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The Convert

Discussion in 'Snippets of Life (Non-Fiction)' started by satchitananda, Jun 28, 2015.

  1. satchitananda

    satchitananda IL Hall of Fame

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    [JUSTIFY]Little Satchi is as usual playing in the neighbours' home. It might as well be her own, for all practical purposes. She loves spending her time there with their kids. The landlady with her son and dil and granddaughter (a couple of years younger than Satchi) lives in that house and the other grandchildren come in the summer holidays for a couple of months.

    Now Satchi's love affair with food is no secret - it is such an old story. "Sab ko maloom hai aur sab ko khabar ho gayee toh kya". (Everyone knows, so what!) She loves eating food made at the neighbour's place. She envies all the kids eating together while she is herded home to eat food with mom, dad and a sib who is 10 years her senior. All her mind is on all the fun going on next door. Mom wonders why she prefers eating there than at home.

    Well, if this is true, the reverse case holds true too. All the neighbours love the food mom sends them. The kids love to come to "Amma and Appa's" (that is what they are called generically by all of them as well as all their friends and relatives who come over) house and eat whatever they are offered. (One of the kids has been told by her mom that she should not ask for anything and can eat whatever she is offerred; so when Amma asks, she says "If you give me, I will eat!" :-D) They love the filter coffee made at home as also the idli-chutney-sambar and dosas. There are treats at the drop of a hat for no reason or rhyme. Does one really need any?

    Why is the other side of the fence always greener? The kids grow up. Everyone is busy with their studies. Now Satchi is in college and loves the food brought by her friends in their lunch boxes. She loves eating out. Her mom tries telling her home food is healthier; but will Satchi listen? Ignore that! It's nothing more than empty rhetoric! Of course, she loves eating her mom's delectable food, but she also wants to eat out. She is a regular little larva.

    She leaves home for the hostel abroad. She is determined not to miss home because she does not get 'familiar' food. So she writes down all her favourite recipes before leaving home. That ensures that 'soul food' is taken off the list of reasons for missing home. She adds some more favourites from the "British repertoire" (that is a laugh!) and even misses them when she gets back. She learns to make those at home.

    "Whatever you wish for with all your heart, the Universe conspires to give you". There comes a phase, when she ends up eating almost every meal outside the house almost everyday. She starts craving for home food. The moment she is in a position to have a kitchen, she starts cooking stuff day in and day out and loves having guests over. Still, she does love eating out from time to time - just for a change of taste. The BH is, however, not so keen. Outside food does not suit him much and he often ends up with problems. Satchi too finds that outside food does not suit her as well as it did before.

    Times change. Now Satchi needs to have a cook. Two good cooks come, but quit. then she gets another one who is a Lady Anatole personified and Satchi fancies her own table as that of Aunt Dahlia and her home is the local equivalent of Brinkley Court. Gradually Lady Anatole learns to cook various kinds of food - be it pasta, pesto, the Maharashtrian bhakri, Palaghat Iyer fare, kathi rolls, you name it - and the need to eat out is completely eliminated. Ask and thou shalt be granted!

    Lady Anatole's own home is taken over by unwelcome relatives and she ends up as a hostage, catering to their demands. So Satchi and BH are left at the mercy of Satchi's cooking. She manages alright. Then one Sunday evening she asks "shall we order something out?" to which the BH says "whatever you like". Satchi asks Uncle Google but does not much fancy what he tells her. She is in no mood to eat any heavy, oily stuff. So she decides she will make do with whatever she can lay her hands on. The left over of some cooked dal and spinach is converted into a steaming hot spinach dal with a dash of ground sambar masala (stored in the freezer) and she makes a vegetable of cluster beans and potatoes in 5 minutes flat in a pressure cooker. That with rice already at hand makes a steaming hot meal in 10 mins. Very basic and very simple, but BH and BH (neither of them bitter) enjoy the fare. Satchi floats in heaven and thanks herself for not ordering anything out.

    Home sweet home and no food like that at home! The years have cured the 'eating out' disease for ever ..... or maybe age catching up! :p[/JUSTIFY]
     
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  2. Aria

    Aria New IL'ite

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    How parallel, then converging only to diverge paths have our lives taken.


    Little Aria's mother is no different to Little Satchi's mother in growling and frowning at her daughter's gourmet delinquency; only she is more wicked, grrr..


    Little Aria's mother terrified her with sketches and stump speeches on germs and infestation that can sabotage Little Aria from "tummy upset" to "memory loss". Little Aria every time visits a fairground or beach, though tempted to slurp at the gola or crunch bhel puri, has vision of her mother in wispy thought cloud that reminds her of the insidious devastation innocent stick with ice or bed of chickpeas in tangy sauce can cause.


    Little Aria travels to distant land with little experience in cooking, and then burns her hands once or twice, and hordes takeaway flyers dumped in her mail box and looks forward to dinner invites from friends. Little Aria now away from her looming mom who held belan in one hand and disinfectant in another hand stepped into gastronimical adventure hanging out with friends and colleagues and discovered corcopucia of food stashing everything on her way that can wriggle, jerk or sway as a vegetable, animal or mineral.


    Big Aria still loves home made food with her lolling tongue, acting as reagent to previously unknown tastes and smells, unsheathed from the protective spell of her mother, is also a "convert" (only as inverse).
     
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  3. shyamala1234

    shyamala1234 Platinum IL'ite

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    Dear Satchi,
    Yes, after eating outside food for a while...not too long, it may be three or four days or attending weddings continuously for three or four days, how we crave for home food! Even Tamarind chutney and rasam tasteheavenly!
    Syamala
     
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  4. satchitananda

    satchitananda IL Hall of Fame

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    Aria, interesting to see how your tastes have changed along the line. I really would not mind eating out once in a way, if I could be guaranteed of stuff which would not upset the tummy and if a variety of healthy options were available. However, we still have a long way to go before that happens. I really miss all the varieties of sandwiches that were available in the health shops there. :-D

    ..... and the good news is Lady Anatole is back. Was chopping veggies to make something for the day when she walked back into the house beaming away! :-D
     
  5. satchitananda

    satchitananda IL Hall of Fame

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    You bet Syamala. Nothing like light 'pathya' food on such days.
     
  6. Balajee

    Balajee IL Hall of Fame

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    Satchi years ago I had to live in Italy for few months. I found to my surprise that I had no craving for home made Indian food. I took to the Italian cuisine like fish to water. But regular consumption of cheeses added top my weight. I returned to India with extra weight but with caution. Now at least once in a week I rustle up some pasta for dinner but healthy pasta. Wholewheat pasta salad with vegetables and fruit. Mostly I eat healthy home made food comprising a single chapati, oddles of green veggies and salads and low fat curd. supplementing it with workout at home gym and weekend long walks. As A result my weight has come down to about 70 from 90 kg. You are right there is no food like home food. We order from outside only when the kitchen sink is full and no one is in a mood to wash vessels which is rare.
     
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  7. satchitananda

    satchitananda IL Hall of Fame

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    True Balajee, when all help at home vanishes and I am not upto washing all vessels (though that scenario is not common), I would probably order something from the local vegan restaurant.

    The difference is - apart from the reduced tolerance to outside food - almost everything can be made at home. We have exposure to various tastes and dishes, we either know how to make them or the recipes are all available online. Most ingredients are also readily available, making it unnecessary to risk eating out or to spend a huge amount of money on a paltry amount of food which can be so easily made at home.
     
  8. PushpavalliSrinivasan

    PushpavalliSrinivasan IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Satchi,
    After going through Aria's food for thought post I jumped to read Satchi's food for stomach snippet.


    Don't make any false guess! I am not a foodie! I love to eat only simple home made food. When I attend any function like marriage either I will skip the breakfast or the lunch.

    If I had lunch for dinner I will make neem flower rasam and sutta appalam. When my children come home on vacation always they will take us out for lunch or dinner once during their stay. Then also I will prefer to have chapathis with side dish and a little curd rice.

    Many of our generation people and even some of our relatives cook only rice at home and go for catering from outside. But I prefer to cook simple food at home and my DH also doesn't like it.

    Of course people whose health doesn't permit to cook has no other alternative. They have to engage a cook or go for catering.

    My mother also used to cook lip smacking dishes and people used to ask for rasam in a cup to drink.

    PS
     
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  9. satchitananda

    satchitananda IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Pushpa Maami, though I am a confirmed 'chaapata raami', I am unable to handle excessively heavy food anymore. Going for breakfast, lunch and dinner at weddings is pretty stressful, though I have learned how to eat sensibly even at such events.

    As for the cook, she has learned to cook just we like with minimum oil and spices. Of course it took effort to train her to cook that way. Touch wood, we have been lucky that way.
     
  10. jasmine25

    jasmine25 Gold IL'ite

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    Nice post Satchi.. What a coincidence?? After having food at restaurant yesterday i felt I could have just made pepper Rasam and potato fry at home..that could have been far better as I felt uncomfortable due to lot of oil and spiciness in the dish :(
     
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