About Me

Howdy!

Welcome to my blog and thanks for stopping by.

The blog started with my strong will to help my friends learn cooking and related techniques.

Here's the story of 'I' you read in the blog.

My story

I am Mariam Sodawater, the person behind the blog. My journey in the kitchen started when I was 12. I know, I also asked all my friends and they all said they learned to cook after getting married. So, what was I doing in the kitchen when I was supposed to play badminton and other sports with cousins. Then I realized, DADI, my first mentor was my grandmother, who was a great cook.

She wanted me to get all her cooking skills while she was still alive. And my naive soul with a little defiance accompanied her in the kitchen, sometimes excited and sometimes half-hearted. She, my dadi, often quoted ' sasto saro , selo' (Good recipe are easy, healthy, and frugal). My dadi used to say many other aphorisms. Now, I understand and realize the truth and depth in those aphorisms. Her wisdom wrapped in aphorism still guides me.

After her death, when I was only 14 years, my journey continued observing and learning from my mother. My mother was full-time working. We had hired a cook after dadi's death. So, you just can't imagine what happens when your cook runs away or takes off without prior notice. Mom had to go work and after school, I had to cook the half-cooked food (half-cooked by mom). Yeah...I was the only daughter.

My mom uses to say 'just by tasting a good cook can replicate the same taste at home, and know the ingredients and would improve the recipe too'. So that's what I also do.

After marriage, Ammi, my mother in law, further trained me. She makes so delicious vegetables that there is just no comparison. So all-veggie recipes on the blog are as per her style and many biryani recipes too. And every recipe before reaching the blog goes through her review. Seriously, the food and not the post.

I loved to write a diary since when I don't remember. So blogging came naturally and effortlessly to me. (Although, taking photographs while cooking and noting ingredient for developing a recipe doubles the cooking time, or triples for new experiments.)

I started blogging 4 year back as a personal blogger, then I took to teaching English for a year and abandoned my passion for the shortage of time. Then, I worked as a social media marketer for the family business as with young kids full-time job was not possible. I had shared recipes with friends and family verbally, in writing, through emails, and then through Wats App. Seriously, I realized now, I shared some recipes several times, and sharing a link is a lot easier. Because some of my followers are an immediate family from whom I get immediate feedback, I keep my recipes simple and easy to grasp.

Most photography skills are learned through my husband, YouTube, google, and personal experience. And permission will be strictly required before republishing any content or photograph.

Some basic info about me.

I'm married and I have two sons. (Qusai , the elder one, and Murtaza, the younger one; I often mention them on my blog.)
Most of my time is spent with kids, or typing posts on my mobile notepad, or editing one on the laptop. Other times, I'm cooking and photographing new recipes. Many of them fail, but I keep testing until they are worth posting.
On the weekend, I love hanging out with friends or family. Some weekends are spent traveling or camping and some are spent helping kids learning tests.
My other hobbies for which I don't have much time are reading books, hand embroidery, and other artworks.