Staying away from home comes with it's share of distressing times and days. But then, there are days when you know that, you would never trade this extra amount of freedom for anything in this world. And, when you are living with people you have never known before it becomes a whole different thing. The experience of living with people for days at a stretch sort of makes them your extended family and you realize that cooking becomes an event which starts bonding the inmates of the house.
When I first started cooking food with my roomies, it was a big fat deal! Big because, the food cooked was often 'big' on experimental value and fat because, we all belong to the classical India 'Khathe-peethe' khandans and our sizes kind of stand testimony to that fact! It all began with buying apples from random grocery stores and grew into actually cooking elaborate 3 to 4 course meal. 'Maggie-noodles..3 minute mein tayar' was the first and the most favourite option for us. And when our Maggie stocks started dwindling, we started looking at food which 'mom-usually-cooked-back- home'. A few days into the community cooking habit and all our conversations started revolving around the next meal..or the next Indian dinner night. So much so that, even our Facebook updates looked like: "cooked palak paneer today for the first time..tastes awesome". And the joy of cooking your first edible meal is incomparable to any other achievement, no matter how huge. The ear to ear smile which reflects the satisfaction of being able to put the ingredients in the right proportions to make it humanly agreeable is one of the best smiles I have ever witnessed.
After getting used to the culinary duties and throwing lavish parties which involved 'food' as the 'main' attraction, cooking became more like a daily chore. Finally, budgeting our food expenses( becos we were cooking,mind you, not eating a lot) also became an integral part of living together. Soon, the conversations which used to start at the vegetable chopping table began to last till the last round of drinks were available in our old refrigerator. Each one of us regale the rest with childhood stories to anecdotes from the 'just- over' college life. Our ability to talk to each other for hours now has gone beyond the kitchen and well into our rooms, where, all of us come together almost at every dinner time (Note: It can be very painful for five people when they get crammed into one small kitchen ).
I cant think of anything else which could have brought 5 mad, strikingly different and compulsorily disagreeing strangers together in such a short span of time. Now, we plan to set up a restaurant if we do not finish our Master course on time :P. However, I hope it does not come down to that. :-)
So happy cooking, feeding and bonding..good times eh? :-)
When I first started cooking food with my roomies, it was a big fat deal! Big because, the food cooked was often 'big' on experimental value and fat because, we all belong to the classical India 'Khathe-peethe' khandans and our sizes kind of stand testimony to that fact! It all began with buying apples from random grocery stores and grew into actually cooking elaborate 3 to 4 course meal. 'Maggie-noodles..3 minute mein tayar' was the first and the most favourite option for us. And when our Maggie stocks started dwindling, we started looking at food which 'mom-usually-cooked-back- home'. A few days into the community cooking habit and all our conversations started revolving around the next meal..or the next Indian dinner night. So much so that, even our Facebook updates looked like: "cooked palak paneer today for the first time..tastes awesome". And the joy of cooking your first edible meal is incomparable to any other achievement, no matter how huge. The ear to ear smile which reflects the satisfaction of being able to put the ingredients in the right proportions to make it humanly agreeable is one of the best smiles I have ever witnessed.
After getting used to the culinary duties and throwing lavish parties which involved 'food' as the 'main' attraction, cooking became more like a daily chore. Finally, budgeting our food expenses( becos we were cooking,mind you, not eating a lot) also became an integral part of living together. Soon, the conversations which used to start at the vegetable chopping table began to last till the last round of drinks were available in our old refrigerator. Each one of us regale the rest with childhood stories to anecdotes from the 'just- over' college life. Our ability to talk to each other for hours now has gone beyond the kitchen and well into our rooms, where, all of us come together almost at every dinner time (Note: It can be very painful for five people when they get crammed into one small kitchen ).
I cant think of anything else which could have brought 5 mad, strikingly different and compulsorily disagreeing strangers together in such a short span of time. Now, we plan to set up a restaurant if we do not finish our Master course on time :P. However, I hope it does not come down to that. :-)
So happy cooking, feeding and bonding..good times eh? :-)
Experimenting in the kitchen with friends should be fun! :) Good Read!
ReplyDeletehome food is 1 thing (indian)people miss the most when they are away and so begins the hunt for rest which serves better food at affordable prices ;) you have started cooking so nothing better than that :) BRAVO!
ReplyDelete@nadig: thank u:-) i can assure you that it is like a crazy amusement park ride!!
ReplyDelete@maniac.hunter: Thank u:-) cookin n bonding..is my mantra these days