Chop chop, sauté sauté, stir and mix, shallow and deep-fry, let it steam! It’s so exciting to be in the kitchen and cooking food for people who eat no matter how it tastes and don’t share the bad reviews with anyone. For me, cooking for company is a pleasure but its not the case when I have to cook with company. I am a control freak in the kitchen, it pains me when someone else goes and stirs that pot on the stove. And one of the pleasures of living in United States is you get to do everything, even when it’s a pain in the neck, you still got to move your, you know what! Or your husband can come to the rescue but see it becomes an irksome issue in our house. Darling husband wants to help, so when I am sick he will lovingly ask me to stay in bed while he cooks up a concoction for both of us. Though he means well, he is limited by his culinary skills. So every time he offers help, the freak in me comes alive! I am a normal person when I fancy myself lounging in the bedroom while my sweetheart makes a grand entrance with hot steaming food lined up on the bed tray. It sounds so romantic!! But when I am me, the control freak kitchen owner, all I can think of while he being in the kitchen is everything getting messy and not going back where it belongs and a much much big load of dishes as everyone knows people who hardly cook use way too many plates and dishes. So while I wait for my food to arrive, I obsess about all things going wrong downstairs. Sometimes, when I hear a drawer opening, I yell, “Please don’t take those plates out, use the ones from the left”. But don’t let me lure you into believing that I don’t like what finally comes to the table. He knows my taste right to the T. He always manages to surprise me with his drool worthy innovations. One I can’t forget was when I was so upset about not getting to eat any Indian street food here. After about 15 minutes or so, he bestowed me with the best finger licking chaat ever, no exaggerations here at all. Haldiram’s little samosas crushed, slathered with tamarind chutney, which we always have in the fridge, few drizzles of yogurt, decorated with grapes all around! Delicious!
Now keeping in perspective the kitchen control freak, fast forward to the preschooler. Her age asks her to do everything all by herself and I mean everything. And that makes the two of us. Yesterday, she asked me how long she needs to wait before she can drive to school all by herself. Oh well! Many a times, it’s hard for me to let her do things at her pace. Preschoolers have no rush, everything is an interpretation, one thing leads to the other and they are in no hurry, they will attend to whatever comes their way. Growing up is a very hard thing to do, entangled in the arduous confusion of being a big girl but not so big yet! The control freak in me is loosening out to make the knotty process a bit easy here and there. And here we have, in our new let loose kitchen, a budding new chef who makes her own sandwiches.
This chef also boasts the skills of pouring her own milk and cereal and cleaning up before leaving the kitchen.
Who is cooking in your kitchen today?
Great training for the young chef!
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