Valentine's Day: Hip or Hype?

February 14th aka Valentine's Day - a day where couples profess their undying love for each other, take out time to do something thoughtful for that special someone and exchange flowers, gifts, chocolates and heaven knows what else. Doesn't it make u think "why couldn't everyday be Valentine's Day?"

It seems a bit odd to me that we devote merely one day of the year to go that extra mile to be vocal and express our feelings of love. Not that I don't buy into the hype of Valentine's Day and indulge in all the corny and stereotypical practices that comes with it - I absolutely do! But after the novelty of the day wears off, I sit and think about it and the hidden skeptic in me emerges to remind me that Valentine's Day is nothing but an excuse for consumerism. After all, love is not about expensive gifts, mushy cards or lavish dinners, is it? 

Love is the most important yet least understood human emotion. If you ask me, love should be about respect, loyalty and friendship. You don't need to say "I love you" everyday if you do those simple everyday thoughtful things that make the person you love happy. Just think about it, wouldn't it make so much more sense if the person you love takes care of you when you are sick, loves and honors your family, makes an effort to get to know your friends, respects your decisions and stands by you, helps you with the household chores, treats you with home cooked meals from time to time, surprises you for no reason with something that means a great deal to you, knows exactly what to say when you are down in the dumps and listens without being judgmental when you are ranting about the petty grievances of the day. It is the thoughtfulness in the most mundane day to day actions that speak volumes over one single grandiose gesture. All these little actions that we don't really think much of go a long way in cementing a relationship. In the long run, these are the things that really matter. But having said all that, celebrating a day of love is not a bad idea provided the rest of the 364 days of the year justifies that one day of celebration 😄

I wish you all a very happy Valentine's Day. May you love more, laugh more and celebrate every moment of life with those close to your heart 💜

Cheers,

Megha

My favorite movie of all time: The Shawshank Redemption

Source: Wikipedia

The Shawshank Redemption is a 1994 movie directed by Frank Darabont starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman. 

I vividly remember the day I watched this movie. It was a balmy Sunday afternoon and all I wanted to do was sit back and enjoy a light and breezy feel-good movie while devouring gooey slices of pizza that we had ordered for lunch. I was feeling rather lazy and I didn't even want to give my brain any exercise. 

It was my husband who recommended The Shawshank Redemption after pointing out that it was number one on the IMDb top 250 movies of all time. When I asked him what it was about, he told me that it was a story set in prison. With all kinds of grisly images flooding my mind, I frowned in disapproval. He then told me that it was based on a Stephen King novel which actually made me protest out loud! Don’t get me wrong, I think Stephen King is an extraordinary writer but horror is a genre in any form of print and media that least appeals to me. And horror is the first thing that I associate with anything Stephen King. I had already made up my mind that this movie would be dark and disturbing - a premature and ignorant assumption I admit.

Recipe of the month: Pesto Walnut Pasta

This particular recipe I got while watching Sanjeev Kapoor’s show Khana Khazana one weekend. Although I had never made a pesto sauce before, I decided to give it a go since it looked wholesome, simple to make and required only a handful of ingredients. What a winner it turned out to be. You can hardly ever go wrong with it. You get the fresh sweet flavor of basil, aroma of the olive oil, earthy pungency of garlic, the heat from dry red chillies, creaminess from the parmesan cheese, a sweet tartness from the cherry tomatoes and the crunchiness from the walnuts. It has become one of my favorite dishes in recent times and has a special place in my treasured recipe book. This is one recipe for which my hubby will venture out even at the most unearthly hours, to buy the required ingredients if he craves for it for breakfast the next morning 😊

This pasta features as a staple item on our weekend menu. We are such gluttons that I double the quantity mentioned in the recipe below and we are still able to finish it....just the two of us 😛

I hope you try it out and love it as much as we do!