A Bowl of Elusive

Up until last year, we had employed a cook, whose cooking left a lot to desire. So we ended up ordering a lot of food from restaurants as we were unhappy with the food she cooked. After a while, we compared the expenses and decided it would be better if we let the cook go and ate outside or toggled cooking ourselves and eating out. So we gave her a month's notice and then I started cooking for two. Now my approach to cooking is simple - I follow recipes, which means I like things the way they should be. For instance, if I am making noodles, my carrots would be cut into super-fine juliennes and that is a time-consuming process of cooking. My wife insists that she would be happy with a lot less and maybe she would be, but I just can't get myself to compromise on my process.  It usually takes me whole afternoons to cook these meals - it's a lot of work, but I love it when a meal turns out well. I don't make very fancy stuff, just usual Indian dishes but the way they are tr

Every day, I struggle to bring variety to lunch. I have practiced and perfected certain recipes like moong dal khichdi, chicken masala, gizzards curry, etc. But repetition is never good. So every three days or so, I try to whip up something different - I don't mean a new recipe invention here, just some recipe which is not my regular go-to. Of course, I have to take a look at what ingredients I have on hand. Sometimes, you have a great idea but not enough of the ingredients needed. Lately, I have managed to stock up on most dry ingredients whereas, for vegetables and perishables, I prefer to buy them in small quantities so that they don't go bad by the time I circle around to them.  I have been a picky eater for as long as I can remember. So my usual selection of vegetables are carrots, beans, peas, bitter-gourd (something I developed a taste for, a little late in life), and the occasional cauliflower and cabbage. Most of the days, I mix it up with eggs or chicken. My staple gr

Eclairs - The Pavilion, ITC Maurya, New Delhi The mere fact that I'm writing about this should tell you how passionate I am about my food. I order in a lot. Like a lot. And I've been doing that for the last 11 years. So my relationship with food delivery is a long standing one and of course, I have a type when it comes to food delivery places. Now, what I look for in my meals and subsequently in my food delivery experience may differ from occasion to occasion , from day to day, depending on the following things - how hungry I am, what I'm craving for and what time of the month it is. You see, I'm a big guy, like literally, I am around 6' 2" tall and I weigh nearly 100 kilograms. So naturally, I have a really healthy appetite. So quantity is a big factor for me. Most of my disappointments with food delivery joints arises from the fact that they have a pathetic portion size. I don't mind paying more than average if the serving size and the quality of

I have often heard people saying that what really sets humans apart from animals is their rationality, that human beings aren't driven by their instincts like animals are, and that humans have the ability to be more than what their instincts make them. I think that is a whole lot of crap. Just yesterday, at an office party, my boss asked each one of the team members to say something something about themselves that nobody else knew. I kept it short and simple. I told them what I aspire for. There was so much more about myself that I could have said, but the fact is, I don't think anybody cares enough for me to go to the trouble of expressing who I really am. (I do see the irony here. Here I am writing a new article about myself. Ha ha. But at least I am not boring you at an office party by revealing mundane facts about myself which have no real bearings on your life and dreams what-so-ever.) So, moving on, even though I kept it short, I gave it a bit of thoug