Shakshuka
September and October have been eventful, and there are so many things that I want to talk about! I quit my job of four years at The Mavericks, Natasha and I took one of the best trips of our lives to Turkey, and most importantly— I proposed to her! New job, engaged Archit is now back in India, ready to create content and get started at a new career and a new stage of life. It’s both exciting and scary at the same time. The wonderful thing, however, is knowing that I now have Natasha along with me on the journey. This blog can be about many things, but I want to talk about the engagement. How it came to be, what I did, and where we are now. So let’s get started!
The idea of getting engaged began during a dinner at my house. Natasha and I were sitting on the balcony with my mom and dad. My mom brought up that perhaps we want to look into getting engaged. This was around the same time we were planning our trip to Turkey— which, in my head, was always going to be a proposal trip! Having mom say that helped accelerate the process, though. Natasha and I decided we wanted to make something just for us— an event or proposal. It’s an image that Natasha had in her mind, and when she showed it to me, it became a mission to make that happen. The first challenge was, “What should the ring look like?”
By this time, Natasha had already started showing me ring options. I knew she didn’t want a solitaire and that the central stone needed to be a sapphire. Now, India loves diamonds, so finding a ring off the shelf became a no-go. After a lot of planning and looking at ring designs, Natasha closed on an idea for her call. She and her mom went to a jeweller and got it made. Then, Natasha and I went to get the ring and had cocktails nearby to celebrate. I know it’s not the most romantic thing to do, but I’ll be honest— big life decisions shouldn’t be a surprise. Also, in Natasha’s words re: the ring, “I should choose the ring I want because I have to wear it for my entire life.”
The next step was the meeting of the families. While Natasha had met my entire family already, I was yet to meet some of her loved ones. The dinner was very friendly, and overall, things looked ready for the final step: the engagement.
Natasha had a very particular perspective on the engagement. She loved this one picture of a couple on a balcony overlooking the city. A double-sided door framed the image; truth be told, it was beautiful. I HUNTED for hotels with that kind of balcony. While I found a couple, we ended up choosing none of them. As the trip commenced, I knew what I wanted to do but didn’t know where to do it. What I wanted was to be with Natasha in the most beautiful place. For us to be alone and for me to pop the question in a very unassuming way. Subtle yet heartfelt. Our first three days had us waking up at ungodly early hours and then having action-packed days.
We travelled from Istanbul to Cappadocia. In Cappadocia, we saw a proposal while on our hot air balloon. It was on one of the rooftops of a hotel. It was super sweet, and I loved the idea. These balloons only fly around in the mornings, and there are days when they may not fly as well due to the weather. We were lucky to pass in one because we flew out to Izmir at 7:00 am the next day. I told Natasha that we should try and get a picture on the rooftop with all the balloons before we leave. We got up, and I got the ring ready for my proposal, only to realise that on that day, the balloons were not flying because of the weather.
With that plan out, I decided that the next best thing would be to wait a week and propose on the 22nd of September. The twenty-second is a significant day for us as it marks the anniversary of our first date. It’s childish, but we make sure that every 22nd, we spend time or go out on a date. We were with Natasha’s family friends— in their summerhouse in Cesme. The waters were transparent, and as the sun shone on it, the hues of azure and blue were resplendent across the entire body of saline water. I told Natasha we should go out and get pictures of her in her favourite red Nicobar dress.
Walking down to the beach, I told Natasha about a reel that had gone trending. It was based on the last four verses of the La La Land song “Another day of sun.” As I placed a camera down, propped up to a beach umbrella and turned on voice memos on my phone to record everything. I told her that she would say the first two verses of the song, I would say the next, and then we would pan over to the beautiful beach (sidebar: I know this isn’t a real trend, but it really should be).
And when they let you down
You’ll get up off the ground
‘Cause morning rolls around
And it’s another day of sun
I had the ring in my back pocket, and I froze the first time we did it. Not because I had some existential crisis but because the ring got stuck in my back pocket. We redid the shot, and as Natasha pointed the camera at me, I was standing with the ring towards her. She was in shock and super surprised. Her first words were, “why aren’t you on your knees” haha. I then went down on one knee, and she immediately went down with me. I put the ring on her finger, and the rest is history!
I wish now that I could go back and look at the moment. It was 15 minutes, but it changed so much for us. This is where I would have a great segue to Shakshuka, but I honestly can’t find much of a similarity. The one thing that I noticed about food in Turkey is that they eat like us — family style. People don’t order individual dishes. You order food for the table and then eat together. The Shakshuka is the ultimate family meal because it’s not only supposed to be had together but is usually served in a single pan, enhancing the flavour! I hope you try this recipe, and as always, happy cooking 💫
Glimpses from the week
Recipe
Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
2-3 tomatoes, diced
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon cumin
3 large eggs
salt and pepper, to taste
1 small bunch of fresh basil, chopped
A handful of feta cheese (optional)
3-4 pork sausages (optional)
Method
Start by cooking sausages based on the package instructions. Don’t discard the fat from the sauté pan. We will cook in that
Heat olive oil, add garlic and onions and cook off until the aroma disappears. Add the chopped bell pepper and onion and cook for 5 minutes or until the onion becomes translucent
Season with salt and spices. Add a cup of water (250 ml) and let it simmer for 5 minutes until the tomatoes begin to break down. You can remove the skins of the tomatoes, but I like to leave them in
Take the gravy and add to a blender. Mix well until you have one homogenous sauce
Place it back on the stovetop and add the sausage back. Use a large spoon to make small wells in the sauce and crack the eggs into each well. Cover the pan and cook for 5-8 minutes or until the eggs are done to your liking.
Garnish with chopped basil and feta.
