Top Chef Final Round

Tonight we are having a party of 20 people of doctors and the family. The occasion is to pay respect to the doctors that helped Jolly when he was in a bad car accident in is teenage years. I am making 4 loaves of Italian bread and the beet salad. Richhpal has given up on asking me to make other dishes. After making the bread, Cub comes into the kitchen and asks if I want to go into town. I look and the girls, and they nod, so I say yes. I take a hot shower, put on a new suit, and gather some items I want to ship home.

I walk past Richhpal and he asks me where I am going. I tell him and he says, “Cub has to go court and I feel there is no time for him to take you to the post. This is what I feel.”

I tell him he is probably right and that I can do it another day. Cub pulls the jeep up and asks where my things are. I tell him what his father says and he tells me to give Jolly something. I go into the courtyard, hand it to Jolly, and head back to the driveway only to see Cub driving off. Grrr. I guess I wasn’t clear in telling him that I still wanted to go. Instead I head over to Surrinder's house. We drink tea and look through old patterns books. I think I would also sew and knit if I stayed at the farm.

An hour passes and I spend the rest of the afternoon cooking with Amrith, Jagdeep and Shishpal. Cub comes back after 8 pm and gets ready. Good thing I didn’t go with him! People enter and us ladies serve dinner and hide out in the kitchen. I am introduced as the American Food Engineer. Everyone is nice, but I don’t feel like small talk tonight.

Instead I focus on trying to get to know Jagdeep more. It turns out I am not the only one bored here, but she likes her husband.

“He’s nice,” she says. They have been married not even a year yet, so I was curious to find out her thought on the whole arranged marriage thing.

After dinner, Richhpal tells Jagdeep and I that the stuffed mushrooms weren’t cooked long enough. Jagdeep, immune to these remarks, looked at the ground and I reply. His wife had cooked that peppers, but rather than ratting her out, I politely smiled and said we will cook them better next time. I tried the peppers and agreed – they were undercooked.

After the party, Cub tells me to not be concerned with his father’s remarks and that he is fond of me. I feel like I am living with inlaws.