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Food Fantasy



I am a self confessed diehard foodie, a female Jughead of sorts. Part of my happiness, wellbeing and spirit comes from food.
I love eating out, be it in dhabas, restaurants; one star, two star, whatever star, the gourmet meals, the rustic roadside stop overs, my taste buds are easy to please.
I look forward to every meal, never mind the fact that nowadays I feel like " Alice in wonderland ". I want to reach out for my boiled egg sandwich but am cautioned against eating the yolks. Imagine not having the whole egg!  Just when you settle down to grudgingly cultivate the taste of solo egg whites, pat comes the analysis that it's ok to have the entire egg, or for that matter take the coconut....every time I want to guzzle the sol kadhi or dunk into the Burmese  khowsuey, I agonise over its merits and demerits.
Newspapers are full of contradictory reports, two columns, should eat versus should not eat. I feel like a yoyo swinging between decisions to suit my palate....like a trapeze act. Ultimately my heart rules over my head as I pay heed to it obediently and make a dash at it. I love it when nutritionists hail the food I am particularly fond of. Not that I needed validation but nevertheless it wipes off the guilt if any.
I love to sample all kinds of cuisines, Indian, Chinese, Continental, fusion and so on. My grey cells work in glee as I try to guess the ingredients that may have gone into it with every bite I have  and a sip I take and make a mental note to hone my culinary skills to try it out at home.
So I have decided that eat I must, in moderation as they prophess, to not feel guilty and enjoy the pleasure of eating. I have yet to figure out wether I live to eat or eat to live. It's those lazy bones that need to be galvanised into action so that I am able to continue embarking on my foodie fantasies.
At the end of it all, after having travelled all over the globe, I like to come home to having hot piping " varan bhaat " with a dash of salt, lime, jaggery and the ghee trickling all over, the perfect comfort food for the true blue Assal  Marathi mulgi that I am.

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