Final exam mutton fry and other challenges

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Today, the daughter came back ravenous from her geography exam and said she craved beef chilli fry. I didn’t have beef.

“So, make mutton chilli fry like beef," she demanded and flounced off. It’s exam time. I had promised to make her whatever she wanted for the duration, so I had little choice.

Final exams have always been a trying time—for me at least. When I was a high school student, my attention span was short, my exam planning was non-existent, and I believed I would somehow pass. I blundered along.

Mostly I passed, not with any distinction, often barely, and, sometimes, I failed. In the event, I cannot thank the great examiner in the sky enough that those days are gone, never to return. The dread of finals is back now in some fashion because the teen’s ninth-standard endgame is nigh.

She studies better than I ever did, and while she’s no bookworm, she wants to do reasonably well. Her mother and I want that too, but only by using positive reinforcement, which, in this family means food. Good food has a calming influence on both parents and child.

The teen knows this well and her demands for “exciting" food have risen exponentially. She knows, you see, that we will likely say yes—food-wise—to things to which we may normally say no. Usually, she is hungry every two hours.

During exams it appears to be every hour. While we scramble to provide her with fruits, fried stuff, sweet stuff and juices, I know that the main course sets the tone. A good lunch or dinner is also the best insurance against endless junk.

So, I made—among other things—fish curry, prawn pasta, roast chicken, Greek-style burger, roast pork. I had little choice. She did not forget my promise to make her whatever she