“I am just a housewife,” Namz says to her sons, the aspiring footballer KK and the competitive athlete Zaid. For her, cooking is a sensorial experience of sight, smell and taste, which requires instinct rather than exact measurements. The kitchen is her canvas where she delightfully, with deliberation and care to nourishment, freshness and balance, concocts culinary delights. Her delicate savvy hands dabble with knives, scissors, measuring cups, weighing scales, icing guns, moulds and nozzles. An array of instruments and kitchenware are laid out on the counters. To add to her efficiency there are food processors, grinders, liquidisers, juicers, microwaves and cake mixers — some of the modern substitutes for maids or hard labour.

Unlike the countless other ‘housewives’, this 21st century homemaker is not churning out food regardless of its nutritional value. She ‘googles’ information about foods that are wholesome, sources of protein, carbohydrates, fats, minerals, vitamins and transform this into food combinations that are essential for good health. This is a part of her creativity and intelligence, which distinguishes her from her predecessors.

Namz’s kitchen is situated in the centre of her home. It is a pivotal area where milestones are celebrated and where wild and wonderful ideas are floated around the safety of the kitchen table. Both friends and family mingle and exchange views on family politics, controversial topics like hijab issue in France or redemption of atrocities committed in the country, or even how garbage can be reduced, recycled and reused to contain pollution. Even though Namz’s kitchen is not a podium, it’s a place for discourse and dialogue that lingers long after in hearts and minds.

So much happens here. Appreciation and disappointments are faced, fingers are burnt, and food is passed under the table when mum looks away, chips and brownies gobbled like there is no tomorrow. Such are the pleasures and life-long memories where fortune and fame seem pale in comparison. These are just a few of the exciting, exasperating, yet cherished moments of family time.

On one of the five burners of the kitchen stove red curry with kaffir lime leaves is cooking, while on another a pot of tomato soup with basil. The sweet n sour aroma of the kaffir leaves draws hunger like a magnet and once more her kitchen table is surrounded for Thai food fare. Thai cuisine is essentially a balance of sweet, sour, spicy and saltish taste.

A range of caffeine-free, detox teas such as lemon grass, Jasmine, fresh mint and her all time hot favourite, honey with lemon tea are displayed in heavy stoneware glazed kettles.

Along with an assortment of teas, summer drink of freshly squeezed tangerine with grapefruit is fibrous and allows her to feel full, hence consume smaller helpings of food.

An attractive feature adding to the uniqueness of drawers and cabinets are their handles fashioned as cocktail forks, coffee spoons and fish knives of miniature sizes. The incense candles of lavender and eucalyptus create shadows and the subtle capturing smell draws one and all to the pulsating nucleus of the home. Even in her most solitary moments she is surrounded with pictures of people, and although each face has its own story there is one commonality. Each one has been part of this kitchen experience at some stage in their lives!

Thus Namz is surrounded by a few generations of advice handed down from past cooks and homemakers but also the menus of present cooks, not forgetting the wisdom of the cookbook writers. For example, she prefers following the conventional method of thickening fresh cream by whipping with a hand whisk in a clay pot over crackling ice till snow-white peaks form. But when she is in a rush, the convenience of tetra-pack cream will do as second best. Other times she can churn the cream within seconds with the electronic beater, but she is mindful that timing is important; an extra rotation will spell disaster and curdle the cream. Nevertheless she sticks to churning with a hand whisk; at least it allows some error of an extra rotation or two while keeping it unspoiled.

Guideposts posted on the refrigerator are quotes which inspire her: “healthy bodies, healthy minds”, “cleanliness is next to godliness”, “you are what you eat”, “health is wealth”, “no one is born a great cook, one learns by doing”, etc.

Namz dines with her husband and sons, Zaid and KK, at the kitchen table as she ponders this article. A homemaker’s ongoing connection with her kitchen contributes to her sense of identity. With the multiple roles she plays at home, she has many facets to her personality. For her this is a way of loving them whilst honouring them. Her mission is to remain up-to-date on health, hygiene and fitness, as she keeps herself and her family healthy and fit, just as she nourished them in her womb, two decades ago.