When you are faced with a temperature of forty four degrees at around seven in the morning, you are encouraged to stay indoors. Now how much television can a person watch? This makes spending the waking hours of the day a daunting task.
Result: Discover the art of cooking.
This is the story of five people, on one project in the Sharjah summer, with nothing better to do than to pick up a spatula and whip up a hopefully edible spread (more like one dish).
With the title like this, what more need be said. The episode took place at Dabral’s Kitchen (understood as room 803, Pan Gulf Suites). Sadly I was not around to witness it but the anecdotes and the after effects (cleaning) observed left me in splits. The whole thing began with the preparation of harmless daal. Now is it entirely possible to get this wrong? Well to be said in style, it’s for me to know and for you to find out.
It was a day when daal and chawal was the desired order (after the days of ordering chicken). Dabral proceeded to add daal and the needed masala and haldi (turmeric) in slight excess. This was topped by water poured by the king of excess Mr. Gaurav Jain. The rest is history; the first whistle blew the lid off the cooker, and left the ceiling pale yellow and dripping. However the rest of the daal was consumed and proved to be rather tasty.
Story 2: Cooker in the Fridge
It’s a passing joke on the halls of 8th floor, that, if there is excess food made then please put the cooker in the fridge. Simply put, there is only one resident of this floor, who cooks for the entire week in a single multi storey cooker (including rice) and never tires to eat the same thing every single day. It goes to the extent of removing the racks in the fridge to make room for the cooker. In all honesty, this story is a lot funnier when witnessed.
Story 3: Buttermilk Tea Anyone?
Now what can be done when you don’t speak the local language? Logic would have it that you ask a person what a word means when you cannot understand it. Well there are some people (like me) who ride well above this logic. FYI, if you are in UAE and you pick up what looks like a milk bottle, and if happens to mention the word ‘laban’ on it, please note it is buttermilk. The rest of the story is by now rather obvious isn’t it? Later that day I decided to make tea for my drowsy husband and me… well lets leave the rest unsaid, as the memory of the laughing many still rings in my ears.
Story 4: Pav Bhaji for One and All
To end this post on a positive note, one of the successful attempts, was Pav Bhaji. This was owing to the efforts of the talented Mr. Gulkhobre. The Pav Bhaji was such a hit that we did manage to devour it for the entire night and the following day.
In conclusion, UAE has provided us ample opportunity to hone our culinary skills, in the absence of challenges posed by our bread and butter (SAP).
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