Tuesday, February 08, 2011

Cooking shooking

The first meal I made was one day after coming to London. I made rice, and then stirred fried it with some veggies. I served it with curd and I was surprised that it was edible.

That seems like a long time back. A long journey has been travelled since then.
In the beginning I hated to cook. I just completely hated spending any time in the kitchen. There was a reason behind that though. There I was fresh out of B school, had just resigned from one of the best jobs that the campus had to offer, was living in a country far away from my own –doing little the whole day apart from receiving negative replies from recruiters and cooking.

So, I started resenting it quite a bit. I felt I had turned into one of those people whose purpose in life is o just cook. I know now that that was extremely stupid. I wish I had not thought that way. But well that was how it was.

Now, things are much different. I love to cook. After spending the whole day punching in the keyboard, I love to spend time in the kitchen. Also, it is honestly easier and more fun to cook here. Most vegetables are fresh and clean and you can get chopped veggies as well if you want. If you want to make pasta, you get 100 different types of sauces you can choose from. Boil the pasta, add the sauce and voila! The food is ready.

I don’t really enjoy food too much but I have developed a liking for cooking. Very often, I find myself looking for recipes online and trying them out after work or over the weekends.

It helps that Sid loves what I cook. He is generally the only person eating my food (except for myself) and manages to complement me when I know for sure that the food is bad.

We often invite people over for elaborate (by UK standards ) Indian meals and I quite enjoy that process as well. Sid handles the cleaning of the house and I do the cooking. I love the spread that I end up with.

The growth trajectory in terms of what I cook, has been decent. I started with rice and daal and some veggies, moved on to parathas, then to rotis, then to stuffed parathas, then to pooris and then to bhatoores. My highest point has been the samosas I made last to last week. I felt, I had, momentarily atleast arrived in life.

The next thing I am very keen to try my hand at is baking. I am dying to make muffins and bake bread. And I sound so domesticated now.

*Sigh*
This is what a year of marriage does to you.
Love
R

20 comments:

SK said...

I'm still at the 'Fried Rice' stage :(

Anonymous said...

App ke ghar aa sakthe hain kya khaane... ??

Shekhar said...

I'm still at the Maggi stage in my life. Tea is about the only other thing I'm proficient at making. Guess I'm just too lazy to cook for myself, living alone and what. :)

naween said...

this calls for a big moohaahaa :D

Prathima said...

Looks like we both are sailing on the same boat:)

Anonymous said...

Hey RP,
Are you a slow "Cooker" :) or a fast one? Share some tips if you are in the latter bracket pls. You see I love cooking elaborate meals too when we have company but I am so damn slow, it takes me the whole day!!!

-SJ

Rohini said...

Wow! I can't see myself ever loving cooking...

Kavya said...

I also hated cooking initially, but now I love to cook, but I am very bad at cooking :(

Need to work out something about this :(

myriad said...

Hey RP,

Just happened to stumble across your lovely blog. I have started going thru your archives and few of the posts i totally relate to...like getting used to the culture and innate protocols...being humble,thank u,sorry,please!!
And also weather is the best topic to start ur conversation here...

anyways thanks to ur posts we have booked our tickets to Cirque du Soleil: TOTEM. :)

Cheers,
BA

R said...

@calvin-lols! persevearance...thats the key!

@anon- jee jee, pls aaiye

@shekhar- you just need to find a sundar susheel kanya who knows how to cook more...

@naween :P

@Prathima- really...you are also learning quick and fast?

@SJ- I am decently quick I think. Like yesterday I made mixed veg and some 10 parathas in an hour (timed it to the minute :P )thats decent for some one who has been cooking for just a year i guess...

@rohini- I guess it takes all types to make the world....if in India, you can have as many cooks as you want to spoil yourself rotten!

@kavya- try simple recipes....aybe that will work?

@bhavya- hi bhavya! thanks for your lovely comments and for dropppig by :)
You will not enjoy your time at Cirque DS.

Anonymous said...

Lols I mean you will enjoy your time
-rp

hamaarethoughts.com said...

It's just a awesome write up I could relate to you in many ways loved the little punches but then that's how we master perfection in cookingwhich is something an endless job with many variations and perfection comes with practice only,you have done good job.............

Nandita said...

bathoores wow! and samosas I can understand the feeling arrived, I feel I have arried after managing to cook a simple dal roti sabzi dinner!

Swaram said...

Aww may marriage do more such good things to u always :)
Pls put up pics instead of letting us drool only on words :P :P

t said...

Oh we are like soul sisters! I can totally relate to this cooking thing and the dentist post above!

And baking! The smell that wafts when you bake something is heavenly! I've tried (and succeeded, if I may pat my own back :D) baking biscuits, tea cakes, cakes (even flourless ones!), shortbreads... so if you want some recipe, I'd be glad to share some!

R said...

harman- thanks :)

@nandita- lols! koi na...slow and steady is the key!

@swaram- thats a good idea! Will take pics from now onwards for sure!

@T- pls pls pls pls pls! give me some easy recipes. My gmail id is ruchita[dot]misra[at]gmail[dot]com.Pls pls

Btw did I say please?

Nisha said...

i can totally understand ur situation. I have a friend who has just moved to London, looking for a job, hates to cook..n cribs about the weather :)
ill tell her ur story, maybe she feels better.
Like ur blog :)

R said...

@nisha- please do :)
tell her to not stop looking-she will find something....

Dobbler said...

Hmm.. I started cooking after marriage and am totally loving it. Love to browse the web for recipes and often call up the MIL for them as well. And it helps that the hubby loves my food. :)

Anonymous said...

You know, I envy you. I still detest cooking , even after 5 years of marriage and a baby. I will do anything I can to get out of cooking.
But I think I would like it better if the pre-cooking prep time could be lessened, like cutting up stuff and so on.