I won!

Today has been a very exciting day for me - I won the chili cook-off contest at work! After years I participated in something and won. My recipe which was a desi version of the westernized Chili was selected as the winner and also found mention for originality and spice /kick! This was my first attempt and the reward is extremely motivating - at least it motivated me to update my food blog after 6 months! Honestly only I know that I was really mad at someone when I was cooking...but seems my anger was channeled well :)

Since I have been working on my recipe, this is my post for today. Interested parties may please click here to read about chili and check if the recipe interests you.

http://yumpalettes.blogspot.com/

Note to self: I really need to work on getting all my blogs in one spot!!! I am just not sure how to do it. if anybody has some suggestions please let me know.

Wordless Wednesday 1 - What's smoking??

I noticed that Wordless Wednesday is very common across the blogosphere. I think that the concept is great. I wanted to do one too. This is my first one. Here goes....

Girl vs Diet

It was a boring "Tuesday" afternoon and she was contemplating about her assignment when her colleague made eye contact with her. Get into the kitchen said those eyes and then pointed to the big brown box that she was holding. Oh no! thought the girl - not this not now. Why does this always happen to me? But she couldn't resist walking into the kitchen wondering about what the consequences of her careless action would be. Soon there were others bustling around them as the box opened to reveal its contents. As the girl fought the lat few ounces of temptation her mouth spoke the words - "There goes my diet!!!I will take a slice of the veggie pizza!!!!"

P.S - This is my second post for the day. The first was supposed to have been posted yesterday which is why I have 2 posts today. This is my first attempt a short story like thingie...am going to call these "shorty" :)

The MInd, Body and Yoga

Ok..so here I am on the path to finding myself and an important part of this project is to have some kind of discipline in life, the ability to shut off negative influences and concentrate on what is important to you as a person, a pure mind and body etc., I am not going to go on cos I might sound like a philosopher which I am not even close to... Speaking of a pure body and mind (ahem!! My body probably cries every time I feed it junk and my brains are overworked as they never rest) I have just started taking yoga classes as an important step of this journey :) I was skeptical at first about yoga - you would be too if parts of your childhood were spent sitting with an aunt who chanted "Om" when you looked on like a deer struck by headlights wondering how this supposed to be fun! Anyways I digress.

Have you ever had the experience of trying to stretch like a cat years after school and college ? More simply put you are no longer between the age range of 16-27?? The only way I can describe how I felt when I tried the most simple and basic yoga stretches is confusion and pain!Here I was trying to concentrate on holding a cat-dog or cow or some kind of animal pose (maybe it was pigeon which actually makes it a bird pose) without tripping on myself or someone next to me! It seemed to be that my body was taking revenge on me for the years of abuse it had been subjected to over the last 3 decades!! And you what they say about pay backs - you get much more than you gave! And it didn't help that some others were doing all of this without breaking into a sweat when I couldn't even touch my toes..Those who know me well know that I am obsessed with touching my toes. It has been a life long endeavour of mine to touch my toes...I couldn't do it when I was a kid, when I was dancing full time and I still can't do it! I keep blaming it on my genes whilst some say its my hamstrings. This "unable to touch my own toes complex" has become a regular joke in my life because of which I have decided to overlook this inability of mine while navigating the journey of life. Getting back to my class, towards the end of it I was desperately looking forward to the death pose where you just lie down and relax!

All said and done a few classes later I find that I can do the cats, cows,dogs and even cobras but not the bird!! I try to take inspiration from my cat who can stretch himself like nobodies business and who thinks I am just being silly when I try to do the cat-cow and dog... he runs beneath me trying to play the "let me see if you will fall" game! But I do look forward to every class so maybe, just maybe I am finding some kind of discipline in my life after all.

So here is to me trying and filing my experiences here so that I can look back one day when I can do all the fancy back bends and remember my humble beginnings and laugh at the girl who was trying to something - I am hoping the future me would have it figured out the "something" by then :-)


P.S - I had a very silly look on my face as I typed out this post - I have missed not posting on the weekend and I had nominated myself for the nablopo of all things....

TGIF!!!!! 08-Oct-10

It's Friday! Yay! It has been a long week and I am looking forward to this week end more than I normally do! The only thing I have planned is to attend my yoga class. on Saturday. A separate post on that will come soon. What I'd like to do other than that has been summed up well by furry little pal:-)

On a different note I am going to give nablopo a try and am starting off small but cute (with this post) Also going forward I am going to do TGIF posts every Friday. These posts will be the best way for me to unwind after my week...everybody does wordless Wednesdays so why shouldn't I do TGIF Fridays?? :) For those who may not know (though I am sure that is a rarity) TGIF is an acronym for Thank God It's Friday! What do you have planned for the week end??

Of Concentration, Me and MM

Have you ever wondered what happens to your sense of concentration once you are done with college? I have been trying hard (not real hard though) to start studying for a very important exam which I have been planning to write for quite some time now. Every time I open my books I go through the same experience which can very comically be described like this:

Me: Ok! Time to get serious..I need to pull up my socks and get this done! After all its for my own good...I can snag that corner office with a view some day (soon)!
MM: That's right babe! You can do it...together we can conquer the world!

5 minutes later:

Me: Chapter 1: "XYZ is the term that is used to define process which describes........"
MM: Are you comfortable in this seating position???
Me: Sure...I have never used a table and chair all my life! Why start now? XYZ is the terms that is used to define process which describes........
MM: Sorry to interrupt, but your back is going to get all bendy this way and you will start hunching more than usual....
Me: grrrr...ok fine! I am moving to the table

After moving to the table:

Me:"XYZ is the term that is used to define process which describes blah blah and Blee. Those who are very adept at following these processes are referred to as........"
MM: Gosh! What's the sound I hear?? Is someone walking past your window??
Me: Grrr....shut up and concentrate! "XYZ is the terms...."
MM: Whatever! I think I need some coffee so that you can be fresh and really concentrate..
Me: Good Lord!! U are a pain...fine will get the coffee..

30 minutes later after coffee:

Me: "XYZ is the term....................blah blah.........bleh!" Yes finally I can remember this...I am done with one page! Yippeee
MM: Good Job! U need a break Let's check whats on TV.....
Me: That is so true....we have been working hard on this for the past 30 minutes! Let's check out the telly...

Another 30 minutes later:

Me: Ok lets get back to work...
MM: Yes! Yes!
Me: "Page 2: The entire XYZ process is depicted in the diagram below...."
MM: Speaking of diagrams did you notice that you still haven't finished that painting??
Me: Yes..will get to it soon...."Page 2: The entire XYZ process...."
MM: You have been saying that for some time now...
Me: Can I please finish this page?? "Page 2: ....."
MM: Look you need to tidy up this place first...It is messing up with the Feng Shui of this room..this is why you can't concentrate...
Me: Good Lord!! Please help :(

Finally, I just closed my books and decided that I was just not up to it at that moment. There was a time in life when I could sit at a place with my books and go on for hours! I woke up at 4:00AM and kept going till 9:00AM sometimes even longer with no real breaks! Only my books got my attention and nothing else...I could concentrate...Now I have become lost in this world of multi-tasking where I have to 100 things at a time to feel satisfied: read my book, check my email, clean my room, think of a solution for a work problem and more!Does life makes us this way? Or do the words of a good friend (who rarely reads this blog ) are true when he says: "It's the age! You are just too old for this stuff!!"

Me:Gulp! I hope not.....dear God please help!
MM: Babes don't you worry.....you can do it!

Sigh....

Conversations with MM

Tuesday afternoon after a long week end my mind (MM)which pretty much likes to do its own thing tells me:

MM: I wanna do something adventurous,
Go back packing some where or just pack and go somewhere (based on convenience),
Stay in a small town, in the mountains....

SR (that's me):Maybe, but please ensure that there is running water and electricity...am all for the simple life but I need to shower everyday and not let the heat and mosquitoes kill me..

MM:(after a whatever expression)....Live the simple life
Write, paint, eat, sleep, grow my own vegetables, cook......

SR: Yeah sure - If we don't get too lazy that is!BTW from where will the funding come for this dream trip??

MM: Why do you have to rain on my parade? Do u have to be practical all the time?? I can't believe I live within you!! I am so adventurous, creative, and happy go lucky and u....

SR: Well.....

- Interrupted by a superior at work (SP@work)

SP@work: So whats the status on the blah blah item we were working on this morning???
SR: Well its going on a blah bleeh mode and should be done soon....

MM: While this silly girl is trying to work on real life let me go back and doze some more before she will let me fly.