being married to an indian means we tend to cook indian food...a lot!

i have no problem with that...because first of all, there are a lot more healthy indian options compared to american food. also, it's cheaper and easier to make once you get adjusted to using the new spices. and last...but not least...my husband happens to be a great cook!

not to down play my progress and accomplishments in indian cooking over these past few years...i think i can hold my own...especially for a 'gori'. (that means white girl in case you wondered)
but there's nothing like a man who cooks.

here he is with ghee. a key ingredient for getting a lot of indian foods just right. it's basically just indian butter. hehe. whenever there is a picture being taken, shomik only makes a really serious face or a super goofy one...there's no happy mediums with him...but anyways...

the other night he made one of my favorites because i special requested it.

it's called posto wada.

even a lot of people from india won't know this dish because it's pretty specific to west bengal.

basically you take poppy seeds and blend them with salt and chilies, and then lightly fry it in mustard oil.
so it's pretty much an opium patty if you think about it. (maybe that's why it's so addictive)

i know it sounds weird...but trust me, it's really yum!


here it is shown with spinach and dal. the posto is the lumpy tan substance on the left.

i don't know if there are any restaurants that even sell this stuff, but if you happen to find one, then trust me, you need to try it! otherwise you might just need to make some bengali friends.
just take my word for it.

so when we get any free time around here, it's a regular occurance in our family to head over to the dog park.

yes, our dogs do enjoy these little outings, but i think there's someone who enjoys them even more...
my husband.

shomik doesn't really have addictions...he he's not even hooked on caffeine like most of us...
but the dog park is his guilty pleasure.

before i proceed further, i feel that i should catch you up on the latest edition to our family...

and no, it's not that.

remember that sweet mutsy pup we were looking for a home for back before my blogging lapse?
well...meet our newest dog, bindi!

she's a 50lb pup now. and we tried to find a home for her...we really did. at least i did.

i was so adamant that we could not have a third dog...i think shomik might have been counting on me being a big softie from the start though.

we actually thought we might have found a home for her with my brother and sister in law. they took her on a trial basis for a week. but during that week i thought my husband was going to die of doggie grief. we'd had her for almost 2 months already at that point...i'll admit it, i missed her too.

so i guess it was fortunate for everyone when my brother decided they weren't ready for a dog yet.
well, fortunate for everyone except maybe our couch...


long story.  the truth is that she's normally a pretty good dog...and i've almost forgiven her. a bug actually flew into the hollow part of that couch, and let's just say she's obsessed with chasing bugs...

anyways...so now we have 3 dogs in our little family.
we're officially outnumbered over here.
but we're a happy hairy family. hehe.

well this is my second father's day now without my sweet daddy.
so i guess you could say i've been in a bit of a funk this week.

you never realize how much commercialism there is around these holidays until you're trying not to think about them. good job advertising industry.

for the past couple weeks it's been kind of bombarding my thoughts with ads everywhere in stores and all over the internet... 'don't forget father's day!'

how could i forget father's day...
my dad was only the most influential person in my life.

all of our family was very close. but i was a daddy's girl from day one...
he always bragged about how he gave me my first kiss.
so somehow when we lost him, i felt like i lost 'my' person.

i think it was partly because there is just a special bond between fathers and daughters. i don't know why that is. but also i think it's because i was more like my dad than anyone in the world. i was literally made from the same stuff as him. some people get a mix of their parents...i mostly got my mom on the outside...people say we look like sisters, but it's like if you cut me open you'd see my daddy.
so i think because of that he understood me better than anyone in the world did...and maybe loved me more too because i was like a little clone of the woman he adored.

i'm so thankful that i had him. i think you can never recover from losing that kind of love though. but it was worth it. i'm so thankful to God that He gave him to me...even though our time was too short...no amount of time could have been long enough.

i'm thankful also to have a husband who loves me very much. maybe someday through him God will somehow redeem this day and give it new meanings.
but i will always remember today the first man who ever loved me.

happy father's day daddy.

wow, it's been awhile.

for a few months there i completely forgot about this place...hopefully i can get myself back on track.

the truth is i love blogging. really i just love to write.
not in an MLA/turabian sort of way...
but i just like to have an outlet.

sometimes i think i process life better on paper.
ok, so maybe not actual paper these days...but you know what i mean.

too much has happened in the past few months to really catch up on...so i'm just going to jump back in i think like i never left off.

but life is good.
weird...but good. more on that later probably.

my sweet husband has been having to travel a lot for work these days.
we both hate it. but i'm waiting now for him to be home very soon. i miss that boy.

i keep hearing this song this week and it's one of my favs...
anyways, it makes me think of my baby when he's gone, so i shall leave you with this while i go make some cookies and get ready to shower my hubby with kisses...