Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Now you know... what i did this weekend


Ganesh Festival was my 1st attempt of taking over the full menu responsibility. Managed the adventure fairly well and as intended served lunch well within time. At the dining, when my grandfather went to help himself with the Sāmbhar, he briefly stopped. He attempted to re-serve himself the gravy….. I realized what he was looking for. He tired fishing for vegetables in the gravy. Well, he never succeeded, coz there weren’t any.

My 2nd attempt came pretty soon, the recent Dusshera Weekend. This time with some extra care. Extra Care meant no compromise on SOP’s (Standard Operating Practices), with improvements in the deviations identified. But goof Ups had their share this time too.
The earnestly boiling Pepper Rasam, evaporated into this air, leaving behind a concentrated residue. It reminded me of the science lab -sugar heating experiment, that leaves black carbon atoms behind.

At one point of time, the four walls of my wok showed signs of darkening. With sufficient lubricant to fodder the content, I knew nothing could go wrong. Yet the wok wouldn’t co-operate. It turned darker by the minute, and I could hear the decibels of sneezes and cough rising. A lot is said about, taking cue from the surroundings. Well, it worked here. I changed the container, and the sneeze- cough combo that had ripped the house, subsided.
Later of course, Mom tells me I use too many vessels to cook. What to do, Mom, to save the content, had to change the container.

There was one amazing thing that I noticed this time.
When in kitchen, milk can’t be only milk. It’s a generic way of referring to the product, for people outside the culinary bracket. When inside, they slip into bifurcations. There is one Fresh Milk just delivered by the Milkman, a Cold Milk, chilling itself in the refrigerator, a lukewarm one waiting to undergo fermentation. Residing in containers of varied shapes and sizes, they demand huge attention of the maker.

That’s all for now. Will serve you with more insignificant – amazing facts, next time.

6 comments:

meenal.onkar said...

Vyoma u are such a cutie!!!

RG said...

Cook up more such write-ups about your souped-up adventures in the culinary arena. Even if they may not always supply food for thought, they tickle the palate of those with a taste for household humour.

Romeo Das said...

Nice and interesting post. Wish I could taste some of that Sambhar :D
Enjoyed reading it!

Btw, hope you enjoy reading my post - When love calls

Take care :)

MuddassirShah said...

Sambhar, the speciality of south.
By the way, can you make rassam too.
I learnt makinr rassam sometime back but I dared to cook only once and I had to flush it down the drain. It was soooooooo awwwwwwwwwwfully bad :(

Abhijit Bhattacharyya said...

glad i am not a part of ur household...no body wants to be the but of culinery experiments....i have faced similar problems....though...now....i am a pretty good cook....

zephyr said...

culinary disasters are a part of every cook's life -- whether a regular one or an occasional one. Loved your descriptions though, especially saving the contents at the cost of using up more vessels!