Just Cook & See

 

Source: Clip Art Library 

Cooking did not excite me.

My mother, a brilliant cook, kept up the supply of my favourite foods, which changed frequently through childhood, teenage and young adult years. But I had no interest in making any of it myself. When I did not show any inclination to cook even as I approached what was deemed a ‘marriageable age’ some family and friends tut tutted.  My parents did not worry too much though. Mum maintained I would learn when I needed to. Dad ignored these concerns. Instead, he swamped the well-wishers with updates on my dance and my general (supposed) brilliance. And I asked with youthful impetuousness “why should I learn to cook to marry?”.

So it happened that I entered matrimony with my culinary skills rather underdeveloped. My parents hastened with remedial actions. An inflection point after all. My dad got me two English language volumes of “Samaithu Par”– the famed cookery book by Meenakshi Ammal, every Tamil bride’s gastronomic gospel for decades. “Cook and See” the charming English title was a literal translation of the original. My mum, coincidentally a Meenakshi too, gave me a hand written personal cookery book that had the basic must-makes of a TamBrahm kitchen. She even added in a prototype for my monthly grocery list.

Thus armed I navigated my way through the early decades of kitchen life. My husband, never having wondered if he had to learn to cook to marry, was a natural at cooking. An unabashed foodie, the thought of eating the final product enthused his cooking. So, while I mastered humdrum southy staples during the week - sambar, rasam, veggies, upma, he whipped up the specials on weekends - dosai, adai, masala dosai and even ‘more kozhambu’ (a delicacy) on occasion.

As I negotiated up the learning curve I reaped the benefits of low expectations. My dad on a visit to our home was amazed that I cooked every day. “This is really tasty” he would say at the dining table looking, in my view, way more surprised than warranted. 

My mum was pleased too and upgraded the personal cookery book she had written for me. She added recipes that were more nuanced and even included some of her signature dishes. My father-in-law was quite exacting when it came to his food - made, mind you, by ma-in-law who was an excellent cook. Even he was appreciative when he stayed with us for a month. “This is quite good” he’d tell me at every meal.  

I made efforts, sporadic though I must admit, to widen my culinary repertoire especially once our children entered the scene. I asked my ma-in-law for recipes. In the hope that I would learn some exotic preparations I attended cookery demos organised at Navy wives’ coffee mornings. However, despite the progress I was making cooking did not capture my imagination. It was still something I wanted to finish quickly and get on with my life.  Perhaps this is why my reputation as a reluctant cook continued to stick.

When I visited my parents, greying uncles and aunties from my teens would ask pointedly, “Do you cook now?” and when I said of course I did they’d nod and smile and say, “very good very good”.

 Looking at the set of “bharanis” (ceramic jars traditionally used to store pickles) I had added to our kitchen décor my sister-in-law smirked,” Waiting for you to fill all of them with pickles!” The same sister-in-law’s mother once watched with interest as I flipped an omelette. And sure enough it made a messy landing prompting her to remark,” Oh you really don’t know how to cook anything!”

A few years later I hired a cook and promoted myself to manager. Ever the systems person I approached this arrangement with passion. After giving the cook an induction into our gourmet needs, I drew up weekly menus for her to work with. The menus helped me a great deal as I no longer had to scratch my head every morning deciding what to cook. I ensured our fridge always had a contingency buffer of chopped vegetables, grated coconut, kneaded chapatti flour, boiled potatoes, idli/dosa batter. A contingency for example - cook taking an unexpected holiday. People assumed I had a cook because I was a working mom which was fine.

Over the next two decades we had several cooks (I have done a whole blog on how these wonderful ladies supported me through the crazy busy years). I maintained the same arrangements and systems throughout perhaps with a tweak here and a fine tune there every once in a while.  

The children grew up and moved away. Three years back we downsized and moved into our current apartment. It took us about a month to finish setting up our new home. I hired a young woman to do the cleaning. During this settling in time, I did all the cooking. After a few weeks I found, to my surprise, I enjoyed the cooking! I actually looked forward to the brisk morning activities in the kitchen. Since it’s just the two of us now time to cook and clean up is not unreasonable. And it satisfied the doer-finisher in me.

As the weeks and months went by my new found enthusiasm for cooking turned into interest. I wanted to learn more. Expanding your cooking prowess in these technology times is undoubtedly comfortable.

Thanks to the many exuberant YouTube cooks I get not just recipes with a click, I can also watch videos to see what some of those ingredients look like and how to actually do what the recipe tells you. Then there’s all the health and ethical stuff I keep a look out for to blend into my kitchen art. Low on carb, high on fibre, anti-oxidant, free-range, local, natural, organic and so forth…….. so woke, so fun! Besides, guess what? I find what I cook really tasty!

While friends our age are considering moving into retirement communities that provide meals just to escape the tyranny of everyday cooking, I’m discovering its joys. My husband is still a bit flummoxed by this ‘I enjoy cooking’ me. “Why don’t you get a cook so you can do the interesting things?” he says. But cooking IS officially on my post-retirement list of interesting things. My cooking now ranges from routine to traditional to exciting. And my husband? He continues to ace the specials! 

Source: Getty Images 

All you folks pondering post-retirement options ……trust me, just cook and see!

                                                         

                                                            Cooking I used to find a bore

Necessary, but an annoying chore

I traversed many a learning curve

Still my interest it did not serve

 

Then aha! an epiphany

I had to…… just cook & see!