Welcome to Poet and Flower!

Hi! I'm Sameena. Poet and Flower celebrates my passion for Indian American cooking. It is a food blog, but also my musings on food and our lives, because they are so intertwined. I love to cook food that brings together my Muslim (my family's), Hindu (my husband's), and American (our home) influences.

I'm from the East Coast and now live with my husband and two children in Indianapolis. My parents emigrated from India, and my mother was an avid cook. She cooked for family and for friends. She came from a Muslim family in South India - and cooked both Muslim dishes and classic South Indian dishes. She taught me to cook and is a big inspiration in my life. I return to her recipes repeatedly and find that they are the foundation for developing new recipes. Without her encouraging words and fantastic food, I would not be cooking as much as I do today.

One of my fondest memories as a kid is "cooking" dinner alongside my mother. She'd give me all the leftover vegetable scraps, onion peels, potato peels - and I would make "soup." Ultimately my mom taught me to cook and love food. For her, food was love.

I'm a physician, and I love what I do. Food and cooking are a good balance to medicine. I love a quote from Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who said, "Each part of my life gave me respite from the other." So with that, I've started writing about food and gathering the recipes that I enjoy. When I'm not working, hanging out with my husband, or playing with the kids, I love trying out a new recipe in the kitchen.

Poet and Flower is named after my children. Their names are a blend of their Muslim and Hindu heritage. The meaning of their names in English is Poet and Flower. I hope one day they will love food as much as I do.

So please come along for the journey. I hope you enjoy the stories on Poet and Flower and do try a recipe. I hope you love them and enjoy it as much as I do!