Monica Saigal Bhide's Blog, page 7

This past weekend I was delighted and honored to be a speaker at the local conference for the lovely DC Les Dames – CELEBRATING FOOD! Women in Gastronomy Symposium. I was part of a panel lead by the uber-talented Amy Riolo. Our topic – inspirational women in the culinary arts.

with Joan Nathan, Domenica Marchetti, Sheilah Kaufman, Amy Riolo and Najmieh Batmanglij

 

With Ellie Krieger and Pati Jinich

 

With Robyn Webb and Amy Riolo 

I took the opportunity to speak about the women who have inspired me. Many are in the culinary arts and some are not. If you are interested in learning more about these women and their exceptional talents, you can check out my book, now on sale for $0.99. It was first released in 2012 but the content is evergreen.

 

Top 10 things I learned from interviewing exceptional women

BUY NOW

Get Yourself Going Every Morning with “In Conversation with Exceptional Women”

Think big and tweeze your eyebrows – Alison Winn Scotch
Never eat the same meal twice- Amanda Hesser
My mantra – I release all my fears and I constantly remind myself to be grateful – Carla Hall
Almost everyone you encounter will tell you it can’t be done, or will doubt your ability to do it. Ignore them – Camille Noe Pagan
Share your writing every day – Dana Cowin
Success – The ability to envision and create one’s life – Elise Bauer
Read. Read read read read – Elissa Altman
That it’s not enough that a recipe be unique, interesting, oddball, previously unpublished, or simply “new.” A dish worth going after has to taste really good – Paula Wolfert
Trust your own taste and your own story – Kat Kinsman
One piece of wisdom that almost everyone share: Enjoy the journey. Dont focus too much on the destination.

 

BUY NOW

Get Yourself Going Every Morning with “In Conversation with Exceptional Women”

 

The post Top ten things I have learned from exceptional women appeared first on Monica Bhide | Recipes, Stories, Inspiration.

 

Many years ago, I conducted a series of interviews with exceptional women and posted them on my site (about twenty or so). The response was overwhelmingly positive. So I conducted another 35 or so and combined them into a short but fun book and released it in 2012. I have so many new readers on this blog now (WELCOME!!), that I thought I would share a little about that tiny book again!

BUY NOW

Get Yourself Going Every Morning with “In Conversation with Exceptional Women”

Powerful and insightful, “In Conversation with Exceptional Women” compiles reflections from over 50 influential women (writers, chefs, photographers, moms) on developing – and thriving – as a creative professional.

These real-life conversations are practical, thought-provoking and often humorous. You’ll find compelling personal revelations into what matters to many of today’s successful writers: how they got started; what inspires them; what advice they’d give to their former16-year-old selves; and how they stay motivated to keep on creating.

A sampling from “In Conversation with Exceptional Women” includes:

Ruth Reichl, former Editor in Chief of Gourmet and former restaurant critic of The New York Times: “I wish I’d known that there is a huge hunger out there for good writing, and you can start at the top. Find a good story, write the hell out of it and send it to the best outlets you can think of.”


Susan Orlean, New Yorker writer and book author on her road to success: “Luck, perseverance, and conviction. I knew what I wanted, and that guided me along.”


Dorie Greenspan, best-selling cookbook author and winner of several James Beard Foundation awards: “Be open to change. Things rarely go according to plans or wishes, and so often the twists and turns that pop up along the way bring something wonderful –be ready to follow them.”


Lynne Rosetto Kasper, host of American Public Radio’s “Splendid Table”: “Everyone has tough days, and when there is a lot going on, the best thing you can do is to take a break. Turn off the switch in your head – go for a walk, go to the museum, distract yourself any way you can. When you come back you will feel refreshed and ready to take on your problems.”


Kim Severson, The New York Times, food writer and Bureau chief Atlanta:“Imagine if the story you have in mind would be something you would want to tell someone else about. If it holds your interest, it will probably interest a reader.”

“In Conversation with Exceptional Women” is a perfect guide for anyone embarking on life’s larger path.

“In Conversation with Exceptional Women” is available on Amazon and B&N. Priced at $0.99.

If you do not have an ereader and want to read the book, I can provide you a PDF. Please email me.

Photos from the launch event for the book: featuring Aviva Goldfarb, Vivian Schiller, Nycci Nellis, Joan Nathan and Carla Hall

This free picture collage personalized with Smilebox



 

 

 

BUY NOW – “In Conversation with Exceptional Women”

Some reviews:
1. Sarah Caron posted this heartfelt review and I am so grateful: :If you are a woman writer, buy this eBook (it’s a mere $0.99!) and read it. Then read it again, whenever you need that little kick in the pants to keep going toward your goals. It’s worth it.”
2. Bike with Jackie finds a mantra she loves in the book on how to define success.
3. Family Circle magazine talks about the book: The author, Monica Bhide, brought together this talented group of women from the food world to candidly discuss how they successfully balance their personal and professional lives.  These real-life conversations are practical, inspiring, thought-provoking and often humorous.

The post Wisdom for Writers appeared first on Monica Bhide | Recipes, Stories, Inspiration.

A distinct honor of being a writer is that I am surrounded by amazing writers. I had the honor of hosting Aviva Goldfarb and Amy Riolo last night to celebrate their books. It was a full house and I feel very blessed to be surrounded by such inspiring and supportive women.

Here are some photos of the event. I am planning on doing more of these events – it is a wonderful learning experience and the food is always the crowning glory!

Aviva Goldfarb’s –The Six O’Clock Scramble Meal Planner: A Year of Quick, Delicious Meals to Help You Prevent and Manage Diabetes
Amy Riolo’s —Italian Diabetes Cookbook: Delicious and Healthful Dishes from Venice to Sicily and BeyondItalian Diabetes Cookbook: Delicious and Healthful Dishes from Venice to Sicily and Beyond

 

You can buy these wonderful books here –

Aviva Goldfarb’s –The Six O’Clock Scramble Meal Planner: A Year of Quick, Delicious Meals to Help You Prevent and Manage Diabetes
Amy Riolo’s —Italian Diabetes Cookbook: Delicious and Healthful Dishes from Venice to Sicily and BeyondItalian Diabetes Cookbook: Delicious and Healthful Dishes from Venice to Sicily and Beyond

 

The post Honoring friends appeared first on Monica Bhide | Recipes, Stories, Inspiration.

I have been making the rounds with books clubs reading my book, The Devil in Us, and I just tell you how wonderful it has been! To see the characters come alive and people talk about them…. I never imagined I would be so lucky!!

So I thought I would create a little spiel on why you should invite me to your book club!! I have done in-person appearances, on the phone and via Skype (see pics below).

Here goes:

A storyteller, dreamer, Clooney-fan, Nutella-lover, wine-drinker, spice whisperer, nail-polish nerd, and geeky author is available for your next book club! She brings stories and gifts. Won’t you please consider her for your next book club?

Order The Devil in Us now – ebook or paperback

 

Here are some photos from local and national book clubs I have been lucky to be invited to –

Order The Devil in Us now – ebook or paperback

 

Order The Devil in Us now – ebook or paperback

The post Bookclubs! appeared first on Monica Bhide | Recipes, Stories, Inspiration.

I have been making the rounds with books clubs reading my book, The Devil in Us, and I just tell you how wonderful it has been! To see the characters come alive and people talk about them…. I never imagined I would be so lucky!!

So I thought I would create a little spiel on why you should invite me to your book club!! I have done in-person appearances, on the phone and via Skype (see pics below).

Here goes:

A storyteller, dreamer, Clooney-fan, Nutella-lover, wine-drinker, spice whisperer, nail-polish nerd, and geeky author is available for your next book club! She brings stories and gifts. Won’t you please consider her for your next book club?

Order The Devil in Us now – ebook or paperback

 

Here are some photos from local and national book clubs I have been lucky to be invited to –

Order The Devil in Us now – ebook or paperback

 

Order The Devil in Us now – ebook or paperback

The post Book clubs! appeared first on Monica Bhide | Recipes, Stories, Inspiration.

I was one of those people who never dreamed of becoming anything. I never had a dream. I grew up in the Middle East, in a lovely, functional and practical apartment, reflective of the lovely, functional and practical nature of my parents – my mother was a school teacher and my father was an engineer. Late at night, when everyone was asleep, I would sneak into our living room and sit on a large brown couch where I had an unobstructed view of a perpetually star-filled sky. (A distinct advantage of growing up on a desert island, Bahrain, is that the skies are generally always cloud free!) I would sit there for hours and stare at the sky asking only why I had been placed on this earth and what I was to do with my life.

Was I going to be a dancer? No, I had two left feet!  A movie star? No, no height, no looks!  A singer?  I was tone-deaf, so no on that as well. Would I be a person people looked up to? Would I travel the world in 80 days? Would I be a teacher? A doctor? A healer? A lawyer?

I was ten, then.

In fact, star-gazing became a tradition on New Year’s night for me and my friend Nazu. I guess we never had a glamorous social calendar. We’d lie on the trunk of my father’s Volvo and pick out the stars that would help guide us and show us the way. One year, out of the blue, Nazu, gave me a book to capture my poems which I seemed to write endlessly. After that, I would sit and stare at the stars and write in my book. It overflowed with poems about longings, waiting for curtain calls and love to show up at my door. I was always asking, what is my dream, where do I belong, but getting no answers.

I had a hard time fitting in school. I was the one left behind when the girls went for a movie, the last one to know any gossip, the ugly duckling who never seemed to blossom. I was a geek with no imagination, a chemistry genius with no chemistry with any boy in sight and a passionate poet with no inspiration. I wanted to change the world so I could fit in it. I wanted the world to like me but I did not understand that I had to like the world first.

After high school, I left home to study engineering, and lived at a convent with semi-cloistered nuns for several years– they hosted girls in a girl’s hostel. Although the geekiness from my school years had continued, the Universe had been kind enough to give me a room with a horrid view of the highway but a spectacular view of the Bangalore sky. I studied hard, graduating with distinction but still feeling out of place.

Luckily for me, in spite of myself, I found love.  I moved to the States to get my masters degree and met my husband, Sameer. He helped open my heart to possibilities and laughed when he saw me staring at the sky on dark nights in Cleveland. I hated it there – the sky was always covered in clouds. “The answer is in your heart” he would say, “ not in the sky.” I would laugh it off but he did get me thinking.

I was in my twenties, working as hard as I could. I was an engineer with two master’s degrees, a six-figure dream career in training and development, a big house, friends, a loving husband and two amazing children.  On a personal level I was fulfilled, but on a professional level, something was missing.

Then, one day, my whole world came to a standstill. A very, very dear friend suddenly passed away in a freak accident. She was in her mid-thirties and had been married the same year that I had.

It shook my whole world. I felt I’d been so passive, accepting, and conservative that I was letting this precious life go by and doing nothing about it. I began to not only look at the stars at night, but also to pray. I started a journal, looking for guidance.

They say the universe opens up doors when you are specific about what you need. One day, I sat down in a quiet room and wrote my obituary. Sound far-fetched? It really is not. I imagined who I want to be remembered as. This was not, I told myself, about solving a problem or creating a solution. It was about defining a personal vision.

I came up with obvious things, like wanting to be known as a good mother and wife. I wrote about making a difference and leaving the world a better place. I knew these values I held so dear were not reflected in my professional choices. I began to devour books, magazines, essays on finding “your professional vision” and “discovering what you are destined to do.” It was my husband who casually pointed it out one fateful day. “You are always writing,” he said. “At the drop of a hat you are at the computer. Ever considered writing?” It was true, I had been writing online for a while. In fact, I had written my first book in 2001, a very small, personal cookbook for very little money, on a dare from my sister, since she loved my cooking. Writing was a hobby. It’s interesting how many of us look outside ourselves to figure out who we want to be when often the answers are right under our noses and we don’t see them.

I quit my job and began to write for anyone who would let me: websites, magazines, newspapers, newsletters. I wrote resumes for friends, and edited essays for college-ready kids. I wrote and I wrote. And I became happier and happier. By God’s grace I have written for national and international magazines, newspapers and now have three books to my name. I write a weekly column online for the Washington Post and others.

It is amazing how when you do what you love, you have so much more energy and soul.  In the past, I would fill my time with worry, and now that I don’t, time has opened up its treasures to me.

Today, I’m at peace.  While I still stare at the stars, I realize that life is about deliberate choices and learning how to make them instead of waiting for something or someone to make them for you. I stopped trying to the change the world. I changed myself. I challenged myself to find my God-given gift. I had to look inside. I had to find my dream and find my faith so I could take the leap. I began to look at my world with a different set of eyes, perhaps a bit wiser, I began to appreciate what the world had already given me.

Today, I as I write this, I am sitting at my dining table in my townhome in Virginia, staring out the wall-to-ceiling windows at a garden with vividly colored flowers and a spectacularly blue sky with a sprinkling of a cloud or two. I turn 46 this summer. Every decade of my life has taught me something new. I am not sure what this age will teach me but I have a few-found sense of freedom that I never had before. I am more confident about myself and my dreams. Today, I feel I can reach out and touch the stars, not just stare at them. And I’m thankful for what they gave me – the ability to dream.

 

 

The post How I found my destiny appeared first on Monica Bhide | Recipes, Stories, Inspiration.

I think I have typed this first line at least sixty times and then deleted it. I have been struggling to find the right words to express how I feel about a book that I never wanted to read. And then I read it.

In one sitting.

In six hours.

Laughing, crying, weeping, smiling.

From 11:00 p.m. until I saw the sun peeking in through my window.

I sat up and read a book I never wanted to read.

It is not a novel, it is not a mystery, it is not a thriller. It is not a sci-fi adventure.

I knew from page one that the narrator would die. He dies.

And yet once I started I could not put it down.

Serendipity can be a real nuisance sometimes.

Let me explain.

When I first read a review of the book, When Breath Becomes Air, in the New York Times, tears rolled down my cheeks. The book, written in first person, is about Dr. Paul Kalanithi – a genius by any standards. A man on his way to becoming a renowned neurosurgeon at 35 is confronted with his own mortality: a death sentence of stage four lung cancer.

I could barely get through the review (which was, appropriately, very glowing). I really wanted to know about him, but at the same time, my heart hurt. Why would God take away a man like him, a man who could do—and had been doing—so much good? A fabulous neurosurgeon who could change the world and change the way we dealt with diseases of the brain.

After realizing I was being very immature about how I was handling the situation, I ordered the book from Amazon. Five minutes later I cancelled my order.

A day later, I ordered it again. Then I cancelled it again.

About two days later, I had a first-timing meeting with a colleague who wanted to publish her first cookbook. It was a terrific meeting. Two days later she emailed to say that she had an extra copy of When Breath Becomes Air and would I like to read it.

Serendipity. Right.

I debated what to do. If a book comes to me, I almost always read it. I am a believer in signs.

I settled in to read it. Within two minutes, I was hooked. Dr. Paul was not only a brilliant surgeon but an engaging, amazing writer.

The book, to me, appeared to have several layers – the doctor speaking with clinical precision, the writer wrestling with existential angst, and the human with raw emotions of pain.

I got lost in his world. I wanted to cheer him on. I hated nature for giving him this illness. What the hell! WHY HIM??

His fortitude, his bravery, his love of life shone on every single page. I marked up the book. I wanted to share every line here. The quotes that made me cry. The quotes that made me laugh. The heartbreak of his death. The finality of the book – when this memoir ended I could no longer read anything by him. He was gone. This amazing genius of a man with so much to give the world.

As I stared at the morning sun, I wondered why I had crossed paths with Dr. Paul’s amazing book. As is my nature (the engineering side in particular), I wondered what was the lesson he was trying to teach me.

I am not sure I will ever know.

The engineer in me marveled at his intelligence and scientific brilliance.

The writer in me applauded his beautiful words.

The human in me cried at the unfairness of life and his pain.

I stood at my window watching the sunrise.

I clutched the book close to my heart.

Solace.

That is the only word that came to my mind.

His words, even as they are his final words, are healers. Even in his death, from his final resting place, he offers the rarest of rare support: solace.

I encourage you to read this book and share it with your loved ones.

Solace.

Rest in peace, Dr. Paul. Rest in peace.

(click on image to order)

The post “When Breath Becomes Air” – a tribute appeared first on Monica Bhide | Recipes, Stories, Inspiration.

 

Calling all lovers of chocolate: join me and The Smithsonian Associates on 2/4 for a delicious evening of chocolate discussions and tastings with premier chocolatiers of the Washington area:  @Artisan Confections, @Chouquette, @Potomac Chocolate Co., and @Co Co. Sala. #FoodiesatSI

For more information click here. 

I will be moderating.

Please join us!! Space is limited.

The post Chocolate Chocolate Everywhere! appeared first on Monica Bhide | Recipes, Stories, Inspiration.

Happy New Year!

I wish you all a terrific year ahead with loads of memorable meals, lively conversations and good health!

As the year opens, I am delighted to share some great news about my last two books and, of course, a new recipe.

First,  A Life of Spice made the top food memoirs list on Eat Your Books -http://www.eatyourbooks.com/community/best-cookbooks-of-2015

It also got some generous press –

Tampa Bay Times – http://www.tampabay.com/things-to-do/food/cooking/food-books-that-arent-cookbooks-to-gift-to-the-foodie-in-your-life/2256797

Huffington Post (Jamie Schler) – http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jamie-schler/holiday-gift-guide-for-the-food-lover-cookbooks_b_8681058.html

Rebecca Katz – http://www.rebeccakatz.com/blog/delicious-gifts-best-of-the-best-food-books-for-giving

Kitchen Frolic – http://www.kitchenfrolic.ca/2015/12/list-goes-11-favourite-cookbooks-food-books-2015/

 

My fiction short story collection, The Devil in Us, ended the year on a high note as well!

I hope you are enjoying both books! If not, I hope you will take this opportunity to order them. As always, do post a review if you read the book. Your reviews are priceless and really help!

Finally, a recipe I created using Idaho potatoes made this very prestigious top ten list! So thrilled — Please do try my comfort food – potato curry!

Happy New Year, again!

There is so much to look forward to – new books, new stories, new recipes and much more! Please do stop by here and stay in touch!

 

The post Wrapping up 2015! appeared first on Monica Bhide | Recipes, Stories, Inspiration.

Finally! We have come to the end of the series. I hope this year-long project has been helpful to you. I would love your comments, insights, advice!

 

HOPE

I hope that this year-long project has helped you. I debated writing another story, telling another tale, discussing another issue, but decided against it.

 

Instead, I would love for you to write this last post. Tell me what this project has taught you. Did any particular post hit home? Did any topic really resonate? How did you use it? Would you do it again?

 

Where should we go from here?

 

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