Cooking is a fairly non-trivial exercise. I was aware of this for quite some time now, but I appear to have underestimated the extent of non-triviality grossly.
I gather the pressure cooker, rice (I paid an outrageous amount to get my hands on this), and water on the heating pad and stare hopefully for ten minutes. This is what it looked like when I opened it up:
(It is a good thing the photograph came out blurred, for horrors such as these are not meant to be seen in stark clarity)
Rice:
So do I give up? No, I don't. Fortunately, I had the foresight to cook little when trying for the first time, so I munch down the half baked monstrosity you see above, and try again: (This time, I pray.)
Rice, redux:
There. Improving already. This lot is slightly better cooked, and is almost edible. I munch this down and decided to call it a night.A couple of days (and about three tries and three hundred more grams of inedible rice) later, I manage to catch hold of the resident rice experts. Under their watchful eye and helpful guidance, I manage to create something that is actually edible, and tasty enough for my mentors to dig in.
To summarize, here is food done wrong: (First day)
(The eggs are not for me. That creature is the result of the enterprise of an amateur whose skills were lower than mine.)And here is food done right:
Awesome. (Don't miss the reflection of me, the camera, my mentors and the surroundings on the ladle kept atop the yoghurt box.)Since that fateful day, my mentors and I have struck a deal: We cook for all of us. No points for guessing in whose favour that turns out.
Cooking gets repititive after you get it right- the fun's not there anymore if you're not experimenting, which explains why I still consume bread, cereal, milk and the like through most of the day. One well cooked meal a day is enough, I reckon. (For now)
The food issue has barely had its surface scratched; the bread story, yoghurt story, Vegetable story, juice story and vegetarianism stories are for later, as is the treasure hunt I engaged myself in in the supermarket while looking for cheese.
(In my defence, butter was called butter, how was I to know that cheese was called käse? Tut tut...)
I wrap up this post with snaps of me cooking. (Don't laugh, unless you've BTDT.)
Aw, what the heck, ROFL if you wish.
4 comments:
wh00t! :D
Looking good... {encouraging smile}
Talk to me if you want to feel better about yourself. You haven't blown up half a kitchen with three-quarters of a pressure cooker and no flame, have you? ;)
BTDT (and worse) all right, except for the cheese hunt (haven't had the courage to approach the local supermarket yet).
I'm not ROFL, only very impressed.
I cant believe my lil brother is cooking!! Wait till Amma sees all these pics!
And the sambhar looks yummy...so now when we both are back home, I know who to ask for a decent(?) meal. (Only if Amma allows you to do it after seeing the disastrous result in the first pic)
@42nd:
'You haven't blown up half a kitchen with three-quarters of a pressure cooker and no flame, have you?'- {raised eyebrows} Is that even possible?
I'm not feeling too bad about the cooking misadventures, but I will take you up on the talk offer in the near future. :P
@Akka:
The sambhar was the result of the combined efforts of three people, but considering how tasty it turned out to be, I'm happy with about 1/3rd of the credit.
Will post update on the Alu palak I made yesterday soon.
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