April was super productive! It’s been a while since I have written these highs and lows and the I’m always trying to tease out the highs while spinning the lows as a high at times as well. But April actually had some really nice glimmers of achievements, so let’s get started!

Highs

• I got my first vaccine shot! Got the Oxford Chimpanzee mRNA version called Covishield. Getting the vaccine was an uphill battle with faulty technology, decrepit national healthcare, and the hot as balls heat of Delhi. But, it happened and I literally cannot complain!

• My company completed three years! This is the longest I have stayed at a company and seen so much growth. It’s actually fascinating to see the guts of the company and engineer how it functions. Sometimes I forget how young I am and how much I contribute to the business but sometimes, just sometimes, it shows up and it feels so good.

• I was pretty happy with the number of blogs I wrote through April! We had one blog article come out every week which hasn’t been the case for a while now. I hope this month looks the same!

Lows

• The vaccine shot came with three days of some very annoying flu-like symptoms, stomach aches, and fatigue. It was a great simulation of what actual covid would feel like and in many ways that’s a good thing. It will make people want to stay home and safe haha.

• Lockdown in 2021 is very different. While the things we do are similar to last year, there is a sense of greater insecurity that comes with this year. What makes it worse is that at least last year we were feeling pity for America and now with the whole anti-vaxers movement going on in the States, the status quo of America not appreciating its privilege has found its way back.

• Lastly, it took some time for me to realise that the month had ended. The month was a blur just because of how monotonous it tended to be for the most part. Outside of the few days of change, every day felt way too similar. I am fine with that for now, but I just hope May looks just a little bit better.

In Indian cooking, salads really don’t have much of a presence. The farthest we tend to push the envelope on that front is chopping up some carrots, cucumbers, adding some chaat masala, and calling it a “salad.” And while that is all well and good, it’s become somewhat ingrained in our minds that salads can never really be a meal. It can be filling no matter how many calories we stuff it with. This makes salads mostly a side dish, subconsciously. This Caesar salad is here to show how that is far from the case. From the rich dressing to the croutons, to the roughly chopped lettuce— this salad is built to be a meal. So bring that fork and knife and carve yourself a yummy dinner! I hope you do try this recipe and as always, happy cooking

Glimpses from the week

Ingredients

For the dressing

1 large Egg yolk

2 cloves of garlic chopped fine

1 tablespoon of mustard

2 pickles chopped fine

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Juice of 1 lemon

For the salad

A whole head of lettuce

Toast that and cubed to look like cute little croutons

250 grams of smoked chicken or your protein of choice

Shaved Parmesan

Of course, the salad dressing

And an 8 minute boiled egg

Method

1. Salad dressings are a great way to learn about emulsions. An emulsion is a mixture of two or more liquids that are normally immiscible. In this dressing, we will mix egg yolks, a liquid fat with olive oil to create our thick and glossy dressing. The process is fairly easy. It’s a matter of adding the olive oil into the mix slowly throughout the process. If I were to make this dressing again, I would add all the ingredients first and then add the oil last

2. For the assembly, in a plate add the lettuce, followed by the protein, dressing, topped with the accoutrements of your choice.