What is writing workshop? by sohana urmi

Due to illness, I was unable to attend last Thursday’s class. Therefore, when I heard that we had to write personal essay and those would be work shopped from my friends, it rarely made any sense to me. “What is writing workshop? I went to writing center for editing my writing piece, but what are we going to do?” However, next class, I asked professor whether we need to sign u for the workshop, she said she had already put my name in the list. I was more co fused to hear that. In the next class we were given more details about work shop and I got to know that all my class mate would read my essay as I was in the first list of work shop and they would give me feedback. I was in a great tension, “Oh god! Why I am in the first group? Why they are going to read my essay, what they will say after reading my silly writing?” these thought hold be back from writing down whatever came to me. I thought to make my introduction interesting and the stories attention grabbing. However, I finished writing and sending to all my classmates and professor. Then, the desirable day came and we were asked who wanted to be the first and brave one to be work shopped. I raised my hand and professor was happy. Next, all my friend s started to give me comments and suggestion about my essay. I found that each and every word of them was inspiring and encouraging. They congratulated me as well as showed me the weaknesses of my essay where I can improve. As professor said that as the essay is about our own story, it is clear an understandable to me, but some of my friends struggled to understand what I want to say. Over all, my friends comments were, “I love your introduction, your paper is really interesting, but you can include more dialogue, as it is food related essay, so be explicit about your food details and there are some mechanism, please be conscious about that.” I tried to tell them that I wanted to mean this and that, and realized that why I was telling them. I have to write and from my writing every single thing will be clear to them. So I took notes from their comment and finally I paid attention to the professor’s comment. She gave some important guideline to reconstruct the essay. When it was finished, I realized that this is the amusing thing called writing workshop. It was really helpful. My friends and professor gave impressive comment and guidelines. I am not afraid to work shop my writing, because when a group of people giving suggestion or feedback, it is obvious that the paper will be more constructive, expressive and interesting. I felt like that I have built a brick house and my friends and professor helped me to decorate its entire and outer part such as painting, furnishing and so on. I loved the workshop more when I got chance to give my suggestion to my other three friends. There was a competition that who can give more constructive guideline before others. It was fun and effective too. Therefore, now, I have a clear idea what is writing workshop.

Food memory and my tour to home! by sohana urmy

Today, I want to tell you about one of my pensive food memory with the hope it will make you nostalgic like me.
“What are you two doing in the kitchen? Are you still preparing lunch?” my aunt asked disbelievingly as it was 3pm in the afternoon and my mom was still cooking when I was trying to assist her.
My mom smiled and said, “Urmi is going back today and I am cooking her favorite dish for dinner. Lunch is already prepared and server, but the last dish is making me late.”
Of course the next question of my aunt was what was the dish and I know you also want to know what is the dish I like most made by my mom! I told my aunt, “little aunt, it is Spinach with Hilsha fish and mom is not only cooking for me, she will give you all too!”
M y aunt smiled and told that she listened a lot about my mom’s specialty on cooking Spinach and she was glad that she would get the chance to taste it for the first time. She asked my mom that how she cooked, what the recipe was and what kind of Spinach she used. I and mom laughed to her storm of questions and my mom explained the process,
“Dear sharmin, you know that it is very easy. All you need is to just put all things on the stove in a pot and it will be cooked! No magic, but the taste is magical! Just collect the Spinach leaves, it could be the weed surrounded your home, or from the bazaar which is cultivated, and then boiled it with chilly, salt and garlic. Then, mix fish, especially Hilsha and prawn with the Spinach brings the divine taste. Just fry the fish with onion, garlic, cumin and red chili and boil it for sometime if necessary and mix the boiled leaves with it. Oh, see, the Spinach is ready too.”
We saw the deep green dish with dark brown fish pieces and golden fried onion and garlic while smelling the mouthwatering scent.
Due to taking lunch late, I was not feeling hungry. But I had to take dinner as my bus was at 7.30 pm and I would be journeying whole night to reach Chittagong. My favorite Spinach was served which I miss all the time outside my home, but I was not feeling to taste it. I was afraid that, it is my last meal in home and I did not know when I would come again, if I ate, it would be finish. Since mom forced me to eat, I took one spoonful rice and Spinach on my plate. Mom went to talk with aunt, while I took mouthful rice with the desired dish, and I found that instead of chewing and sallowing the food, water was coming from my eyes. Strange! What happened! I asked myslf. It was neither the first time I was coming back to AUW nor the first time I was eating Spinach. I managed to eat the food and told my mom that I did not want to eat much before journey. I told good bye to all my family members and got into the bus.
I know that moms’ cooking is not only tasty, yummy or delicious but also full of love and well wishes. She always tries to serve my favorite dishes (though it is difficult to find out which one I don’t like) which make us miss home remembering those taste and rush to home whenever we have chance . This is what I want to tell you, when you are remembering the food memory of home, you are not only visiting home in your mind, but also taking preparation to go back once again with the lust of be loved and cared by them.

Recipes: make you familiar, make you unfamiliar too

“What are you making Apu? Cake, Pudding or Pitha? ” asked the little one.
“Don’t disturb Sajid, go there and play. We will call you later when it will be ready,” said the elder one with such a maturity that I could not help laughing.
It was the time when I was in home during summer vacation and was talking with my siblings Soumi(7 years) and Sazid(4).. It was Ramadan, the fasting month for Muslims and I was trying to prepare a new dish with interesting name “Kamal Pasha”for Ifter. I saw the recipe in a program in the TV and it seemed so easy and interesting that I decided to make it. My siblings also watched it with me, but they forgot! So I asked,
“Can you remember the woman telling about making sweet in the television?”
“The round sweet?”asked my little brother.
“”Oh! Apu! I remember. It is made by egg, milk powder, and suger, isn’t it? But what was the name?” asked my sister.
“Kamal Pasha, it is the name of the founder of turkey and they said that the sweet is popular in tark,” I explained to her.
“Mom, elder sister is making sweets. I will eat all!” my brother exclaimed to my mom.
My mom did not seem so impressed like my siblings and suggested me to be careful about the quantity of ingredients, “Don’t mix the entire things at once. First, try to make little and if it is ok, then make more. You will never be thoughtful!”
I smiled nervously and said that it would be ok. I felt sort of ashamed, but there was nothing to do as I had mixed all the ingredients in a bowl. There were semolina, egg, milk powder, soya bean oil, sugar, and liquid milk in the mound. I made small balls and kept it for half an hour. Then I fried the balls in oil and put the reddish brown balled in the thick syrup of sugar which I made before. All I did according to the woman described the recipe and it was ready. Pretty easy, huh?
One of the important things was left to do. I had to make sure that it was perfect or not. But it was not easy. As I and our parents were fasting that day and it was too hot to give my siblings, I took one piece and broke it with spoon. Oh my god! Inside the ball, it was not well cooked. The sweet ball should be soft and they were hard like stone! I was in a fix, “what can I do?” Then, I boiled the balls in the sugar syrup for 15 to 20 minutes with fear because my mom would have scolded me if she had seen the processing. . I thought that it was enough, and kept it for being cold. My siblings tasted the so called sweets, but they could not eat properly. I was greatly disappointed and thought that I would not try the recipes ever. I distributed Ifter including the sweets to my relatives. I did not know that they had eaten it or not, but my aunts said “It was almost ok, only the sweet was not sweet in the middle! Hahahah….!” What a terrible feeling I had that day. But, I was not stpooped by the incident. Still, I try to make new dishes, because recipes take me to the kitchen and make me to cook. But, always I am not successful. So, my dear friends, please, be careful about trying new recipes, it can creat such situation that you could lose your popularity as a irregular cook for a while!

Biggest family! Biggest party!!

If you ask me how many members are in my family, I will answer that Mom, Dad, two sisters and one brother. Sounds like an ideal family in the pot of Bangladesh! But my family is not that much small. We are a family of above 50 members and the number is increasing! We all are mentally attached and feel proud of being a part of the big family. Actually, I am from an extended family with the oldest person grandmother, six uncles and their wives, three aunts and their husbands, and finally lots of cousins including who are waiting to breathe in the air of earth after some days or months. As a result, whenever we have a get together in our home, it looks like a festival! People of different ages and occupations roaming, eating, gossiping, cooking, laughing, crying, dancing or even quarreling are seen on the big yard of my home! We do everything together and this expresses the unity and bond of our family.
So, this is the description of my family and now I would like to talk about a get together in my home which will show you the general image of my family party.
At Eid vacation, the families of my three uncles and two aunts join with the rest of the family living in my hometown and we all cousins also go back from our educational institutes or job places. Each entry of a person or a family doubles our happiness. Usually, after Eid day we have get together with not only our family members but also all our relatives. This is the time of the year when everyone is requested to come home despite all business and have a wonderful time with the family. We all believe that saying with family is staying in the heaven. Whatever, as the Eid day passes with lots of business, we choose the next day for having a meal as well as a great time with all. As the party is big, everyone needs to do something. Though the adults are quiet experts to manage all tasks, specially cooking and serving, but we kids (grown up and immature!) try to help them as much as we can.
At first, at morning uncles go to the market or shops to buy everything for cooking all dishes at the morning. The lists of ingredients are made by mothers and aunts and often fathers miss one thing or another from the list. However, at the mean time, mothers prepare the breakfast, feed their children and get ready to jump in their work. They cut and blend all kind of spices including onions, garlic and red and green chilies for cooking. Fathers come back with vegetables, different kind of fishes and meats, and other things. This is the important job done by the male members, later they sit and gossip or go outside with friends. They rarely cook. On the other hand, cooking is done by mothers. My grandmother orders my moms and aunts to do different work. For example, “Boro bou(elder daughter-in -law), you cook the chicken, Urmy’r Ma( My mom) cut all ginger and onions, Kohinur,(My aunt) wash the Polao rice, Kalpana,(aunt) cut the beef, Sharmin, cook the dal, Munni, your vegetables are special with small fish, who will cook the fish? Can you do it Pampa’r ma(mther of pampa, my cousin)? O Runu, cook rice as soon as possible. It is almost 1, the kids will ask for food.” With her guidance all start working at the kitchen. Often, my father expresses the desire for coking the beef. All help him by not only labour but also tasting that it is cooked or not! Children are playing, moms are gossiping, fathers are reading newspaper or watching TV, we are talking about films an music…everything seems so familiar that it is a scene of everyday life. Sounds of laughter hit the ear and a wave of happiness rushes through our bodies. Really, it is the nicest part of having a big family. Finally, the time comes sitting for the lunch. Tables and chairs are arranged on the big yard, though it is not possible to sit all together. However, guests sit first. Both mothers and fathers serve them then the kids who create a great tension at meal time. They also enjoy their meal a lot as it’s not a meal for them it is a fun time too. Gradually, male members, females and we sit down. When we sit for eating, it is not the great concern that what is severed or the items are favorite. We feel the strength of unity, the divinity of home, and the happiness of having meal together. All the things make all the dishes super delicious. There are several dishes and we are full before tasting all the dishes such as vegetables with small fish, chicken roast, beef masala, fish fry, dal, oily rice and plain rice, curd, soft drinks and at last paan-supari (betel nut and betel). We ask each other who cok which one and praise a lot with lots of laughter and irony. Thus , having a meal together strengths our bond, we fell responsible for any single thing related to our family, we make promises in our heart that we will stay together despite how much difficulties we face in our life.

Eid Day Cannot Be Thought without “Shemay” or “Vermicelli”

Eid is such a special word for me that always gives me a smiling face! Yeah! You are right! As a Bangladeshi and Muslim Eid is the most important holiday of my life. We have two Eid, first one is Eid-ul-Fitr which is celebrated after fasting a whole month Ramadan and another one is Eid-ul-Fitr on which day we sacrifice animals to Allah. Both days are national holidays and the whole country irrespective of caste, class and, occupations remain in a festive mode. All people celebrate the day and share their happiness with their friends and family. For example, all have a great vacation to meet their families, have bonuses for buying gifts for them, and have great time eating special food on the day. Everyone tries to wear new dress; specially, the children and teenagers have boundless fun buying new dress and planning how they will pass a day. As Eid prayer is the special ritual of the day, mostly male members and children of families get ready early in the morning and go for the prayer with prayer mats. As usual, the women remain busy in their kitchen whole day cooking delicious food for the family members and the guests. The surprising fact of a Eid day is, everyone is invited in your home. You cannot deny or ignore a person whether she is a beggar or enemy or a very a unknown person, on the Eid day without offering some food. As I have come to the food sector, I should mention the some special foods we usually eat on Eid day. Polao, beef masala, chicken masala, roast, biriani, different kinds of Kabab and lots of sweetmeats are the main attraction of the day. Among sweet dishes, various kinds of Shemay or Vermicelli must be cooked in all houses as the first and main activity for celebrating the day. In every home, mothers, aunts or grandmothers are seen preparing them mixing milk, sugar, some spices and different kinds of nuts to make it more delicious. First, they fry the shemay in a pot putting some oil and then pour milk boiled with raisins, sugar, cinnamon, and kaju badams. Then they make the think thick or watery and dish up them in small bowls. Thus, they start the cooking of the day and continue with many other heavy dishes as I mentioned before. Shemay is the most important dish of the day as it is a ritual that all people have to have the sweet before going for prayer. Another thing is all people try to arrange rich food which they do not eat every day on the day. However, poor people can not manage Polao or Biriani on the day, but at least they try to buy shemay as it become the symbol of the day or happiness o the day. I don’t know the history of eating shemay on eid day clearly, but it is said that our prophet Mohammad (S) used to eat sweetmeats before going for prayer on the eid day. Though it is not known to me what type of sweet he ate in his life time, but shemay become a part and parcel of eid day.

Chinese!!! :D Chinese!! : ) Chinese! : ( [sohana urmi]

“Hey, Miti, Antara, and Urmi!! Let’s go to the Chinese restaurant which had opened recently. I am very interested to visit the restaurant as it is the first Chinese restaurant in our town.I am listening about it from lots of people.”
We smiled at Rumpa as her excitement seemed interesting to us. It was true that as a first foreign cosine restaurant it was centre of attraction for my townpeople. Miti and Antara informed that they had visited the restaurant with their family members one or two times and the food was mediocre. Moreover, they informed that it would not be so expensive for us as we were not going to pay from our pocket money. Thus, one day in the college we made a plan to eat in the new restaurant called “Utshab” and served “Chinese food”.
As I did not have any experience eating Chinese food before that, so I was really waiting for the day, though I did not express my feeling to my friends. Whatever, the desired day came and I told my mother,
“Don’t cook for me! I am going to have lunch in the new Chinese restaurant with my friend!”
After sometime my friends came and called me. I got ready and walked with them to the restaurant as it was near to my home. It was 2pm and I was thinking that how the situation would be in the restaurant. My friends told that it was in the second floor and we saw decorated stair case and entrance. When we entered in the room, we found it pretty darkish as we came from sun. After some second we heard someone welcoming us. We were the only customers at that time and assumed that people would love to come here at dinner time. However, as we ha came , we had to take our lunch. We chose a table in the corner and were watching the decoration of the restaurant. It was pretty good with less light and air conditioner. The tables and chairs were well arranged and decorated with flowers. After we seat down, one man came and gave us a menu card. Then we started to discuss what we could take within our budget as well as what would be testy to eat. Passing the card one person to another and announcing various soup’s names and chicken dishes we ordered fried rice, chicken fry and Thai soup. I cannot remember the actual names for these dishes, but that time after ordering we were waiting to be thrilled by the Chinese food. After 10 or 12 minutes they served the soup and the appearance of it did not impress me at all. However, when I tested one spoonful soup, I recognized only egg in the it and other ingredients were unknown to me. The vegetable, I did not know it was from China or Thailand, was not boiled and made the soup unable to unknown to me and I just stared to my friend’s face. I saw similar expressions on their face and I knew that time that “We are really enjoying the food”!
I told them that as it was a Chinese restaurant and served Thai soup, it was not good. “Let’s see what will be served next”! When the dishes arrived, we were surprised. We ordered for full chicken and there were tiny seven piece of chicken! We ordered rice with strange Chinese name and fried rice was served fool with egg! We laughed with surprise and sadness. Why did we come here for that kind of …….!! What to say. We did not have words to explain our feelings. I was shocked when I found that the rice was fired by “Ghee” or clarified butter which could not be smelled by me. My friends were ok with it, though the main thing was egg in the rice and someone told us to investigate the chicken that were there any chicken or they fried egg and served as “chicken fry”!! However, I struggled a lot to swallow te mouthful rice and then told the waiter to pack the food I ordered. I took it to home and told my mother,
“Pleas Mom, share the food with dad. I could not eat as it was with ghee and give me something to eat. I am dying for hunger”!
My mother laughed and said that she did not cook for me!!!!
This is the story of having my first experience of having Chinese food and I decided that it would be logical not trying Chinese food in Bangladesh rather going Chinese and ask them to serve me something special!

Food Memory

Today I am going to share my own feeling associated with food which made me acknowledge one testy food can make us happy when lots of test less food fail badly to satisfy us.
Almost two years I am living outside of my home. After my parents, my home food or the food cooked by my mother was the thing I used o miss severely. As a result, like other people left home for education, job or other purposes, I found the food which is new, unknown, tasteless and unappealing to me. Sometimes, I encountered good food or tasty, but as I believed that the food my Mom or grandmothers cooked it the best food; I rarely enjoyed the food with real interest. I think that that attitude decreased the test though the food was quite testy and applying.
However, when I came to AUW I got to taste various dishes of different countries. For example, in the dining hall, food fair, and food cooked by AUW student there were lots of verities in taste, color and flavor of the food. Whatever, I rarely have found any food tasty enough to satisfy my demand, though I knew that those dishes were rich with food value. I was looking forward to go home and enjoy my mother’s cooking. I was listing all my favorite dishes I would like my mother to cook. After a month or two I was somehow accustomed with the dining hall food. At least, all food was not non-Bengali which was a trouble for my foreign friends. Moreover, I never asked my mother that what they were eating in home as it would make me sad! Unfortunately, I got fever and stayed in the health centre for one week. That was the hardest time for me after coming AUW and for one week I could not take a full meal. I just ate a little as the nurses forced me before taking medicine. At the seventh day, I was permitted to go dining hall and took my food. God bless me!!! There was nothing which made me to eat there. All foods looked horrible to me. I went back to the health centre and requested one cleaner Apu to bring some bitter gourd and cook them with potato for dinner. She did so and brought me my meal. When I saw the curry and a plate of rice, I was afraid that it would be impossible for me finish the food. However, I sat down on my bed and took the plate from the side table. The curry was not looking as delicious as my mother’s curry. I took one mouthful rice and curry with the fear of throwing them out as sometime bitter gourds wee so bitter. Strange thing happened!! I found it testy enough to eat the full plate of food. I just did not take any pause and finished the plate. The test of the curry was so known to me. But at that time I could not remember where I ate the same curry. It was different, but made me feel like that I was eating in my home; with joy and interest. I don’t know my starving for seven days or the testy bitter gourd curry made me eat a lot and made me as satisfied as I used to be in my home, but that day I was sure that the dining hall dishes were so dull beside one testy dish.