Food as only Mummy could cook it – 30th July 2010

As she poured the chocolate cake mix into the round non stick dish, we watched in amazement. In less than an hour, you could smell the rich chocolate saturating the air so that you breathed delicious hot cake. The oven would open, the cake would come out, a little puffed up but perfect nonetheless. And we stared unblinking as she stuck a fork in it to make sure that it was cooked well. And Aley would run, pick up the phone and call her friends to inform them about the latest developments in the event of the day. This would be followed by the quick arrival of a bunch of 9th grade boys, shy at first, with alarmingly widening eyes as they gazed upon the treasure with watering mouths. She must’ve done this a hundred times in the course of our lives so far.
The baked Italian chicken filled with fresh spinach mixed with a number of cheeses came out of the oven. The cheese shamelessly overflowed from the sides of the oblong chicken pieces .The best part was when you poured the faint orange sauce over the pieces of chicken. She would watch as we sliced our forks through the chicken and placed the piece dipped in sauce in our mouths and an expression of nirvana crossed our faces. Except papa who was impossible to read only if only about his wife’s food. But you could tell from the speed with which he ate and his sniffing nose that he enjoyed it greatly.
And the Biriyani.....I think maybe I should stop. Strange as it seems, I feel my laptop growing jealous of its natural inanimateness and therefore inability to eat.

Some things and some people are too personal to write about. Words seem rather inefficient. They really fall short. So I wrote about food instead and I really do love food.