My culinary journey started when I was around 10 or 11.  I used to feel real peckish in the afternoon and not wanting to disturb mom (she loved her siesta) asked her for the recipe for my favourite dish at that time – pasta bake with a white sauce and vegetables. The joy of making something edible and enjoying it, got me hooked.  I used to prepare omelettes and cheese toasts as a teenager but the real challenge came when I started college in the US at the University of Akron in Ohio during the fall of 1988.  

As I had decided to live off campus, I initially shared an apartment with two great guys Gokul and Sriram  –  the two of them were completing their Masters in Engineering whilst I was starting my undergraduate degree in Business Management.  The early days were a massive learning curve with a lot of trial and error as I tried to cook off recipes that mom and my elder sister Magi had lovingly written for me.  I moved to Purdue University in January of 1989 and completed my Business degree with a minor in Finance in 1992.  After a brief 5 month stint living in the dorms and eating bland cafeteria food I yearned to live off campus again. This is when I met K Venkatesh (KV), a brilliant student from IIT Madras who had joined to complete his Phd.  We shared an apartment and he was an enthusiastic cook as well.  I can remember making my first  idli/dosai batter in a Moulinex blender.  KV and I then shared an apartment with John (Srinivas) and Kishore for a couple of years.  My experimentation continued and it was during a visit to my old friends Gokul and Sriram that I cooked meat for the first time.

I moved to Louisiana in the summer of 92 to complete my Masters degree in Marketing.  Initially I shared an apartment with Manish Budhwar who had joined to complete his undergrad.  I took on the mantle of Guru and shared with him some of the recipes that worked for me.  It was in my second year when I moved in with Sanjay Varshney that my cooking  opportunities grew exponentially.  As we rotated cooking turns – Sanjay would offer to prep and clean in exchange for taking his turn to cook.   This worked well as I thoroughly enjoyed cooking.  One of my fondest memories  is making potato bondas and both of us polishing a dozen each!

Upon graduation I moved to work in Bahrain.   I got a bit lazy on the cooking front as I had Magi living with her husband Gannu and I used to drop in for lunch everyday!  Furthermore,  eating out in Bahrain was cheaper than cooking for one.  I threw the odd dinner party and marinated meats for barbecues but nothing to write home about.

It was in the UK that my food renaissance took place – initially living on my own till 2005 and then meeting my better half Anna who shares an equal passion for food and all things yummy.   I have honed my cooking skills over the last 12 years in the UK , thrown several dinner parties and cooked from the heart for friends and family.  Anna and I now are on a new food journey – she loves baking and I am learning to get out my comfort zone of Indian cuisine.   More on our journey to follow….