"There is no sight on earth more appealing than the sight of a woman making dinner for someone she loves."Thomas Wolfe (1900-1938)
My hubby dearest is a big foodie. But over the years, his relationship with food has been constant...that of pure love (and his genes make sure that the love for food shows on him in the form of extra girth and a yo yoing weight:-)), my tryst with cooking has been rather fascinating and has seen it’s fair share of ups and downs…
As a 14 year old, the spoilt brat that I was, while a lot of my peers were beginning to nurture their cooking talents, I don’t think I was even aware of where in the kitchen, the spice rack was located (Yes…I was that obnoxious !!). That was a stage in life when I was mighty happy being fed on delicious food made by mom, my adorable grand moms, aunts and all the brilliant cooks in our oh-so populated family…and yes, every once in a while, on a rare Sunday afternoon, my brother would take over the kitchen to make that delicious Spanish omelet that only he could make, albeit leaving the kitchen in the state of a ‘hurricane aftermath’…
As a 18 year old, let’s just say this, while some of my peers were busy trying to woo their way into the hearts of prospective boyfriends, by cooking and feeding them home made meals, the seeds of feminism, already sown in my mind, made me glare disdainfully at anyone who dared to say anything that had the slightest hint of endorsing “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach” paradigm …I was determined to find a guy who would love me the way I am and would be prepared to live eating canned food, for the rest of his life, if the need arose …can you believe that !!
After the completion of my post graduation years, I spent most of my time taking on the phone with Vinod, the ultimate personification of a foodie on earth :-)... but let’s just say this, cooking was the last thing on my mind during those days.
As far as my tryst with cooking, during the couple of months before I got married is concerned, my dear brother sums it up pretty well...he says that the 'daal', 'tomato curry', 'paneer' ,essentially everything I cooked, ‘tasted the same’…and when he says ‘tasted the same’ with that smirk on his face, it means you are supposed to read ‘tasted the same’ as ‘tasted terrible’…
But then something changed...after moving in with Vinod in the US, I realized that the person I got married to, was not just a big foodie but was a great cook as well…I reveled in the delicious food that he cooked while he barely managed to tolerate the tasteless food that I made…but the sweetheart that he is, he did that with a smile on his face. Given the kind of food I was cooking and feeding him (specially given the fact that he was a foodie, a great cook himself and the very typical perfectionist Libran), who loved me for what I was and was prepared to live eating canned food, for the rest of his life, if the need arose:-)
Over the past 4-5 months, I take the liberty of patting myself on the back for evolving into a rather decent cook (my perfectionist husband vouch for that,having been at the receiving end of my cooking over the past few months ;-))…I have developed a love for cooking dishes of different cuisines….I love to improvise on dishes, blending exotic regional spices and herbs…I have discovered and developed that skill of being able to bring out the taste of key ingredients in a dish...so now, all the dishes that I cook definitely don’t “taste the same” anymore….however I would still not claim to be extremely passionate about cooking…I do love cooking at leisure, as a hobby, and I definitely love entertaining people with home cooked food…but my dislike for cooking, on days I clean up the house persists, and I crib about it every time…
But there is one day in the year when I cook with my heart and soul and hope to be able to do so for the rest of of my life…and that’s on our anniversary….yes, yes its been a whole year since we got engaged…how I love that contented look and smile on his face when he’s fed a well cooked meal…I cooked a variety of his favorite dishes, just the way he loves them…
Well let’s just say this, though I didn’t woo my way into Vinod’s heart through his stomach, his anniversary dinner is my way of saying thank you to my foodie hubby for loving me for what I am ,as much as he does, and for having been prepared to live off canned food, for the rest of his life , if the need arose…
Happy Anniversary !
As a 14 year old, the spoilt brat that I was, while a lot of my peers were beginning to nurture their cooking talents, I don’t think I was even aware of where in the kitchen, the spice rack was located (Yes…I was that obnoxious !!). That was a stage in life when I was mighty happy being fed on delicious food made by mom, my adorable grand moms, aunts and all the brilliant cooks in our oh-so populated family…and yes, every once in a while, on a rare Sunday afternoon, my brother would take over the kitchen to make that delicious Spanish omelet that only he could make, albeit leaving the kitchen in the state of a ‘hurricane aftermath’…
As a 18 year old, let’s just say this, while some of my peers were busy trying to woo their way into the hearts of prospective boyfriends, by cooking and feeding them home made meals, the seeds of feminism, already sown in my mind, made me glare disdainfully at anyone who dared to say anything that had the slightest hint of endorsing “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach” paradigm …I was determined to find a guy who would love me the way I am and would be prepared to live eating canned food, for the rest of his life, if the need arose …can you believe that !!
After the completion of my post graduation years, I spent most of my time taking on the phone with Vinod, the ultimate personification of a foodie on earth :-)... but let’s just say this, cooking was the last thing on my mind during those days.
As far as my tryst with cooking, during the couple of months before I got married is concerned, my dear brother sums it up pretty well...he says that the 'daal', 'tomato curry', 'paneer' ,essentially everything I cooked, ‘tasted the same’…and when he says ‘tasted the same’ with that smirk on his face, it means you are supposed to read ‘tasted the same’ as ‘tasted terrible’…
But then something changed...after moving in with Vinod in the US, I realized that the person I got married to, was not just a big foodie but was a great cook as well…I reveled in the delicious food that he cooked while he barely managed to tolerate the tasteless food that I made…but the sweetheart that he is, he did that with a smile on his face. Given the kind of food I was cooking and feeding him (specially given the fact that he was a foodie, a great cook himself and the very typical perfectionist Libran), who loved me for what I was and was prepared to live eating canned food, for the rest of his life, if the need arose:-)
Over the past 4-5 months, I take the liberty of patting myself on the back for evolving into a rather decent cook (my perfectionist husband vouch for that,having been at the receiving end of my cooking over the past few months ;-))…I have developed a love for cooking dishes of different cuisines….I love to improvise on dishes, blending exotic regional spices and herbs…I have discovered and developed that skill of being able to bring out the taste of key ingredients in a dish...so now, all the dishes that I cook definitely don’t “taste the same” anymore….however I would still not claim to be extremely passionate about cooking…I do love cooking at leisure, as a hobby, and I definitely love entertaining people with home cooked food…but my dislike for cooking, on days I clean up the house persists, and I crib about it every time…
But there is one day in the year when I cook with my heart and soul and hope to be able to do so for the rest of of my life…and that’s on our anniversary….yes, yes its been a whole year since we got engaged…how I love that contented look and smile on his face when he’s fed a well cooked meal…I cooked a variety of his favorite dishes, just the way he loves them…
Well let’s just say this, though I didn’t woo my way into Vinod’s heart through his stomach, his anniversary dinner is my way of saying thank you to my foodie hubby for loving me for what I am ,as much as he does, and for having been prepared to live off canned food, for the rest of his life , if the need arose…
Happy Anniversary !
2 comments:
thats real sweet! haha! Good blog :-)
Thanx a heap Shalini, I appreciate it.
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