1. She is a foodie and loves to cook. And, A says that she is an excellent cook.

2. I haven't eaten a proper meal cooked by her yet.She has not been feeling very well and doesn't cook these days. In the two weeks that I stayed at A's with my in-laws, soon after my wedding, I got to eat Dahi Vadas made by her and they were delicious!

3. She cooks food the healthy way. Doesn't peel the veggies (even if they are meant to be), doesn't fry much, avoids potatoes and other roots and uses more of the greens.

4.When we visit her, on some days when the cook takes off, she instructs me and I cook. She'll place a chair in the Kitchen and place herself on it. I do all the manual labor. Though the amount of oil and ghee makes me gasp, I noticed that the food tastes excellent. Oh, just this once, I tell myself, as I stack the nearly empty oil bottle back in the pantry.

5.She reads up recipes and watches the cookery shows on TV and comes up with innovative ideas for making exotic dishes. She used to, atleast. These days, she promptly makes copies of the said recipes and sends it to me. And I open a folder and file it in. I take a sketch pen and write "Recipes" in bold on the folder and draw two swirly lines under it. On either sides of "Recipes" I draw a tomato. That is the last I see of the folder. I open it again only when she sends me some more copies. Thank god, she doesn't ask me if I ever tried making all that stuff. But I have a totally different plan in case she asks. Blame it on A! That, he doesn't want to eat any of that. Easy peasy! Ring ring ringa...

6. She takes up cooking seriously, like I do fashion or travelling or of the sort.One topic that is discussed every single time we call her is - "What's for dinner today?" Tell me about it. It's all about food!