I had the blues today. Not entirely sure why, but I had them. It could have been the hangover I had from the wonderful Malbec I enjoyed at Hotel Biron yesterday with Suresh on my much deserved night off, or it could have just been life. Unfortunately I’m prone to being thrown into the pits of despair. (Hotel Biron, by the way, is the bomb! It’s dark, small, friendly with an amazing selection of rich deep wines and some strange pictures on the wall.)
Things that feel good in the moment, however, often tend to leave you feeling not so great the next day. It seems pretty unfair to me, but ‘it is what it is’.
Dragging myself to work today was tough. All I wanted to do was eat, eat, eat and sleep some more. I asked Suresh if there was an INSTANT cure to a hangover. His response was to do a shot! I couldn’t stomach that, so I took his second suggestion instead of popping an Advil.
I got to Kasa kind of slowly, with all the staff noticing my low energy and asking if ‘la patrona es triste’. I just said yes and prayed my mood would not affect the daily specials I had planned to cook.
I focused on the cooking and really entered a quiet zone. The beautiful yellow of the pineapple I was cutting for the new Pineapple Chicken dish stood out as HAPPY against my sadness. The luscious bright red of the strawberries mixed with the green mint jumped out to me and screamed HAPPY. The sweet smell of the rosewater mixed with sugar going into the Phirni reminded me of HAPPINESS.
Finishing my work for the day gave me a sense of accomplishment too, especially when I tasted the food and was HAPPY with my work.
I still felt down the rest of the day, but just being able to notice the small things in life that make me happy and feeling a sense of accomplishment even on a tiny scale gave me hope that I can find my way out of feeling sad.
Anamika
