today domesticity took a new turn in my life. in all the excitement of impressing my kids i planned to make frankie rolls for them. now mind you, i am not that bad at cooking. i can make a mean shepherd's pie and my bake dishes are to die for... but somehow, today i felt adventurous enough to attempt something that i had never tried before. the easiest part was ordering the chicken... the toughest part?? figuring out how to make the end product look the same like the ones we get at a restaurant.
so there i was, the Joan of Arc of my kitchen; with the rolling pin as my only weapon. and the stubborn flour my enemy. and with nothing but my boys' motivational skills to enter the kitchen... and a promise to eat whatever comes out of it, no matter what the out come.... i stood in the doorway like an American cowboy..er... cowgirl... with my finger on the trigger... my imaginary panic button. what followed was a blur... i remember panicking and going on whatsapp and asking my chef buddies to help me. all the instructions were given by them (god bless their skills) but i was in a daze. the task of making rotis was so daunting that i just could not follow a word. of course, i had the occasionally pesky friend who gave me her valuable suggestion of opening a geography text book and looking at different maps for inspiration (god bless her geography teacher too). but eventually i managed to make 12 rotis in 1 hour which is not bad for a first timer.... but if i were to do this on a daily basis then i would get a late remark everyday, and consequently loose my job after 6 months.
this brings me to the cathartic moment that i had in my war zone of a kitchen. it was a Saturday evening and i could have been doing so many other things, like chilling with my friends, window shopping, spending some quality time with my parents and nephew. suddenly, i realised that so many of my friends do this on a daily basis. and they don't have to stop at 12 rotis. they HAVE to make at 2-3 dozens and that too in perfect shape-O- how in the name of sweet potato pie do they manage to achieve this feat?!?!?!! i bow to thee, o great queens of roti-world!!!!!
as for me... my roti making session did indeed turn out to be a geography lesson. oh, i visited France, Germany, Brazil, China and so many other well shaped countries with my rotis that at the end of it, i felt like i was playing 'match the country map to the name' quizz. i even manged a perfect heart shaped one (dedicated to my husband). and another reminded me of my sons cloth nappies when they were just born (did get a sentimental tear out from me on that one.) there was the deflated football and the alien head too. but the best of all was that each of them had a black mark on either side.... u see in India whenever anything looks good we purposely put a black mark on it just so that an evil eye is not cast on it... well... my rotis were sooooo beautiful in shape, size and colour that each one of them had a burnt spot on them.... not my fault... u see its the evil eye angle.
the end result... boys were very hungry and lapped it up. i, for once, kept my mouth shut and dint ask them how was the meal. i was just glad that they finished it off without a sound. moral of the story: don't go to the cobbler for a haircut. don't try to act like a gymnast when you clearly are a body builder. and last but not the least... forget impressing your kids, they know you better than yourself.
