Sunday, August 30, 2015

Kitchen woes

It has been just few years since I started cooking myself. Initially it was always mommy coming to the rescue. After marriage, there were many situations when I had to manage cooking alone for more than 5 members. My husband has always been there to help me but at times when he is not around it gets too difficult to manage situations such as food fix. I have always played safe when it comes to cooking. If I have to invite someone home I plan well in advance and also buy the ingredients accordingly.

In my childhood days I have never seen my mom being too prepared for guests except for relatives who used to inform before coming. I have had guests coming in as a surprise and my mother always found a solution to give them snacks, tea/coffee/juice. She always kept snacks, lemon for a lemonade, squash or even simple items like ingredients for a pakora or a quick snack ready at home. In fact, if there were many guests at home suddenly mom used to send me quietly to a nearby snack shop to but either samosa or cutlet or aloo bonda. It was so easy for me to just go and get something nice in just 10-15 minutes while my mom kept the guests occupied. This quick delivery was only possible in a two tier city. In a place like Bangalore, guests would prefer coming home only after calling once. No one would like to return back seeing a locked door after travelling 25+ kilometers. But, surprises are always unexpected. One fine day, when entire Bangalore was having a holiday for the elections our friends, a group of 11 came home suddenly. Their voting booths were near our house so they thought of dropping in. 

It was a very quiet day for me and my husband after we had cast our votes. Since, everyone was encouraged to vote, shops except few medical stores remained closed. They were supposed to re-open only after 5:00 PM. We had had our morning coffee and had left for voting. We came back and to our surprise there were 11 of our friends waiting outside. They had not even had breakfast. They were all bachelors and their cook was on leave so they had just managed to make tea for themselves and they had left to cast their vote. From there they had come home to meet us. 

I looked at my husband gave an expression of dismay. There wasn't much grocery and vegetables at home which I could cook for lunch.  It was also the end of the month and we were yet to stock up on fresh grocery. Nevertheless, I invited them in and went into the kitchen. I scanned my fridge thinking I could get some easy option to cook for 13 members.

I was left only with onions, small potatoes, tomatoes and a bottle of pickle. No other green veggies or even pulses. There was some curd left and a small bowl of milk. I made mixed rice with tomatoes, potatoes, onions and served it with pickle and curd (mixed with milk) as a side dish. That was the most embarrassing situation for me. With no shops or restaurants open near by we only only had  an option to serve our guests with something which was left at home. I still feel embarrassed when I recall this situation.




Image Courtesy : IndiBlogger 

Had there been food ordering Apps like TinyOwl then it would have solved many of my problems. I could easily order food from places which could have been open that day and also got it delivered home. I would have been in a better state then. This incident happened when there weren't any Food Startup. Now I have better options available with many food startup's ready to deliver food home.

I have tried browsing through the App but haven't ordered anything from here yet. Hoping to use it soon. It is very simple to use. You have restaurants and food joints with user ratings. They make it easier by using your address to locate food joints around your house. There is a pre-set menu served by these food chains which are available for home delivery. One doesn't even need to haggle for change when the delivery staff comes home because they have 'My Wallet' facility which can help you recharge before so that money can be deducted from here. I see that there are many food joints that have volunteered to offer food via TinyOwl.  They also have offers available like, Uber Ride discounts, food discounts, coupon codes which will attract more customers. Hoping it turns out to be user friendly. You can also try downloading this App. They have an Android as well as an iOS version available for download.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

True Archu I have had such moments too. But coming with ideas is not very tough too with so much info available online. Ordering food on an app sounds very new age isn't it when u think of the days that you had to go personally to a bakery or hotel and collect it. I also remember some people send the kids to petty shops to buy cool drinks like maaza and all:)

Power of Words said...

Yes. I am afraid our world is going to turn so boring when we just have to sit at home and do everything possible. Although, this helps us when we are too busy but nothing can beat the happiness in going to shop and pick up stuff on our own from grocery shops and vegetable vendors.

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