How was your Diwali? I’m just so thankful that I haven’t become deaf yet.
We bought a new microwave from LG on Dhanteras. We were most excited and popped some corn to inaugarate it. Then , since yours truly was extremely excited about cooking something in her new microwave, we quickly peruse the cookbook (free with the microwave) and decide to make some chicken biryani. The list of ingredients called for whole (sabut) garam masala, boneless chicken, sliced onions, 250 gms of rice and 2 cups of water. The first instruction was to soak the rice in 2 cups of water for half an hour, then drain the water and then boil the rice in the microwave for 5 minutes. Ummmm..while yours truly was wondering whether or not to add water again, the Hujband issued instructions to follow the instructions as it were written and not to use my own discretion. Since yours truly being the good Bharitya nari (since the Hujband shelled out the dough for the microwave – it qualifies as “something” for the kitchen na and we being such foodies n all) decided to follow the instructions exactly as they were written, drained the water and put in the rice for 5 minutes. Result – Toasted rice which yours trule wondered whether briefly whther it could be masqueraded as some oil-free diet muchies at some party and then got dumped in the ol’ faithful bin in the corner
Next yours truly decided to try her hand at making some chocolate walnut brownies (inspired by the umpteen dry fruit gift boxes given on Diwali). So we hunt for a recipie, take a printout, go to the market during the lunchbreak, speand 500 bucks on raw materials to make it (and feel very proud of making it apne haathon se and vow that henceforth, we shall make yummy deserts at home and save money while we’r at it since my Bong genes have to be kept satisfied). We reach home at 9 pm and quicky make the Hujband some khichdi (in the loyal Hawkins) and then start seiving the maida & melting the chocolate (In the naya microwave bhai). Brief moment of panic when shop next door had run out of eggs, but we got it from the shop down the road. So we seive and we stir ad we melt the butter and whip the eggs and finally we have the yummy batter ready (after we chase the Hujabnd away from the kitchen who is most amused to see everything going on and promising to take pictures next time cuz this time he’s too busy laughing). Then we grease the naya naya Borosil baking dish and pour in the batter (makign sure there is enough left to lick). And then…you sit and wait for the smells to come. 20 minnutes later there’s a ping and feeling very Julia Child & Martha Stewart-ish (only in the cooking from scratch part, not the fraud part) and we take out the dish. Alas!!!! The brownies are still not cooked completely so we put it in for ten minutes, still not cooked completely. Repeat process a couple of times more. Fourth time, you lose patience, enthusiasm wearing off and a quick glance at the clock shows it to be almost midnight and yours truly needing her beauty sleep. So we take out the dish, let it sit for some ten minutes and then take the brownie out. Too soft for a piece t be cut so we use a spoon to scoop some out and feed it to the Hujband who loyally declares it to be the best brownie that he has ever had and so on and so forth. He knows which side his bread is buttered.
And I got complimented by an old uncle with an American accent at a card party for being an honest hard-working person because we were the only who refrained from playng cards (He – because he refuses to gamble with his hard earned dollars and Me – because I am to wary of playing against the Delhi bhaiyas and bhabis who have grown up playing the game). That of course, only lasted till I told him that I was a lawyer by profession. I tell you, we lawyers are a much maligned profession. Give me money, I’l save anyone’s ass – we don’t discriminate on the basis of caste, creed or gender.
Other tales would also include my neighbours having taken the responsibility of making all those in the vicinity deaf and we literally turning a deaf ear for the next couple of days. What happened to the ten pm deadline and decibel limit etc? And the cops also turned a deaf ear to the whole proceedings. We were kept awake late every night till a grand finale with a 100o ki ladi at 2 am for three continuous nights.
Other tales would also include my work having increased three fold, thanks to some administrative duties (all in the name of team coordination) being given to me. I don’t have an issue with additional responsibility, but this stupid North Indian mentality of refusing to take instructions from a woman makes things very tough for me. After all, how much can I tick someone off for not having done their work or how much can I run behind someone to do their work. I get majorly pissed off when people give me stupid attitude for no reason whatsoever. I am being very mature (*Pat on the back*) and letting them know politely it is not acceptable and that they need to pull up their socks because there is only this one point till when I can cover that person’s ass. Okay ranting over.
End post.
No comments:
Post a Comment