Tom kha gai ( Thai coconut soup)

Fresh crunchy veggies,  wrapped in a blanket of silky coconut broth, this soup will leave you wanting for more. 

vegetarian version

It's already been a week in 2016...I can't believe it, I have barely recovered from the holidays and still holding on to the Christmas tree. Well almost, I just packed it up this morning.

Have you guys made any resolutions? Well my week went pretty well without resolutions, am just trying to be more disciplined ( that encompasses a lot) - encouraging myself not to multi task, being mindful of what I am doing. Mindful is much in vogue ....mindful eating, mindful existence, mindful exercise ....have been reading a lot about 'being mindful' for the last few years. Even though I have had an overdose of it on social media...what really triggered the thought was my absent mindedness and my inability to answer the basic question, "what did I do today?" Multitasking not only kills the joy of doing, there is some lapse in quality too. Well, am taking baby steps ...even now as I write this post I have three more tabs open... and I have switched a couple of times to the other tabs while writing this....so I made the effort to close it and do what I am doing.

All the 'mindful' stuff social media fed me in the last few years, is somehow making sense. Mindful is not really in vogue, it's a silent revolution and a necessity.  We are facing an epidemic of people who are distracted, overworked, over connected and leading to distractions and a lack of satisfaction... If not for anything else, it's good for our brain-health. The statistics of brain related aliment is alarming and scary.

I am liking this change and hopefully get addicted to it. It's contra intuitive, but I get to accomplish more when I am not multi tasking. I'll do anything to utilize and challenge my creative potential, that really is my motivation.

Garlic Stir-fried Udon Noodles

Ginger- garlicky, slurp..y noodles. You can't refuse that bowl, I challenge you !!

A bar of chocolate will not make me weak in my knees like a bowl of well made noodles will. Ok ! who am I kidding, I love chocolate ... you get my point. 

I have always been a foodie, my first question in the morning when I got up ( as a child) what's for breakfast. The question when I got home from school - what's for snack? I almost always polished my plate clean. That's a different story that mom is an amazing cook, we are talking about how great a kid I was ;) Even today food is always on my mind. 

Just the other day I had a disaster in my kitchen. I was watching tele and thinking about dinner ( not unusual), planning to make spicy okra and every time I cook okra - it's not as moist as I want it to be, unless I add more oil. So to add a nice masala and some moisture to  the veggie, I pureed some squash and red bell pepper with some chickpeas. I did not want to cook with the usual onion-tomato combo. Let me put it this way, that did not go very well. Am glad I had the sense to try a sample first.  Back to the drawing board with okra. 

Am glad the noodle story did not go in that direction. Noodles are probably one of the easiest meals to cook. Very forgiving. You really have to make an effort to ruin it, unless you overcook the noodles - there is no redemption there. Also don't overcook the veggies, if you end up doing that while updating your FB status....you can add a few al dente veggies and saving the dish. Remember don't overcook !