A Bite here.....A Bite there.....

Anyone who knows me….knows how much I LOVVVE food!

That’s never been a secret…
But it sure did kill my dreams of being a runway model….!
Ahhh well, maybe in another lifetime 

In fact my hubby attests that when I’m having a meal that I am thoroughly enjoying, it’s totally pointless to try and have a conversation with me.
Apparently my sense of hearing gets lost, as I indulge in the raptures of foodie joys.
True story!

Since I’ve been travelling through the United States so frequently, one my greatest pleasures has been seeing new places, new people, and of course enjoying many culinary delights.
So it’s just totally mad that I have not done a foodie blog yet!

I decided that I’m going to start one now….A running one that will hopefully get updated ever so often.
Many times people ask me what type of food I like eating……My usual reply is, Anything Yummy! :-)

So I've set out to write this, as it's the last hour of my fasting day, on the last day of fasting! I sure know how to torture myself.
Here are a few yummy things that my expanding waist-line has been testament to.:-)

1. The very verrrry best steak that I have ever eaten (and I’ve had my fair share), has been in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina.
It was so unbelievably good, I literally wanted to weep in joy….weep I say.
I thought I had died and gone to heaven.
Never had a piece of cow tasted sooooo good!
This is an absolute MUST-HAVE if ever in the Raleigh area.

A second close is a fillet Mignon I had while in Phoenix, Arizona.
It had a totally different southwestern twist to it…..but it’s definitely something I would re-order in a flash!

2. The yummiest crème brulee ever has been in unassuming Troy, Michigan!

    Who knew! In Michigan.....
I needed a truck to haul me away back to the parking garage, because I was so stuffed and so high on happiness, I could barely coordinate my limbs!

Other than the dessert, I also had a not-your-ordinary Mac ‘n’ Cheese at the same restaurant, and oh boy, It was not ordinary indeed! 

    I'm not a fan of Mac n Cheese…I just don’t think it’s a ‘dish’ (if you can really call it that!) with any thought process to it and so I don’t really respect it….
So this was a huge turning point in my life J I have tried Mac n Cheese at different places.
Troy has it done the best!

3. This one really surprised me.
But I had a really fantastic fish tikka in Ocala, Florida.
I had no high hopes of sampling a great meal in what almost seemed like the middle of nowhere, but there you have it.
Indians are everywhere, and apparently the ones in this little city in Florida take their food very seriously!
Y.U.M.M.Y!

4. Not many people know this, but I am such a pizza lover.
I could literally eat it every day and be happy forever.
So this point has to be split between two totally different pizza styles, but both equally worth of mention.
 

    

    The classic Italian pizza….
New Haven, Connecticut….
Its reputation precedes it, and for darn good reason!
I think anyone who ever praises pizza from elsewhere (and I hint at the new York pizza lovers here)….has never had pizza from New Haven.
Hubby and I weren’t even talking the entire meal. Our mouths were much better occupied!

And then comes the American version, stuffed pizza, which HANDS DOWN is a Chicago forte!
Here’s a little hint, the Mr. and I had a SMALL pizza………
We were unable to finish it!
But it was so delish! I was actually so mad at getting full on one slice!

5. Another unassuming place has been West Lafayette in Indiana.
I have had two really reallllly good treats here.
First, for the first time in my life, I ate fried pickles!
Yup…..you read it right!

 

    To non-Americans, this will just sound weird………….Heck, to many Americans this will sound weird.
But I did it, as a dare, and there was no turning back. The whole plate was mine by my own decree!
It’s one of those things where, you just have to taste it, to understand.
 

    Second thing I have totally loved there, is a chicken and veggie risotto.
I love Italian food, and have been to countless Italian restaurants.
This risotto is goooooooooooooooooood!
Yet another dish where I was mad that I got full even before I was halfway through my plate!

6. Anyone who has ever been right next to me when I’m having a dessert I like, knows that I have a sweet tooth :-)
So to cap off the list today, I have to mention something from home sweet home, that I have not tasted elsewhere as good.
The Candy Apple! :-)
The first time I heard of it, like with many other things (I don’t know why I don’t just quit it!), it just sounded highly skeptical.

     I didn't even bother to Google it!
But then later, I finished the first one, and IMMEDIATELY bought another one! :-)
 

     It’s a cooked apple, covered in caramel most times, and array of different toppings/coatings (for some reason I love the one with peanuts). In the US, there’s always a bazillion choices for everything. Choose whichever strikes your fancy.
Now that’s a way to get ANYONE to eat fruit regularly! :-)

New Beginnings.........

The past month has been one of much thought for me…..
Two major episodes collided.
One, was my birthday, and the other was the month of fasting, Ramadhan.

This is my birthday post.
Huge birthday this was for me.
A new decade.
And since then, I’ve had people ask me what it’s meant to me…….
If I’ve felt different?
Of what significance it’s been?

It’s taken me almost a month to figure that out.
Do I feel different?
No.
Do I know I am different as result of growing older?
Most definitely.

I’ve been looking back at the past decade and spent much time introspecting on it.
The glorious 20’s…………gone.
And to be quite honest….I am mighty relieved!

The actual physical birth of my alter ego, Suburban Barbie, was born in this decade.
And boy hasn’t she evolved! :-)
That has been one of my crowning glories though.
SB has been a positive force.
She’s the charmer.
The eloquent one who knows how to say the right things.
The planner.
The go-getter.
The one who believes all things are possible.
The compassionate one.
The confident part of me.
The one who has balls.

Suburban Barbie is also the part of me that I thought I could never be.
That might sounds strange, but having severe lack of self esteem when I was younger, I never believed I had all those positive traits.
Or that I could accomplish whatever I set my mind to do.
I had to create SB….separate from myself……to play her….
So that I could know that I am her.

A bit of experimental cognitive behavioral therapy on myself :-) Or just plain old psychological voodoo…
You decide.

Looking back….
The first half of the decade was spent royally screwing up, as I was discovering myself.
I remember so clearly at 21, how I felt I had it all figured out.
And now at 30, I know I have NOTHING figured out…..And that’s okay.
Of course I didn’t know that I had to discover myself, and figure out things. I already thought I had it all in the bag.
Just amazing at the lack of clarity at that age….Of the tunnel vision I had.
How catastrophic that turned out to be for me.
And many others now...that I watch everyday.
Caught in the webs of their own making at a young age.

The second half of the decade, after accepting that I have been living in utter misery and a façade of a so-called happy life, was spent trying to figure out, where did I go wrong?
I believe I am quite fortunate to have had that turning point while still in my 20’s….
For many, it doesn’t happen till much later.
But perhaps all the travesty I had prevailed brought me to that point much sooner than most.

 

I think the first step at that point was acceptance.
Acceptance that I had screwed up.
Acceptance that I did not like the person I was and that I had to change.
Acceptance that change is possible.
Acceptance that I had NOT FIGURED IT ALL OUT.
Acceptance that if I wanted different results in life, I was going to have to BE and DO different.
Acceptance that it all started with me, and no one else was to blame for MY CHOICES.

It was the hardest thing to swallow my pride and face myself.
And that was my quarter life crisis….As I called it then.
In reality, It was my greatest turning point to date.
And I hope I always look back upon that time and stick true to the promises I made to myself then.

So you can see why I’m mighty relieved the 20’s are over.
 

I feel like I survived a storm while sitting in a teacup….and that I have just landed on safe beach somewhere.
That is what turning 30 has meant to me.
My mother always said that a woman always looks her best at 30, so I suppose that i have lots to look forward to now.
When I think about her statement, I realize, she didn't mean that only in the physical sense.
After the trials and tribulations of adolescence and young adulthood, you finally reach the point where you know yourself as a person. 

Where people cannot shake you and peer pressure becomes a thing of the past 

(well, optimistically, for most!)......

When you have the confidence and self assurance to be you.

And that state of mind shines through, and is a very attractive quality. 

If harnessed, that's when women become power houses.
 

So now, welcome to the decade of FABULOSITY! :-)

Despair..............

Has it been over a month already?
How did we get to August?!

I've now spent most of the year in various cities, and various hotel rooms, such that it's become an easy rhythm...
I don't even notice the time pass anymore.
So it always kinda jolts me back to reality when I have to consciously think of how much time has lapsed.

But I did have to notice the dates this month, since it happens to be the month of fasting...
The month of Ramadhan.

A few days ago marked exactly one year since I came to the New World.
How time flies.
How life changes.
We truly are creatures of change us human beings.....Even if we don't know it, or even like it.

This Ramadhan is particularly important for me for a variety of reasons....
It truly marks the very first Ramadhan that my hubby and I are observing together....
Like truly truly!
Event-free....
Drama-free.......

In 2009, I had to go back to the UK to finish up my Masters Degree.
That meant a physical separation from my other half.
So it wasn't really our first Ramadhan together.

Last year this time round, I remember how I felt.
I was in a new place....
Far away from home.
I didn't know anybody....Other than my husband.
It was hot....beyond what I had anticipated....And everyone knows I don't handle the heat well!
I was not in my own home, and did not have a home to call my own........yet.
The place we were in was not particularly welcome of us as it turned out.
To say that our stress levels were through the roof...........Would be an underestimate.

Not to mention, I think I was still slightly fractured mentally and emotionally from my time in the Middle East.

But I couldn't let it show through.
I couldn't crack......Outwardly.
I had to put a smile on everyday, and just get on with it.
Because that's all I know how to do things.

So we started out last Ramadhan.....
Uncertain of what we were going to eat for Iftar (breaking of the fast) each day....We were in someone else's home, who didn't take that factor into consideration....Or seem bothered about it for that matter.
We were house hunting.
We were job hunting.
I remember every morning walking to catch the bus.....In the heat....Dripping in sweat by the time we got there.
I don't know how we managed to work through that time...
But we did.
All that mattered was that we were together.
Almighty God is surely Most Merciful.

One of my favourite Islamic scholars, Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, mentions several times in many of his lectures...
That Muslims do not despair.
If we truly believe in God, we do not despair.
I think that was my lesson to learn from 2009 really.
Do not despair.

Le sigh............

How many of us can say that we are on our way to mastering that?

It didn't take long for us to find our own place to move to really...
For us to start making our home.
For the cars and jobs to come.
For the shopping sprees and my ever-expanding shoe collection to take center stage.
For me to adapt to an American lifestyle.
For life to get a routine.

So Monday morning, when my hubby and I woke up to have our Suhoor....our pre-dawn meal....as we prepared to start off the month of Ramadhan, all I could do was smile like a child and give a big thanks to up above.
I just felt calm.....And happy....And at peace.
Slightly elated actually!
I got to make what my grandmother made for us every morning for Suhoor.......Paratha (Indian flat bread), yummy spicy fried eggs, and of course masala chai.....

I finally got to share a part of my tradition....

A part of me....

In my own home...

With my husband:-)
It wouldn't mean much to someone else, but it was a truly bitter sweet moment for me.
And all I could think about was one of my favourite verses from the Qur'an....
Truly after hardship, there comes ease.:-)

To all my brothers and sisters out there in faith, have a wonderful and blessed Ramadhan.:-)