Julie/Julia and Me

I am embarking on a new journey this year. One that takes me through herbs, spices, lots of vegetables and images that satiate my thirst for something I have never attempted wholeheartedly or given any consideration previously. I am going to try my hand at Cooking. I hope I stick to this idea. Never been a big fan of food or kitchen antics despite seeing this passion in my mother and younger sister. Both of them go balsamic(intended with a pun) at the thought of creating new recipes. I have forever been the person who dives her nose deep into books especially when the ladies are on a cooking expedition. Lately though, I feel my senses are stimulating themselves to smells and fragrances drifting from above our kitchen. My Dad recently gifted my Mom a big, heavy set Julia Child-ish book of Indian Recipes. True to her passionate self, we have been eating wonderfully creative dinners and Sunday lunches for the past few weeks. I knew some of my mother's passion must have rubbed off on me when I discovered I was good at Baking. I was utterly crushed when I realised very early on that I possessed no food magic gene in me, it was miraculously passed on to my younger sister. However, I have come to my good senses and refuse to relinquish the trying gene that I possess aplenty within me. Will never give up before attempting a thing or two. This feeling especially enthrals me as I look up the screen to see Julie and Julia with their hilarious, determined, and creative cooking adventures.

How difficult is cooking really? It's not when we attune ourselves to the pleasures of providing hearty and healthy meals as Julia Child would say, perhaps. Closer home, my Mom carries her precious cook book by Kamalabai Ogale, practically inside her brain. She sits with the book, sifting through recipes, adding her own detour with some ingredients and creates amazing pan cakes for breakfast. As a kid, when I first saw the book, and the delicious colourful photographs of recipes that started with rice, vegetables, fruit salads, homemade drinks, to cakes, Indian sweets, desserts, I kid not when I write here, that I drooled over them. The sugary glazing over the cakes and the syrupy pancake laden dishes made my mouth water and it still does, after all these years. Occasionally I sift through the book, alas, not for recipes but for those gorgeous delights on the pages. My reluctance to enter the kitchen springs from a childhood laziness and privilege granted upon me then to READ. I am not blaming reading, only pledging that my cooking senses suffered in the process. Now that I realise it much, let's hope I put up a few detailed experimental weekend kitchen ventures here. It's not that I can't cook. I just can't figure out what goes when and how much. That's easy to overcome I believe. At times, food movies do entice me to kitchen initiation with buoyant spirits, but it never sustains for a long time. 

Last year, when I was home alone for quite a few times, I diligently went through YouTube cooking channels, and more or less, survived on my half baked recipes. I had a perfectly boiled Rice dish, not overcooked or under, just the right amount of steam. My sauteed vegetables looked brownish but were not half bad to taste, they weren't burnt in any case. I made a Zebra Cake from scratch as a surprise for my parents. It went well. I make great cupcakes when I don't bungle up the soda and baking powder measurements. I love garnishing dishes, grating, chopping and all the prerequisites of cooking. But my interest doesn't go deeper than these occasional spurts of cooking. I ardently wish to listen to the searing sounds of frying fish and the aroma of curry leaf gravies while trying my hand on my own cooking pursuits. I recall watching cookery shows in the afternoons during lunch hours in my childhood with Mom. Those were priceless moments spent together. She devoured every little detail so intently while I dilly dallied my way into reading and eating, together. I am trying to generate some zeal on my own for these kitchen endeavours, and pray that I will reach that stage of satiating appetites without disturbing the good food aura my Mom has created over the years.

Someday, and I mean it fiercely, I shall carve out my own space as a decent cook in my family's heart.

(On some afterthought, decided to share a picture of the masala rice and pan pizza.)