Malia Yoshioka

Disclosure: My cooking class was provided courtesy of Uncorked Cooking Workshop, however I was not otherwise compensated for this post and all opinions are my own. Oh, my love for ceviche knows no bounds. It’s one of the dishes that I’ve tried up and down the continent of South America and have pretty much […]

People often ask me questions about the life I’m living, and I get it. I’m definitely not following a conventional path in life or career and some of the choices I make tend to leave others scratching their heads a bit. I often hear, “I wish I could do what you do, but…” or “I […]

A photo posted by Malia Yoshioka (@maliayoshioka) on A few months ago, some of my family on my mother’s side were making plans for a celebration of my grandfather’s 90th birthday. And now I was standing at a crossroads and leaving it up to the world wide web of wonders to see if I could make a trip to the US feasible… I put out a request to my network to see if I could find a job (and a couch to crash on) for a few months and got replies from all over the country! BEST Kids, Inc. BEST Kids needed support around their annual gala taking place in October and strategy to support their year-round fundraising efforts to continue to provide caring and consistent mentors for youth in DC’s foster care system. A photo posted by Malia Yoshioka (@maliayoshioka) on My time in DC is winding down, and soon I’ll be heading back to Indiana for Thanksgiving, then back to Turkey at the end of the month.

Tonight it came via a stainless steel tray, loaded first with the simplest of flavors – a spiced vegetable curry with tender, sweet carrots, creamy chunks of village potatoes and crisp green bell peppers. This morning as our group leader, Krishna, took my bag to carry up the steep steps to our guest house I tried to object since he was carrying not only a huge backpack but another bag in his hands as well. I cried then out of frustration and put up my walls, but now I felt nothing but a deep gratitude that this country has ripped me open in order to teach me that sometimes you need to be vulnerable to accept the love, the nourishment, the support and the kindness and beauty that exists in the world. Then I realized, perhaps India is full of such extremes precisely to make us appreciate the contrasts – the noise of the cities to appreciate the stillness of nature, the nostril-curling stench of the streets to appreciate the warm spices flowing from the kitchen hearth, the frustration of the bad situations to appreciate the kindness of those who genuinely want to help.