My upcoming india trip :) :(

Like the smileys, my emotions are totally mixed up. Its happiness of seeing my mom,dad, sis there is this huge discomfort prediction that keeps popping up in my head. There are so many expectations, situations, people testing our peace. My house is like a comfort bubble where nothing ever gets to my nerves. Bulletproof setting for seeing all those b k shivani. Now that out there is the field where the test is. May be this is examination anxiety.

Let me address all my stupid fears so its  kind of a letting go feeling.

My very first fear is flight. Ohhh who doesn't hate long hauls, fear of flight delays, flight food. Solution obviously is to just let it flow how it is supposed to be. Not even an inch of it is in our control. Hmm answers are within us. Pack light, stretch when you can, don't carry laptops, carry books cookies , wear comfortable clothes, take extra pair and just chill. Never forget those headache pills. Handle it all gracefully. Meditate yoga when you can.

My second fear is missing out on yoga. Who wouldn't miss out on big mirrors, instructors, perfect advanced classes. But then again my parents do yoga, my dad has been meditating for years so it could turn into a mini yoga retreat too. At the end of our trip, we are also going to an actual retreat in thailand. See, stupid exaggerated fears. In fact, even if I don't want to do, I am pretty sure my mom will make me do yoga, meditation, mantras like she did in childhood. This is going to be huge learning. First time my dad will take meditation sessions.  Its gonna be cool.  Flight time could be like a recovering time for us to just relax.


Summer : Summer is like hot yoga room in India. You know the advantage, no one really walks, everyone has cars ACs. Basically its just AC to AC travel. So complaining about summer is not even a talk.

Wedding : We are going for a wedding, its my worst nightmare, dressing up meeting people. Now now dressing up is not an issue because I don't really care. All I do is dance eat make some jokes and escape. So that fear is purely irrational. People well that is the test. Again, I survived my sister's wedding by my own rules. This shall pass too. I will dance, be happy, be nice to people. Accommodations are already taken care of. Nothing to worry there.

People : Hmm there are some untangled relationships. I am just going to be me, more expressive, more nicer but still protecting my feelings and calmful. Hehe probably thinking of b k shivani a lot. Lucky for me, its just a few weeks in an year. All I have to do is practice what I listen all day.

Water food train : Yeah NRIs and their issues. Most of my trip involves in protected homes so water food is not even an issue. There is just one train journey and that too nightly. Yeah, another fear killed.

Travelling so much : When you travel that far, of course you travel almost a week. Whining is a way to go but why not enjoy every moment. Its not in our hands what why how happens. Lie down, eat, chill. Read a good book, share jokes, meditate.

So lets count good things too. First one is hanging out with my family which is really fun. We have so many inside jokes that only we share and laugh at. So many fun memories. We can just hang out at home, do nothing all day and still be content. Its like friends having polite conversations that include lots of pleases, thank yous and super healthy meals.

I get to test my little earned wisdom on peace and stability with people. I can mend some relations, be a mature person.

My thailand yoga retreat is the highlight of our trip. It will be so serene to practice yoga in a beautiful seaside resort with vegan meals and massages.

I get to shop in indian malls which are so much better than here, hmmm because I understand them, I know the quality price distinction. Sizes fit me better prettier.

I get so much love from everyone my parents, my in laws, my mom's friends, my relatives. I get to eat all my fav food and there is no cooking or chores involved. I meet a few friends of mine, one of the kids I babysat.

Then my hometown is obviously there. Its called city of lakes. Its beautiful, sunrise sunsets lush green, stray dogs cats.

Best thing is its my birthday. Gifts gifts gifts. Yay.


I don't expect anything but happiness and peace. I will not expect anything from people. I will be content. I will not complain or whine. Nothing will touch my peace. I will do yoga. I will meditate.  I will not over eat. I will be loving, caring, thoughtful to everyone but primarily to me and my husband. I will enjoy each and every  moment. If I  feel attacked or lost, b k shivani will come to my rescue.

OM SHANTI OM

My weekday dinners and breakfasts :)

There have been months of me slicing sweet potatoes old fashioned way. It became frustrating, time consuming and worthless effort. Then one day finally I ordered a mueller mandolin slicer. Okay, my history with knives is troublesome, no matter how blunt knife is, I find a way to cut myself. With this super sharp blade slicer and youtube, one day it happened. My finger almost sliced off, blood came pouring out, it didn't even hurt a bit. It was the expression we see in movies, someone gets stabbed and they don't even know it till they see blood.

Yeah, so now there is no way indian cooking was accessible with my hurt finger. Menu changed to salads, easy fixes every day. Breakfast wasn't really affected but dinner drastically evolved.

A few breakfast options we have are:

Oats with 1% milk, brown sugar and loads of nuts like walnuts, cashews, raisins, dates, pistachios, almonds blah blah. There is an awesome superfood trail mix on amazon. Its great with goji berries, brazil nuts etc etc.

Yogurt with granola or cereal with our favorite fruits like mango, musk melon, banana, apple, grapes, berries whatever I find in refrigerator.

Tofu scramble with bread. So many veggies can be added to tofu scramble. It usually goes with dry fruit shake made with soaked almonds, cashews, figs, dates, raisins, pista all the fav ones.

Blueberry coconut cranberry whole wheat pancakes from wholefoods mix. Eat with loads of fruits, lychee, whipped cream, maple syrup.

There are tons of other options to explore in breakfast. I am content enjoying these right now.


A few dinner options in our home are :

Spring greens, roasted nuts, mandarin orange, cranberries with maple syrup, orange juice, balsamic vinegar, himalayan salt, pepper. Simple easy and so so so delicious. For fiber, I have breads with little olive oil, garlic, pepper, , salt, feta cheese on broiler mode for 3 minutes till it browns. Its pretty perfect.

Pasta salad with spinach, brocolli, carrot, corn, capsicum, zucchini, pinenuts with vinegar, tobasco sauce, honey,sea salt , pepper, ranch dressing, mustard dressing, tahini sauce in dressing. Again with same bread. I should start getting french loaf to make it more regal. Sometimes I add onion, cucumber in vinegar sugar salt mixture, after an hour it gives pickled effect. I also made pickled beets to go with every salad. Only way beets go in my body. Throw in some kidney beans, chickpeas for protein.

Couscous pine nut with stir fried vegetables like spinach, carrot, onion, capsicum, mushrooms, cauliflower, spring onions. I went to this korean store and got so many kinds of fun vegetables like thin tiny mushrooms, sprouted beans. Add any vegetable you like with some salt, soy sauce, vinegar, tobasco. There are tons of recipes on this.

Tomato soup with beetroot, carrot, onion, sweet potato, parsley, ginger, garlic.

Dan dan noodle soup. I loved this one.
http://www.recipetineats.com/dan-dan-noodle-soup-vegetarian/

And of course vegetarian sandwich with diced onion, tomatoes, cheese, green chutney, sauce. Masala papad. These go with alcohol for us.

Ohh vegetarian options are unlimited. Try finding korean, chinese recipes. They are spicy, hearty, healthy which is what we all need.

Thanks,
NAMASTE

Passion is love, life needs love

If someone did real deep digging  on my blog, they would stumble by this starting of yoga post that showed the depressed me looking for rows to hold on to. Literally, the feeling of sinking was in. I couldn't imagine doing anything with full heart. A routine was made, worst feeling: it would have stuck for years.

Yoga arrived to rescue me. When we do something solely for ourselves, we don't just gain a skill we gain a stream of happiness. It can be cooking, zumba, skiing, writing, painting etc etc etc. Anything that makes you feel alive. The list is huge, just pick one you can thrive in.

The first thought as soon as you wake up shouldn't be the list of chores or a person. It must be this day is going to be lovely. Am I gonna take this class or am I gonna walk or am I simply staying at home blissfully enjoying perfect loneliness? Loneliness gets a bad rep, its a full post topic for me.

One more change that something with passion brings is better vibes for other creative stuff like cooking. Old me hated cooking, most of it because there is no what goes with what sense in me. I got to google at least an hour to find perfect recipe, even more when it needs mixing of more. Guess what, yoga helped my cooking. I just redirected my happy energy there. When realization of accomplishing came in a certain field, my mind figured its just more attention and consciousness. If I can be good at something by just 1 hour of my day, I can probably pick up 4 more activities and get better simultaneously. That is the motivation of successful contentment.

It will be difficult in beginning like how we learn to ride bike. My mother just learned how to ride it. Every time I called she would tell me how much her knees shoulders hurt still she kept going. She's an annoying inspiration sometimes. My husband is another kind of inspiration, he's conquered so many physical mental blocks, sometimes I wonder how the fuck is he doing so much in one day. Yeah he tries a lot too. How can you give up when you are surrounded by this energy? You can be that energy for others too.

 It has kind of given me push to get into professional swimming lessons. Yeah, it will be another cycle of learning which is so much fun as body reacts in all the creepy painful ways.

When our body and mind are tested to limits, we don't just improve in one direction. Its overall development. So keep working on yourself, you never know what you can do unless you give it a try. If passion finds you, life loves you way back more.

Why Indians love cows so much?

So we have all heard of the petitions against beef in india. Why are we Indians obsessed with cows? Why can't we just eat them like the whole world? In fact we have reservations against pork too. Why why?

Lets see when someone mentions cow what my mind throws at me. The most vivid memory is me spending time at my grandmom's house and there are cows calfs. Its early morning, they are all eating peacefully. My cousins take them out , when they come back in afternoon my bed is laid alongside. They nap, we nap. My uncle gets the milk in morning. Cow is not just an animal. Its a part of family. When a calf is born, people celebrate. Now to this crowd, if you mention beef , it will invite this kind of a revolt.

Okay, not everyone raised cows. Lets take me to city lane. Cows are wandering on streets which does add up to traffic. In the night, when mothers make chapatis they actually roll out extra so they can feed cows in morning. Summers are about kids giving food to cows.  Again, to these mothers, mentioning beef is a crime.

Another scenario is the temple. People queue up to feed cows. They are adorned with garlands, literally worshiped on festivals that are made in their honor. Haha don't even say the word kill here.

Yeah, that is enough proof. There are malpractices where cows are tortured so people can wear them in shoes or serve them up in burgers. Their ears are fed to dogs. How they are carried from one place to another is a sort of living hell. The pain that these creatures go through to satisfy materialistic human desires is sick brtual nazi treatment. And people say legalize beef. Yeah we might just go ahead get on the cannibalism bandwagon.

How do we see cows?Farmers rely on them.  They are the most gentle loving  calm animals that love with all their heart. Their patience is like a mom's patience for child. They adore families, their babies are so precious to them. They call them out in morning. Seeing a beautiful amazing life cycle is a reward in itself.

So when you say beef, it is humiliating shameful and disgusting to us. We love animals, cows dogs cats. We might not have a lot of people keeping pets but raising those strays and their generations is not less. There are organizations fighting for the rights. If you really wanna witness, try visiting a gayatri prajapati temple. Share the love.

 Love is all around. :)

Why we say no to Indian restaurants?

You should really learn cooking when you move to US. The funniest thing is there is clusters of restaurants all around claiming indian food. Have you ever been to one of those though? Hmm let me describe the feeling.

Imagine you are in Bangalore and you are hungry. Only place open right now is Shanti Bhavan.
Imagine you are in Chennai and you are really hungry. Now only place you see is Saravana Bhavan.
Yeah cheap furniture, rude waiters, dirty water, really filthy menu. I don't remember going to those places by choice. Do you? No you were out feasting in classy posh Raintree, Rajdhani, Taj, Marriott, Leela palace. Was it ever a fun weekend activity to be in a shabby place they call indian restaurants here.

Why are you out eating in places that don't serve good quality food? They are banking on your NRI emotions feeding you substandard dishes made with substandard ingredients. Do yourself a favor, stop going to these places. When we stop going, they stop too. They will reconsider, revamp, probably hopefully raise cooking standards.

Even when they get franchisees from India, they know competition is nada. So again, the profit cutting comes. Particles floating in water, mango juice made from maaza is the rajdhani franchise here. I love indian food, its what I grew up with. Whenever we have tried indian restaurant in seattle, it ended with food poisoning. Stomach bloats up giving uneasy feeling. Rice has soda in buffets. Most of the people don't suffer. If you think of it though, can you ever compare the courtesy, quality offered in american cafes to this bullshit indians offer to their fellow indians.

There are quite a few exceptions who do great like the Curry Leaf in SFO. Its my plea to all those indifferent cheap restaurant owners. Just think how you would want to be treated and do the same. Serve authentic indian food and see people lining up for your business. Serve bad and well people still line up. That to me is the biggest disappointment.

Next time you go anywhere, think how would an american react what would they expect, is this place to my standards, is this food water worth troubling my body?

Yeah, you are what you eat. So choose wisely.