Oops !! Its My Cooking Turn Today

I stay in a rented apartment shared by 4 of us - Nitin, Kishore and Manu. I have always been notorious among my roommates for my cooking stints. Its a nightmare for them on the day when its my turn to cook. Somehow my instincts dont work when it comes to cooking food.

But today I thought something intelligent - not to use my brain, not to follow my instincts. I googled the recipe for cooking Kala Chana with Gravy (Black Chickpeas). I found a good step by step instruction kit online. Based on my past appalling experiences, I was too very eerie still. But I held on to it and reminded myself the same old line that we have been hearing since our childhood - "Don't worry, keep going; Thomas Edison also failed 10000 times before he invented light bulb."

You won't believe, but cooking food is a big time pain for me. Its like - whatever I cook will be nothing better than hogwash. I had lost all my motivation and trust in myself. Earlier, I used to put a slip just next to the food vessel "Eat at your own risk." But now that is also not required. Everybody on earth is aware of the risk of eating food cooked by me.

It was really hard for me to keep going and follow the recipe mentioned on the website. Everytime I cook, I need some motivation. And the motivation for me this time was - 'its not me who is cooking, its the website that is telling me how/when and what to cook.'

I kept my perseverance and followed each and every point mentioned on the website. It would have been funny if someone watched me cooking today. I was sprinting to and fro between the gas stove and my notebook PC. This time, I did not want to mess up even smallest of the things.

It took me 2 hrs to prepare the dish.

hoooofff !!!!!

A bit of relief for me after those 2 long hours....but....pandora's box was yet to be opened (atleast that is what I had thought). I hadn't tasted the food yet. I somehow encouraged myself to grab a spoon and taste what I had just finished cooking.

And voila !!! To my surprise...it was so good...so good...I wanted to pat my own back. But at the same time, I was so dubious that I could not raise my voice and say that I cooked such a great food tonight (how could I. I hadn't cooked anything like that ever.) So, I did nothing, but waited. Waited for someone to start his dinner. Now you know what would have happened next. Praises...aahh...that was so good to hear. "Ankit can cook great food too."

One of our common friends - Abhishek - was also at our home today. He was like (as he says in his style) - "Its too good man !!! Its too good."

That was the time when I had a sigh with satisfaction and boasted to myself - "Yes you've done it dude, you've done it."

It was really a great night for me today.

I hope this continues with me on my every turn of cooking.

And ofcourse, I learnt a lesson: Never forget not to use my brain/instinct while cooking. :-)