It's harder to be a working wife some days more than others. And it goes deeper than bad days at work or a messy house: days with good food are good, days when I don't cook at home are not. It's as simple as that.
Practically speaking, canteens, dabbawallas and food courts have made my life much easier. I can let lunch slide a couple of days and it won't mean going hungry. I can send LH to work empty-handed knowing that he can buy something to eat. But nothing can beat seeing home-made chicken and curd rice when you're hungry at work and open your lunch expectantly.
Ideally though, I'd love to stay at home and cook. There's something about eating a hot meal, or a cold dessert that you've made which makes it taste like the best damn thing in the world. Darned if I know what that is. Before I married, it was all the same to me, but now home cooked food takes on a whole new meaning.
Maybe it's knowing about the effort and care that goes into a meal. Maybe it's the satisfaction of having created something that you know is good. Whatever the reason is, home-made food is something I've learnt to savour after close to 20 years of shoveling restaurant-made buttery, spicy delicacies and store-bought snacks into my gut like a bear just out of hibernation.
So cooking well is a skill that pretty much everyone needs to learn....sometime or the other. It will stand you in good stead when one day your taste buds say 'Wtf, Chinese food again?' and your brain sends you unwanted images of masala omelettes, chicken curry with some steaming hot rice and potato fry - like mom makes it - on the side.
Great, I've just made myself hungry. I'm thinking buttermilk, rice, and karuvadu....
