Friday, April 16, 2010

Of Idlis,vadas and volcanoes

Nostradamus was right on the spot when he said " the day the idlies turn dark, the skies will turn dark too" or was it the other way around "the day the skies turn dark with ash cloud from a fire spitting volcano under a glacier in an island in the middle of nowhere ...the idlies will turn dark " .

After months and days of planning and replanning and mindless running around , the big 4 (both our parents) were supposed to start tonight for their much talked about trip around europe. And that is when i thought i would impress them with my culinary skills and make them divine idlies and I soaked the rice and the dal. And this was where it all started !! All I needed half a cup more of this dal . Being the good "home maker " that I am , I always run out of things before realizing I dont have additional inventory, and then my crisis management skills come to the fore !!

Ok, I digress. I didnt want to use the poor cousin,the spilit urad dal (for idlies, thats blashphemous, thats the thalikara paruppu , you lesser mortals ), and went in for the big daddy , the whole black uraddal. But the gods had already spoken . No amount soaking in "hot " water could make it shed its coat !! Thats the story then , of my idlies going from fair and lovely to the unlookable!!

So yes I did it !! The moment I soaked in the black dal, the gods of idlies and medhu vadas(what, we dont have one ??!! I thought they had a picture in saravan bhavan) had had enough " this woman who makes idlies that are good enough to be the next WMDs, medhu vadas without holes, upmas that could compete with fevicol and eats cornflakes for breakfast is a disgrace to our race, and they spewed out tons and tons of venom and fire and ash !

And there my friends is my confession. Stop !! before even you start cursing me , i want to let you know, that justice has been swift !! Yes , my mixer died on me. It just stopped working when i was in the middle of the sinful act .

I'm now decoding the predictions on appalam like phulkas and tooth breaking chholes !!

PS: I know I sound better when I'm pouring my heart out when something goes wrong cursing the whole world than when I try to be funny !! Bear with me..I'm trying to remain upbeat and trying hard to see a silver lining in the ash cloud ;-) (there I go again !! )