The Guests...

So the crowd has gone. It was a long weekend , the republic day and a "hartal" made it a super long weekend. I am exhausted cooking and cleaning for the Entire Inlaws clan. Now it is back to business as usual.

The guests over the weekend loved to sleep. Occasionally they would check if I needed help in the kitchen

I resorted to the readymade gravies and coconut pastes instead of doing it from scratch as I always do. Was a big relief.

One of the guests asked for "sambar" or some lentil curry when lunch was served. Luckily , I had some in the fridge. I do not understand how a guest can say - I need some curry other than chicken curry along with rice. I mean , isn't it rude. And there was fish fry , cutlets , veg stir fry , the usual pickles and curd ... and he wanted a "loose" curry he said.

The first day fish fry did not meet expectations. I tried my special fish fry masala with rice flour which makes the fish crisp on the outside and soft and well cooked on the inside. They consider that "uncooked" . They wanted fish to be be fried crisp till black like coal. I used to think it was a mistake , but realized that people do like it that way too. The next day I made it that way and they all loved it. I thought it tasted like a piece of burned something, could not taste fish anywhere.

They judge food by the amount of spice in it. The spicier , the merrier. Glad that I understood it , coz then i would make hot hot spicy curries . I thought the spice killed the curry , it was too spicy to get the real taste but everyone else would be happy. Great dish they would say. The husband bought some fish from the hypermarket, it was cleaned and cut . To me , the fish was starting to rot , the husband would not agree. I fried it with enormous amounts of chilly and pepper and they all loved it. I couldnt even think of tasting it . That is the magic of chilly and peppers.

I had to take Pran for skating lessons early in the morning . The guests would sleep all day . By 8 PM they were all refreshed and ready to start the day . I would be dead tired and waiting to hit the sack. Finally the last day , I apologized and asked my SIL to put dishes on sink when they were done with dinner. I had to wake up early in the morning and could not stay for a minute more.  Maybe they felt bad but I could not help it.

Now that they are gone , I am heaving a sigh of relief. Too lazy to start my office tasks. Too lazy to cook a normal meal . Too lazy , yes.