Rotis for Dad

I use to be the type who'd find recipes, go buy the ingredients and follow them to a T -- when I was 12. Over the years I've discovered my love for food and preparing dishes for others. Over the past week I've been working on lots of things, amongst one of them is cooking and experimenting more. Have  you noticed the shift to healthy foods at the grocery stores? It's never been easier than now to swap ingredients for a healthier and more nutritious alternative. Some of my favourite dishes over the past week were made with yams, quinoa, chipotle peppers, avocados, and salmon. 

Regardless of whatever I can whip-up on my own, I fail  at making the perfect round rotis. As a Desi girl, I feel as though this is a bare minimum skill that I must acquire. So how will our generations of females make the perfect rotis? We weren't raised in front of open fires, or tasked with the job of making rotis for the whole fam- just the occasional request here and there. Will we learn in the months prior to getting married? Will we ever be able to whip out 10 rotis in 5 mins? Will our mother-in-laws just make it? Will traditional Desi cooking eventually become obsolete? Will I be able to pick up 10 rotis through a drive through? Or even better... will there be a roti maker by KitchenAid soon? 

So, am I the only one who can't make the  perfect circular roti? Are there other mid 20s females who can't? Or even better, does it even matter nowadays? 

O yeah - I've tried learning at the Gurdwara, but I don't stand a chance against the Bibi with a rolling pin. 

(I did succeed this morning! I had the perfect blown  up rotis -- but then again I only needed to make 3)

New Year, New Debit

Many of us mark New Years as a time to start over, try again, set new goals, only to renew them again next December. 

 Often life throws us challenges and hurdles that can bring us down. So with life already at me, why would I make choices and decisions to result in a new lowest of lows? I cannot answer this question easily, it has to with being irresponsible.

All I know is that I owe a lot to those around me and even more to myself. My real self. It's often easy to settle with "what is" or just to dream big. I find myself in limbo between these two. The bottom line is I need to start doing more. 

I owe a lot to my family. Words, money or actions won't be able to express my gratitude. The only thing I want accomplish in 2011 is regaining respect.  2011 will be a challenging year, a hard year, one where I must start from the bottom and slowly work my way up trying to earn that back.

This doesn't really have to do with New Years, it has to do with a New ME. New Years just happens to be the venue.

I must constantly remind myself  to do better.