Life, Laughter and Everything Else

A picture affixed in my mind A recollection of months gone by Of places travelled Of sights seen Of people met All starts with that image Of that silent room. The windows wide and tight shut Standing guard against the dreamy winter The lacy curtains drawn as they posture in reverence to the streaming sunlight who eases past the guard and rests on its throne, but a mere wooden table covered by a plastic fabric, scarlet and flowery. The silence is undisturbed a picture of an alluring harmony. Oh how I miss those silent breakfasts in that silent room.

One of the main reasons I looked forward to my exchange was that it gave me an opportunity to further expand my cooking repertoire beyond the omlette and scrambled eggs. In the process, after a series of successes and failures, more of the former than the latter, I remain exceptionally bad at it. Though failure is always the first step to success and now that I can also make edible pasta, I believe that qualifies me to do share my experiences and advice for all amateur cooks and cook wanna-bes around the world. So here goes, 1) Listen to thy mother As an amateur, never listen to your guts. This is all the more important if you are an engineer or a mathematician to whom logic is important, where input is equal to output and the amount of water you pour inside will determine the amount of curry you get. Cooking is not engineering, which should already be obvious from the differences in the gender ratio involved in either. So when your mother, whom with years of experience tells you ...