What's for Dinner?
Being a single, this is a million dollar question for me every night. I didn't have to answer this question as my mom would take care of it when I used to live with my parents. However, since I left the home, went away and now staying alone - this has become an important question of my routine life.
This is not really easy to answer. Sometimes you have too many choices, and sometimes you don't have any. I usually have lunch outside in fast food restaurants near my office. But thanks to winter, it's become my biggest nightmare to leave the office and venturing outside in cold windy temperatures. I really hate cold and winter. I'd rather bring my own tiffin to fight against it. So yes, I am planning to take tiffin to work at least harsh winter is in progress.
I do not like to throw tantrums over food. It's been from my childhood. Thanks to my mother who disciplined us to finish each and every food item served in the dish. Simple rule, ask only if you want it. Otherwise do not take just to waste it in the trash.
Thanks to my imagination and proximity of my house near grocery stores. (Kroger and Walmart) I have plenty of choices to cook food at home. I hardly eat dinner outside unless it's some office party or outing with friends. Last time I had dinner outside except for aforementioned circumstances was more than 3 months ago. So you can imagine how less frequent I do go outside to have dinner.
So here goes my list of food items I like to cook. This is not exhaustive. I will add food items as I recall them. But this is the most general one.
- Egg curry
- Chicken curry
- Butter chicken
- Chicken biryani
- Chicken tikka masala
- Spinach curry
- Peas gravy
- Veg Pulao
- Ready to cook packets once in a while. (This includes Bhendi masala, Palak paneer, chhole, Sarson's saag, Daal etc.)
- Chhole gravy
- Masala dosa
- Onion pakora
I usually prefer to have these gravy and curries with tortillas, but yes - sometimes they run out of stock. So rice is an option of choice.
I regard rice as a backup plan. Because there are some instances when I don't have anything grocery to cook the food. I often prefer to make quick and easy veg pulao. That suffices for next 3 days until I am ready to go for grocery shopping.
Speaking of grocery shopping - Thanks to my new apartment, it's now closer to Walmart and it's easier than before to make a visit once a week. (Preferably Friday because weekend is the time I like to cook). But all the groceries and carry few bags in the hand. Though it might seem like lot of work, it's not. I have to make hardly 6 minutes of overall walk. Rest of the journey is handled in the bus.
But be advised that things might turn little shady when it's freezing cold and I have to make bare handed walk from grocery store to bus stop. This is not always feasible. Though this means walking for just 4 minutes, it's not that easy. Those who have experienced subzero temperatures along with freezing winds will understand what I am talking about
So to summarize, I made an 'Egg Curry' today since I didn't have anything left for tomorrow's lunch. Since nowadays I take food for lunch too, I am running out of my stock for dinner. But that's fine. I still have an hour everyday to cook food of my own choice. As much as possible, I will try to avoid eating outside as far as dinner is concerned. For lunch, I can tolerate fast food.
