The Resilience of Durum Wheat.

Once upon a time, I did something stupid that took a huge chunk of my weekly finances. Faced with the reality of surviving on 13 dollars a week, I pondered about poverty and starvation of middle class university students. My choices were clear: maggi mee or skipping meals. There was no way that I could possibly skip meals lest you want to see a very cranky girl lashing out at unsuspecting strangers. I could take my chances with instant noodles. They come in so many different flavours of carcinogens now. Who could resist?

Instead, I cooked my food - y’know the proper way. Martha Stewart would have been proud. I dug into the sunk cost goods in the kitchen - PASTA! - invested in a bottle of pasta sauce and pilfered celeries and carrots from the fridge. You have to understand, we hardly ever cook at home. Our fridge is a casket of oranges, apples and carrots for juice and nothing else. Ah, and the parents, they must not know about my dire financial situation. Even the cooking had to be a secret. Naturally my diet became vegetarian because vegetables were cheap and I would have risked poisoning myself with salmonella if I attempted to cook meat.

A week goes by and I am a living breathing testament that I am able to cook food! IT WAS EDIBLE TOO! Do you realise the huge implication of this? I can do this adulthood business.*GASP* I CAN EVEN FEED CHILDREN!

It’s been two weeks and I haven’t been able to stop. I like the feeling of knowing what I put inside my mouth. I know that brocolli costs 4 dollars a kilogram and I know how to debone a chicken leg.  I learned how to make pasta pomodoro from scratch with fresh tomatoes. There are two bags of prawns inside my fridge: one soaking in garlic, onion and sesame oil concoction and the other in a simple rosemary rub.

Oh I know. I am pretty darn awesome.