This is the last blog post that I would write as a single man. I actually haven’t written much about how I am feeling about the wedding. Sure, Natasha and I talk about it on the podcast (do check it out if you haven’t) and we constantly field questions from friends and colleagues about “How’s the wedding going” but other than that I actually haven’t really sat alone and thought about getting married. 

I am three weeks away from the day that I take circles around a small fire but even now while I feel the wedding coming closer, I am genuinely taking each day as it comes. There are so many things to do every day that I don’t get the time to ponder over how this new event will change my life. The thing is that even though it will change everything – from where I live, what I eat, how much sleep I would get, my address, my daily commute, my workout schedule, and my studio, it doesn’t change one thing. I will still get to see my best friend every day (bf being Natasha. This is my attempt at thinking my audience is too stupid to understand my nuanced sentence structure while knowing deep within that I am doing it to soothe my ego more than anything else.). And that realisation is why none of this stressed me out. 

I’ll talk more about the wedding once it actually happens but the year leading up to it has been a trek to say the least. It is the best crash course in stakeholder management. McKinsey should honestly start hiring people based on how well a candidate’s wedding goes. You have to take care of so many emotions that at some point you forget to take care of your own. There was one point last month where I had to send a message to my parents reminding them that my wedding is coming soon to get them more involved in the process while at the same time trying to get some attention to me rather than their own clothes and their own extended family’s needs. It was an interesting time. 

The last year has seen my relationship with my parents evolve a whole lot. Being a single child is strange at times. Mostly it means fighting battles on your own always. This year really helped me find a voice and made me feel like based on how I construct an argument, I can sometimes be worth two people vs. just the single one. I realized that my voice can change the way a conversation goes. It’s been a fascinating year, to say the least, and I’ll be honest, I can’t wait for the wedding and for the life I will live after my nuptials with my beautiful bride! 

There is no way to integrate this with my recipe haha. The recipe comes from a little series that we shot in August called the Weeknight Chicken series. It started with a marinade, this salad comes next, and it's followed by a really cool pasta recipe that plays around with one ingredient in three different ways. This is a play on how to use this marinade to make a wholesome salad that actually fills you up! Omg, I just realised a great way to integrate a story into the recipe: my love for pasta salads comes from wedding buffets hahaha. Oh man, I wish I remembered this an hour ago. 

Glimpses from the week

Ingredients

Salad Dressing

1/3 cup low-fat or nonfat Greek-style yoghurt

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons parmesan cheese

Croutons 

1 sourdough bread cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1 tbsp olive oil

2 tsp Italian seasoning

Everything Else

450 grams of skinless boneless chicken thighs

2 teaspoons of garlic powder

1 teaspoon  of onion powder

2 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon red chilli powder

1 tablespoon of olive oil

2 teaspoons of salt

300 g pasta

Shredded lettuce and any other veggies of your choice. I love adding some onions and cherry tomatoes to this!

Method

1. Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper, lightly drizzle with olive oil and season with 1 tsp paprika,1 tsp chilli powder, 1 tsp smoked paprika and 1 tsp garlic powder. Let it sit in the fridge for about 30 minutes

2. For the dressing, simply add all the ingredients into a jar, close tight and shake well! 

3. For the croutons, slice up the bread, drizzle olive oil and spices on them, and stick it in the air fryer at 160 Celsius for about 10 minutes until golden brown

4. In a skillet on medium heat, add ½ tablespoon of oil. Once it comes to temperature, add chicken in batches of 2-3 skin side down. Cook off for 4 minutes on each side and take off the heat. Let it cool down for about 10 minutes and then slice it thin. 

5. Bring it all together in a bowl and enjoy!