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And it happens again, it has been over a week since I have posted, I want to be more consistent with my blogging and commenting not because I have to but because I want to. I enjoy reading blogs and taking a peek into others lives. But this prelim preparation is making me crazy. To get some quality study time in the evening I have shifted my gym time yet again. I was well settled in my evening schedule to exercise but that leaves me with very little time to do some quality work. Hence the change. I have been waking at 5:45 am in the morning to get to the gym and if you know me, it is a big deal for me. I am NOT a morning person.

It is funny how your mind play games with ya in the morning. Procrastination seems just so easy!I need every ounce of motivation in the morning to subside the inner voice that tells me to pull the covers back on and go back to sleeping like a baby!

I have managed to wake up on two weekdays straight in a row now, but the real test is going to be tomorrow. We will see!

{RANT BEGINS}
In other news, just like Averie, my car got damaged by a hit and run too! And that too at my work parking lot, so no teenagers involved here just grown, mature adults who I think should have had the decency to leave a note. The damage is nothing severe but I hate it when people prefer being so uncourteous like that.

I was mad like really really mad and since there are no cameras installed in the parking lot, there is nothing much that can be done!!!
{RANT OVER} and calm down!

In other news we had the fantastic opportunity to go to the East skybox of the Neyland football stadium at UT. I have yet to watch a foot ball game here, but until then the spectacular views from the skybox should do!

Tennessee Vols gave football the very famed quarterback Peyton Manning!

My knowledge about American football is very limited so don’t hate me, but I am making an effort!

The CLAMS i.e. my girlfriends and me!

Sorry for the poor lighting!

Well in case you are wondering why I was here ,every year my graduate program holds our annual orientation for the incoming class in fall here. Pretty cool if you ask me, the only problem being that the food sucks big time!

Q. Do you go to watch college football games? I want to go to one this time!!!

Q. Did you anything fun this weekend? Me I just spent a lot of time meeting a self inflicted deadline for my prelim preparation!

I have a tab by the name inspirational cooking for a long time but now I have made the page active and this post is to defend why I call my cooking inspirational.

If you have been a reader of my blog , you know that I am inspired a ton when it comes to cooking. I love to take an idea from anyone and then make it my own i.e. run with it.Although after running and combining many ideas it invariably is totally different from the original. However long  story short, this type of cooking is Inspirational where I am inspired from others.

As a kid I have always loved watching all the cooking shows my Mum watched. I mimicked most of the chefs while my Mum cooked and gave me a few dishes and veggies to play with. I was most thrilled to say “If Yan can cook, so can you” and as time progressed many cooks inspired the food lover in me. Growing up I have liked the cooking of so many great chefs both Indian and others like Madhur Jaffrey, Jiggs Kalra, Sanjeev Kapoor and international like Julia Child, Martin Yan,Nigella Lawson, Jamie Oliver,Gordon Ramsay and now Giada De Laurenttis, Barefoot contessa and Rachel Allen.

However one cook definitely deserves her own space i.e. my Mum.

She is the single most important person who taught me  all about food and especially how to love it. Her biggest advice to me is to, “Keep food simple and taste it as you cook!!”

I think these wise words make sense to me now that I am managing a very busy ,time (and labor) intensive PhD life. I cannot agonize over a million of ingredients in a recipe and then distress about interweaving them for hours together. But there is one thing that I have mastered over the years and that is “Substitution” If I don’t have a pricey or exotic ingredient, I just substitute it with something that captures the essence and the texture. This may not come easily for novice cooks but I promise once you get hands dirty in the kitchen your minds does it for you. I did not learn it overnight, immediately after my marriage when I was caught in such situations,I would give my Mum a call in the middle of the night (She lives on the other side of the globe) and she’ll list down the best possible substitutions to make the dish taste the same ,without sacrificing on the final product.

I am mainly a vegetarian but love to eat seafood and chicken occasionally. Shrimps/Prawns are my favoritest ( I know that is not a word) thing in the world. The Healthy Diary has opened up a whole new world for me and I love to see people with different food habits document their life. From high plant-raw lifestyle to vegan bloggers, I am inspired by them all and whenever I come across a recipe that can be adapted into my lifestyle, I make it and include in my repertoire of recipes. Now they will all be updated on this page.

So what are we waiting for, lets get Inspired ,Cooking and Eating!!!!