we are most frugal about things that are free. As if we will lose a million dollars if we smile at someone. Okay, maybe I am exaggerating a little. But think about it, when you are out walking or in a mall and you see a stranger in front of you. Your eyes meet. You both scrutinize each other. How often do you acknowledge him or her with a smile? If the answer to this question is often or every time, then I would put you in the exception category. Because most people don't really respond to another person with a smile or a nod. They would look at you from head to toe but will not smile at you or even nod. It is hilarious and intriguing to me. Sort of my pet peeve. I cannot understand that if you are spending a couple of seconds to look why not use that time to smile. Wouldn't that be more productive use of time.
People working in customer care are taught to smile when they say hello to a customer. The rationale behind this is that people can sense the warmth from your voice. So if you smile and speak with your customers, they will be more willing to buy from you. Hence the over use of," Hello sir or ma'am, do you find everything ok?" or ,"Do you need help with something?" It is annoying but nice that someone cares or is at least pretending to care. Seeing someone smile does make you smile. No matter who it is. 
When I go out, I notice how people react when you are in front of them. We look, analyze and then when our eyes meet, I smile and 75% of the times the smile is not returned. Interesting right. In my apartment there is a sort of ego play. Two people will continue to look at each other with squinted eyes but will wait for the other person to acknowledge them, say hi or smile. Why the game I don't know. Maybe the lack of humility. Maybe the presence of ego. Either ways too much drama if you ask me. 
I read a quote once which said people don't remember what you said, your praises or actions but they never forget how you made them feel. So true. Why not be the first smile, spread the happiness and make even a stranger feel special. Hopefully your efforts will be reciprocated. 
Keep smiling :)
Leena --<@

First Love

         Relationships are funny.Living or not, you can always have a relationship. Think about it.. so many people are in an awesome relationship with their iPads and iPhones. Fully content with their world of apps and tools. How do you know that? Simple when your friend or spouse goes missing or is upset, you get worried. Something very similar happens to people who lose their iPads or iPhones or when it stops working. I am sure it will not be an exaggeration if I were to say that my husband would go crazy if he loses his phone for even 5 minutes. I empathize with his obsession with his gadgets. Although I don't feel the same about my phone. 

         I have a different kind of relationship. And it is super special to me. It is not a phone or a laptop. It is my one and only 8 inch Chef knife from Cuisinart. Strange some might say, but ask a person laboring over cutting the veggies with a blunt knife. Before marriage I had never stepped foot in the kitchen. And post marriage I intended the situation to stay the same. Unfortunately things don't always go your way and when you start adding inches around the waistline, you need to watch what you put in your mouth. Cooking at home seemed like a logical choice then. The most irritating chore in the kitchen is prep work. And I hated it since my knife was so blunt by hands would start paining. I tried so many knives I lose count. And needless to say, they all sucked. I bought brands and they just didn't work for me. 

Until one day my husband brought home an 8 inch Cuisinart Chef knife. Wow it was love at first sight. I had to try 5 different knives to get to my lovely Cuisinart knife. It was and is so sharp that over the years have slit all my fingers and sliced all my finger nails. Instant manicure for me. AT one point of time I had band-aids on all fingers. No one would use it but me in my house. It was all mine and no one can touch it. Talk about exclusive rights. Alas, relationships go through rough times sometimes. In my case it happened when another knife entered my kitchen and my life. A beautiful 6 inch special vegetable knife from Cuisinart. I have been dabbling with buying this knife for almost 4 months before I bought. Sort of felt guilty of bringing another knife in my life. Could I manage two? It was a heartbreaking decision. 

          Alas I bought the knife and you know what it was fantastic. It was sharp and so smooth. And I did not cut any of my fingers. I used it non stop for one week and then tried my chef knife one day. It felt perfect in my hand. They say that you never forget your first love. And old habits die hard. Even though I still cut my fingers using my chef knife, I only use it. Occasionally give some time to the new one. First love is difficult to forget and move on, specially if it is an 8 inch amazingly sharp and beautiful chef knife :)

Leena --<@

The Group

I think everyone aspires to be a part of some group at one point of time or another. Whether it is to be part of the cool group or the intellectual group or even the geek group, as social animals we want to be connected with some set of people. I always tried to create my own group and then include any one who wanted to enjoy being themselves.

Recently though, I have had this desperation to be part of a certain group. I have been on a weight loss regime since early 2011 and have taken up running as my cardio routine in my gym. I had no idea what I had gotten myself into, but I wanted to part of the group that can go on running for hours at a stretch without any problems. I remember the Nike Commercial in the movie " What Women Want" I would love to have that feeling when I am running. Easier said than done right! 

With the resolution of doing my best I got on the tread mill. A lady and a guy were on my side running nonstop for 30 minutes. I did my 3 minute warm up and started running at the speed of 5. In 2 minutes I was gasping for breadth and pressed the emergency stop. I looked around and the people besides me went on running like they were flying effortlessly on thin air. I was super annoyed. 

My trainer took me aside and told me,"Leena the more you will push yourself, the farther you will go." Sounds simple enough. Well not in the gym. I started running for 2 minutes and started challenging myself to increase in 5 minute increments every week. 

It was very painful and for a person with a short attention span, it can get very boring. I tricked myself into thinking that it was fun and coupled it with loads of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Disney Channel feel-good shows. 

Today I can run for 45 mins non-stop at the speed of 5 - 5.5. The feeling you have after finishing that long stretch is simply amazing. I look forward to almost going "WOOHOOO !!!" once I am done. Now I don't care if I belong to the runners' group or not. I am just glad I was able to experience that feeling! I hope to run a 5k soon just to see if I can make it that far. I have discovered my love for running and I am not looking back.

Cheers!

Leena --<@