"Do not touch" sounded simple enough. In my mind, those words formed an unbreakable barrier, a sacred kitchen command that would surely be respected. But these rules quickly disappear the moment I left home. Standing in front of a half empty freezer shelf when I returned, I found myself wondering whether I should simply extend some grace. After all, he is a growing teenager whose appetite seems to know no limits. The evidence suggested that the moment my plane lifted off from Sir SeretseKhama International Airport, those Bahari treats became fair game. They barely survived. Even the veggie spring rolls had vanished completely, which, if I am being fair, revealed a surprisingly successful strategy for getting vegetables into a teenager without the usual complaints or negotiations. Then again, perhaps the blame does not rest entirely with him. Maybe a portion should be directed at the people who created these products in the first place.
The reality is that they taste so good that expecting a hungry teenager to ignore them might be asking for a level of self-control that borders on superhuman. Packing for any journey has a unique way of turning your daily routine upside down, especially when you are trying to close out the noise and handle a million moving pieces simultaneously. While sorting through outfits and folding, I suddenly realized I had not eaten a single thing all day, and the very moment that realization registered in my mind, I got intensely peckish immediately. This is exactly when I thought of the perfect, hassle-free midnight snack that wouldn’t require much,Samosas. Standing by the kitchen counter, I realized that having something so quick and easy to prepare allowed me to stay completely focused on my packing, giving me the mental space to calmly look through my list of Do Not Forget items. I found myself combing through that list meticulously because it is always so incredibly easy to forget those small, relatively insignificant items like extra charging cables or a specific adaptor plug. They remain completely insignificant in your mind until you are sitting in a strange hotel room thousands of kilometres away, and suddenly they are the only thing that matters. Packing can be stressful, and it is precisely during those chaotic hours that you need your food to be an absolute breeze to prepare, a comforting reward that anchors you when your mind is racing.
