Taking over the kitchen

My family told me that I was to help cook one evening a couple weeks ago. This pretty much meant that I came upstairs in time to dump some pre-cut veggies into a hot pan and stir. My “host-mom” almost immediately snatched the spoon out of my hand and directed me to stir it in a very particular way. This frustrated me, which may seem like an over-reaction to some of you, but considering the circumstances of immersion that I am under – circumstances that make me feel completely stupid nearly all of the time – being shown how to stir some vegetables as if I didn’t know how was quite annoying. Fast forward to last Friday: Peace Corps assigned us a cooking day – a hands-on assignment meant to help us with bartering (we purchased all ingredients in the market) and kitchen vocabulary. Well, I took the opportunity to regain a little control over my activities and prove to my family that I am in fact capable of SOMETHING. I bought everything on my own, came home – and shut everyone else out of the kitchen (with an explanation  of course). I then proceeded to make four Nepali dishes, all by myself, and I am quite proud to say that all turned out to be quite tasty – my family even told me so. This has had positive consequences  when I’m home in time to help, I am given a few prep tasks in the kitchen. On such days, cooking is usually a family affair: my “mom” AND “dad” are both prepping things, and I’m a welcome extra set of hands. The seemed pretty impressed with my knife skills. These days the smallest of compliments from locals serves as a self-confidence boost, so I’m happy to take what I can get…