wants, wishes, needs, expectations, jealousy, and more... they never seem to leave one. no matter how sensible/practical and other blah you are, you end up getting entangled in their web.

why can't we curb a wish or postpone it to some other time? why can't we kill the expectations forever?

i, at times, feel that i'm the happiest person around and i couldn't ask for more than what i have. and the next moment, i'm making faces because i start thinking about things that i want and i wish for - things that i'm desperate to have but can't because the right time for them hasn't come yet! why can't i be patient enough to wait for the right time and satisfied with what i have for now?

i know i know i'm again whying around but why not ask why! even if they are the same whys that i was whying around with a couple of months back!

no no no i don't want answers to these questions! i know it all already but i still love whying! 

yesterday wasn't a good day for cooking - although i (we) tried to cook the best stuff yesterday!

i was all excited about preparing stuffed bitter melons for nitin - something that i tried for the first time. all went fine except that in the end i somehow managed to blacken them - ok blackening is kinda good but not charcoal black!

anyway, nitin had promised his friends that he's gonna cook and bring something nice to office. he too was all excited to prepare "malai koftas". i helped him out with it. all was going fine - and then, while i was frying the "koftas", one of them managed to burst - yup, it burst like a small cracker and spill oil on my hand! and that was the end of our enthusiasm! sigh!

nitin too didn't have a normal time on his offshore calls that eat up our quality time everyday! we ended up eating at 12 in the night, that too half-heartedly, cuz' nitin was eating and talking to his colleagues on phone simultaneously.

we couldn't do much but blame it on the DAY! 

btw, are you all wondering why i've been talking about food a lot these days? even i dunno!

The latest is that it was Friday night yesterday and Micky a.k.a. Nitin felt the usual urge to cook something. And since he's a paneer (cottage cheese) lover, he ended up cooking Matar Paneer! He even posted the recipe on his blog: http://mickyzdhaba.blogspot.com/2008/09/friday-night-matar-paneer.html

He too started his blog recently and thought of writing about the wonders he does in the kitchen.

Weather's changing and people have started sniffling and coughing. I too joined them last night... ... sniffle! Oh btw, the sniffle has nothing to do with his Matar Paneer... lol

We'd left for Dallas on Friday the last week - the day on which the hurricane Ike was scheduled to hit Houston. Most of the time, we were only watching the news and taking updates of Ike from our friends who were still in Houston.

Last night, when we entered Houston, it was all dark, with just a couple lights here and there. Thankfully, the power was already restored in our apartment, but one complete block in our complex was still without power. People who didn't have any power were sitting outside their apartments in groups. The surroundings did look devastated with the fallen trees and stray leaves lying around. The pool was full of dirt and leaves. Hopefully, things will get better soon!

Houston apart, Galveston is the worst hit city of Texas. The condition of the people who've lost their homes is unimaginable! http://www.weather.com/multimedia/videoplayer.html?clip=12133&from=hp_video_1
I pray that the city gets back on its feet soon.

While we were in Dallas, we did get time to go around a bit. Here are some pics: Dallas trip pics

why do we fight
on things that are right?
why do we whine
about things that are almost fine?
why are we scared
of the one who dared?
why do we fret
on things that we aren't destined to get?

Since I have all the time in the world these days, I decided to prepare "Gulab jamuns" yesterday! This was my first time so I was a bit nervous even after taking some tips from mom)! But then, they turned out amazing (that includes an amazing taste as well as an amazing size)!

I guess I was not aware of the fact that the ping-pong ball sized balls of Gulab jamuns become tennis balls after you soak them in the sugar syrup! The final size of the Gulab jamuns did surprise me and made me laugh as well.

I let Nitin have the first bite and I loved his expression after he had it! Again, it made my day!

The latest is that Hurricane Gustav has become Tropical Storm Gustav. So, we're safe.

We spent the whole of this long weekend (and canceled all holiday plans) in tracking Mr. Gustav, who is now gonna leave without showing us its face.

Anyway, Nitin and I spent a nice cozy weekend together. We stayed at home, cooked some nice food, and watched some time pass movies. But, enjoying the whole weekend together has left us with a nice feeling.

Today evening, there was a slight gray cover in the sky over us, which seemed to convert into rain anytime, but it didn't. The sky looked amazing though!