What are the most important bits of a meal? Is it the preparation? The quality of the ingredients? The calibre of the chef? The company at the dining table?
We made chapatis for the first time ever. They actually turned out pretty good. We're trying to go low-fat, so this was the Indian kind, dry and low in oil, not the greasy, thick fat traps that the rolex guy sells at the corner.
Chapatis remind me of the awesome threesome: Tutu kneading, me with the rolling pin and Ivan with the frying pan. Well, this time it was a twosome. [Apparently, chapati dough needs to rest after kneading. I just thought the Kenyans had a lot of free time.] I kneaded and rolled. He had the frying pan. We chugged along like a well oiled locomotive. Roll-and-fry-and-roll-and-fry...
He'd brought chicken home the other day. Sadly, I was too dazed to notice the special effort he'd put in. I don't even remember what was on my mind. I doubt it matters any way. We made a curry today. He got the tomatoes because I was too tired to walk to the shops. I know he was tired too, but he went, ungrudgingly.
To go with our healthy theme, we made a salad. For months he's tended to the lettuce, mostly by himself. We're going through an Italian dressing phase. I'm pretending olive oil is not really oil. He just loves the taste.
The important part of the meal is all these things and more. It's the story behind the food and faces at the table. Simple things make the world go round. Thank God for chapati and chicken. The cake and cookies are for breakfast.
clara!!! i'm such a proud teacher ;)
ReplyDeletethe recollect of the awesome threesome, warms my heart