India reminders

It was on a weekend that I first visited New Jersey - Jersey City to be precise. My husband had moved there and I was visiting him. My move was to be a few months later once he found a place for us.

He was staying at an apartment temporarily and had told me that he found it claustrophobic. Initially I did not believe him, basing it purely on my vast knowledge of the US which was all of a couple of years. And to top it, what I had seen was a small sleepy city in Arizona. But once I visited him I saw it for myself. It was not so much the size of the apartment as much as the proximity of the other building structures around it. We could easily have known the happenings in the next apartment had it not been for the curtains and closed shutters. I looked out from a window and saw the back of an apartment block. The residents on the ground level had covered the top portion of their once open backyard with a tin sheet. The residents above them was using this tin sheet to dry clothes, food stuffs, etc. though how they moved about on that seemingly flimsy sheet was a mystery to me. I was reminded of the scores of shanties you saw in Bombay which had all sorts of extensions and additions made to their precarious structures. It did give me a sense of satisfaction that US also had it's share of such structures.

Coming up...

Walk down Newark Ave, Jersey City

My first steps in blogging ....

... started with the search of a name for my blog. And then I realized I would need to check if that blog name was available. Needless to say, I was late (like usual) to jump on the blogging bandwagon and most names I wanted were already taken :) My husband then stepped in with more names to check availability. Rightfully, he should be helping me as well, after all he was the one who put the blogging bug into my head or rather bugging a blog out of me!

For starters, I plan to have a collection of recipes tried and borrowed, my thoughts, my observations and day to day activities.

Till today I only visited blogs to check various things. Actually, more often than not, it was to check recipes. Yes, eating is a passion but cooking, not as much. But since moving to the US, I had no option but to cook or face the hefty restaurant bills or worse rein in my taste buds. This led me to refer to blogs extensively to provide direction.

Living close to Edison has its advantages like the proximity to all things Indian. The other day we had pani puri, bhel puri and samosa chat.... mmm... heavenly I tell you. Then went to the shop next to the restaurant for ice-cream - gulab, cassatta, aapus were some of the choices. I guess I have managed to make quite a few mouths water here :)

With this, I end for now.

Thanks for visiting my blog and please post your thoughts, comments and feedback.