Hey guys, I posted this before, but now it's not showing up in any searches or anything, and I really need feedback...
Smell the frying onions, lemon juice, and baking bread. Hear cumin seeds sputter in oil, the bubbling of soup, and the hiss of water as it meets hot oil. Taste tart pink ginger, sweet jaggery, and hot paprika. Welcome to my kitchen!
My kitchen combines all the elements of my world into a little space from which exciting experiments, smells, sounds, and tastes emerge. It is my chemistry lab where ingredients react, mix, burn, and turn into delicious or unsavory meals.
My kitchen divides itself into two halves. The first half consists of the exotic spices, such as mint powder, crushed mustard and saffron. These are my Indian ingredients; the ones that I am most familiar with. They lie in chaos; they are combined in chaos, the very essence of the seven years I spent in India. The second half of ingredients exists in order: clear, defined, order. They are drawn from my birthplace, America. This half includes the all purpose flour, mozzarella cheese, and eggs. These ingredients are combined neatly, precisely, and by the book.
Cooking is the lab experiment of my life, the mixture of my upbringings in two very different countries. At times, I use my Indian ingredients, combining them in dangerous and flavourful medleys that make my tongue tingle: spicy savouries, crunchy fritters, and tangy chutneys. They require no recipe, instead prompting the use of my senses, intuition, and quick additions of instinctive flavours. They are messy, they spill and splatter, pop and crackle. I have developed the tolerance for this chaos, and the spontaneity to take the chances it offers. At other times I use my American ingredients, with all their precision and neatness. I need recipes to use them; I meticulously plan the process several times beforehand. They reflect the skills I learned after moving back to the USA-- organization, balance, and leadership.The presence of specific recipes encourages me to try new items; the comforting base of a plan results in new explorations.
The two halves of my kitchen often co-operate and collaborate. My spicy Indian tendencies flavour my American cuisine as I liberally drop green chillies on pizza, or saute everything from soup to eggplant in ginger. I bring my American friends to the swirling colours of the annual Indian folk dance festival, and have a great time. While emceeing at the well- planned Youth Toastmasters event, my experience with uncertainty comes in handy when things don't go according to plan. Of course, the two halves also collide and clash. My Mom never lets me put mushrooms in any Indian curry, nor can I bring eggs into the house during religious festivals. I have never been allowed to experience a typical teenage girl sleepover. I refuse to break Western tradition as well; I will never put any Indian flavoring in cakes or cookies. However, I have to admit that the clashes and collisions are what make my kitchen interesting; They bring new perspectives and fresh ingredients.
While I think of the two halves of my kitchen as complete, they are soon to become two-thirds. I eagerly and somewhat anxiously anticipate the third addition to my kitchen. It holds new skills to be learned, new experiences to be explored, and, most importantly, new ingredients for my pantry.
Smell the frying onions, lemon juice, and baking bread. Hear cumin seeds sputter in oil, the bubbling of soup, and the hiss of water as it meets hot oil. Taste tart pink ginger, sweet jaggery, and hot paprika. Welcome to my kitchen!
My kitchen combines all the elements of my world into a little space from which exciting experiments, smells, sounds, and tastes emerge. It is my chemistry lab where ingredients react, mix, burn, and turn into delicious or unsavory meals.
My kitchen divides itself into two halves. The first half consists of the exotic spices, such as mint powder, crushed mustard and saffron. These are my Indian ingredients; the ones that I am most familiar with. They lie in chaos; they are combined in chaos, the very essence of the seven years I spent in India. The second half of ingredients exists in order: clear, defined, order. They are drawn from my birthplace, America. This half includes the all purpose flour, mozzarella cheese, and eggs. These ingredients are combined neatly, precisely, and by the book.
Cooking is the lab experiment of my life, the mixture of my upbringings in two very different countries. At times, I use my Indian ingredients, combining them in dangerous and flavourful medleys that make my tongue tingle: spicy savouries, crunchy fritters, and tangy chutneys. They require no recipe, instead prompting the use of my senses, intuition, and quick additions of instinctive flavours. They are messy, they spill and splatter, pop and crackle. I have developed the tolerance for this chaos, and the spontaneity to take the chances it offers. At other times I use my American ingredients, with all their precision and neatness. I need recipes to use them; I meticulously plan the process several times beforehand. They reflect the skills I learned after moving back to the USA-- organization, balance, and leadership.The presence of specific recipes encourages me to try new items; the comforting base of a plan results in new explorations.
The two halves of my kitchen often co-operate and collaborate. My spicy Indian tendencies flavour my American cuisine as I liberally drop green chillies on pizza, or saute everything from soup to eggplant in ginger. I bring my American friends to the swirling colours of the annual Indian folk dance festival, and have a great time. While emceeing at the well- planned Youth Toastmasters event, my experience with uncertainty comes in handy when things don't go according to plan. Of course, the two halves also collide and clash. My Mom never lets me put mushrooms in any Indian curry, nor can I bring eggs into the house during religious festivals. I have never been allowed to experience a typical teenage girl sleepover. I refuse to break Western tradition as well; I will never put any Indian flavoring in cakes or cookies. However, I have to admit that the clashes and collisions are what make my kitchen interesting; They bring new perspectives and fresh ingredients.
While I think of the two halves of my kitchen as complete, they are soon to become two-thirds. I eagerly and somewhat anxiously anticipate the third addition to my kitchen. It holds new skills to be learned, new experiences to be explored, and, most importantly, new ingredients for my pantry.
