What's Cooking?

 I have observed that many of my blogs start with a customary “when I was a kid...” I found it funny and hence I am going to make it some sort of a tradition now onwards. Anyways, when I was a kid I loved playing with my kitchen set. It was a big Barbie-themed pink kitchen set with small utensils, a cylinder, a basin and even a fridge. I would spend hours playing it alone (you see, I am the only child of my parents). Little did I know that my love for playing ‘kitchen – kitchen’ would soon develop into my love for real cooking. Thanks to watching numerous cookery shows sitting beside my mother I developed an interest in it. I used to spend hours sitting on the kitchen platform while my mom cooked. I would help occasionally. There are a lot of photos of mine in which I am helping my mother or at least trying to help. 

After a minor fiasco in my 5th std which involved me dropping a vessel of steaming tea on the floor, I swore that I would never enter the kitchen again. Well well well, let’s just say that my guardian angel has a lot of free entertainment. Years passed and my amoeba-shaped chapattis were perfected to be round and soft and edible. I first learnt how to cook non-vegetarian dishes, because, of priorities. My mother is an excellent cook and I learn a lot from her. A brief stay in a college hostel and then a 2 years stay in rented flats turned me into a cooking enthusiast. In the evenings I would go to the markets and get fresh vegetables and groceries and cook a dish. After a long day at college, it felt relaxing to cook a dish. Whenever I went home for the holidays I would be excited to try out the new recipes I saved on Pinterest. 

The smell of roasted spices gives me a feeling of warmth and comfort. I love experimenting with spices. Black pepper and cinnamon are magic for me. Speaking of magic it reminds me of the time I first started reading harry potter and was amused by how much similar potion-making is to cooking. Measuring and cutting, Grinding of ingredients, heating the cauldrons, mixing all the ingredients in the required quantity only and occasionally making a few changes in it and stirring the contents. Is this process not common for both? 

I like to think (in my dumb little mind) that if I was in Hogwarts, Professor Snape would surely have at least one favourite student. To all the avid fan fiction readers this can be a good prompt, IYKYK (fantasy world imagines. There’s no way I am going to heaven if my reading history of Tumblr imagines is found by god). When I cook soup I can hear my silly mind making silly remarks like dunderhead and insolent fool. 

Besides watching many cookery shows I love watching all the master chef shows. Master Chef Australia is still my favourite even though I watched the Indian version only for my childhood crush, Vikas Khanna (blush blush). I would stare in amazement at all the dishes that the contestants cooked and try to recreate a few of the dishes at my level. It was a childhood fantasy of mine to see myself cooking in that show. 

Looking at people as they eat what you cooked and relish the food makes the cooking process worth it. Once a good friend of mine commented that a person spends a lot of time cooking a dish that is devoured in a few minutes. Well, I would like to say that the content visible on people's faces after eating a good meal is worth all the work in the kitchen. 

Just as I was about to end this blog I remembered two topics I wanted to mention here. Firstly, though I agree that cooking is not a gender-divided work I feel that every person must know to cook at least one dish that can feed them in case of an emergency. Learning a simple dish does not harm. Also, second thing is the movie Ratatouille. In fact, before writing here I was reading quotes by Remy. So it’s natural that I end this blog with a quote by our dear little chef Remy, the mouse. 

[Humans] don't just survive; they discover; they create. ... I mean, just look at what they do with food!" – Remy