Baking partners

oh nakhrewaali

@oh_nakhrewaali

#1: Baking partners  

It was about 6 am when Ram entered the eerily quiet bakery kitchen to find his wife working. She had left him a message saying that she would be at the bakery, and for some reason that he couldn't fathom, he had followed her there after seeing the text.

"Hey," he said, announcing himself. 

"Hi." 

"Why are you here so early? You didn't mention anything about working early last night!"

"Maa and Sara Di were up till late, so I thought I should come down here and get started with the cookies so that it might lessen their workload. I wanted to do the sandwiches too, but I know I'll mess that up, so I'll leave it to Sara Di," she explained as she pushed back a few strands of hair that had escaped her baker's cap.

Ram scoffed and Priya looked at him in confusion. 

"I can't believe that THE Priya Sood has finally accepted that she is a mere mortal and can mess things up!" He grinned knowing that he stepped on a violent cat's tail. He had to get ready for the sharp claws that were bound to come at him. And they did.

"Excuse me, I am very much aware that I am not an amazing chef, like your, I mean MY Meera Maa," she replied haughtily. 

Ram just made a face at her and sat down on the counter. 

"I used to bake with my father," Ram said as he ran his finger around a tray filled with flour, drawing a smiley. 

"Stop it!" She slapped his hand gently, but the usual annoyance in her voice was missing. He winced, but ignored her continuing his smiley making.

"Every Sunday, he and I would bake cookies in the evenings. He would add a few drops of date syrup in the cookie dough, and they just tasted amazing." He sighed, his eyes closing in bliss at the memory.

Priya looked at him in silence as he relived his childhood memories. Then she walked away purposefully to the shelf that stocked all the ingredients. She returned with bowl of cookie dough and bottle of date syrup that she placed before him. 

"Go on, this will be our batch." She smiled. Ram looked at her in surprise. 

"Are you sure?"

She nodded, missing the tears that had pooled in his eyes. He added the syrup, and Priya went back to her bowl of cookie dough. 

The two got busy with their respective cookie doughs. After chilling them and setting the batch of cookies, Priya looked at Ram's set on the oven tray, and burst out laughing. 

"What is this?"

"Ok, they are a little unconventional!" Ram defended himself as the two looked at the misshapen cookies on the tray. 

"Unconventional? This one looks like the map of Australia!" Priya laughed and held his shoulder to maintain her balance. 

"Oh please, it was dad who did all the baking. I was very good at watching him." 

Priya stopped laughing and looked at him. 

"You said you baked together?"

"Potato, Patato!" He grinned smugly, and Priya shook her head. Her husband and his Australian cookies were incorrigible! 

But when the baking was done, Priya couldn't deny that those Australian cookies were some of the best she had ever tasted. She was forced to grudgingly admit it and even got him to consent to adding them to the menu! Perhaps they could call them Cookieburra!