First Supper

Well I was reading some of the blogs written by my now grown up nieces, Incessant Musings: Take Me Along! and decided to add to the blog world with my own stories..

However, like them, I do not have the patience to maintain multiple blogs...so am going to add my stories to this one. -----here it goes.

Everyone has heard of 'The last supper'. Why does no one write about the 'First Supper'? I think I know why. Here is the story of a young Indian vegetarian.... YB (Young Bride) is all excited. She is finally getting a chance to do what she has always wanted. Escape from the very loving, but old fashioned (read it orthodox and over protective) Tamil Brahmin household.. to the wide world . She is getting married to this bloke who claims his ambition in life is not to settle in one place. Ho what a great idea... I will just keep travelling.... The wedding is over, and she is off, her first flight ever to Delhi - to get the visa and stuff sorted out... All set now. The first adventure begins in Bali. YB arrives to this lovely hotel completely jet lagged with her loving caring new husband. he is all concerned, and excited himself. He is excited to have company at last, in a country where he was plagued on his previous visit...(more about that in a separate story) He is excited to see this young naive wife who thinks everything is awesome... and has childish appreciation. He is very satisfied, that he has found his soul mate ( so far so good says his brain). Then it starts. The first attempt to get food.
The young couple go to this Five Star hotel (where the husband was impressing his young wife) for a meal. YB... looks at the menu, and cant see anything without 'meat' in it. She looks woebegone, and says...
' DH, do you think they will have a special vegetarian menu?, there is nothing here'
DH says, "ho... I don’t think so, do you want to try meat? You know it is not that great, but sometimes when we travel to some countries you don’t have much else...'
She .. the ever open to new experience says.. 'OK what do you suggest?'
DH Well we can try the chicken... and if you don’t like it there is always desert...

The chicken arrives, she takes one bit... and chews, and chews and chews... before escaping to the loo to spit it out. DH eats away, (he is a young red blooded bloke who is always hungry)
The desert menu arrives, and YB pigs out on chcolotae cake and icecream...

They finally arrive to her new home in Melbourne, Australia. The Indian friends in Melbourne, want to feed the newly wed couple for the first few days. After a few tiring days, they get home and in true Tam Braham style decide that dinner will be just '’Thaayir Sadaam' The Thaayir (yoghurt) has already been bought from the supermarket. YB goes into the kitchen, she looks for the rice, finds it, the next thing she does is look for the 'cooker' . She is clever, she can cook rice with either a rice cooker, or a pressure cooker, but finds neither...
Calls out to DH, and says, where is the cooker, I cant cook rice!
DH ; Laughing out loud, why do you need a cooker?
YB :How can you cook rice?
DH : How long do you think cookers have been around...
YB : Ohh I don’t know about 100yrs?
DH : How long has rice been eaten...
YB: Hooo May be 10000... Well I don’t know all that, how can anyone cook rice without a cooker? (with a hint of tear in her eyes...)
Dh: Don’t worry, I will make it, and he does with just a regular saucepan. That night is saved...

The next week or so, DH cooks most days, and is feeling sorry for himself, as he now not only has to work, but come home and cook for the two of them, as the lovely wife will not eat out, as she wants 'vegetarian'. YB, herself is also bored, of the same old meal of Roti, Rajma, and Thaayir Saadam (the sum total of DH's culinary skills)

So two weeks down the line, She is now equipped with a cooker, and some Indian groceries, and decides to surprise DH. Tucked away in the pantry, is this little bottle labelled 'Sambaar powder' She remembers her mums 'podis' in their kitchen at home, and the times when mum had gone to temple, saying on her way out (Cooker is done, the vegies are cut, just make the sambaar, so grandma can eat... I will be late getting back)She thinks great I will make a simple south-indian meal, and makes a sambaar, and stir fried vegies (kari) and rice.

She has the table all set beautifully and awaits DH to arrive. Sure enough he is impressed, and after the general appreciation of the place setting and love... etc sit down to 'The first Supper' DH is hungry as always and is through his first course of sambaar/rice and has started on Thaayir Sadaam, when he realises that YB is very quiet and has hardly had a spoonful... This DH already knows is not normal, for one-thing our YB is not is shy/quiet So he thinks ohh..ohh poor thing is home sick... and starts asking 'yennama enna achu... (what's it dear, what's wrong?)', and
YB comes back "How can you eat this Shit?'

PS : There was quite a bit spent on phone bills where the YB (now the not so young nomadic couple) learnt that spices after a couple of years (that sambaar powder was two years old) loose all flavour and are akin to sand... Also, she realised she had to learn cooking and has done so, with some help from the very loving family of older siblings and parents, who spoilt her all through....