When was the last time you did something for the first time?

Approximately a month back I did something I thought I had not even a wee bit of inclination towards, even in the wildest of my dreams. Cook! Yes, this writer finally managed to gather enough courage to go to the kitchen, pick up a few utensils and cook himself a decent meal.

In order to ensure that there were no disappointments, I started off with something easy namely Pudina and cocon

ut chutney with Dosa. The coconut chutney was easy to prepare with very minimal actual cooking involved. It was the Pudina which presented a little bit of a challenge and frankly it did give me a few jittery moments.

When my mother narrated the method of preparation over the phone, I just religiously jotted it down without questioning her. But when it came to the practical session, I started feeling a little wobbly. How else would an amateur cook react when the instructions read like ‘handful of this’ and a ‘pinch of that’? But as time went by, I realized that cooking is not an exact science but rather an art of approximations and it is this that made cooking an exciting and innovative exercise.

Having been emboldened by the results, I wish to try my hand at more complex recipes. Chicken Chettinad and Mutton Keema, here I come. Moreover, I realize that my scope of television entertainment has widened. All of a sudden, shows like ’MasterChef’ and ‘Highway on a plate’ seem more relevant and appealing.

While we are still on the note of food, my project mates and I went to a premium restaurant for a quarterly dinner. The place is called Premier Inn and it is located in the Whitefield area of Bangalore. It is actually a hotel with a restaurant in the ground floor. The restaurant was spacious, well furnished and had customizable seating options. The waiters were generally courteous and helpful (apart from the time we kept asking for repeated starters!). The buffet spread was ample and did cover a good number of Indian cuisines, both vegetarian and non vegetarian. And you get discounted ‘you-know-what’ during the happy hours….:)