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Tuesday, October 28, 2008

About Me!

My world changed drastically after marriage when an unforeseen guest came in to my life. I didn't know how to react to it as I had never met her in the last 5 years of my busy IT career life. It was very hard for me to digest this new "annoying" guest and I badly wanted to get rid of this idiotic lady. Eager to know who she is? 'Leisure' is  her name (please don't ask me if leisure is feminine). It was then I rediscovered my passion for cooking and writing. It was more exciting when I found an interesting equation to do this - Cooking + Writing = Blogging . Though I was confident about my cooking skills I felt more encouraged when TH and our friends appreciated it. I felt enthralled that I  could satisfy the taste buds of people who came from different cultural background than mine. This is how my blogging journey began.

 

Little about ME:
     I was born in Salem, a city popular for Mangoes and Silver Anklets and grew up in the multi-cultural suburb of Chennai. In the childhood days, I dreamt of becoming an Astronaut in NASA but somehow ended up maintaining Oracle Databases.  So blogging is not my full time job. I do it for my all time passion for food and my latest obsession for Food Photography. Initially I was a picky eater and was so obsessed with my Mom's food to an extent that I never ate outside. But times changed and I became more liberal in trying various cuisine which transformed me to a true foodie. Someday Sometime I want to attend a culinary school and open a restaurant serving home style food.
I live in the Garden State of America with my darling husband Vasanth. He works part time in my blog as the 'Quality Control Manager'. Otherwise you can see him controlling Mainframes, Composing Music and playing Badminton. His love and support keeps me going :)

I know you might still have some questions in your mind. You can read this F.A.Q for details, if you don't find the information you are looking for please feel free to drop me an email.


F.A.Q

What does Food for 7 Stages of Life mean?
   One fine day, an idea popped up in my mind that I could use to host my debut food event. It was to ask my blogger friends to cook dishes for different stages of human life. I believed that this will be an interesting and useful theme for all of us. This is how the 'Food for 7 Stages of Life' theme was born. Eventually I got so obsessed with this name that I decided to change my blog name to 'Food for 7 Stages of Life'. In my world, 7 Stages of Life starts with Pregnancy and goes on until the old age. The recipes and musings here are immortal :)

Why did you abandon your old blog name 'Sourashtra Kitchen'?
  I had two good reason to change it
   1. Most of the readers had no clue about our language and cuisine. So most of the them were leaving my blog as soon as they landed. It was disheartening and the whole purpose of the blog to familiarize the Sourashtrian cuisine was lost.
   2. When I looked at the history of my posts, there were recipes from other cuisine and traditions as well. So I thought I should have a generic name which can be related by all.
   My Mom, Grandma and my paternal Aunt are excellent cook. They have great passion towards cooking and trying new recipes. I simply love each and every meal they cook for me and our family. I was a spoiled brat in my home who hardly stepped into the kitchen. But still I used to cook whenever I was alone or found some interesting recipes on T.V, Newspaper or Magazine. I even maintained a diary just to record all those recipes.
My mother in law is an amazing cook too. She teaches me the Tamilian way of cooking.
  1. Any recipe you find in my blog is tried and tasted by me and my dear husband. Sometimes our friends get to taste them too. 
  2. I cannot compromise on the taste of my food. So the recipes posted here should first satisfy me 200 % only then it gets in to my blog. Of course, it should be approved by my husband. Many a times I have taken notes and tons of pictures which were thrown in to the recycle bin as I was not satisfied by the end result of the dish. But this does not assure you that it must satisfy your taste buds too.. Come one every individual has their own likes and dislikes. So play around with the ingredients as per your choice. If you think I was missing something or my recipe was terribly awful please let me know about it. These lessons will help me to improve the quality of my blog and my recipes. If you think it came out really well, please acknowledge. That shall make my day.
  3. We are health conscious couple, so we try to use the best ingredients/cooking methods for a healthier life. At the same time I do follow the traditional methods in my cooking. 

  1. Most of the recipes I post here are learned from my Mom, MIL, Grandmother, Family Friends and my Colleagues. 
  2. I do post  recipes adapted from Cook Books, Magazines, Newspapers, Website, T.V shows and other blogs. Most of the times I draw the inspiration or learn the methodology and add my own flavors and twists to the recipe. Also, I ensure that appropriate credits is given to the author or source of the recipe.
  3. You can also find recipes that was invented in my kitchen as a result of heavy experiments. 
  4. Sometimes I watch how others cook and learn some tips and techniques from them. 

   My blog features wide range of Indian, International and Fusion Cuisine. 
I was brought up in a metropolitan suburb of Chennai(Madras) so I had an opportunity to taste different types of cuisines from various parts of India. Again Work brought me to a truly Cosmopolitan city where I have an opportunity to try food from various International cuisine. So you can find recipes from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and from New Delhi to New york just at one stop. 

  Simple reason is our ancestors migrated to South India many centuries ago. They eventually adapted the south indian culture and traditions. So the contemporary Sourashtrian cuisine is no different from a Tamil Cuisine or a South Indian Cuisine though there are some variations to it. 

   Please read this wonderful article in wiki to know more about us. 

  Write to me at foodfor7stagesoflife(AT)gmail(DOT)com / foodfor7stagesoflife@gmail.com
I will be glad to get back to you in the next 24 hrs unless I am on a Vacation. 

  All contents and photos in this blog are protected by U.S copyrights law. So please ask first before you use my contents and pictures. 

   I check my mail as soon as I wake up. It gives me lots of pleasure to read your comments first in the morning. So please comment generously but avoid any kind of rudeness. Please be aware that your comment actually 'makes my day' :)

7 comments:

Raks said...

Nice post R,nice click of ur eyes too :)

Simplyfood said...

Lovely to read all about you and getting to know you better.

Unknown said...

Nice to knw abt u :)

Malaysian Delicacies said...

Nice to know more about you.And a good photo.(winks).

RV @ Food for 7 Stages said...

Thank you gals

Sashi said...

Hi RV, Good to know about you more, actually have come through LTE by reading ur comment on SBD, Waiting to see the meal plan. Forgot to mention, all ur pics are beautiful !! Way to go !!

Sashi said...

RV, first time here, came via LTE by reading ur comment on how successful you are on SBE, awaiting for ur meal plans. Nice to know more about you !!

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