Instant Pot Pulao and Supplementation

It has been a hectic work week around here. I could have used a lazy Saturday but it was not to be. We had to be out of the door bright and early for a 5K race that V and I both signed up for, with our son doing the one mile fun run. It was chilly but sunny, nice running weather, but the race course was exhaustingly hilly. The day did end with a very special treat- friends treated us to a double fondue night at their home, thanks to fondue pots acquired at estate sales! We started with a cheese fondue with homemade bread for dipping, plus roasted veg and potatoes, and ended with a chocolate fondue with strawberries and freshly baked madeleines. This friend is an incredible baker and I'd love to learn how to make that bread and the delectable little madeleines.  

Here's one of our weeknight dinners that was quite satisfying:

• A stir-fry (subzi) made with a few odd potatoes that needed to be used up, and frozen Italian green beans which I always stock in the freezer as the back-up green veg
• A pulao/ pilaf with soy curls, made in the Instant Pot

This kind of a pulao is made in minutes, makes for a cozy meal, and is crowd-pleasing. I made it recently for our family friend in her 80s who was recovering from an illness, and she called to say how much she enjoyed it. It is a flexible recipe. With rice as a base, you can bulk it up with any combination of vegetables, beans, lentils. Amp up the flavor if serving as a main dish, or leave it quite plain if there's a spicy side dish available. Here, I made it as a "mock chicken pulao" with soy curls. This made about 4 servings. 

The things to remember are the ratio (1 cup rice to 1.25 cups water) and the cooking time (pressure on high for 4 min, leave it alone for 10 min, and then release pressure). The rest- the other ingredients, and the flavoring- is quite flexible.

Pulao (pilaf)

• Soak 2 cups soy curls in warm water for 10 minutes. Squeeze out excess water gently.
• So many things could be subbed for the soy curls- kidney beans, chickpeas, tofu, paneer, edamame, nutrela type soy chunks, and so on.
• Soak 1 cup rice in water for 10 min, then drain in a sieve. 
• I used white Basmati rice but jasmine rice or any other variety should do. If using brown rice, know that cooking times will increase.
• Heat a bit of oil in the Instant pot
• Add some cumin seeds, chopped onion, ginger, garlic
• Season with turmeric, salt, red chili powder, a spice mix of your choice, some kasoori methi.
• Kitchen King is a spice mix I frequently use here. I ran out, so I used some tandoori masala. Garam masala will work too. 
• Add some chopped tomatoes (fresh or canned) and the soy curls and mix well. 
• Add soaked, drained rice and 1 and 1/4 cup water, deglaze the bottom of the pot.
• Pressure cook on HIGH for 4 minutes, followed by 10 minutes natural pressure release, followed by quick pressure release. 
• Add a handful of minced cilantro and a squeeze of lemon juice for a fresh note.
• Fluff with a fork and serve.

* * *

I read an incredible book this week, Radium Girls (2017) by Kate Moore, for the PS Reading Challenge 2025 Prompt #32: A book about an overlooked woman in history. It had been on my to-read list for a long time and I'm so glad I finally got to it. The genre is narrative nonfiction, a genre I love and have written about before. Moore highlights a group of overlooked women in history, and tells their story in such an engrossing way that I whipped through a thick book in 3-4 days. 

We think of trends and influencers as a new thing, but of course these have existed for ages. Marie and Pierre Curie discovered the element Radium in 1898. Madame Curie toured the US in 1921 to raise funds for research and set off a worldwide craze. People were entranced by the mysterious glow of this new metal. Radium laced products were sold as a cure for everything and as a miraculous, healthful supplement. 

Factories sprung up to make watches with radium-painted dials that could glow in the dark. Young women were hired to do the intricate work of painting small watch dials, and to get a fine point on the paint brushes, they used their lips, thereby ingesting the radium-laced paint. In fact, far from being a miracle supplement, radium is poisonous. This book tells the story of these young girls from poor families who quit school and started working in factories as teens to earn money for their families, and the health consequences they endured, and their legal fight to get justice from the companies who employed them. I highly recommend this book. It covers a lot of issues in an interesting and compassionate way- workers' rights, corporate greed, the dark side of science, how women's health issues are minimized. 

* * *

In today's moment of fitness: dietary supplements. These are products- pills, capsules, liquids, gummies, powders, and so on- that are intended to supplement or enhance the diet by providing something extra. Some of the most common ones are multivitamins, minerals like calcium and magnesium, protein powders or shakes, probiotics for gut health, melatonin as a sleep aid, and the list is nearly endless. There are entire stores devoted to supplements, and multiple aisles in supermarkets and drugstores. 

People turn to supplements sometimes as a quick fix, sometimes out of desperation, wanting relief, and sometimes because the claims are too tempting. There are trends in supplements just like with anything else and no shortage of influencers peddling supplements for magical, easy results. It is a gigantic industry, and not a particularly well-regulated one. 

Critics of supplements rightly say that the quality and effectiveness of supplements is not always well-tested (an extreme example being the radium supplements I mentioned above which are horrific poisons), and that if you eat an overall nutritious diet, you should be getting all the nutrients you need. Experts will quip that if you're a well-fed person, multivitamins only give you expensive urine.  

Under certain circumstances which vary from person to person, certain supplements can help. I take a few supplements and I'm mentioning them here by way of sharing my personal experience. This is in no way an endorsement of what others should or should not do. I am simply not qualified to give that kind of advice. 

My primary exercise goal right now is to build muscle. Body composition (the percentage of fat, muscle, and bone in the body) is a more accurate representation of fitness than body weight. I am under-muscled, with a much lower amount of muscle than is optimal. This is very common, especially among women and especially among petite women. Adding to that, as we age, we tend to lose muscle mass. So my goal is to build muscle, which primarily needs three things, (a) strength training with relatively heavy weights and with progressive overload, (b) increasing protein intake to repair and build muscle tissue, along with extra calories in general to provide all the energy needed for this, (c) adequate sleep which is essential for muscle recovery and growth. 

Even as I try to eat enough protein- beans, lentils, tofu, soy curls, some eggs and dairy and fake meat- as part of meals, I find that an extra serving of protein powder per day really helps to boost my protein intake, especially as a vegetarian. I prefer a vegan protein powder. Here's an article about protein supplementation (NYT gift link)- be sure to read the comments for a range of views. 

The other supplement that helps with muscle-building is a small molecule called creatine. It is already present is our muscles and used to produce energy in the form of ATP. By supplementing it (again, more important for vegetarians as dietary intake of creatine is low in the absence of animal flesh consumption), you have enough creatine in muscles to be take to do those extra reps or lift just a bit more weight, which in time is what leads to muscle gain. Creatine monohydrate is the best tested supplement out there. Here's a good article that gives an overview of creatine.

My routine is, with breakfast (almost always steel-cut oatmeal), I drink a shake- putting ice and water in a blender bottle (one of those bottles with a small metal ball), adding 2 scoops protein powder (about 20g protein), 5 g creatine, and shaking it up and chugging it down. 

Anecdotes are decidedly not evidence, but for what it's worth, these things that I have been doing quite consistently for the last 9 months or so (regular strength training with a well-designed plan, prioritizing sleep, taking my protein-creatine regularly, eating more calories) are working for me in the sense that I am gaining visible muscle and getting noticeably stronger. None of this is magic or quick; it is slow progress that takes months and years. It is not magic, but it is biochemistry, which is even more magical than magic and 100% real. 

My other two supplements: After dinner, I take a one-a-day multivitamin. B12 is recommended for people like me who have the beta thalassemia trait, and I just take it as part of a multivitamin to cover other gaps like iron. And I take some psyllium husk in water for added fiber. 

Where do you stand on supplements? Are there any that you have found to be personally useful?

Next weekend is busy and I'll be back with a blog post in two weeks! 

Lessons in Cupcake Frosting, and MetCon Workouts

Our full display of V day
floral cupcakes

Sometimes, a culinary skill needs patience and practice to learn- there are just no shortcuts. Sometimes, all it needs is acquiring the right tool, and then, even a beginner can pull it off. This is a happy story about the latter situation. 

The culinary skill in question is cupcake decoration. I'm a pretty experienced home baker and can reliably turn out cakes and cupcakes, but have always struggled with frosting and decorating them neatly. It doesn't help that these are special-occasion bakes made only a few times a year; there's no scope to practice regularly and get better. I get by with a variety of strategies- enlisting kids to arrange fresh fruit (tres leches cake and pavlova), using cute ideas that involve no skill (aquarium cake, Christmas tree cupcakes), deploying frosting and sprinkles (onesie cake), assembling a cake that isn't a cake at all (donut cake). 

A few years ago, an older friend who was downsizing gave me this giant box of frosting tips. This should have been the impetus to buckle down and learn some piping work, but it was all too overwhelming. I had no idea where to start. Last year for my daughter's birthday I did select one of these tips and try to frost some cupcakes (you can see one here) but wasn't pleased with how it went. The box of tips just sat there taking space. 

At some point, my new Aussie friend showed me pictures of cupcakes she'd decorated for her family and friends, and my eyes popped- they were beautiful in that Pinterest-worthy way. I asked her if she would be willing to teach me and she gladly agreed. This Friday evening, it was Valentine's Day and we weren't doing anything special, so it thought it would be a good occasion for the cupcake frosting lesson. 

My friend shared that the "magic" tool for piping beautiful roses on cupcakes is the Wilton 2D frosting tip and so I bought one, for under two bucks at the local Michael's craft store. (Funny enough, it wasn't in the box of frosting tips I owned and also bigger in size than the tips in the box.)

To get ready for our cupcake evening, I made 24 chocolate cupcakes using an easy one-bowl recipe and a batch of vanilla-flavored ermine frosting. And brought out my stash of gel food colors and sprinkles. We divided up the frosting into smaller bowls and dyed it red (it came out more like coral), pink, green, and left some white. 

We fitted the 2D tip into a piping bag, added some red/coral frosting and got to work. It turns out that the tip is VERY beginner-friendly and does all of the work for you. Right after my friend demonstrated a rose, I was able to make one that was pretty nice looking. We frosted several cupcakes quickly with: 

• Rosettes- a single big one all over the cupcake
• Smaller off-center rosettes- one or two or three per cupcake
• Small star-shaped drop flowers

Two-tone rose (bottom right)

We wanted to contrast the flowers with some greenery. In the big box of frosting tips, I spotted one that looked like it could produce a leaf- the Ateco 70 tip, and sure enough, it makes pretty little leaves and longer ruffled leaves that looked like ferns. By adding different shades of frosting to the piping bag, we made some two-tone roses. With organic shapes like flowers and leaves, you really can't go wrong. Precision is not required. Whatever you end up doing looks quite sweet and charming. (For my humble standards, anyway.)

Drop flowers- looks a bit like a potted plant

With these two frosting tips alone, we were able to make all the cupcakes pictured above. 

Ateco 70 leaf tip, and Wilton 2D tip

To summarize my cupcake decoration knowledge gained in the last 24-36 hours:

• More is not better. Just one or two of the right frosting tips can be plenty to turn out pretty and presentable cupcakes. 
• The basic types of frosting tips are
• Closed star, like the Wilton 2D tip above
• Open star- for instance, the Wilton 1M which also seems to be a versatile tip for roses, rosettes and small hydrangea-type star-shaped flowers 
• Plain round- good for adding dots, for instance, to the centers of the star flowers- I'll have to try that in future
• Petal or ruffle (teardrop-shaped tips)- to pipe petals for large flowers
• Leaf piping tips- these have notches, like the Ateco 70 tip I used
• Russian piping tips are fascinating for making whole flowers (look them up to see examples)
• Ermine buttercream, which is my favorite taste-wise, handles being dyed and piped pretty well.

* * *

Other sweet things from this weekend- I made a batch of best cocoa brownies with red and pink sprinkles- sent half to my son's teacher and took the other half for my coworkers. Sprinkles in seasonal colors are always the easiest way to dress up baked goods!

My daughter used red candy melts and sprinkles to decorate these adorable cupcakes of her own. I particularly adore the 3D flower design she made up- she dabbed candy melt on a parchment paper to make petals, let them dry, and then peeled them off and arranged them on the cupcake. 

My son went to a day camp and they taught the kids to make these darling fruit bouquets- with chocolate dipped strawberries, grapes, and heart shaped pineapple cuts. I love our county's leisure services staff who go out of their way to create engaging programming for the kids when they have days off school! 

* * *

Reading 

• I finished a novel this week, Sandwich by Catherine Newman, that I chose for the PS Reading Challenge Prompt #9: A book that features a character going through menopause. It is a short, witty, slice of life novel about a woman in her early 50s on her annual week-long beach vacation with her husband and young adult kids, with her parents joining the vacation for two days. 
• The name of the novel likely comes from the term "sandwich generation", referring to middle-aged adults who are pulled in both directions as they care for young children and aging parents. In this case, the aging parents live independently and the young adult kids have moved out and are living on their own, so the main character isn't particularly sandwiched in a stressful way. I'm thinking of a friend of mine who cares for her child and pets and also for aged, ailing in-laws who live in the household, and travels regularly to care for her parents in a different city, all while working a demanding job. Now that truly sounds like being pulled in all different directions on a daily basis. 
• In the novel, the main character also makes delicious overstuffed sandwiches to eat on the beach, and it is relatable to see how every single family member wants a different kind of sandwich which the mother is willing to accommodate.
• It was an enjoyable and escapist read for me and I do recommend it to anyone who wants to read about domestic life from the lens of motherhood and female bodies. Although I couldn't relate very much to the main character- she is over the top sentimental about her kids, and wrapped up in everyone's lives in a way that I just am not. 
• I enjoy reading the weekly Philosophy Break newsletter, and the most recent one was a very interesting read, on propaganda and totalitarianism- writings from the 1950s that still hold true today. 

* * *

In today's moment of fitness- metabolic conditioning or MetCon workouts. These are moderate and high intensity exercises that combine cardio and strength in a clever and timesaving way to improve the efficiency of all three energy pathways (discussed in last week's post)- the immediate, intermediate and long term pathways. If you're familiar with Cross-Fit which has been a big fitness trend in recent years, it involves a lot of MetCon exercises. The workouts are fast and interesting and almost feel like a game.

One popular exercise format is EMOM or "every minute on the minute" where you have a list of exercises (say, 10 jump squats, 10 push ups, 10 mountain climbers). A timer is set that rings every minute, you do the 10 jump squats and then rest for the remainder of the minute, the timer rings and you do 10 push ups and rest for the remainder of the minute, then the timer rings and you do the next exercise and rest until the timer rings again, and so on. 

Another workout format is AMRAP or "as many reps as possible". This time you may have the same exercises (jump squats, push-ups and mountain climbers) and a timer is set for, say, 40 seconds on and 20 seconds rest. You do as many jump squats as you can in 40 seconds, then rest for 20 seconds, then do as many push-ups as you can for 40 seconds, then rest again and so on. 

I love MetCon exercises but rarely do a full workout of this type on its own. Instead I add 2-3 MetCon type exercises to the end of my usual strength workouts. Some of my favorites are wood chops, speed skaters, kettlebell swings, jumping jacks. One that I hate but do anyway is burpees! 

Tell me what you have been reading and eating in this last week!

Enfrijoladas casserole, dog-less life, energy systems

Whenever we go to Mexican restaurants (which is often, as they tend to have more meatless options than most places), I'm likely to ignore the 17-page menu and order an enchilada platter- corn tortillas filled with vegetables and enrobed in a flavorful red chile sauce, with beans and Mexican rice on the side. There's a variation on enchiladas called enfrijoladas, with a bean sauce instead of the typical red or green enchilada sauce. I've had it on my to-try list for a while.

Yesterday, I had a pot of cooked black beans in the fridge, and corn tortillas in the freezer, so the time had come. I put it together casserole style, which is the quicker, lazier way to fix a large batch of enchiladas. I assure you this recipe is not authentic in any shape or form, but it made for a hearty dinner with a whole lot of leftovers- meal prepping, baby. 

First, the bean sauce is literally just thinned pureed beans. My cooked beans had some of the usual seasonings already- onion, garlic, tomato, chipotle peppers. I added some water and some salsa that needed using up, and pureed them to a thick inky sauce. You can see it in the blender in the pic.

Second, the filling: I sautéed onions, pepper, garlic and usual spices (usual spices for my Mexican inspired food= chile powder, smoked paprika, cumin, oregano). Then added some tomato and soaked, drained soy curls. Added green onions and cilantro and a spoon or two of sour cream at the end. 

Assembly: 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Sauce, 6 corn tortillas, half the filling, light sprinkle of cheese, repeat. Use up everything, sauce and all, bake at 350F, uncovered, for 30-35 mins until bubbling. It was a good, hearty dinner. More earthy than enchiladas because of the beans.

* * *

• Reading 
• Patina by Jason Reynolds, for the POPSugar 2025 reading challenge prompt #17: A book about a run club. A bit of a stretch, because the book isn't so much about a run club but a track team. This is the second book in Reynolds' Track series about the young members of a track team, and I picked it up because I loved the first, Ghost. Patina is a 12 year old newcomer on the track team. She hates to lose a race, but the truth is she has racked up too many losses in her young life. She runs for her mother, who can no longer run because she lost her legs to "the sugar" (amputation due to diabetes complications.) 
• These are middle grade books but very much recommended for adults too. In fact, if you're a grown up with little time for reading, good middle grade books are shorter and easier to read but still touching and meaningful. Another series I would recommend for this kind of reading is the Front Desk series by Kelly Yang. 
• Kamini's wonderful blog post  - a theater review of a play based on a difficult time in South Asian history. Every post by Kamini is a treat!
• Watching
• I got a chance to see the studio company (their young performers, ages 18-21) of the famed American Ballet Theatre. It was not a very traditional ballet performance but it blew me away to see these young people with such talent, grace and athleticism. I am grateful to live 10 minutes away from venues that have such incredible live performances, not something I take for granted. 
• While I was at the ballet, the rest of the family went to watch an ice hockey game. They came home at 11 PM, completely hoarse from all the shouting and cheering. I may love exercise now but I will never like spectator sports. OK, maybe gymnastics and figure skating. But ball sports and team sports- hard pass. 
• Listening
• The almighty YouTube algorithm served me this song I haven't heard for 20+ years- Faasle by Shaan, the Hindi pop star of my teeny bopper days. It made my day. The song is as sentimental as it gets, with the saxophone of that era and everything.

* * *

It has now been over 13 months since our beloved dog Dunkie passed away. Our beautiful dog is now a pile of ashes in a wooden box. We miss him every day and reminders of Duncan are all around us- photos and videos that pop up on my phone, his water bowl now filled for backyard wildlife, his fur on the headliner of my car, which confused the car detailer as to why dog hair would end up there. Before Dunkie's loss, V and I were dog owners (or more accurately, were owned by a dog) for 22+ years straight, with only a 6 month gap between losing our first dog and adopting our second.  

We often get asked if we will adopt another dog, and our son especially is begging us to welcome a new dog into our home. We're not quite ready for it, for a few different reasons. The fact is that V and I stretched quite thin as two working parents with no help. Our kids are not old enough to be independent and the days are filled with packing lunches, doling out snacks, reminding the kids 3 times to put their plate in the sink. Our kids are 5 years apart in age, with completely different schedules and friends and places to be. 

For the last year, it has been somewhat of a relief to be able to go straight from work to sports events without juggling the schedule to be home for the dog. It is a luxury to go away for the day or the weekend at the last minute without scrambling to organize dog sitters. When Fourth of July or New Years' Eve rolls around, we don't lose nights of sleep because of noisy fireworks. (Dunkie, all 100+ lbs of him, would clamber on top of us, quaking with fear, bless him.)

The adjustment period of a new dog can be a handful. Even with Duncan, who eventually settled down to become absolutely the Best Dog Ever, we had a wild adjustment period when we first adopted him. Think holes in the drywall, bent wire crates, chewed doorknobs; I have no idea how we managed this with a toddler at the time! It is not always easy to find a dog who fits your life and I don't want to push my luck.

At the same time we feel the absence of a dog, we know our kids adore having a dog in the family, and there are too many precious pups out there waiting for a home. We will have to let a few more months go by and revisit this.

* * *

In today's moment of fitness, I have an introduction to the energy systems of the body. There would be no physical activity without the movement of muscles. And there would be no movement of muscles without energy to do so. When we train our bodies, we're training more than our muscles themselves- we are also training the energy/metabolic systems that drive the muscle contractions. 

The energy needed for muscle movement at the cellular level is in the form of a molecule called ATP.  There are three main energy systems that work in tandem to provide this--

• Phosphagen system (ATP-PC): Our muscles are stocked with a small molecule called creatine phosphate. For the first 10 seconds or so of an activity, ATP is generated quickly from creatine to drive muscles. So short, intense movements (explosive movements, jumping) are supported by this energy system.
• Related to this- I'm not a supplementation enthusiast in general, but creatine is the one daily supplement I take- it has well-studied, evidence-based benefits. I'm happy to share more details if anyone asks.
• Glycolytic system (Anaerobic): The primary fuel source for muscles is glycogen, which is the storage form of glucose/carbs. Once the activity proceeds beyond 10 seconds to a few minutes, this system kicks in to break down the glycogen and produce ATP, creating lactate as a byproduct. It is called anaerobic because it does not require oxygen. Activities like weightlifting are generally anaerobic and improve insulin sensitivity and blood glucose control.
• The word Anaerobic means "without oxygen", coming from the Greek words an- meaning "without", aero- meaning "air", and bios meaning "life". 
• Oxidative system (Aerobic): This system takes longer to kick in and provides fuel for longer, low to moderate intensity activities like jogging or swimming. Here, the body's energy stores, carbohydrates and fats, are broken down to produce ATP with chemical reactions that require oxygen, that is, aerobic reactions. 
• We've all heard of aerobic exercise, another term for cardio. I first heard the term as a child in the 80s when my mother attended some Jane Fonda aerobics classes! Anyway, this is why cardio is called aerobic exercise, because the fuel for cardio largely comes from this oxygen-needing energy system. You are doing a rhythmic activity and breathing harder as you are taking in all that oxygen to burn fuel.
• Doing cardio regularly is a great way to improve your body's ability to use oxygen efficiently for sustained energy production. 

In a future post, I'll talk about metabolic conditioning, which involves exercises that train both the aerobic and anaerobic energy systems. 

20 Years of One Hot Stove

20 rambling thoughts on 20 years of blogging--

1. Time: In the winter of 2005, I was a graduate student in NYC, and had newly discovered some of the early food blogs. It was fun to read them. On a dreary Thursday evening, Feb 3, 2005, I made a free account on Blogger and wrote a tentative post on a blog that I named One Hot Stove on a complete whim. I had no plan to blog for 20 months, let alone 20 years! I can't wrap my head around the fact that two decades have passed since that day, and the blog is still active. It gives me a strange feeling. It is the same feeling that I had when my toddler son once asked me if dinosaurs were around when I was a child. 


2. Creating: I've taken long and short breaks from this blog, but so far, I keep coming back. A big reason is that it makes me a content creator and not just a content consumer. Even as I consume books, blogs, TV, podcasts and media of all types, I get to process it and produce some content of my own, and that is deeply satisfying. Creating content also makes me a more thoughtful consumer as I realize how easy it is to be a consumer and a critic than to be a creator of any sort. 


3. Tally: Looking back, I'm proud and amazed to see that I've churned out hundreds of original posts. This is my post number 808 on this blog. It has added up to quite a substantial body of work. 
   


4. Vulnerability: It takes some vulnerability (or maybe courage or imprudence- call it what you will) to put your innermost thoughts out here on the Internet. Some of it will resonate with readers while some will turn them off or leave them indifferent. You have to be somewhat thick-skinned about the whole thing. I never delete posts and rarely get around to even updating them with better pictures/ correcting grammar/ deleting old links. Everything- good, bad, boring, ridiculous- is here for all to see. For better or worse, it is what it is. 
   


5. Winners: I never look at blog stats, how many views I'm getting, or how many comments I'm logging. I never use SEO keywords or any of that. This is truly a hobby blog. But, for the purposes of this post, I did look up the all-time top 3 posts and they are all from the first few years (apparently, I peaked early.) The bronze medal goes to On Freezing Indian Food (2011), the silver medal goes to A to Z of Marathi food (2006), and...drumroll...the gold medal goes to Pav bhaji recipe (2005). 
   


6. Hype: Cooking is a big and necessary part of my life. Preparing family meals and everything that goes with it- grocery shopping, meal planning, kitchen management- is an endless, relentless, time-consuming job. The blog hypes me up to try new things and record what I'm making. It turns a daily chore into a fun project of sorts. 


7. Features: What started as a food blog has increasingly morphed into something much broader in scope as my life and interests changed. Books, crafting, parenting, fitness- many things in my life are represented here. The blog fits my unofficial life motto: "Get excited and do stuff." Just as important is what's not on here. For instance, I realized early on that I don't really care about food photography or recording recipes step by step. Photos are added here and there for illustration. 


8. Stamina. Writing posts for decades has helped me to be comfortable with the dreaded writer's block and to work around it. The discipline that it takes to put something down, no matter how terrible the first draft, has helped me in other areas of life, including the technical/scientific writing that I do quite often in my professional life. I am not afraid of a blank page or a blank screen. Blogging builds writing muscles.


9. Flow: On the other end of the spectrum, sometimes I sit down to write a post and the words just tumble out effortlessly. It is that "flow state" of being completely absorbed in a task- rare and special. Occasionally, I'll read one of my old posts and think- did I really write this? LOL
   


10. Diary: Yes, I do read old blog posts now and then. Usually, it is when I search the blog for some recipe that I've made before. But this blog is more than my online recipe diary. It is very much a diary of my life and is full of memories and slice-of-life glimpses of some of my most precious years- what I think will be the "good old days". 
    


11. Projects: I would love to turn some of my blog projects into book projects, whether that's proper published books, self-published e-books, or just a manuscript that I write using R markdown. Three of my favorite projects have been the A-Z of Marathi Food, the A-Z of Indian Vegetables, and my ongoing Moments of Fitness. Right now, time is my biggest challenge in bringing this dream to life as I work full-time and have school-aged kids. I was also working through the United Tastes project- cooking dishes from all 50 states- on Instagram, abandoned it halfway, and would love to finish it sometime. 


12. Escape: In my posts, I try not to comment much on news and world events, other than what's happening in my little life. There is so much suffering, tragedy, injustice, chaos in this world. In real life, the news usually has me somewhere between bewildered and devastated. But I save my hand-wringing and editorializing for my long-suffering spouse and friends. This blog is my escape- a mundane, cozy, dream world full of domestic simplicity and the excitement of stacks of books to read and new recipes to try. “Life is deep and simple, and what our society gives us is shallow and complicated.” - Fred Rogers


13. Comfort: Recently, a few readers have shared that this is their comfort blog and it moves me deeply to know this. I am glad to host a space of comfort in a world of hard edges. As it is, I don't fit into this world of wanting more and more, of ruthlessness and winning and disruption and being a boss lady, whatever that is. None of it resonates with me at all. I'm happy to carve out this quiet corner of the Internet to just be. 
    


14. Words: Long form blogging is the only think I've stuck with. Over the years, I've tried some other forms of content sharing like the photo-centric Instagram but it did not endure. I never did get into micro-blogging or podcasting or video blogging. Trends have changed completely, several times over in 20 years but I like words more than images and audio and I'm happy to stay right here. 


15. History: The early years of blogging were magical as I was part of a big and vibrant global community. I got to see food blogging from almost the start and through its heyday. Food blogging democratized the voices of home cooks everywhere. I learned so much about regional cooking, food from all over the world, family recipes, the many talents beyond just cooking and baking- like writing, photography, food styling- that lurk in ordinary homes. We would do these challenges and it stretched my skills beyond anything I could have done on my own. Occasionally, I run across a sentiment online about food blogs that is along the lines of- "I don't need your life story. Shut up and give me the recipe". It is a sad and ungracious response to the generosity of food bloggers, and let me tell you that food bloggers (I know so many of them) are some of the most generous people you will meet anywhere, online or in real life. 


16. Journey: Many bloggers from those early days took their blogs to the next level, monetizing them and leveraging them into successful careers. They are now food personalities, cookbook authors, professional bloggers. I did...nothing. Part of it was a lack of interest for doing so, and part of it was the fact that I was on visas at the time that precluded any other sources of income. There are pros and cons to everything. On rare occasions, it feels like a missed opportunity. But mostly, it feels really good to keep writing whatever I like without any external pressures, to keep cooking and baking as "real hobbies" and to keep this space simple and unfussy and low-maintenance. 


17. Gain: I've never made a penny off my blog. I've gotten free cookbooks to review, and once, a few spice extracts, but it has always been, by design, an ad-free zone. In terms of non-tangible things I've gotten from the blog, including inside knowledge and friends from all over the world and a working knowledge of html, I am very rich indeed. The blog adds meaning and purpose to my life. 


18. Values: The blog fits my core values well. The biggest one is lifelong learning- the blog gives me a venue to share and record tidbits of what I've learned.  A second one is service- I love being useful and providing something, whether it is a good recipe or pointing out some good media. A third is well-being- I get to promote wholesome food and an active, purposeful life that I strive towards.


19. Connection: One Hot Stove has been an enduring way for me to connect with people around the globe. The comments were and are a big part of the blog. On many posts, you'll find the best nuggets of wisdom in the comment section. For my part, I read and respond to every comment and email. When people tell me that they make one of my recipes or that they read and loved a book I recommended, I am amazed and grateful to have touched their lives in a small way. "I am a part of all that I have met"- Tennyson.


20. Reciprocity: I've always maintained that I write the blog for myself, but there's no doubt that it is kept alive by the wonderful people who stop by and read it. To YOU, gentle reader- whoever you are, wherever you are- I send you my love and gratitude. ❤️ These lines of poetry that I read recently capture this feeling perfectly, that being creative is a social process--
    
    You make the thing because you love the thing
    and you love the thing because someone else loved it
    enough to make you love it.
    ~ from An Horatian Notion by Thomas Lux (read the whole poem here)
    

If you feel like it, drop me a comment below. Tell me something, anything- your favorite recipe on this blog, your favorite feature, how long you've read OHS, what you'd like to read more of, share something about yourself, or a favorite book/poem/song that you think I would like.