If you’d peeked into my kitchen a few years ago, you’d have seen the chef (that would be yours truly) with something strange on her head. No, it wouldn’t have been a chef’s hat. It would, in fact, have been a polka-dotted, vinyl shower cap. Definitely an unusual choice of headgear for cooking.

For me, however, it was a strategic option. I would sometimes cook dinner before heading out for an evening engagement. Maybe it was book club night, or my son’s first grade Christmas performance, or an evening out with the mom’s group. Whatever the destination, I didn’t want the world to detect I’d been cooking chicken curry.

Enter shower caps and sniff-testing of clothes. Just one of the ways of dealing with a mixed bag of lifestyles as an Indian immigrant mom in the U.S..

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