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ABOUT ME It's probably one of the hardest thing I have done. To write ‘about me’ I’ll give it my best shot. I am Maitreyi and I blog as Simi. As a young preschooler, my friends had a hard time pronouncing my name. I came home one day and told my parents, “I am Simi”, I have no idea where I got that from. After a few weeks of negotiation, everyone started calling me Simi at home. Tween, was a different story, I did not want anyone to know my nick name…so it was Maitreyi. When, I started blogging, I was not very comfortable sharing my complete identity, Simi, was the perfect choice. With a coffee cup as a profile picture and Simi as the author, I began my journey. I am surprised, how blogging has changed me, I love sharing my life and my food with you. Am not shy to tell you who I am or how goofy I can be. Twenty years ago, I would have never thought that the world of food, beginning with shopping for ingredients, cooking, visually capturing thru a lens, writing about it, will sweep me off my feet like it has done. Roughly, about 17 years ago I was doing my post graduation in marketing, I thought that was my world. After working for a few years, I realized it was not who I was. Writing media plans for companies, immersing myself in TRPs…was not me. Marriage...motherhood... changed my life. I did not want to miss a moment, translate that to stay-at -home mom. I would love to cook for my family, it brought me more pleasure than sitting in SWOT meetings all day. Cooking is more than mixing ingredients in the right proportion as per the recipe - it is celebrating the pleasure that food brings to our lives. When you share your food with someone, be it a family member or a stranger, you make a connection…that moment is priceless. It's just not a meal you serve, to satiate your hunger, it's more, it is something you can't quantify or put into words it can only be felt. As I look back my most fond memories from childhood, have been around people and food. ( thanks to my mother, who is an amazing cook) So, with all the action happening in my kitchen, some successful, some miserable failures, I wanted to document them for my myself and for my teen, so if she ever needs one of my recipe, when she grows up, she knows where to look for it. One day, just like that, I had an light bulb go on and I wanted to start a blog, to document my creations. It was not easy to share my food and my memories woven around food with strangers. Thankfully, I have a very supportive husband who pushed me to express myself and to open myself to the world. It has been three years,since that day. I enjoy my little digital home - Turmeric N' Spice. I love the community of people I have met thru the blog and the friends I have made. I love to challenging myself and I am learning everyday. I would not trade this for anything. This is my little home where I share who I am and what I do best - bringing fresh food to the table - celebrating food. Hope you enjoy my space as much as I enjoy sharing it with you. I can’t believe that the blog has reached over half million views in the last three years. Thank you for the support ! This is me and my blog is a true refection of who I am. I am a member of Culinary Content Network (The Daily Meal). I write a column on food photography at The Daily Meal called Culinary Optics. Why turmeric n' spice ? I know turmeric is a spice. So, what's with turmeric n'spice ? Growing up in India, whenever I asked my mother for a recipe or she gave me and my sister ( more my sister than me) instructions to make a curry, she would always say, "haldi aur masala". Even today, when I ask her on the phone she will say, "haldi aur masala" haldi meaning turmeric is to enhance the color of the curry and masala aka spices is for the flavor. So, there was nothing more fitting for my blog than turmeric n' spice, after all it's my memories woven around food. Simi J