Comfort Food

It's what you think of when you're so tired (physically/mentally) for any reason whatsoever.

The concept of Comfort Food did not exist at all in my life until I started staying alone. There was no need for something like Comfort Food at home when you invariably always had the best meals 365 days of the year. Of course, I never acknowledged it much in those days. However, I do, now.

Living alone can have its disadvantages when you need something in your tummy to quell that head-ache (or heart-ache!) that feels like it houses millions of Liliputs with sledge-hammers. And so your options to zero-in on the one Comfort Food thats easy on your time, abilities and the resources-at-hand can be quite an adventure-trip on its own.

Before I settled down with the-most-satisfactory-amongst-all-avaliable one for myself, I experimented with lots of other options.

1. Soup - its the darndest easiest thing you can make.

2. Curd Rice with maangai oorkai - :) this is for the Southie in me

3. Biscuits - yuck! I had to try this to know that I am soooo NOT a biscuits person.

4. Maggi - thanks to hunderds of mail-chains, this one is now buried with a RIP headstone in my options-graveyard.

5. Eggs - boiled, fried, poached, scrambled...thousands of variations. Plus the smell kinda puts me off on some days.

6. Upma - again, the Southie in me I guess. But of course, never worked out. Too much of pre-preparation with the slicing and dicing and sauteing. Definitely not a contendor.

7. Porridge - this one is a YUCK! option. Anything that has unflavoured sweetened milk is something that totally gives me the creeps.

8. Salad - definitely NOT! It just depresses you even more.

9. Fruits - now, see, although this is a very easy-and-quick option; that is the reason why it doesn't measure up. It's just way too easy to grab an apple and eat it. You need something that involves just the right amount of pre-prep work. Definitely not fruits.

10. Home Delivery - well, by the time these guys deliver; you're most probably out of the craving-mode and into the self-prep-talk mode. It's kinda like an anti-climax.

So, after a lot of experimenting, my favorite Comfort Food is :

Hot butter-toast (only apna AMUL!)

It's very, very, very gettable. Our corner mallu-shop always houses Nilgiris wheat/sandwich/sweet bread and AMUL butter. Plus, having a toasty-toaster is a HUGE plus!

Now, there's something to be said about the freebies that you get during the festival-season-sale in India. I remember that our toasty-toaster came with our SAMSUNG washing machine and amma had dumped it in a corner 'cause they hardly eat toast. I picked it up one day and managed to bring it to Bangalore. And what a blessing it has been! Since then, most of us swear by dear toasty-toaster. And he has saved us on many an occasion.

No great pre-prep needed. Just pop the bread in toasty-toaster, slap on the butter and munch away!

...accompanied by tea/coffee in my favorite smiley MUG, of course!

Yup, I don't measure in cups or the ubiquitous Indian tumbler/lota/gillas. When you're down and need cheering up, large doses are the only way to go :)