Random

It is amusing how one person’s personal preferences become your own touchstone to judge the merit of your own work. For instance, any time I make okra, I am reminded of U Masi because she detested beans and okra completely. She complained about the stickiness of okra and unconsciously she influenced me – my okra cannot be sticky either. One of my friends once told me how she hated cooked soft cauliflower – guess what, my cauliflower has to be crisp. I never loved pumpkin when I was a kid till I discovered how passionate one of my uncles was about this humble vegetable and now I love pumpkin cooked with jaggery and dried mango powder. As a child I could not tolerate chilies, my brother would call me a ‘chilly meter’ because I would squeal at the slightest hint of chilly in a dish , and then I lived in Ahmadabad with a family bought up on, I suspect, a diet of peppers and chilies only- now I even lace my omelettes with paprika.