Savouring simple pleasures of life with Dalgona coffee

It’s close to a year and people are still struggling to keep their necks out of trouble, read Covid-19 pandemic. My favourite life mantra during tough times, which I like to reiterate as and when I find an opportune moment to show the cool side of me, is: “This too shall pass.”

The four-worded phrase is not mine or anybody’s, it is the gospel truth from the Bible. So with the cool mantra to keep me afloat, I faced many a difficult moment during the beginning of ‘those’ days.

Be it bowing out of a wedding or a birthday party or staying away from meeting a group of friends, socialising has been a total no for me during the pandemic. I must admit I adhered to the wearing a mask right and proper and meeting just a few people whom I could not do without. I like to kindly refer to the milk vendor and the vegetable seller as my 6.30am and 9.30am pals for that was the only socialising during the lockdown.

And, then came the days of cooking classes on social networking platforms and learning from YouTube videos. Everyone was unabashedly flaunting their newfound culinary skills. Initially, I could not understand what the fuss was all about. Having spent a good number of years in front of the stove, I realised I was not remotely in the race for being ordained a chef; forget being a starter with wrinkled fingers in my domain, the kitchen.

That’s till I heard my dear daughter, a lawyer by profession, singing praises about Dalgona coffee that had become a rage during the lockdown. Honestly, I had never heard of it and I don’t feign my ignorance. I googled and found out that it was nothing more than our humble “phiti hui (beaten)” coffee. Such an exotic name for the humble beaten coffee sure made me smirk.

When I went to college, the “phiti hui” coffee was so popular, especially before an exam. We made sure to change the colour of the coffee to almost earthy brown, passing through different hands for everyone had to beat it.

Another recipe doing the rounds during those days was the humble banana cake. I found nothing exciting about it because my love for baking is known in my friend circle. I call it an easy-peasy recipe. I came to learn that it’s not so for all, especially the newbies.

People were going nuts about the banana nut cake and that made me go bananas! I often wonder if people are still going strong with their newfound preoccupation of whipping up the Dalgona coffee and banana cake combo.

The lockdown and restrictions during the pandemic offered many a life lesson; the most important being to respect life in its purest essence. And what better way to savour life’s simple pleasures than with “phiti hui” coffee and a piece of banana cake in the company of loved ones?

WHEN I WENT TO COLLEGE, THE “PHITI HUI” COFFEE WAS SO POPULAR, ESPECIALLY BEFORE AN EXAM. EVERYONE HAD TO BEAT THE MIXTURE TILL IT TURNED EARTHY BROWN