beep beep beep beep.... I give a murderous look at my alarm clock, for being so impatient and screeching already, and groggily wake up to a brand new day. Somehow, coffee marks the ready-steady-go thing for me everyday.
I have got a tongue for coffee, having taste bud specifications which is , believe me, even more intricated than the matrimonial sites having demands and conditions for bride/groom hunt.
My ideal coffee should have a good elegant tan, two cms of froth, waiting to be gulped down soon, just the perfect sugar and coffee powder, hotness which wont burn my tongue, nevertheless, should give out wisps of translucent vapour, served in my favorite coffee mug, of course by mom.I have faint memories of my kollu patti ( great grandmother)giving me 2 rupees everyday, carefully placed in a surukku pai ( knot purse), asking me to buy coffee seeds from the nair shop down the lane.
She had her own gas stove ( very orthodox person and wont let others near it, a mark of hygiene according to her), her own kadai into which she would zealously fry the coffee beans every single day, grind it in her coffee machine, which had a funnel above , and a manual movable arm attached to the side,and a bag to collect the powder at the bottom. My mother says, till date that is the best coffee ever. This was slowly replaced by filter coffee, and nowadays nescafe. I prefer filter coffee, which feels fresher and looks more beautiful.
Now time to taste some ancient idlies ( dish made of rice and dal). Near the well (which was most of the time devoid of fresh water in those draught times) , beside the coconut tree, sitting silently was the aattukal ( a hemispherical stone having a hole in the center where rice and dal are to be placed mixed with water, and a grinding stone of good weight to be moved over this to get a thick paste). This was then poured in small circular discs over cotton cloth having holes for quick steaming then cooked. The aroma for sure travels through every corner of the village, arousing even the invisible appetite in you. This when done, is put upon a plantain leaf, along with sambhar soaking the idlies thoroughly deep to beyond its skin. My vocabulary falls short to express the feeling that I undergo when I pinch and plop a large piece into my mouth ravenously.
But nowadays, we use a grinder, and the taste is again compromised. We neither have the time nor the patience to go through all this trouble for good idlies.
Coming to microwave. Agreed hands down, it is a healthy substitute to fatty food, a myriad varieties of cakes and pizzas get ready in no time and so on.. But I really miss the swooshing sound of a papad dropped in hot oil, looking at it swell in its full pride and glory, later dripping the remains of oil in the papad onto a tissue.
This is definitely more delicious than the one we cook using a microwave. So I feel, technology has terminated taste in a few good items, but alas we have to move on...
P.S : I'll catch all you guys and girls next week, on a holiday with my sis :):)
