I Understand Now

It was the night of our wedding. Still high in love, we held hands and made our way to the bedroom.

As we sat on the bed together, we exchanged smiles. His mom and sister were on the bed too. No no. It’s not what you think. It was gift-unwrapping time.

The first gift we decided to unwrap was nicely decorated in a bright pink wrapper. There was no name or card on it. Being the bride, I had the honor of ripping off the first gift. There was a pause. Much to my amusement, it was a mortar and pestle. Seriously? Is this a prank? A joke? Or did someone really meant to buy us that. But really, I shouldn’t be judgmental. I should be thankful. And I am.

So we moved along with unwrapping the other gifts. Among one of the other gifts were a blender. I’m thinking, that’s more like it. Now, let’s fast forward this scene to the week after.

Yes, the week where I’ve just begun to cook. To perfect my recipe (you can laugh now), I needed to blend some onions and garlic. Naturally, I reached out for the new blender. But I was a bit confused as it had three different blending containers. One tiny container and two identical big ones.

This is the part where the Hero usually walks in, and sure enough, along came Raja into the kitchen. The following conversation occurred:

Raja: What are you doing?

Renee: Trying to figure out which container I should use.

Raja: Here, let me show you. This small one is for dry items, like peanuts. And these two big ones are for wet items. You can use one big container for spicy ingredients such as chilly and dedicate the other big container for non-spicy ingredients.

Renee: But I only need to blend a small amount. Maybe I should use the tiny one.

Raja: But I just said…

Without any hesitation, I grabbed the tiny container and inserted the onions and garlic. As I pressed the ON button, it refuses to blend fully. The small chunks were stuck. Glancing back at Raja, I can almost hear him saying “Jangan monyet, jangan”. Gently, he walked towards me and helped me blend the onions and garlic using the “correct” blending container. Whatever.

That’s when I remembered the mortar and pestle. And I understand now why anyone would want to get me one of those. They know me so well. I can’t even operate a damn blender. So I thank you, whoever you may be, for giving me an awesome kitchen appliance, the mighty mortar and pestle. I understand now. Thank you.