What’s on the menu today? A daily challenge for a housewife

A lockdown has created a situation where the entire family is at home. This has thrown a big challenge to the housewife and that is deciding on what’s on the menu today? The lockdown has been successful in curtailing a lot of activities in our daily life: Shopping at malls, spending time with friends at a coffee shop, going out for a movie with family, eating out at a Chinese joint, and so on. Suddenly all this has gone missing! As a result, our entire focus has shifted to what’s on the menu?

The moment the lady of the house opens her eyes in the morning the hard disk drive starts functioning. She presses the refresh button to check on what was cooked yesterday. After all the husband and children are from the Mughal dynasty and can’t repeat the same item on the menu the second day. The day is classified into three zones and ensuring that none of the items in the three zones are repeated poses a big challenge to her. The three zones being Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner.

The daily challenge

The Lady tries to keep things simple considering the limited availability of groceries, fresh vegetables, non-vegetarian items. But her life has been made difficult by the YouTubers who post videos of their latest creation in the kitchen day-in and day-out. It can be a pineapple upside-down cake, veg Manchurian with noodles, a homemade pizza, a masala soya chaap, and so on. As new videos are uploaded on social media every day, there are demands from family for such exotic items to be included in the food menu.

Getting fresh vegetables every alternate day and soaking them in saltwater is a task in itself. Even the regular grocery items like packed rice, wheat, pulses, sugar, salt, ghee have to be sanitised before they enter the kitchen. And with limited help available from spouse and kids who are busy in their online office and school meetings, she is left to do everything by herself.

What’s on the menu for the breakfast?

The mother has to rush through her morning chores as the gang is about to wake up. The spouse will demand his morning tea while kids will feel hungry the moment they get up. Sometimes she feels as if she is living with an alien family. These are the same kids who never had any time for breakfast in the morning in pre-lockdown days.

Daughter’s entire morning time used to go in dressing up for the college. Breakfast was last on her mind. Skipping breakfast was also a way to keep weight in check. Son’s breakfast portion included protein shakes and egg whites. Dad often complained to mom that instead of focusing on his physique if he could focus on physics, he can clear his Engineering entrance exams. Indian dads may be excellent communication experts in their jobs but when it comes to kids, their medium of communication is always a mom.

A daily routine

The two months have tested mom’s cooking skills to the hilt. Every morning there is just one question echoing from all the rooms – What’s on the menu for breakfast? Now that the gym is closed the son has sacrificed his protein diet for paranthas. The daughter prefers her poha and cut-fruits while father after gulping down a parantha likes to have his eggs with a sunny side up and toast.

The cornflakes pack has not been consumed since the lockdown and is still lying sealed. The milk consumption has also fallen during the breakfast. Dad who earlier had just 5 minutes for breakfast these days spends half-an-hour on the table.

Settling on a lunch menu

Mom is a multitasker. While making breakfast her mind is busy finalizing the lunch menu. She comes across as a democratic leader of the house while working on a breakfast menu giving enough choices to everyone. On the other hand, when it comes to the lunch menu she is more autocratic. She knows that too much freedom will spoil them for choices.

The moment the daughter is free from her online classes there is a call from her room. Mom, what’s on the menu for lunch? The reply from the kitchen is simple like the menu; palak paneer, dal, chapati, rice, and boondi ka raita. The sound now changes its course of direction and this time it is the mom who calls the daughter. If you are free from your classes please come and help cut the salad.

A call is given to every member. The husband who just got free after answering his boss over the zoom meeting finally gets time to raise a question to his wife: what’s on the menu dear? The answer is a short one-liner, “Aake dekhlo” (Come and see for yourself). The son is happy as he gets to taste his favourite palak paneer with chapati.

After clearing the dishes, mom finally gets some time to breathe. The washing of dishes has been delegated to spouse and son.

It’s Saturday and dinner has to be special

The lockdown has erased the weekend socialising fun moments from our memory. But it failed to erase the Saturday night fever fun. Every Saturday there is demand from family across on what’s special in the dinner menu?

By evening the lady of the house runs out of fuel and keeps the dinner menu simple. It’s a combination of afternoon leftovers and a freshly cooked vegetable along with chapati. There are days when son checks with mom on what’s on the menu for dinner. The daughter comes to the rescue of mom and volunteers; presenting her Chinese skills. The menu comprises of Veg or Chicken Manchurian, Garlic noodles and Fried rice.

Saturday evenings are exciting

Saturday is a day when dad’s spirits are high and soars even higher with the real 42.7% spirit. This is the day when dad checks with mom on what’s on the menu? In the pre-lockdown days, Saturday was when the gas burners and the kitchen utensils used to get a rest. Dinner was at a fine dining restaurant or the services of Swiggy and Zomato were utilized. Even though Swiggy and Zomato have started their services again but mom has still not allowed their entry at home.

Since dad is in great spirits he takes on himself to make the dinner. It’s a separate issue that he calls for reinforcement. Mom gives him a guided tour of the kitchen so that he can locate all the magical ingredients. Son, on the other hand, plays the YouTube video on his phone. The daughter reads out the exact measurements and the team starts their joint mission. Mom gets some time to watch her favourite show on Netflix.

The experiment boomerangs

The experiment goes slightly out of control and mom comes to the rescue. The outcome is not bad. The dinner is laid out on the table. Pictures are clicked by son and daughter each claiming to be the new chef in town. Even before the dinner bell rings pics are uploaded on family groups and results are checked immediately. Likes and complements are free-flowing. The food tastes good and why will it not? It’s for the first time the entire family decided together on what’s on the menu?

Read more such similar stories on my blog:https://www.theconartistalok.in

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