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Hello again:
I know you are wondering what my qualifications are: mainly I
have a PhD in loving good food.
As a diabetic I don't eat much, but the older I get the more I want
`home' food, freshly prepared.
As a child I took all that good food we were served four times a day for
granted. When I became a teenager, my mother started on my `training'.
Though I came from a home with servants and a cook, it was necessary
that, like my mother, I should know how to cook to be able to supervise
the servants efficiently, so I would please my husband by magically
producing the tastiest of dishes. Of course if times were hard and the
man I married could not afford a cook, I would be able to fill that
niche.
My mother decided I should take Saturday cooking classes offered at
my school...St. Mary's, Poona. The cooking classes were taught by Sister
Rita Mary, and I enjoyed them tremendously. Every Saturday my younger
brother would wait eagerly for me to return home with the results of my
efforts in class and he would eat as one famished. Never were jam tarts,
puddings, and Shepherd's Pie so appreciated. His praise and my father's;
no matter what I turned out; encouraged my budding interest in cooking.
After Sister Rita Mary returned to England, an
Indian teacher took over and we started making Indian dishes.
Soon my mother decided that I should wake up an hour earlier than
usual every morning, and help the cook with breakfast, as that would
give me practice with Indian dishes. Needless to say, I did that very
grumpily for about a month and was glad that my father intervened and
the early morning lessons were stopped. I continued with the cooking
classes in school and added nutrition to them for my O levels from
Cambridge (In those days our papers were sent to Cambridge to be
graded). In college I had no chance to cook, but when one gets married
and comes to America one cooks. Suddenly I was the only one who could
keep the tradition of good food alive for my family, and as a determined
stay at home Mom, I produced an Indian dinner most nights. Both my
children grew up eating and loving Indian food just as my husband and I
do.
My mother's career was food. Like many traditional housewives of
her generation, she was in the kitchen all day and every day...in my
mother's case, she always had a cook to help her...but she was still in
the kitchen to ensure the quality of the food presented at each meal was
as perfect as possible.
My husband came from a very large family and most of their dishes
excelled my mother's. They followed the more traditional recipes and
cooking methods, and the results were outstanding. My husband too cooks,
creating his own dishes with spectacular results
Thank you for visiting this site.
Feedback/contributions/tips:
[email protected]
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