Recipes, cookbooks, and future directions

Above is a tray of Cold Asian Noodle Salad that I made for the cookbook release/tasting party at my mom’s hospital. In addition to this one, I also had recipes for Chicken Enchiladas and Chickpea and Potato Curry printed in this employee cookbook. All the recipes are signed off with my name and “Daughter of Navneet, Pharmacy”. My mom chuckled at that, but she deserves credit too! Also, I’m not an employee of their hospital so some explanation of my presence in the cookbook is required. They are selling copies of this to raise money for the March of Dimes foundation (this explains the baby on the cover). I am pretty excited that I officially am a published author! Haha…baby steps. Get it, baby steps?? Baby on cover? You get it.

I’m looking forward to trying out some of these recipes, particularly the “Eggs Mimosa,” which I tasted at the party and thought was delicious! Seeing all these recipes made me think about how food plays such a large role in our lives. It’s in the form of traditions passed down from family members, memories that make us smile, and personal creations that we are proud of. Essentially, food is love! 

I haven’t posted any recipes in a while, I admit. I have been cooking and baking, but it’s all things I’ve blogged about before. My “staple” items like banana bread, muffins, and stir fry. Also stuff like tuna sandwiches, egg burritos, and quesadillas- these are pretty simple to make, so much so that I wonder if it’s even worth writing about. Maybe I could do a “Healthy meals/snacks in a hurry” post about these simple, quick to prepare items. I am sure I will be needing some reference for these when I start school in August.

This brings me to my last note about future directions of this blog. I want to keep it as a place for my recipes and cooking experiences, but I also want to start talking about my experiences at school and all the new things I’ll be learning. I might just have to create a separate blog for that. I don’t think I can group all this information under “Living for the next meal”. It’s hard to maintain one blog, let alone two, so I’m wondering if the creation of a new blog will mean the neglect of the other. Anyway, we shall see what happens.

Caesar Salad (Well, sort of…)

This is not Caesar salad per se, but the closest that I get to it at home. I don’t have time to deal with eggs, garlic, and anchovies, I save that for the restaurants! You might think it’s not worth dedicating an entire post to lettuce, but something wonderful happens when you chop it up and toss it with ranch dressing, freshly shredded parmesan, and a pinch of salt and pepper. That’s the magic I’m talking about here! 

I’m often amazed by how easy it is to do certain things (like make a salad) and yet I don’t do those things on a frequent basis, even if I know how good it would be for me. Another example is doing a quick 5 minutes scalp massage with almond oil. You think, damn, I have so many other things to do, last thing I want to do right now is worry about my hair. But then you turn 40 and your hair is less than stellar because you never gave it any attention. Same thing goes for your body, when it comes to salads. A little goes a long way. (Sorry to everyone out there who is 40, when I start getting closer to that age, I will shift my statements to “when you turn 60″)

We’ll end on a note of animal humor…

Dinner for 12 strangers

I went to a UCLA alumni event last night called Dinner for 12 strangers. (I’m the third person from the right.) I finally did it, woo hoo! I have been wanting to go to one of these dinners since I was an undergraduate student. But, I didn’t have a car at the time and it was hard to figure out how to get to someone’s house clear on the other side of Los Angeles. Okay, maybe the larger reason was that large social gatherings with complete strangers are not on my list of favorite things in life. At this dinner, though, I happened to know the host and I brought a friend along with me. I think the experience would have been just as enjoyable either way, but it’s hard to take that first step and try something new on your own. Lesson learned here is that sometimes you just have to get out there and who knows, you could have a great time when you least expect it! 

We ate lots of good food, prepared by Peggy and her sister Patty, chatted and conversed about anything and everything, and played two rounds of Mafia before having to call it a night because us busy Bay Area Bruins had to get to work/class in the morning. I found that just about every other person in the room was either an engineer or in the tech field. We also had two aspiring teachers, one massage therapist/legal trainee, a Netflix employee, a certified public accountant, an aspiring lawyer, and I don’t remember what else! Oh right, and there was also an aspiring doctor because guess what…..

I’M GOING TO MEDICAL SCHOOL!!!!!  The school is right here in the Northern California, an added bonus, and the program is excellent. In four years, I will become a physician! More on that later, but just had to tell you guys the great news!

Cornbread

Awesome cucumber thingies

A fun display of sweets

More interesting goodies

Hot chocolate cupcakes, my favorite treat of the night!

Just realized that I forgot to take any actual dinner photos, these were just the appetizers and dessert. (I guess I was too busy eating the dinner…) Man, did those two ladies do a great job at throwing an excellent party! I’ll be taking some pointers for my next dinner party, including the lovely little cursive signs that explain what the food item in question is. A nice little touch!

What are you baking this weekend?

Carrot pineapple muffins

Happy Friday! (Just about…) Another week comes to a close. How is everyone doing with their New Year’s resolutions? I think I’ve been doing a decent job. I went to the gym twice this week and didn’t stuff my face with sweets…score! Also, work has been pretty productive and I’ve been able to get in some reading before I go to sleep. And finally the big one: I’m trying to get into medical school this Fall. Yes, it’s the first time I’ve said this on my blog! But we’re pretty well-acquainted now and I thought it was time to tell you about my biggest resolution for the year, and for my life! I have some interviews coming up, and I’m getting ready. Fingers crossed!

‘Tis the season for kickin’ back!

It’s winter break time! I am thrilled to have a break from regular day-to-day life and work for the next 4 days.  Free time for myself, and quality time to be spent with family and friends. Woo hoo! That photo taken above is not recent (yes, I live in California, but we are not THAT spoiled in December)- it’s from my summer camping trip to Point Reyes National Seashore. I feel happy whenever I look at this photo, it’s me celebrating after a 5 mile hike (with another 5 to go on the way back). Ah god, it’s so beautiful there. We ate lunch on top of that cliff, my heart almost stopped as I cautiously peeked over the edge. I’m a little scared of heights.

Run, run, run!

Swapped out boring old laces for hot pink ones!

Today was a good workout day for me. I think I was especially motivated by the bag of goodies I received in the mail from my New York blogger friend, Megan at runlikeagrl. I donated to a brilliant fundraiser she put on to raise money for Staten Island residents who were hit hard by recent the hurricane Sandy- she raised $900! And I was lucky enough to receive a prize in return, what a sweet gesture from Megan.

Small steps, small changes

The title of this post aside, I think President Obama winning another four years in the White House was a big step for America. Big! I went for a walk tonight with my mom, and we discussed his victory speech and how moving and heartfelt it was. (And how he prepared himself well and had a concession speech ready too, unlike his opponent!) Funny enough, we both noticed the way he embraced his wife and daughters and then looked after them as they walked off the stage, just before he was ready to approach the podium. I think that was a look of about several seconds, and I don’t know what he was thinking, but it was really touching because I could see how much he loved his family. My mom and I both agreed that this is the kind of man we want leading our country.

Easy to eat a bowl of ice cream, but running…

Running really, really hurt today. I ran only 20 minutes around the neighborhood but it felt like an hour! Why, why??? Just the day before yesterday, I ran for about a half hour and it didn’t feel so bad as today. I guess this is what happens when you try to exercise on a regular basis after having not moved much for 3 weeks!

That is me up there, post run. A pursed smile that says “Yes, I tried, reluctantly.”  See that number to my left? That was for a 5K back in May. I finished at 30:12. I was actually really excited about running back then. I researched a bunch of 5Ks, but I never ended up training for or signing up for any of them. What a shame! I should look up a run and sign up, maybe that will provide some daily motivation.

Anyway, I guess all I came here to say is that eating a bowl of ice cream is SO EASY but trying to burn it off is just an insane amount of effort. Who knows, maybe all I burned off is just the chocolate syrup. Bah!

I had just wanted to take a nap today but instead I forced myself to run. I guess I can be proud of that. Also, no more ice cream. It just ain’t worth the effort I have to expend!

Cheers,

Nimmie

Foodie thoughts

It’s Friday night and I’m listening to Keane and blogging, perfect! Any other Keane fans out there? I just read about them on wikipedia and learned that they are unique in that they use a piano (or synth) as a lead instrument instead of a guitar, with lots of interesting distortions and mixing. Also love the lyrics…

Where will I meet my fate?
Baby I’m a man, I was born to hate
And when will I meet my end?
In a better time you could be my friend

Where’s the food??

Santa Cruz, CA

I wanted to write a post that didn’t include food today, but almost wasn’t going to because I thought you guys might feel jipped and think “Hey, where’s the damn food??” But I think you can handle my digression for the day. I felt somewhat inspired by reading one of the blogs on freshly pressed. It made me think about writing, and how I haven’t channeled my inner wordsmith in a while.

Above is a photo I took in Santa Cruz, which is not too far away from my home. I live in East Bay, California, and there are literally a myriad of fun things to do around here in the outdoors! In addition to being an eating enthusiast, I am also a hiking and outdoor exploring enthusiast! (Quite fortunate for me, because this is how I manage to keep the pounds off )