“Do we have any food to eat at home?” Marvin asked his apartment-mate Naveen, who was seated idly on the couch, reading a magazine. Without waiting for a reply, Marvin opened cupboard after cupboard in the kitchen, to search for edibles. Naveen watched his buddy with a bemused smile. It had been a year since the two of them had arrived in Philadelphia for their graduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania. They had been sharing that spacious two bedroom place in the University District ever since.
“Aren’t you hungry?” Marvin asked.
“Always.” Naveen said.
“So, what do you plan to do about it?”
Naveen shrugged his shoulders, and flipped the pages of his magazine. Marvin frowned and continued his search.
“Ah, we have peas.” He proclaimed. “And we have potatoes too.”
"Nice,” Naveen said.
“Let’s cook something.” Marvin enthused. “We even have some onions.”
Naveen nodded, but made no attempt to rise from his comfortable position on the couch.
Marvin got into action mode, bringing out knives and pans. He put the peas in the microwave for thawing and then started to chop the onions.
“What are you just sitting there?” Marvin demanded. “C’mon and do some work.”
“My specialty is eating.” Naveen replied, tongue-in-cheek. “I’ll do a good job at that.”
“If you want to eat, get into the kitchen and work.”
“Fine, fine.” Naveen slowly got up and ambled into the kitchen. “What do you want me to do?”
“Can you boil the potatoes?”
Naveen obeyed and then stood by for further instructions. Marvin was cooking the onions, adding some spices, and cutting tomatoes, all at the same time. Naveen watched him and almost felt as though his apartment-mate had grown an extra pair of limbs.
“Can you get the pressure cooker?” Marvin said. Naveen handed him the bulky utensil that had been imported into their kitchen from India.
Marvin mixed together all the pieces of the food puzzle, such as the peas, potatoes, onions, spices, water, and so on, into the pressure cooker and simmered them for a while. He then shut the lid, put the stove on high heat and stepped back.
“Good job,” Naveen said. He went back to reading his magazine.
Marvin paced back and forth like a caged animal. From time to time, he would lift the top valve of the cooker to release some steam. He kept checking his watch. He tried to increase the heat on the stove, even though it was already on full.
“How much time will this thing take?” Marvin muttered. Naveen glanced up from his magazine, but didn’t offer any response. Marvin continued to stride about and toy with his watch.
“Relax,” Naveen said.
“Dude, I’m hungry.” Marvin said. “This damn thing is not getting done.”
“It’s going on releasing steam.” Marvin said, as the cooker let out a whistle and blew some more steam.
“Yeah, that’s how a pressure cooker works.” Naveen seated himself on the couch.
A few more minutes passed and Marvin hovered above the cooker with a clenched fist. He lifted the valve and let out the steam for an extended period.
“That’s it,” Marvin declared. “I’m done waiting. I’m opening it.”
“I don’t think you should…” Naveen began, but, he didn’t get a chance to complete his sentence.
As soon as Marvin pulled off the lid of the cooker, a loud explosion filled the room.
“Aaaarghhh,” Marvin screeched, clutching his left forearm. Naveen rushed into the kitchen. The sight before him was horrific. There were peas and potatoes everywhere he looked. The little pieces were on the floor, on the microwave, on the refrigerator, on the counters. The gravy had splattered all over the stove, countertops, and some had spilled to the floor.
“Frickin’ hell.” Marvin exclaimed.
“Are you alright?”
“No, I’m not alright. Do I look alright?”
“What happened?”
“I got burned by the frickin’ thing that exploded out of the cooker.”
“Our dinner, you mean?”
“Yea…Yeah,” Marvin stuttered. “Our dinner.”
Naveen was barely able to conceal a grin.
“Stop laughing.” Marvin commanded.
“C’mon, it’s funny, man.” Naveen said, smiling. “Just a look at this place. Didn’t you know not to open a pressure cooker before it releases all the steam?”
“Yeah, but it was just not getting done.”
Naveen handed Marvin some ice, who applied it his forearm, where he had the burn.
“Your arm doesn’t look so bad. You’ll be fine,” Naveen said. He looked around. “All that effort gone to waste. Now, let’s clean this place up.”
So, the two of them proceeded to wipe the gravy and clean away the peas and potatoes from all the tiny crevices that the pieces had managed to find a way into. It was a laborious task that took them nearly an hour before the mess was cleared up.
“Okay,” Naveen said, surveying the kitchen. “I think we got most of it. The place seems back to normal.”
“Yeah,” Marvin agreed. “But dude, I’m still hungry, what are we doing for dinner?”
Naveen doubled over to the floor, laughing.
