One of the things that I love about this blog is how much I get to learn about people from all over the world. However different our lives may be, there are always things that seem to unite us together. On my Instagram account, these commonalities seem to be food, Besan, and (most recently) our love for TV.

Before I get into the community, let me talk about my very strange content consumption patterns. Ever since I moved to The Mavericks, I have been addicted to having a double screen set up (a laptop hooked to a computer screen for more screen space). Now while sometimes this is a god sent from a work point of view — especially during voice-over work where I have to read a script while recording; I mostly use it to watch TV. While most people listen to music while they work, I love watching TV. There is something about controlling the noise around me that the introverted single-child being inside of me loves. As an only child with two full time working parents, I have always had to find ways to entertain myself. As a kid, I had many imaginary friends and internal monologues but as I grew older, I recognised that I could do the same with TV. It allows for greater focus. If I am able to control the number of distractions that I have, then I can anticipate both the speed and efficiency of the output I have. Clearly, I have thought way too much about it. I do also think that this is intrinsically a single kid process. Natasha lives in a household that loves to be together. Their homes are structured in such a way that their living rooms are the focal point of the house and everyone seems to love to sit there and work, watch TV, and eat food. My family on the other hand love to do all the same activities but in our own silos. There are full days that I don’t leave my room until someone actually pulls me out of there or if Besan has to go for a walk. My college best friend, Morgan too had a similar work process. She would sit with all her classmates and talk while working. She would end up finishing her work, while I would be too invested in the conversation to even start my work.

Through the lockdown, I learnt that the best kind of content is TV shows. Namely, American-style 22 episode per season shows that have lots of seasons and take a lot of time to tease out the characters and plot points. Sitcoms are ideal. In the last year, I have consumed what I thought were all the sitcoms America had to offer since the start of the century. After finishing How I Met Your Mother earlier this month, I needed to start a new show. After failing to find one, I took to Instagram to get some suggestions. I expected to see 20 odd suggestions of which 5 might be good to check out. What I got was over 250 responses in under a day. People were so passionate about their television viewing. From dramas to Korean soaps, I got a huge array of content suggestions. While a lot was repetitive and things I’ve watched, it was fun to go through all the suggestions. I decided to also respond to some of the story stickers especially on the shows that I had watched. This in turn led to more conversations around the various shows. What I found fascinating in all of this was how strong people’s feelings were about their shows, how much they advocated for it, and most importantly how much I learnt about my community. One of the shows that one girl mentioned was “The Middle.” A Patricia Heaton comedy that details the lives of the middle-class Americans living in the Midwest. This show has always been underrated but throughout college, it was also one of my favourite shows to watch. I wrote a little brief about the show and why I loved it in my stories, and soon enough I found so many people who either wanted to watch the show or were closeted fans of it. And all of a sudden I felt closer to people that I may never have talked to before.

The concept of a virtual community has always fascinated me. And as this community finishes four year (or as I would like to put it— begins its fifth year) I wanted to celebrate the occasion with a recipe that is made to be shared. This Prawn Pil Pil or Gambas al Pil Pil is a classic Spanish Tapas dish. Its traditionally served in a terracotta pot and is meant to be shared over a glass of wine with some crusty bread. It’s only purpose is to be shared and consumed with people around on a table which is what makes it the perfect recipe for us— a community of like minded individuals who love to see, make, share, and constantly test our food experiments on our friends and family. I hope you do try to make this recipe and do check out next week’s blog where I will be sharing some amazing recipes from all of you! Happy cooking.

Glimpses from the week

Ingredients

250 grams prawns

1 cup of Olive Oil

6-7 garlic cloves, sliced thin

1/3 cup pickled red chillies

Salt to taste

Handful of cilantro

Crusty Bread (optional)

Method

1. Slice garlic thin, chop the cilantro finely and salt the prawns. Pat dry after 5 minutes and you are ready for the next step!

2. Place a pan on high heat and oil. Wait until the oil begins to smoke and add prawns. A minute later, add garlic and let the prawns cook one side for 2-3 minutes or until light and pink. Flip the prawns and cook for another two minutes.

3. Add peppers, reduce the heat to medium and mix well.

4. Take it off the heat and add the cilantro and mix well.

5. Serve with toast on the side or dressed on top like a bruschetta!