Bhangra on the Loch

In a meeting with a marketing adviser today, I was dozing off when something woke me right up. It was a smell, not necessarily a foul smell, but definitely familiar. I recognized it as a smell from my house, when my mom cooks...

PAKODAS!

I squirmed a little in my seat, wanting to leave the meeting and explore the origin of the smell. As I basked in the ephemeral glory of the delicious scent of burning oil, hydrogenated fats, and greasy goodness, I came to the realization that Indian food is not something to be taken granted for.

Indian food is kind of like Thai food. There are too many arbitrary spices, oils, and ingredients, and too many complicated steps involved in making the actual dish. Ask an Indian person how to make chicken curry, and you run into two problems: 1) they won't know how to quantify how much of anything to put, cuz they eyeball it, and 2) their recipe is different than every other "chicken curry" recipe. Whenever someone asks me if I can make Indian food, I give them an incredulous look. I can mix a factory-made sauce with chicken and warm up some frozen garlic naan. Does that count?

Speaking of food, I've been really good about having breakfast every day! Hopefully I won't be lazy and this trend will continue into the school year.

A brief list of things I've done over the past week:
1) Visited Edinburgh
2) Talked to random strangers about pre-packaged salads
3) Impulse-shopped at grocery stores
4) Explored a historic cotton mill, New Lanark
5) Danced bhangra on a boat in the middle of Loch Katrine
6) Attended, and led one or two, meetings with clients
7) Discovered how to cook chicken
8) Discovered how not to cook chicken
9) Played basketball for three straight hours
10) E-mailed and chatted with new and old friends
11) Gained some understanding about myself as an individual
12) Visited the library & checked out a book, The Kite Runner
13) Rekindled my interest in jazz
14) Baked cupcakes (not from scratch)
15) Skyped home
16) Gained weight!
17) Learned a bit about marketing
18) Played with plastic bubble balloons, or "b-loons"
19) Hung out with friends
20) Ate a half-chicken, baguette, and cheese for lunch. Thrice.

Okay compadres, I'm out. Dinner time!