Of Cooking

Since we moved to Pune in March I haven't cooked. Our maid (which, as it happens, is the best thing to happen to us in this city), turned out to be a fantastic cook and quite efficient to boot, a rare species and i would have been a fool (a fool i say) if i didn't take advantage of her skills. And then our house had that fire and   we had to move again and the fridge wasn't delivered on time and we had no functioning kitchen. Also the super-efficient maid had to go be a grandmother and who can say no to that right? 

Anyhoo. The fridge has arrived and we have an operational kitchen. Meaning, food can be cooked and we can even have leftovers. But the substitute maid, while efficient in her own way, is not a very confident cook. And so i did. Cook that is. And you know what? I had fun. I'd forgotten how much i actually enjoyed cooking, even something as simple as good old dal, sabzi and roti. I'm not talking about anything fancy. Just the familiar, comfort food that is ghar ka khaana. I guess i missed the thinking and planning ahead, the organisation of ingredients, the small tweaks in the recipe depending on my mood and that moment of thrill when you know everything tastes divine. Of course, i also realise that the only reason i'm feeling like this is because i havent cooked in nearly 7 months and as soon as the novelty wears off, i'll be back to complaining (duh).

And so tomorrow i let the maid take over the kitchen once more. Not because i can't cook. It's so that i can.