Friday, June 27, 2008

Update on the happenings at Chez Shenoy

It's a still life water color
Of a now late afternoon
As the sun shines through the curtain lace
And shadows wash the room
And we're toiling in the kitchen
Cast in our ignorance
About stuff that can be ate
Not in cans but off a plate
Lost in Tarla's recipe books
And how this cheese to grate.

And he reads his Sanjeev kapoor
And I that Jaffrey dame
As he wipes his brow with grated cheese
And roasts his pinkie in the flame

I'm on the floor with laughter
This better than a Mr Bean
Funnier than a clown
A Chaplin, only brown

Lost in tarla's recipe books
And how this cheese to grate


How did you like that? Last weekend we made a risotto, that is, Naren did. I assisted, chopping the vegetables and laying out the ingredients, comprising primarily of butter and cheese. If the risotto is the US, butter and cheese are the African-American and the White Caucasian populations respectively. Onions are the Hispanic community and garlic would be the Asians. The high-in-fibre ingredients would be represented by, let me see, the Inuit population? I kept reminding Naren about his triglycerides number which, unlike the Dow-Jones, is going up-up-up. Don't nag me, he snarled back. Nag? Me? But I did not take issue because he had managed to roast his little finger in the gas flame just then, a circumstance that always brings out the beast in man. Let it blow over, I decided and bided my time. Nag, did you say buster? Let's see! That's all. Let's see!

Anyway, the risotto was eventually done. The rice, like the walls of the kitchen and the hair on my husband's head, was evenly covered with butter, cheese, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, garlic, pepper and several finely chopped unidentified vegetables. It tasted wonderful. Maybe I'll forgive him for calling me a nag, after all!

9 comments:

Lavanya said...

Naren-ji can cook and be funny at the same time? Ma'am, you've just got yourself the perfect husband. :)

kaushik said...

Simon and Garfunkel should read it :)

Never Mind!! said...

I believed it was Mrs. Shenoy writing until it read, "...that is, Naren did. I assisted,". That is such a giveaway. No matter what, the missis is the head chef and the mister always assists. :) And pray post the risotto recipe for all of us to cover our walls too.

But if cheese and butter are like AA and Caucasians, what is rice?

Lakshmi Bharadwaj said...

Wow, a miracle, eh?? Agree with coconut chuntney. Who can cook an be funny at the same time!?

Anonymous said...

Missus can write good poems. But you rhyme better. :p

Bhel Puri & Seekh Kabab said...

Madam, please to tell me, why you kept waiting and watching while Naren-bhai was being burned? Very sadistic, I say, shi-shi-shi.

p.s. Hope you didn't use basmati. Risotto needs a hardier rice, like the "Puzhungal" variety that is so beloved of our Kerala cousins.

KD. K Bodhi said...

Alo, where is Naren? I miss him. I think he should stop cooking and get back to entertaining us. Nothing wrong with both of you writing, is there? Or, only one should blog at a time a? House rule a?

(muttering to myself)

Cynic in Wonderland said...

the dangling conversation! hehe beautiful!hope you sent some to paul and art?

Anonymous said...

What: NO wine, and you have the gall to call it a risotto?
Tush!!