FOODAHOLIC

I am a foodaholic. I just love food! Never have I measured the calorie or fat intake of any food and then debated about whether or not I should savor it's taste. I see food, I like the smell, I devour it. I love experimenting with my taste buds, love trying out different cuisines, and sometimes try to ape them at home. One can only properly enjoy food if one has ever been present while food was being cooked. To witness the magic as the food goes from its, tasteless state to something so visually appealing that you could just feel the collection of saliva in your mouth!

It's like chemistry. Pardon my usage of example, but if you think about it, the similarities are really there. You have to be there to not only witness the magic being brewed in front of you but you got to open your senses to understand it. Imagine doing an experiment with no knowledge of what and why you are doing stuffs. Similarly imagine eating a food without being perceptive to it's smell. It's the same.

I love cooking. Or rather, as my mom loves to term it, experimenting. I have been experimenting in the kitchen for a long time as I can remember. I used to fill up ice trays with water, talcum powder and vanilla essence hoping that overnight the refrigerator would turn it into ice creams. I have come a long way from that! Just 2 days back I successfully made stuffed capsicum at home. And well, it tasted pretty good (it's what one will make if you have nothing left at home.

Even today when I cook or eat something, I learn new things everyday. As am planning to continue writing this I will start of by giving how looks in the case of food, can be deceptive.

• I was staying at Ranathambore Jungle Resort and they had produced this weird looking dish and the label in front of the huge bowl read "spinach and cheese". Trust me when I say it was a mound of green leafy stuff covered in patches with thin slices of yellow cheese cut out as small squares. I had decided to skip it. But seeing the lack of veggies available, I dug in. I then understood Popeye's fetish for spinach! It was heavenly! Somehow when mom cooks it home it never tasted this good! The spinach was butter soft and juicy and cheese was on the precipice of melting inside the mouth at every mouthful!
• I was in puri when upon ordering paneer butter masala, the waiter came with a big steaming dish of paneer cubes floating in orange gravy, with butter smeared all across it. It looked heavenly. I ladled a generous portion on my plate and proceeded to eat it. Holy crap! It tasted like dog poo (i have no idea what it tastes like, just taking a guess). The tomato used was too sour there was no salt and paneer was stale.

So as we always say "never judge a book by its cover", my these experiences taught me that the same applied in the case of food.....