Growing up, cooking with firewood was nothing short of a battle. The stress began the moment I stepped outside to set up the tripod stones. If the firewood was damp, forget it, I could be there for hours blowing into stubborn flames that never wanted to catch. And even when the fire lit, the wind was another problem. It would scatter the smoke right into my eyes, making them red and teary. I couldn’t count how many times I had to pause cooking just to wipe my face or walk away to breathe.
Worse still was the mess it left behind. The pots were always blackened with charcoal soot. Scrubbing them afterwards took twice the energy of cooking itself. My clothes smelled of smoke, my eyes stung, and my arms ached from fanning the fire.
But all that changed when my dad bought a gas cylinder.
Just one matchstick, and the fire comes to life, no smoke, no soot, no tears. Cooking has become something I now look forward to. The pots remain clean, my face clear, and my clothes don’t carry the smell of burnt wood anymore. I can cook even when it rains, and the time I used to waste outside struggling with firewood is now used for other things.
Honestly, no more stress.
