Gastronomics

I recently got an assignment to translate a menu card. I should say, it was very tough and made me realize how much of a novice I am in the culinary department. I actually had to look for the English meaning for words like Lasagna and saute. I remember the time when I took my maiden flight as a teenager and was offered yogurt. I didn't even know what it was! And I completely hated pizza the first time I had it. I am always confused about the items in a menu card and comfortably settle down to what my husband orders for me in restaurants.
I was never fond of cooking and until my marriage, I never got the opportunity to, either. The house was always full of women who would never allow me to cook (not that I very much wanted to!). Then, on the eve of my wedding, I was running a high temperature, which others thought was due to my anxieties of entering a new family. The reality?- it was due to the fear of having to cook. Luckily, the first few days with the in-laws went smoothly as they didn't even allow me to prepare coffee. The actual nightmare started after a week, when my husband and I were settling down in our new house.

My mother-in-law stayed with us for a week and taught me how to prepare filter coffee. She made me stand next to her when she did the actual cooking. Once she left, I felt like I was at sea. I could not differentiate between tur dal and moong dal and often mixed them up in my preparations. I used to grind the batter for idli. but forget to add salt to it. And later on, I would wonder why the idlis were not fluffy, like how they used to be back home. I used to add entire vessel of leftover curd to the milk to ferment it and the next day, I had to endure horribly sour curd. But thanks to my husband's patience, I slowly improved (It' s another story that he became a better cook out of frustration!).

These days, I prefer not to put myself through such torture. Instead, I hand over kitchen duties to my mother and happily stay away from shows like Master Chef Australia and Master Chef India.