About Me

I was such a picky kid when it came to food,  that as soon as I was a little older, my mom started letting me experiment with food and “customize it”, so that I would at least not starve!

My earliest memory of cooking something complicated all by myself is Aloo parathas, which I made when I was 6 or 7 years old. I had started making simpler things even before that, mostly under my Aji’s guidance (Aji: marathi for grand mom, you will hear that word a lot throughout the website). Aji was way ahead of her time, she loved watching movies, dancing, loved trying new restaurants and was very tech savvy. I wish she were around today, she would have had a ball watching songs and recipe videos on youtube! I miss her dearly. I feel so proud when relatives and my family tell me that I have my Aji’s hatachi chav (taste-of-hand: a concept in my culture, where its believed that the same recipe made by two people using the same ingredients will taste different because of their individual touch or literally translated: taste-of-hand) 🙂

I truly believe cooking is an art – its beautiful, meditative, entertaining and has tremendous emotional power. Nothing can transport you to happy memories of the past like the aroma of certain foods can! I tend to be very self-critical and focus on little details of everything that I do, so the name of this blog is quite fitting for the way I cook and document recipes. But in years of cooking, I have turned to a more simplistic approach, focusing more on keeping the recipe and ingredients simple, flavorful and fresh. Perfection comes effortlessly eventually, its just about knowing just the right amount to add – not too much, not too little.

Professionally, I am a chemical engineer and a Food Science graduate (which makes me a food scientist). I have worked in the past as a product development scientist and now work in sales for a Global Food Company in New York City. Although not directly related to my job, my passion for cooking (and taking food very seriously) does definitely contribute to me enjoying what I do thoroughly! I travel a lot for work as well, which also means I am mingling with other fellow foodies, experimenting with different foods from all over the world, all the time!

Other than food, my hobbies are creative arts and crafts, theater  and writing. If I have to describe myself in one line it’s – Artist meets Food Scientist!