“Moving” – the word itself explains so many memories with it. I moved quite a few times in last four years.
First time, I moved to Buffalo, NY to pursue Masters in Computer Science Aug 14th,2010. I shared a broken three bedroom apartment with two other Bengali girls. The apartment was filthy, and windows were broken, staircases were never cleaned – so it accumulated all hairs and dusts over 15 years or more. Bathroom had spider webs, and carpet rug was mildew. After coming from a fully furnished house in India, I barely survived four months there. I had to look for an apartment and move out of that eerie place.
Then, I moved to another apartment called ‘University Court’ with a Chinese-American medical student. We shared one bedroom apartment between us. She was very generous to let me stay in the bedroom while she continued to sleep in the living room. She had a tortoise in our home and sometimes she used to go out and not come back for few days. Tortoise was in a small bucket, so when water used to get a week old, it used to start smelling. She also never cleaned the apartment in the two years she stayed. When she moved out on Aug 2011, I decided to stay on my own. I paid a high rent(for a grad student) but I had peace of mind. I did not buy any furniture. I purchased my first furniture( a couch) when I got my first my job in Feb, 2012. Slowly I filled the space with furniture and decor. People always appreciated the way I decorated my home. They said that it was very cozy. I stayed there from Dec 2010 to Nov 2012.
University court had everything but only one problem – water heater. Water heaters used to make unbelievable noise during winter months. The only reason I stayed there was because it was next to bus station. When I purchased my car in 2012, I moved to Amherst. Few miles away from my old place. An Italian old guy owns this place. When we moved in, he gave a bottle of sparkling wine from his own vineyard. My mom and I made the place very much lovely with Indian decors. I had my best time in Buffalo in that house. My neighbors become my friends at that place.
Then I decided to get out of that dying city. I wanted to move to Boston, and luckily I got a job in BostonGlobe. I trashed and sold most of the furniture, packed the rest and moved to Boston. Here, I got a place in Granada Highlands to start. The place is not only very scenic but also has a gym, pool table, dining room, community-room etc.
After moving here, I met my husband, and we decided to purchase our place. We bought an apartment in Cambridge and did renovation before moving. Now I have a red wall 🙂 , not white or only one colored rented walls. I have half carpet and half hardwood floor. Custom made cabinets, fresh painted bathroom, new appliance – not a bad start. Right?
It’s a different, interesting journey from a filthy, broken apartment to a brand new apartment. Life never stops to surprise me…
Recipe for Pulao
Whenever I move, I pack most of the stuffs in packing boxes and leave the most important ones. Also, moving food is painful. So I try to finish most of the things in the freeze before moving. Thanks to Epicurean Delights(a Facebook group), I got this brilliant idea to use my leftover rice and unused veggies.
You can also make it in on busy weekday ,when you don’t have much time to cook. This is a sweet vegetable fried rice I did with paneer, green and red pepper, onion and lot of dry fruits. You can use whatever veggies you have like chopped carrots, beans, peas etc.
- Green pepper – 1
- Red Pepper – 1
- Onion(Medium) – 1
- Paneer(Nanak Brand) – 340 gm
- Basmati Rice(cooked) – 2 cups
- Handful of Cashew
- Handful of raisins
- Butter/Clarified Butter/Oil – 2 tbsp + 1 tsp
- Salt – as your taste
- Sugar – 2 tsp or as your taste
- Black Pepper – 2 tsp
- Fry all the vegetables until they are softened with 2 tbsp Clarified butter.
- Add the rice and mix it.
- Add salt, sugar and black pepper. Mix it again.
- In a small pan, add 1 tsp butter. Add the dry fruits and fry them a little. Dont burn, just fry a little.
- Add that to the pulao and it’s done…
I made some easy simple Methi Malai Matar with it. You can have it with any gravy based dish (meat, chicken, shrimp, vegetable).
