The Last Word

satchitananda · Feb 12, 2017

Srama said: ↑

Satchi!! Pajama strings helped you have your last word eh Long live the strings!

Sad isn't it, Sabitha? That's what life has come down to!!!

You know me and cooking - the daily story is after even after so many years, my cooking is an experiment.

Why is there no perfect word in English as in German? In German they would label you 'experimentfreudig' which means loves experimenting or one who gets the kicks out of experimenting. That then should describe you? Well, I used to experiment earlier on with new dishes, mixed up old dishes etc. which the BH used to enjoy.

That I know but when DH says that it annoys me to no end.

It is sad when after years of eating happily, he now does not want to eat anything other than sambar, rasam, beans, mixed veggies everyday of his life. I can't take it anymore.

I am not able to figure out as to why it annoys me. He claims that he eats to live and not the other way and I assure him when he complains that my food won't kill him - after all he is only eating to live. Quality of food should not matter at all Stomach is the way to a man's heart wouldn't have worked for either of us - he is fussy about food and I cannot cook well. Phew, now that I think about it, I am glad there were other things!

Yes, thank God for that!
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satchitananda · Feb 12, 2017

jssd said: ↑

Mine qualifies too.... indeed goes so far as to say .... ' I'll let you know if it doesn't taste alright but will not say anything if everything is alright or even good!!!'
As far as my BH curiosity goes... it thought it was 'brahma-hatthi' which is generously used by my dad and loosely translates to dimwit!!

Best
J
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BH for Brahmahatti! Love that! Yes, that should be very apt in this case too! :-D

satchitananda · Feb 12, 2017

Balajee said: ↑

Satchi, it is always good to cook enough sambar to last for four days because the sambar is such a dish that the longer you keep it in the fridge the staste improves as the flavour of the spices intensifies. Talking to the curd? He has my sympathies. I too talk to my fitness equipment. Everytime my wife hears my voice from my gym she wonders with whom I am talking. I tell her it is the treadmill or cycle. As four sour food too I love my sambar with an extra bit of tamarind.Yes the curd has to be sour too,
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Talking to your fitness equipment??? Your wife has my sympathies! Balajee, there was a time when I loved sour too, but with GERD, it is increasingly difficult to eat sour stuff. It is impossible to keep a cook in good humour if she has to cook separate stuff for two individuals especially when she thinks she is cooking for an army. My reminders to her to reduce the amount are futile. Yes, chana and sambar do taste better the longer the flavour seeps in ..... but sambar for 4 days at a stretch? That is testing my endurance to the limit!

shyamala1234 · Feb 12, 2017

satchitananda said: ↑

The pen is mightier than the sword, it might be said. Never mind the fact that in this era of computers, one may safely replace the 'pen' with a 'keyboard'. So here I am once again ..... being married has its own advantages. One has a captive muse to write about. And it is even more advantageous when said muse keeps doing things (not quite consciously, but by sheer force of Nature) which even if not very amusing at first give one sufficient ammunition to get one's own back.

Talking of backs, it did me in in more ways that one. "The way to a man's heart is through the stomach" right. Well, it did not quite start that way, but it actually stemmed from the fact that I am such a foodie. So I cooked great meals (even if I say so myself) and had the BH eating out of my hands. Came the 'back' episode and after a couple of cooks who came and went, the third one made sure to consolidate her position strongly in my kitchen.

In the mean time, the one who ate out of my hands has also entered the period when human beings go through a mid life crisis. His has made him extremely fussy about his food. He loves his yoghurt to bubble so he can hold a conversation with it before he eats it. All food needs to be sour. If the yoghurt is not sour enough, he adds lemon juice to it! Now no matter what one cooks, it is not sour enough or it is too bland, not enough salt or too much of spice or not enough spice or too much salt - basically, whatever is not becomes the most desirable state of affairs.

What a waste of having a Lady Anatole in your employ if all you ask her to make is sandwiches, lemon rice, pulav, vegetable rice every day till one gets on to the next phase which could be chappatis, dal and mixed veggies (with the same combo of veggies cooked in the exact same way day after day)! But that is how it works. Not to mention Lady Anatole who thinks we are starving and makes enough sambar to last for 4 days at a stretch.

So it is that I threw in my towel a couple of days ago and told him that he had to instruct the cook on whatever he wanted cooked and on days when she failed to appear he would have to do all the cooking himself. Forget the fact that I am deeply depressed about my value in the house having been brought down to zilch. Everything happens for good. Let him learn to do some real work in the kitchen. It might stand him in good stead after I am gone. Also 20 years of experience tells me that it is a passing cloud.

And right enough it was. "Can you pull out the string in this pyjama" asked the BH this evening when he came back. He has this amazing ability to keep sending one end of the string in while pulling out the other end a couple of inches but the child does not know how to pull out the end that went in. Aha! A God given opportunity to get my own back. Let it slip and God will send me back to earth to do what I did not - enjoy getting my own back. "Are you sure I am capable of doing that job properly" I asked looking askance at him. "Yes" he said meekly. I could not keep a straight face. That has been my weakness all my life. Anyway, I had the last word!
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Dear Saatchi,
Ghar Ghar ki Kahaani.
Newly married couple always want to please each other. Wife tries to make innovative dishes, recipe cuttings, searching internet, collect recipes from friends and on and on. For husband whatever she cooks is amrutham. Fast forward.....both lose mitivation.Everything bevomes monotonous...same sambar, dal and subjees taste. Husband sits at the table and eats, no comments....just testing. If asked the answer is it is good.
I use a big safety pin for strings.
Syamala

satchitananda · Feb 12, 2017

Sigh! It is tough when a very 'practical' couple (right from the word 'go') turn into a 'settled down' couple. Silence would not be so bad after all, it is the constant complaining that makes things hard. Talk of which I seem to be the one complaining about sambar, dal and same subzees!!! :-/

jayasala42 · Feb 12, 2017

I had a grand father-in-law at home.He always complained of everything.If he kept quiet it meant that coffee was good.Everybody prayed for his silence when coffee was served to him.If boys enter kitchen,they were considered to be girlish.If they just take up the broom for a second,the incident seemed to drive away Mahalaxmi and welcome her elder sister.
Now for the past 20 years after retirement my DH helps a lot in the kitchen.Main job is holding the top of the mixie when the switch is on.He won't do cleaning of the mixie etc.On many occasions while cutting beans he didn't know what to keep and what to throw away into the garbage.If I say,"we have enough bindis at home, don't buy'he will take it as though I asked him to buy bindis.

There started the habit of making'to do' list.Now he is an expert in preparing a mega list of'to do' things without a single slip.This ability of his helps us a lot whenever we arrange for any function, plan our trip abroad etc.He is popularly known as 'list Jayaraman' in our family circles.The list includes monthly groceries,list for poojas, annual death ceremonies,Sastri's break-up list for dakshinai.He could easily find out if Pundits demanded any extra amount.
Both of our earnings combined worked out to less than Rs 500and we had five mouths to feed,he used to prepare monthly budget in a notebok the day prior to salary,get some 15 brown covers for 5p each.Those days we had lot of changes.He had a check list and placed the amounts like groceries,Railway pass, milk, butter and ghee,fruits vegetables,medicals, miscellaneous, miscellaneous not enumerated ,savings( RD for Rs 20),ceremony expenses etc etc and placed them in different covers so that we may not suffer at the fag end of the month.This meticulous planning he inherited from his grandfather and it was in my blood too.

We have lot of contrivances to convert the excess remnants into fresh items with beaten rice, semiya etc.dosa batter etc.
Life goes on with less problems these days.We should live long to enjoy more, as intimacy and empathy increase with age.

Jayasala 42

satchitananda · Feb 14, 2017

Dear JS Ma'am,

sorry for the delay in replying. Totally loved the way things were so organized and planned down to the last detail. It is a good thing though that all involved in this household were similarly inclined. Throw a type A and a throw B personality together and it is a perfect recipe for disaster.

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