Hair. A love story.

28 Jul 2021 2 Comments

by wifemothereventplanner in Brave New World Tags: , , , , , , ,

Well a love/hate story for me.

My hair today is naturally wavy which means it leans frizzy.

Before I had kids. Before I got married. Before I got old. My hair was smooth, thick and very healthy. I’m not blaming my husband and kids for any turn of events, I’m just stating facts.

Beside a low point when I decided to try to “perm” my hair and ended up with a tight Afro for half a year – my hair has been good to me.

It’s the kind of hair that people would comment on. It’s so shiny. It’s so pretty. Yada yada. Indians have good hair. Ask Chris Rock – he did a whole documentary on it.

Sometimes stereotypes are stereotypes for a reason.

I spend a lot of time thinking about my hair.

For those of you reading this who can’t relate, good for you. I would love to be so irreverent. But I can’t. For me, it’s all about the schedule. The hair washing schedule.

If I’m having a good day, if I’m not having a good day…it’s about the hair.

No. Not a good hair day. That’s cute. I’m talking about a daily, hourly evaluation of where my hair is at.

Day one to two of washing – it’s amazing. I’ve cared for it. I’ve blown it out (or I’ve had a very nice woman named Lydia blow it out). It’s peak. I’m peak.

Even during these peak days there is a struggle. Or at least now there’s a struggle. When I wasn’t working out – it was no big deal. But now there’s a delicate but immense balance between clean, blown-out hair and working out.

In the winter months I was walking my literal ass off and breaking a minor sweat. My hair was in great shape after a 10K walk.

Now…in this thick, hot, steamy heat…I look like a drowned rat after I walk. And that’s me being kind to myself.

I have to plan my workouts/walks either before or after a peak day. That’s right. My health journey is fully dependent on my hair schedule. I told you this shit was complicated.

Oh…try dry shampoo you say? Genius. I’ve done it. I’m on it. I’m in it. It can help – but it can’t perform miracles. I’ve also tried hats, hair bands, hair nets, etc.

I plan my workouts and hair washing like some people do meal prep during the week. Here’s my week….here’s what I need to look good for…here’s what I can get away with…ugh. It’s an ordeal.

Listen – I know I have like tier 2 hair issues. There are black girls reading this and rolling their eyes. I get it. I bow down. But it’s still a thing for me. A big THING.

To add insult to injury, last year, during the height of Covid…I started losing hair. It just started falling out. Was it stress? Was it hormones? Was it a cosmic joke? I dunno – but what I do know is that it was DEVASTATING.

I freaked out. I bought hair vitamins. I bought expensive products. I googled every hair remedy I could find. I prayed to the hair gods. And then finally, I let it go.

It was what it was. I no longer had that thick, rich head of hair that people commented on.

I was now buying products for “thin hair”. Oh the irony of finally buying something for myself labeled “thin”!

I asked my doctor about it and she said words that resembled menopause and I tuned out completely. What do they know? I’m going back to my old, trusted friend. Instagram.

On Instagram I found my new favorite shampoo.

It’s expensive (by my CVS standards). It’s hard to find. Gwyneth Paltrow uses it. These are all good enough stats for me.

And because my algorithm is now ABBA dance routines and hair products, Instagram also brought the WOW and IGK products into my life. And of course I love them too.

I’ve been using these products for about 2 months and I have to say…legit not one thing has changed. But I’m still into them.

So! If you want to try something that I cannot say has done anything for me except make me feel good -give it a go. My only bit of good news recently has been that Lydia noticed baby hairs growing and said,” Meha (that’s what she calls me), your baby hairs are coming in black not grey!”.

I cried I was so happy.

Hair. It’s ruining and ruling my life. Who wears wigs? DM me.

Here’s 3 peak days I’ve had this summer (one is just to show off my earring TBH):

Homemade – semi

07 Jul 2021 Leave a comment

by wifemothereventplanner in Cooking! Tags: , , , , , , ,

Remember that show with Sandra Dee or Sandra Lee? She would always be swathed in really good lighting as she made things with cake mix? I think there was always a color theme too… like when she made green and red food she’d be wrapped in the Italian flag or something. I enjoyed it.

This past weekend I took this dip – which was totally inspired by Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen – and bastardized it ala Sandy.

An Yotum Ottolenghi recipe was also involved. Stay with me.

Deb Perelman’s cooking, if you don’t know it, is right up my ally. Fuss free but impressive. In my book of lady cooks I turn to – it’s Ina, Martha and Deb. The order changes depending on recipe. A whole Turkey for Thanksgiving? Martha’s my gal. Baking? Hello Ina. And everything in between is Deb.

Back to it.

So I wanted to make something to take to a July 4th Party. Deb had a great recipe for hummus piled with a tomato and cucumber salad.

I’d made it before. It was delicious. I just had some issues. My number one being a deep dark secret. I don’t love tomatoes. Are you still there? Do you hate me? I’m sorry. It’s a very controversial statement. Almost as bad as “I don’t love berrries”, but don’t worry. I wouldn’t go that far. And if I did – I wouldn’t tell you. Yum berries!

So I tweaked the recipe. Kept the cucumber, added a radish. Yes a radish! A totally under appreciated vegetable that can take the place of an onion in many salads. And I doubled the amount of parsley and mint. Maybe tripled. When I showed this recipe to a friend she said, ” oh like tabouli….”. It is tabouliesque.

Radish + Cucumber

I really wanted a salty brine to it and found this in my pantry. Perfect.

I poured half the jar in. With the dressing.

Side note. A couple of years ago I bought this thingie, this can-opener-pop-up thingie. It’s amazing. It works. Thank you Darcy for making me get it.

Now that we have the salad done. We need the hummus.

This is the part where you could totally just buy the hummus. It would still be homemade. You still chopped shit for gods sake. But hummus you make, even semi-make is so much better than the stuff in the store ( not judging, I’ll eat that all day long).

But making it IS actually easy and it ALWAYS tastes better. Last summer I dove deep into all the recipes from Yotem Ottolenghi. His books are beautifully photographed and easy to follow – check out his website https://ottolenghi.co.uk/

His recipe calls for soaking dried chickpeas overnight, fresh garlic, lemon and tahini. That’s it. I followed it to a semi-tee.

I didn’t measure anything. I just eyeballed/tasted it.

Canned beans? Yep. Garlic in a tube? Absolutely. Still worked. Add some tahini and fresh lemon (see..FRESH) and voila!

Stuff it all in your son’s Nutribullet and let it whirl!

You’ll get a consistency that’s softer and runnier than store bought hummus. Don’t worry – you didn’t do it wrong. Put it in the fridge for a couple of hours and it’ll firm up a bit, but still be smooth and creamy!

Plate it all on a festive dish – add some feta cheese and good olive oil to gild the lily and go impress some people!

This land is your land…

04 Jul 2021 4 Comments

by wifemothereventplanner in Brave New World Tags: , , , , , , ,

We were on vacation out West this week and the hotel we stayed at had this beautiful flag up. I could see it from the pool I spent some quality time in. I thought about it a lot.

I’ve always loved the flag. I’ve always loved this country. Even though I wasn’t born here, I consider this my home. I was naturalized here. Became a citizen here. As I’ve said in other posts, I spent the majority of my childhood wanting to pretend I was from nowhere else. It didn’t work.

I’ve traveled to my share of other countries, including the one I was born in. Those places are amazing. I want to see more places all over the world. But then I want to come home. To America.

I’ve only seriously considered moving to one other country (hello Ireland!), but there’s no Dunkin’. So there goes that.

In the last few years I’ve noticed a big change. I didn’t know if it was just me or not. I’m feeling like I’m on the wrong team to love the flag. Like unless I agree with a certain ideology or belief system, the flag isn’t for me.

I asked some good friends their opinion on this to make sure I wasn’t just overthinking it. Overthinking is my superpower.

One of them, whose family has been here since and fought in the Revolutionary War, told me she feels the same way.

Another, whose father and grandfather were in the military, told me that they were disgusted with the way the flag was being used. No real veteran wants to pit Americans against each other.

I should be able to fly the flag proudly and still be ok questioning laws, people, policy etc. That’s how it all began here. From day one. British rule, fleeing Pilgrims and slaughtered Indians… remember?

That flag has been through a lot. And I’m sure we’ve got more changes coming.

But I’m pretty confident that the flag isn’t just for some Americans. Flying it doesn’t mean you love your country the most – and not flying it, kneeling in front of it or turning your back to it doesn’t mean you hate it. It’s bigger and deeper than that.

I think all this mess started with this “melting pot” business. Newsflash- melting together isn’t working people! The emulsification isn’t taking. We’re too different. Too unique in our own ways to blend together.

Plus we’re all so problematic. We have a ton of issues. There’s lots of learning to do. So we will never be a true pot of melted goodness.

So what. That’s fine. Let’s be stew. Big, sloppy chunks of different ingredients coming together to form one nation, under God or Bravo. With one flag. My flag. And your flag too 🇺🇸.