Isspecial Cutting Chai – November 2006

I have been staying away from home for the last five-and-a-half years (long time, and it passed by so fast). Of the many things that this experience has taught me, the most evident is my skills in the kitchen. I still remember the helpless expressions of my father and brother on seeing the concoction atop the dining table every time Ma was away from home and I took over the kitchen. You didn’t need to know the recipe of what I had attempted to cook. Everything in their original form could be seen floating around in oily water. But I did always make good tea, or so people say (have to live up to the title of my blog). Nowadays when I go home, I get invited to cook.

All the cooking that I learnt was through trial and error; the errors to begin with, were many. I sympathise with my friends at the university and can now understand why they would ask me to wash the dishes instead. But I never used a recipe; I cooked the way I though was best, and still do. That rigidness in methodology might have my food a uniqueness, but that has also limited my repertoire. My taste buds are also getting tired of the same taste. Therefore thought of learning something new.

First thought that I would ask Ma for help, but then that would take away the surprise factor on my next visit home. Then I found another Bong Mom and her cookbook. Will take printouts of all her posts, do the necessary shopping and will give blogging a break for some serious cooking.

The eighth Isspecial Cutting Chai (November 2006) is offered to Sandeepa of Bong Mom’s Cookbook for the simple reason that she herself put in the very first post, “I learnt one thing, Bengalis love to eat, feed others and cook…”

Hope Sandeepa comes up with some recipes of Isspecial Chais. I’ll take care of the cutting part.

Previous sipper: National Highway (October 2006)