My Dearest KG
They say the way to a man’s heart is through is through his stomach. And right from our courtship days you left no opportunity to drive this point home. A girl who was busy with her lab work and books all her life till then and with parents who believed that education was more important than acquiring culinary skills, this passion of yours, for food, scared me a bit. Mom tried to put me at ease and taught me some basic recipes in a jiffy. But you took the reins in your able hands soon after our marriage. I found an enthusiastic teacher in you and you, an eager to learn student. Every other day, after we returned back from our respective offices, we worked together in the kitchen as you showed how to make various dishes with your step-by-step instructions. In no time, I mastered the art of cooking and you beamed with pride and showered compliments every now and then.
With passage of time, my interest in cooking got stuck at making good tasty 3 regular meals, while your passion for cooking soared to learn and experiment newer and exotic dishes. Some 50 cookbooks in our home library along with Kylie, Jamie, Nigella through their TV shows, inspired you to cook newer recipes with élan. I have told you this a million times but let me tell you this again that you have this awesome ability of putting seemingly incongruent ingredients together in such a way that they work amazingly well, always.
While I love the way you cook such fabulous meals on weekends, surprise us with newer dishes every now and then and that entertaining friends at home is always a pleasure because of you. But what I am not liking is the feeling that I get every time… the feeling that I am picked up by a tornado and released abruptly amidst a shower of debris and rubble, once you leave the kitchen after creating magic with food.
While your favorite chefs are cooking for a TV show, so it is ok for them to leave a part of the grounded paste in the mixer jar or use only part of the soaked rice. But following your ‘Gurus’ habits in our kitchen translates into wastage of food resources!
While you are so fair and square in everything else in life, I can’t understand your biasness towards the food cooked by you! You can’t stop gloating about the dishes you cook, yes, even the ones which have no salt or the ones which have a tinge of burnt food aroma!
While you know it very well that I am perfectly happy with my level of daily cooking and I have no desire, whatsoever to don your chef’s hat. Then, why is it that you are so competitive with me about cooking, so much so that you’ll not tell me the ingredients you used for the new curry.
While you believe that food is all about creativity and experimentation with flavors and ingredients. Why do you frown when I try to experiment a bit in our regular food. Given my interest in cooking, my experiments with food only goes up to adding coriander powder in some dish or dry mango powder somewhere. I know some of your experiments are really crazy, for instance the day I was coming back home with Aaryan, you had made rice kheer among other things. We all oohed and aahed at the wonderful sweet dish till you asked us with a mischievous and a proud look, the secret ingredient in it. As you vetoed all the regular ingredients that could have been added in a kheer, we ‘begged’ you to shed light on the mysterious ingredient. Proudly, you said, “Egg yolk”. Mom who is a vegetarian and who relished the kheer so much, moments ago, nearly puked. Egg yolk in a rice kheer? who adds that?? Well, YOU!!
As I write this I realize that the benefits of having a husband as a chef certainly outweigh the rants I have just shared.
So, dear husband, continue to create magical flavors and may the fragrant aromas waft from our kitchen, always.
Happy cooking and looking forward to see you cook your signature dish soon, tomorrow.
Love You
SG
This is written for Write Tribe – Letters Unsent #4 : Your current love/ spouse/ crush
Linking this post to the Ultimate Blog Challenge and October’s NaBloPoMo.
I’m laughing away at this pretty good way of conveying what you want. Made interesting read.
May be you can tell Mr.G that the culinary fantasy is complete only if the kitchen is back to its wonderful self and appearance.
Wishing you folks happy cooking over this weekend.
Glad this brought a few laughs your way!
Oh, a clean kitchen with KG cooking can remain only a fantasy! *SIGH*
Thanks Anil, you have a great weekend too 🙂
I think, you are JEALOUS 😛
Destination Infinity
LOL 😀 Rajesh, you are too much 😀
I found this amusing mostly because while I am no chef, I love to cook. With that said, I hate to clean up about as much and procrastinate completely about that part of it. On the upside I can’t tolerate not cleaning up before I start making something new…so there is a definite backwards cycle to the way I do things. LOL Lucky you to have a “chef” in your midst!
LOL 😀 Love your backwards cycle. Since I am a cleanliness freak, I have to have a clean kitchen once the work is done. Initially, an messy kitchen would irk me but I am learning to let go. So, it’s a win-win situation 😉
Yes, it certainly a blessing to have a husband who can cook despite some minor irritants 😀
I would copy paste Khayyam’s verses:
Kabhi kisi ko mukkammal jahan nahi milta
kabhi zameen to kabhi aasmaan nahi milta
***
LOL@ not disclosing even before you the secret ingredients.
Aah!! So apt!!
Yeah, it is kind of funny. But when he has really tried something new and different and I dont ask, he tells me himself! 😀 😉
How sweet is this! You sure have a way to convey your grouse…hope he reads it soon and complies.
Happy cooking 🙂
Thanks Kajal 😀 He is yet to read it… as for compliance…. well that’s not happening for sure! 😀
This was so sweet to read, Shilpa. I can perfectly understand your grouse and sympathise with you. I hope the mister reads this one and understands you better.
Joy always,
Susan
P. S. The ‘egg yolk’ part was hilarious!
Thanks for empathizing Susan Deborah! 🙂
Ever heard of a egg yolk in a kheer?? So wacky, so crazy! 😐 😀
Every time I read about some husband helping in the kitchen,I feel very embarrassed.However,you have done so quite often that I must come and meet KG.
There is one point of satisfaction though….while reading this post,I can relate it to my son’s house in Blr ….
Oh, you must come over and taste the food cooked by KG!! Your son cooks too??
Oh,yes, and imagine,I can’t even boil water.
LOL 😀 That’s ok, but glad that your son cooks at home 🙂
My husband would always be ready to cook anytime, but he would also leave the kitchen in a mess.It is the same with his mother, she also loves to cook, but never clean up after cooking. My husband was not like this before, he would always clean up after cooking, only for the last 5 years or so, he seems to have lost his patience, and doesn’t bother to clean up.
What irritates me most is the way, he would keep harping on how good it tastes,that he has made it with the right ingredients used in the right amount and so on.
I can understand what you are going through Shilpa.
Ah! Men and their habits!! We are in the same boat as far as husband and their cooking goes 😛
Lol…egg yolk in kheer. That’s a blasphemous creative cookery for common food takers. :P. I love such experimentation – let him try his creative genious – it will give awesome experiences to remember later in life. 😀
Yes, on second thoughts egg-yolk in kheer would be a great story to reminisce about later in life 😀
Signed “SG”? Who? Me? No. This is what SG’s wife (LG) tells SG every day.
You cook too??!! Pls tell LG that I empathize with her completely 😛
hehe.. egg yolk in kheer 🙂 that’s some experimentation there..
you are in a way lucky to have a good cook for a husband.. 🙂
my husband isn’t that good at cooking but he tries.. but he cleans up the kitchen after he is done usually..
A husband who cooks is great. Let your hubby experiment, he will learn soon and since he cleans up the kitchen too, so it will be a double bonus for you 😀
Shilpa arent you happy that he cooks. Although i can imagine the nightmare of cleaning the kitchen later and wondering what to do with left overs but it is always nice to have someone who can put a meal together for you on the days that you dont want to cook.
Oh, there is not an iota of doubt… a husband who cooks is truly a blessing and especially who cooks simply awesome food! I have a lot of ‘I dont feel like cooking’ moments and he is ever ready to cook! So cant thank God and him enough for this blessing 🙂 Yes, the mess is a nightmare but am learning to live with it! 😉
That was hilarious Shilpa. He actually competes with you?? A case of the guru being in competition with the student. Too cute. As for that egg yolk in the kheer.. Yikes.. am so with your mom.
Yeah, especially when he knows that I am never gonna cook the dishes he makes. 😀 My mother is not going to forget this kheer for a long long time! 😛
Egg yolk in kheer. never heard of this.loved the grousy letter.
You have now!! The kheer tasted good and actually one could not make out that eggs were in it! Thanks Kalpana 🙂
Lending over a helping hand is a big deal. Taking over the reigns is a really really big deal.Egg yolk in kheer ? Well if it can get in Western desserts , I guess its okay to add it to the Indian ones too he he
Agree. Husbands who cook is simply fab. When I am out of home, I dont have to worry about his meals. I know he will manage it pretty well. I have a few friends who have a tough time when they have to travel and husband is at home. Yes, egg yolk in Western desserts is so common. I think he is inspired by Eric Lanlard or Donna Hay or Nigella for this one.
Aren’t you a lucky girl? 😉 But I am too…and I can empathize with the cleaning up afterwards, though my training skills have come into good use and things have improved!
Oh yes, very very lucky! Touchwood… you too 🙂 LOL @ your training skills. 😀
Mine are going down the drain 😛
Lucky you, Shilpa. You have a “chef” in our house.It is his love for you which is making him do all this,ONLY for you. Wish you both everlasting love for each other.
Thanks a lot Ma’am for your kind words and wishes! They mean a lot 🙂
Was laughing all through. .. A husband who cooks that too in a competitive level… too good 😉
Glad that this brought some laughs your way, Sheethal 😀
Yeah, isnt it funny, when there is actually no competition 😀
let this one be unsent!!! hubbies really don’t like to be told what we don’t like about them….! this one had me in splits though! 🙂
Oh it is unsent and unread too! Despite reminders, the Chef has no time to read ‘paeans’ about him! 😀 Glad you enjoyed reading this one, S 🙂
hahahahahah…gosh this is how my story unfolds having a husband who cooks like a chef and I falls in your category 😛
And that GLOATING part hits home Shilpa 😛
I can empathize with you so much, Sunita!!
Dont know what’s with men and their gloating about their food… the chefs on TV do the same too! 😐
Do you blog, Sunita? Could you pls share your blog URL? Thanks 🙂
These are a few places i blog. Some new, some old 🙂
http://musingsofsurvival.blogspot.com/
http://aplatterofsky.wordpress.com/2013/09/
http://sunitacrc.wordpress.com/
http://musingssurvive.blogspot.in/
😆
Loved this letter!! The subtlety is fab!! 😉
Thanks Pixie! Hope the subtleties work in conveying the message 😀
I was laughing my head off as I read this, Shilpa n no prizes for guessing why 😉
You are in the same boat too! 😀
Gosh!!! Yet another similarity. My hubby too cooks really well. And he too dons a chef hat time and again. I’m still a primary kid in terms of cooking. And yes, me and son look forward to those days, when he churns out those culinary delicacies that tickle our taste buds. If he was a chef, I believe he could have been very competitive and given top chefs a run for their money. Sigh!!! For he’s not.
And yes, he dreads those days when i make something. It’s MIL all the way in the kitchen.
Wow! Hi-5, Jini. Glad that you get to enjoy the culinary skills of your hubby too 🙂
On a serious note, I made my husband read it. It must be such a great thing to have somebody like that around! And come to think about it, he is also experimenting and as you say successfully! I am officially jealous 😀
LOL @ ‘Officially Jealous’ 😀
Having a spouse who enjoys cooking is always a blessing isn’t it Shilpa?
It sure, Reshma! I am just kidding! 😉
Eeek!!! Egg yolk in kheer indeed was a deadly combo. 😀 But it’s good to see his interest in cooking. I’m sure your restaurant bills will be minimal. 🙂
Yes, our restaurant bills are not so great, but our grocery bill at home is high! Coz wherever we go, we come back with a grouse as the food never meets our expectations!
Lucky Shilpa. I am sure many women would love to have a husband like yours who is so creative in the kitchen:) Now, you should compete with the man and wear your creative hat:)
I am lucky that ways, no doubt about that!! No, I am not competing with him and I’ll be happy to leave the entire kitchen in his hands, someday! 😀
A man who can cook I mean really cook is my kind of man. Lucky you Shilpa. I would quit the competition and hand him the ladle! Super nice post.
I am not competing with him, he does that though 😀
Yes, am lucky to have a chef as a husband. Touch wood 🙂
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