The Brownie Conqueror

 

I love fiddling in the kitchen, be it following recipes or trying to create a new gastronomic dish. Thanks to exams and all the midnight snacking, I have a very varied list of odd but yummy dishes to fulfil any palate. It’s also not very difficult to see why, since I have immense culinary talents from both sides of the family. My mom and dad are masters in the kitchen and they have generously passed this talent to all three of their children. Well more to me and my sister, my brother has yet to showcase any culinary skill other than mixing and stirring, and not to forget reheating.

I still remember the first thing I ever made. It was a chocolate cake, I was 14 and I messed it up bad. By messed it up I mean I forgot to add baking powder in it and the cake was somewhat flat and lumpy. It still tasted ok to me; I mean it had chocolate in it, so I forgot the baking powder, so what? But that was the extent of my disasters in the kitchen. I put the lumpy chocolate cake fiasco behind me and started afresh. Soon I was making all kinds of stuff, I forayed into different cuisines. Italian, Chinese, Mexican, Japanese, but my real joy was making desserts. Be it cakes, muffins, cupcakes, pies, you name it, I wanted to bake it. Whenever I saw a new dessert recipe I had to try it out, and luckily it used to come out quite good, except for one; BROWNIES.

Brownies were like a red mark on my culinary degree. Whenever I tried to make a brownie, it would end in disaster. They would come out black, burned, soggy, oily and so hard one could play football with them. I tried every damn recipe of brownie that there was, be it Nigella Lawson’s, Rachel Allen’s, Sanjeev Kapoor’s, Tarla Dalal’s, none worked. I got so frustrated I eventually gave up on them a year back, until my sister saw a new recipe and asked me to make them a couple of days back. I was hesitant and unwilling but my stubborn side (which is 90% or maybe even more) won and I put on my apron, wielded my whisk like a sword and went into battle.

First melt all the ingredients into submission

 

Then whisk them until they cry

Sieve the dry ones with an evil laugh

 

Spray the container to prepare them for the casualties

Use the last of your muscle power

 

And pop it in the oven at 180⁰ C

 

And viola the brownie is conquered

So how about you, conquered any desserts lately?

 

 

 

 

Father’s Day

It’s Father’s Day on Sunday and unlike in India where only Hallmarks and Archie’s Gallery advertise this occasion, it is a pretty serious business here in Australia. All the shops start putting up posters and discounts months before the actual day and come up with fancy ads like “Who’s your daddy?” and “Myer knows your daddy”. Personally the ads seem a bit fishy to me, but well, to each his own, whatever brings the customers in I guess. Father’s Day in the Jagatramka household is quite simple, the three of us wish Dad a Happy Father’s Day and that’s it. A couple of years ago we tried to buy gifts for him but after the basic tie, wallet and shirt we ran out of ideas. I tell you it’s impossible to buy a present for a man.

Let me to tell you something about my Dad, he is the funniest and coolest guy in the whole world. You disagree? Well let me ask you something, does your Dad take you for movies the night before your exams to relax you? Does your Dad cook you yummy Sunday brunch? Does your Dad let you try wine and other liquor when you turn 18? Does your Dad hand you money and credit card and ask you to go shopping? Yes he lets us do them all, and unlike what you might think, the three of us turned out quite well. We are good in studies, not alcoholics and not even spoiled brats. We are his children and he is proud of us. Furthermore, we are proud of him. He has (with help from Mom) turned us into strong individuals who know their mind and can be independent, knowing that at the same time we can fall and depend on him and he will support us always no matter what.

It was in school that I realized that my Dad was a bit different from other Dads. When it was result time, all my friends and classmates used to be worried about what their Dad might think and wish that he wouldn’t get angry. I never saw what the big deal was. According to me, Dads never got angry, they just laughed with you and played with you and also saved you from Mom’s wrath. Slowly it dawned on me that other Dads were not the issue, it was my own Dad. He was unique and different. But I am glad he was and still is. There are so many qualities that I got from my Dad and so many I wish that I had. For many people my Dad is this strong, silent businessman with dynamic skills but at home he is just Dad and Papa to us.

A very Happy Father’s Day from Tanvee, Kavita and Ayush.

 

 

 

So, what’s your Dad like?