The Exotic One: Preethi s Kitchen

I Hated kitchen. I Hated food. That was my childhood. I get angry when I feel hungry and tired and so I ate food just to keep my stomach half-full. Later, when I attended college, back at my cosy home in India, boiling water and heating coffee were the best I had achieved in kitchen. It had taken me 15 years to get out of my couch to do even that.

Back then my whole family spent lots of time in the kitchen. My mom is a great cook. My brother (4 years younger!) among all other priorities, cooking was/is the first priority for him. He makes the best dishes @home. Among all the TV programmes kids watch, he always watches Dhamu’s cooking and other cooking programs. Cleaning and coffee comes under father’s department. I never went that side and no-one just cared.

It was my mom who stuffed hot Idlis for breakfast into my mouth even at study holidays. And it was my brother who served me hot/neatly plated Gobi Manchurian for evening snack. It was my father who always woke me at 4 AM with his freshly brewed filter coffee. I just studied, studied hard (at least they thought so!) all the time.

My mother never allowed me in the kitchen. She always said, “As long as there is something called stomach, there will always be hunger. And when there is hunger, you will always learn to cook”. So I finally graduated my Engineering successfully and got admit to masters at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. The fever started then. Everyone bidding me goodbye, my friends, relatives, all the persons I know, I don’t know, started asking me one question. “Singapore huh! Self-cooking? ! !”. They never cared about my course, accommodation, but all I heard was cooking!

Of 76 Kgs I carried, 50 Kgs was utensils, cooking powders and stuff. Not to mention my fiancé (then) and his friends whoever came to India, carried cooking stuffs for me. And I did not worry so much. I was staying with 3 other girls (very elder to me!) who told they were good in cooking and all I need to do was just take care of other things in the house-hold.

That did not workout eventually. Lack of food made me angry/hungry. I was never able to concentrate on my studies. Of all the things I could possibly do, all I did was think, worry about food. No proper food almost put me to depression and created a deep hole in my focus. I started eating/grabbing food wherever I see and I went crazy on burgers, fries and coke. Out of nowhere came this huge weight gain. Thank heavens; my fiancé then pulled me out of these difficulties. Later I moved in with him and he took care of me from then.

It was heaven and life became much simpler. He had regular office hours. I had evening classes. When I came home, dinner was readily served. Breakfast and Lunch was perfectly packed for the next day. Most importantly I finally realized how much I love food. “Necessity is the mother of everything” is so true, like my mother always quotes. I give all credits to my husband for have completed the masters. Though it was my parents who sent me here, without his moral support, I would have run back to India.

Things turned out well. I landed in a job, got married and I decided it’s time to give back. I started cooking not just to impress my husband, but to thank him for the times he saved me. First the process was all random. I simply followed my husband’s technique. Put this -> Put that -> Get this -> Eat that. Though it was fun experimenting, I started learning in due course. Youtube, blogs, my mom, my mom-in-law were the great sources. Now there is nothing I cannot do. I love spending time in the kitchen cooking/baking (as long as it’s not 24/7 though). It just feels so divine, when the full-house smells of mint or thyme. And I am very glad that Arvind takes care of chopping and cleaning all the mess I make.

I am very pleased to have a supporting husband and there is not a single meal so far he’s never appreciated and said “Thank u papa”. It so happens that my husband loves sea food and I am so allergic to it. But as a ‘thank you gift’ I wanted to surprise him with an exquisite seafood meal for his 3^rd anniversary at his 3^rd company. And that is how I took the next step. I borrowed utensils and cooked Salmon- A Gordon Ramsay recipe. For the love of god it turned out just awesome (he told me so!).

Kindly refer the YouTube link for his recipe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jD9VJ92xyzA

So yes, I can cook pretty much anything. And all the NRI’s mom, please cool down (just like my mother did). Rushing the kid to cook will only draw him/her far from the kitchen.