The Travails Start

I had been meaning to write this as a series in my regular blog, which I haven’t touched for a couple of years now, but have paid the premium subscriptions for it till about 2010 July or so. Well that’s the Bachelor for you.

To introduce myself; am a domesticated bachelor, pushing the wrong side of 30 with about 2 years after it, with good taste in food, clothes, (can make a very good selection of clothes and jewelry for the fairer sex but have an acute disability when I dress up), able to listen, can cry in public, Geographically challenged and loads more. Domesticated Bachelor is more or less an Oxymoron and that “oxymorn-ness” does manifest in me, like I can be extremely tidy when I go about it, but I am MESSY most of the time.

Well more about me and how I became a Domesticated Bachelor in the future.

Right now, am a bit bothered by the spot of cleaning that I have had to do, ended up having a religious discussion with Old Monk who then suggested that I make something to satiate our hunger.

Remember I am a bachelor. I go to the kitchen and find nothing in there. I had been out of town for the weekend, so I haven’t stocked up. The fridge holds the usual stock of drinks and cheese and chocolates and butter and the such. And in the midst of all this one solitary egg. Wasn’t sure when this egg had come in, but pretty sure that if this one had been hatched, the result would have either been laying eggs or have had ended up on someone’s dinner table long ago. Middle school science lessons come back to mind and the egg floats in the mug of water confirming my suspicions. The Egg is carefully taken and given a respectful burial in the drain in front of my house and I quickly say a prayer in its honour and its misfortune of not having been able to be of any use to anybody.

So the Bachelor, (did I tell you that that’s me?) comes back to the living room and has another discussion with Old Monk and decides its time for food for the ear and mind, if not for the tummy. So I pop in a cd of Old Love songs. Heard Killing me softly by Johnny Mathis and Follow me by Uncle Kracker when Old Monk decides that its not appropriate as both of us might end up in an emotional mess! So we pop in a VCD of Mattannur Shankarankutty Marar. Click this to see the maestro in action! It’s the Elanjithara Melam which is played at the Thrissur Pooram that we are listening to. Aah. Old Monk is happy and so am I. In between I think Old Monk is getting the upper hand in our discussions. Nevertheless with the strains of the Chendamelam filling up the house, I decide to make something to satiate my hunger. To hell with Old Monk.

I look around and find one onion, two shriveled green chillies that have acquired a yellow-brown hue and some old Soya meat chunks. So what I do is, I take all the ingredients required for garam masala, enough quantity to cook a half kg chicken curry. Pounded the ingredients by hand with a small mortar and pestle – not ground. I put 1/3rd of it into a bowl of water and a handful of Soya chunks and boiled it. Then sliced the onions, and not so fresh chillies and sautéed them in a liberal amount of Butter. (mmmm Old Monk is gonna love this) I was lucky to get half a tomato too, half because the other half had become soft and soggy, but this was a big un and would serve my purpose. So I added the pounded masala, a bit of chilli powder, turmeric (never forget turmeric in any preparation – it cleanses, is a good strong and natural antibiotic) a bit of coriander powder, salt to taste and a couple of pinches of garam masala powder, then follow it with the tomatoes which have been chopped into nice little cubes. Sautee them till the tomatoes become a loose mass and you can see its oil draining. (the oil was a lil too much and I cant say – will work out an extra 10 minutes tomorrow to take it off because I don’t do it at all) all this while the Marar has been tightening his rhythm on the drums and I am caught up in that too, forgetting about Old Monk. I then go to apologize to Old Monk and quickly get back to the stove, and now add the soya chunks which are cooked well by now. The water used for boiling the chunks should be just about enough that there wont be any water left. (I cannot give exact measurements for anything, I go with instinct and feel). I then add the chunks and make a good dry stir fry. The aroma is extremely good and I serve it to Old Monk with a generous helping of Puck’s Cream Cheese. Hmmmm so many calories and my double chin and waistline is starting to go southward and my back is complaining too. Well to cut a long story short, the Marar kept me and Old Monk company while we polished off this delicious snack. And now Old Monk has left, and I feel sleepy.

The next time I make something I will ensure I have pics too. That will bepossible as long as Old Monk or any of his brothers don’t decide to drop in.

I have become deeply religious now, after becoming single again, spending a lot of time with Old Monk and Christian Brothers, discussing a lot of spiritual things. We plan to widen our circle soon.
Right now its well past mid night and I am off to sleep on the enlightening talks Old Monk has given me. Burp!
(note: need to get a supply of Antacids)
G’Nite
The Bachelor!

PS> will do up the site soon, or even might shift to the regular blog where both the Domesticated Bachelor and the owner will stay in harmony. Old Monk will ensure that!