The very first instance I can recall is when I made delicious mutton kheema for myself — before I could set the plate down on the table to eat, my pet dog wolfed it down without leaving so much as a morsel!

Also, since I live in Bengaluru right now, I experimented with some Karnataka styles of food too but that didn’t go well either. Ragi muddhe is one of the most popular staples so I started off by adding 1 cup of ragi to half cup of water. I was told to use a wooden buttermilk/lentil churner to blend the ingredients together but I used a wooden non-stick dosa ladle instead. Before I knew it, it broke in half and the pasty goop of a muddhe got stuck to the vessel. I just couldn’t get it out so I threw the entire vessel.

I eventually got to know that an aluminium kadai needs to be used instead of the stainless steel one that I tried it in. If this wasn’t enough, I tried to make dhonne biriyani once. But I added too much water so it essentially became chicken soup rice. One might think I would set my knives and ladles down and stop cooking but what can I say, practice makes you perfect, right?