Cooking my problems away

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"I needed a plan. A plan to get over my man..and what is the opposite of man? Jam"
- Monica Geller (Season 3)

When Monica breaks up with Richard, she is at her worst. She doesn't go to work, doesn't socialize much and just wallows. After a few days of wallowing, she decides to take matters into her own hands and gets a plan, the Jam plan. 
I am no Monica and I haven't broken up with a Richard, just have a lot of free time on my hand. (refer to previous posts)
So to distract myself I decided to try my hand at cooking. I have done that before with little success. I tried making besan chilla at home once in Bangalore and it was a disaster. Somehow I managed to screw up a dish with two ingredients, besan, and salt. It was bad guys. 
But cut to my vacation here in Shimla, I decided to cook my dad an evening snack every day he comes back from work. And I ain't cooking the mundane poha or upma, I decided to go fancy, I mean what could possibly go wrong. So this is my third day of the cooking my dad a snack streak and believes me I have cooked three pretty decent meals, all on my own, from dicing to garnishing. It is a complete Aru meal! You can go away if I am boring you but let me have this. 
So day 1, my mom and I decided to cook something she had seen somewhere on the internet. It was a poha and aloo cutlet or balls type of thing served with the oh so good green chutney. It turned out to be pretty decent. 



The second day I wanted to cook something different, so I decided to so with black eyed beans salsa along with tortilla chips. So since I am in Shimla and that puts a limit to the ingredients available, I got nachos instead of the tortilla chips. I decided to make the best of what I have and took a pivot to make black eyes beans nachos! Well, this one was my victory. This was really good! I surprised myself with this particular snack.


All of you who know me would be thinking that this is it. I lost interest and was done with this little project of mine. I got you here! Because on day 3 I took things to the next level. I decided to make something I've always wanted to but never even dared to try. But since too much time at hand, why not! All the time in the world for multiple iterations until I get it right. Thankfully it took me just the one. And presenting, jacket potatoes with salad and mashed potatoes.


Three days, three dishes! Am I ready for Masterchef or what?  

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