Alone in the Kitchen

My guilty pleasures include eating Nutella straight out of the jar, reading in bed, and spending too much money at the grocery store. And now at thirty years of age I am finally willing to admit without any guilt that the one thing I love most is being alone. I can live without checking my phone even once for an entire weekend. In fact I prefer it. Please don't judge me or think that I am lonely. I am just a strange soul that enjoys the company of one.

But let's not forgot that genetically there is an Indian Auntie hidden in me. An Indian Auntie is someone who spends most of her waking hours in the kitchen cooking copious amounts of delicious food which then gets force fed to anyone who comes in close proximity of her. Second servings are not optional but required. Refusal for thirds can lead to hurt egos and threats of disownment. Loud burps during and after a meal are expected. In short, an Indian Auntie spends a lot of time alone in the kitchen anticipating and preparing for every unannounced cravings of her loved ones.

This is why I love going home to my mom. This is why the first thing I do when I visit my mom-in-law is open her fridge. The presence of good home-made food ready to be eaten at will is a comfort that is incomparable to anything I know. (And of course I realized this only after I moved away from home).

When I am alone in my kitchen, I am often baking goodies that will be shared at my office, or trying a new recipe for dinner with my husband, or freezing a big batch of something which I can pull out when I have company. This doesn't feel lonely at all. Though, I will admit to wishing I had someone when the dishes pile up in the sink.

When truly alone, as in preparing a meal just for me, I usually lean towards eggs. They are quick, easy, and highly adaptable to Asian, Italian, French, Mediterranean flavors. I also tend to eat foods that my husband hates such as eggplant, quinoa, spaghetti squash. When I am alone and lazy, I lean towards a toasted peace of hearty whole grain bread with butter, pinch of kosher salt, and lots of whole cumin. Is there anything in the world that improves your mood quicker than a hot piece of bread with butter on it?  Although I will call you a liar if you make me admit this to an Indian Auntie.

Growing up I snuck into the kitchen between meals and made snacks out of the leftover food. Cold roti with cold ghee (clarified butter) and jaggery rolled up into a mini burrito called beedo.  Cold basmati rice with pinch of salt, paprika, and oil mixed together. Then when I was old enough to be trusted with flames, torn pieces of cold roti sauteed in yogurt with some spice. Leftover rice sauteed with tomatoes, cilantro, and spices.

Despite of my love for being alone, I take comfort in knowing that I too will one day morph into an Indian Auntie, with a fridge full of containers filled with every sort of scrumptious food to please every palate. I will try to be a little less overbearing when you are in my kitchen but I can't promise anything.

*This essay was inspired by the book Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant: Confessions of cooking for One and Dining Alone, edited by Jenni Ferrari-Adler. 

Pictures of my recent meal-for-one:

Ratatouille

Eggs with chard, onions, and Parmesan cheese.

Spaghetti squash with spinach, marinara sauce, and cheese. 

A bowl of leftover rice, sprouted mung beans, avocado, onions, bell pepper, and cilantro chutney

Fancy People.

The Gujarathi household is not a fancy household. Nonetheless, at least once a day my husband blames me for wanting to be snooty and upper class. Yeah sure, I rather watch Downton Abbey than a Bulls game; and yeah I force people to use linens; and perhaps I consider it uncouth to drink tea out of a non flowery tea cup; and okay may be I use the word settee a little more than necessary. But surely I do not want to be a snob. I just prefer to be civilized.  There is a difference (right?).

Tonight work kept me late. Then, my under two mile commute took me one hour because my shoes were being highly uncomfortable and while wobbling around in them I dropped my good glove somewhere so I had to back track in the said shoes till I found it which no surprise here made me miss the train which caused me to take the bus instead which was running behind schedule and of course stopped at every stop and every light between there and home. Which eventually resulted in this run on sentence.

By the time I arrived at my apartment, I had lost all my civility I ever managed to gather one linen and tea cup at a time. I was tired. I was ravenous. I was cranky.

One good thing I did before I got home though was to stop at Whole Foods for some salmon. Whole Foods is a magical place. On any day, but especially a day like today when the world seems a little less kind, cruising the aisles of this grocery store restores my mental balance. I knew I only needed salmon, but of course I took the long way via the produce section, then the bakery, then the cheese, and finally the fish monger who gently weighed and wrapped my fish as if a birthday present.   As soon as I was out of the store, I of course started cursing the weather, the CTA buses, and my damn shoes.

I decided to roast the salmon glazed with a homemade sweet and sour sauce. While the oven did its thing, I sauteed some thin asparagus in gobs of butter salt and lemon juice, and re heated the lentils I had pre-made just for this occasion. Devang meanwhile aerated some Chardonnay using his fancy new gadget.

Half way through my meal (and yes it took me that long), I realized that I was sitting at our dinning table, which usually serves the purpose of a study table and a general place to pile crap,  with my husband by my side saying things like I never knew lentils go so well with fish, using linens to wipe his mouth while making sure my wine glass was full, and talking about this and that and totally ignoring the television. THIS was an out of body experience. I felt like I was spying into someone else's house, observing their civilized behaviors. Even before I could share this little commentary, Devang blurts out, tonight we are fancy people.

Cheers to that.

San Diego, CA

 








Welcome to sunny San Diego, CA. 80 degrees days in January, sunny skies, and the abundance of really good fish tacos made me wonder why I don't live here. When I win the lottery I plan to have a winter vacation home somewhere on Mount Soledad. I would have abs of steel from all that surfing I'd do everyday and perhaps a little bit of mercury poisoning from eating too many fish tacos.

Since I was in town for work I didn't get a chance to do my usual amounts of exploring and eating. But here are some of the places I could recommend:

• The Gaslamp District - If you are in San Diego for work or a conference chances are you will be staying in the Gaslmap District. It's a wonderful area lined with lots and lots of great hotels, restaurants, bars, lounges, boutiques, and Padres's PETCO park . The area is lively and safe. While I can't recommend getting an authentic fish taco here, a trip to Searsucker and Blue Point Coastal Cuisine is a must. If you are into beer, check out the extensive beer selection at Yard House. If you have room for dessert, or even if you don't, please still go to Chocolat Cremerie. Some dancing can be done at Basic(also has great pizza), and Altitude (sky lounge with good views).
• Coronado Island - On one of the days, grab a taxi and go over the bridge to Coronado Island. The place has a small beach town feel with great views of San Diego skyline. Thanks to work, I had a chance to dine at the  historic Victorian Hotel del Coronado ( I highly recommend it especially on someone else's dime) and Cendela's on the Bay (good mexican food, great views).
• Balboa Park - Home of the world famous San Diego Zoo, Balboa Park also has museums, performances, and beautiful gardens. If you have the extra cash, get the back stage pass to the San Diego Zoo which allows you to pet and feed some of the animals. Due to lack to time, I did not get to explore this area to it's fullest. 
• La Jolla Beach, Ocean Beach, Mount Soledad - I was awfully lucky to have my friend Dhiren and his cousin Bimal and fiance Shaifali drive me around town for the best views of the city and its beautiful homes. All the beach pictures above are of La Jolla Beach. We ate brunch at Azul which had the best views of the water and the cliffs. The food was ridiculously good too. Ocean Beach is more grungy compared to La Jolla but I found it to be the place for good cheap fish tacos. We ate at Ortega's which also had other great mexican food options.