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Tuesday, November 23, 2010

The Princess and the Cowboy: How it all began.

OK, so I'm not a real princess, but my cowboy farmer makes me feel like one. Many people are surprised that an adventurous woman from Bangladesh and a quiet man-of-the-earth from West Texas can meet, fall in love and make a life together. Hey, love happens.

Welcome to Hot Curries & Cold Beer, where I share my kitchen experiments and life adventures, where I bring my two worlds together to create a whole new world full of color and sizzle, scents and flavors.

My West Texas adventure began with college graduation. I thought I was on my way to NYC, but then I started adding up the costs. Reality check. So instead, I decided to adventure in cheaper, but still exciting places. I sent resumes all over, from Alaska to West Texas. The latter won my heart (to be honest I'm a cold wimp) and I came to the land of the cowboys. The plan: work and save for two years, have fun, then head to New York.

Somehow two years turned into four. While I was enjoying my newspaper job, my feet were kicking up dust, ready to travel. Greece was calling my name (Greek food + Greek Men = one helluva siren call). My one regret: I hadn't learned how to two-step before I left Texas. I might have lamented about this over beers, because a friend from the paper soon invited me to hang out with her that weekend. She'd find someone to teach me how to two-step.

I walked into the bar and there he was: tall, blond and blue-eyed. There were others too, but somehow we kept finding each other. And we talked about food, and we talked about books (that's one of my other weaknesses/passions/obsession). He held me close and taught me the Texas Two-Step. After several dance classes -- dates -- he finally said, "You know, if I wasn't holding you so close, you'd probably learn easier." Well, he waltzed all thoughts of Greece out of my head.

That happened in 2000. We have had much fun introducing each other to our very different lives, experiences and worlds. I took him to Bangladesh (and for once my family found me instantly in the airport crowds. I was next to the towering white guy in the cowboy hat), he took me to his family's sausage-making. My mother cooked him up a bunch of greens, which he referred to as weeds,but ate and managed to compliment her. His mother fed me saurkraut and I actually smiled.

For the wedding, he wore a Western Tux and I wore a traditional red and gold Lehenga. After the first dance, he changed into a silk kurta set, and I wore jeans, boots and a cowboy hat. We exchanged garlands, followed by a traditional kiss. So our life has been a little bit of this, a little bit of that, a fusion.

No where is this fusion better expressed than in the kitchen. We both love cooking together and coming up with new recipes. I'm the experimental, go-with-my-gut kind of cook. He's the meticulous type, measuring and taking notes, just in case he likes it enough and wants it again.

Now that you know who we are and sort of what to expect, I hope you'll be joining us again to see what the cowboy and I are cooking up next.

44 comments:

  1. I love your analogy of the fusion of your lives and cuisine! Great post and blog.

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  2. Great blog!! I love the story of your wedding and the fabulous photos!!

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  3. Rashda,

    What a lovely post. You are a natural story-teller. It sounds like you and your husband have found the perfect recipe for love. Have a lovely holiday.

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  4. Great post. Love the blog layout. Very nice.

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  5. Thanks you all! I'm jumping around in my PJs, please don't hesitate to suggest things that might be added or changed and such!

    And thanks for the follows. I appreciate it!

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  6. Great post, Rashda! I loved learning about how you and your husband met and how you've 'fused' your lives together. Very interesting. Have a great holiday.

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  7. This looks great. I loved your story and how well you and hubby have learned to adapt to each others differences. Best luck with the blog and I can't wait to read more!

    Rachel Firasek

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  8. Rashda-
    What a wonderful blog. I feel your light and happiness and you are quite funny. I followed you and look forward to reading more!

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  9. The blog looks great, Rashda! I look forward to reading more (and the title is great, by the way!).

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  10. Looks great to me Rashda!!! :)

    Have fun witht he new blog!

    Lisa :)

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  11. Rashda:
    What a great blog. It sounds like he's a keeper.

    Congratulations on starting your blog. It looks great!

    Teresa R.

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  12. Nice! I've been lamenting the lack of stories like this to tell... In other news: I think it'd be awesome (if at all possible) to share some fusion from the kitchen. Have there been Bangladeshi techniques that have found their way into Texas cookin' or vice versa? Also, since you mention beer, I'd love to see a beer pairing with any meal you post here. Those of us that love beer, love to try new ones! Nice job, so far.

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  13. Hi, this is Rita from the yahoo group.

    This was a great story, and a gorgeous photo. An old friend of mine from Bangladesh got married this year to a Caucasian she met on a tour of China, and their wedding was a similar mesh of cultures. Wonderful to behold.

    Will you be posting recipes? Perhaps you can make a separate tab for that. Otherwise, this looks great!

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  14. Hi Rashda! This is just wonderful and I wouldn't change a thing. It's funny and heartwarming all at once...and I'll be back. :)

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  15. Hi Rashda.

    It seems like we've known each other forever...I think because we freely hand over our literary children to each other in trust and love. I'm
    hoping to see some snippets of your books here. A paragraph, or maybe your favorite line of the day for your current WIP. Oooh...and maybe compare it to your fav recipe....hope you post some of those. Looking forward to cooking and tasting.

    Happy blogging~Lucie j.

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  16. Great blog Rashda! What a fun story. I'm guessing whatever you and your Texan are cooking up, is pretty hot and spicy! See you on the "write" board. Have a great holiday. I'll be back.

    Joelene
    jc5harley@yahoo.com

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  17. This is Eve from the yahoo group. First of all, you look stunning in the picture. And thanks for sharing your equally lovely story.

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  18. Hi Rashda,

    Being a Texas girl, I'm partial to cowboys myself. I love the way you and your husband merge your unique lifestyles. Great blog!

    Traci

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  19. Hi Rashda,
    I am so proud of you! This is awesome! And, as always, your story is wonderful.
    Cannot wait to read more.

    ~Ami

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  20. Great post -- great story. In fact I thought the princess and the cowboy was a story you were working on! Fusion is a wonderful thing. Now I can't wait for some recipes.

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  21. I love reading "how we met" stories...all are so unique and different. Sounds like your journey was fated and Texas was meant to be where you'd settle!

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  22. What a wonderful story of how you met. Love the theme and look of your blog.

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  23. Oh my goodness!The one day I wanted to be online I got stuck travelling with spotty internet... love the wonderful, warm comments, made my day :)

    Thanks for reading, come visit again!

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  24. What a lovely story and a great layout to go with it, too. Ever considered writing it up as a romance cum cookbook? ;D (I'm ALWAYS looking for the writing angle.)

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  25. What a beautiful story. The blog looks wonderful and I can't wait to see what you post next. Please count me in on the drawing clarissasouthwick at yahoo dot com

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  26. Welcome to blogging!

    And a late welcome to Texas. I live in San Antonio, and hubby and I also love to cook together.

    You're welcome to visit me Under the Tiki Hut.

    Carol
    Under the Tiki Hut

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  27. Delightful. Food and love are always a perfect match!

    Donna

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  28. What a fabulous love story! I think there's a romance novel in there somewhere...

    I love the idea of the fusion of cultures. And I vote for recipes, too.

    Deborah Blake (from Candy's loop)
    magicmysticminerva at yahoo

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  29. That may well be the sweetest love story I ever heard. I don't know where you're blog will go next, but so far I'm loving it. It's a pretty blog to begin with, but in the end I guess what attracts me most is great writing... and you've got that part down.

    Love this bit: "...for once my family found me instantly in the airport crowds. I was next to the towering white guy in the cowboy hat." Great image.

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  30. I enjoyed reading this. I found myself wanting to know what happened next as I read, and I was impressed with the storytelling while not trying to put in a massive amount of detail. This was very well done. I can't wait to see what is posted next. ^_^

    Deni
    Howaito.deni@gmail.com

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  31. What a wonderful love story!! Almost as good as the title of this blog, LOL. Good luck, Rashda, I know you are destined to succeed in everything you do!

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  32. Rashda, what everyone else said. What a wonderful story and such a great blog. Oh, the things you will teach each other, and I'm with you. Warm weather please ;)

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  33. Hi Rashada great blog I loved the story of how you met your husband and how you did the meshing of cultures. Good Luck with the blog is is really nice.

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  34. Great work! And, as everyone has said, the tone is wonderful. Warm, open, humorous...it's like being welcomed into a friend's house and sitting down for a chat.

    You say you're not technical, but I don't believe you! The layout makes the site very easy to navigate; the use of the "Pages" feature is excellent (my only is that you might want to have the writing-links open in a new window like the published articles do--so readers don't have to hit the back button); and the colors, images, fonts, etc are very well chosen. The result looks very professional. Again, great work.

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  35. I like the fact that this is a blog that reaches out to more than writers. You've done a great job!

    :-)

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  36. Welcome to #letslunch, Rashda!!! What a fabulous story.

    And I must say -- you appear to be living my dream career: journalist turned food writer/food-related career. I can't wait to hear more about it!

    Cheers,

    Emma / Dreaming of Pots and Pans

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  37. Heart warming story, Rashda. I look forward to your future posts. :)

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  38. Hi, thanks so much for all the wonderful words of encouragement and great suggestions. I appreciate the visits and the follows. Now, off to draw a lucky winner!

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  39. Wow, that photo is stunning, individually and the overall tableau. Do you have goddess in your family tree? :-) The blog is wonderful, not too cluttered, easy to navigate - beautiful job! Good luck with it. Saving you to my favorites now.

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  40. Now I have to post another comment to explain that when I chose Google to post from, the system chose my daughter's ID, Nat the Kid. Anyway, Rashda, it's me, Sue Boucher.

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  41. What a terrific story, and I adore that photo.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Rebecca and everyone...I love telling our story :)

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  42. What a wonderful story and such a beautiful picture! You have a great blog. I look forward to reading more of it

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