Everyday Menu #3.
My newly made Nelikkai Oorga (Gooseberry Pickle) enthused me to find interesting combinations for it. Today`s lunch menu is
Side of Vazhaikkai Mozhukkuperatti and
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Every Day Menu #2.
This Monday S wanted a traditional home made samayal so I made
Kovakkai Curry, and
We finished the meal with Curd and Narasus Kadu Mangaa Pickle form Ambika Appalam Depot, Chennai.
Everyday Menu 1.
Today I was especially enthused to cook my bitter gourd and hence the menu for lunch was
Pavakkai Fry and spicy
Manga Curry for curd rice.
It was one of those rare days when I wanted to finish up cooking quickly and spend some time with myself – doing some thing, anything that I enjoy – reading a favourite book, listening to a favourite song, praying, or curling up my toes and looking out at the lake outside….
Little Kumkum Container…
I found this little Easter Egg in the store nearby and decided to make it mine…It reminded me of a little porcelain container which would be perfect for kumkum…Very daintily adorned my VishuKani today filled with fragrant and pure “Thazhampoo Kungumam“….
Smells just as sweet….
Timid jasmine buds that keep their fragrance to themselves all day, but when the sunlight dies away let the delicious secret out to every breeze that roams about.” – Thomas.
Flowers have always been some thing of a wonder to me. That creation has allowed such beautiful amazing colourful representation of itself in so many different forms. How many pictures have spoken a thousand words…how many have been captured and frozen in a digital frame? A flower renders itself in so many different ways, fully aware that its going to last only a few days, and some varieties only a few hours. One such flower that captivates me with its sheer beauty is the Jasmine. We had this huge jasmine creeper all over my front yard, many years ago in our home. Every summer evening, the sweet smell of the jasmine, would waft in to our windows and every now and then , I as a child, wouold catch a wiff in the air and get so excited. Then came the days of the apartment living…I missed my plants and trees, but never failed to recreate a small green patch wherever I lived…
When I was in Madurai, for my post graduation, i realised, that this was the place for the most exotic varieties of this flower….On the drive to Kodaikanal, there are places where people would hawk for a big roll of jasmine just for Rs.5!!! And you can see rows and rows of jasmine shrubs, all ready to be picked, woven in to strands by skillful hands, ready to be transported and adorned on the beautiful shoulders of the Lord, or his Lotus feet, or in the hands of a loving husband for his wife!!!
When I went to my mother in law`s place, in Trichy, I was happy to see a really tall, shrub of jasmines, that had worked it way up two floors and spread its branches all over the parapet wall….Her maid would dutifully collect the buds and weave them in to a lovely string, which my mother in law would give to me, to adorn on my braids…It was a variety that had sharper petals, but lush with fragrance…
When we relocated to Phoenix, I could`nt resist visiting the Garden Centre at Home Depot in Ahwautukee where we stayed. Phoenix, is so warm that there are so many varieties of plants that I could find in Madras! And there I saw the lovely jasmine shrub…and I joyfully took it home with me. I followed the instructions for sunlight, and water and MagicGrow nutrition, repotting and the likes. I would take care of it like a little helpless baby, all through winter….And in summer, I got sweet smelling jasmine flowers….that I would collect everyday and offer it to God, or collect it in a little uruli and place it on the dining area. It`s an amazing feeling to walk around your home, smelling fresh flowers and have the satisfaction that they are out of your own little garden.
Recently, we had been on a drive this summer to Eureka, MO and there was this lovely nursery filled with all kinds of blooms, chrysanthemums, roses of all varieties , hibiscus and even a huge jasmine creeper…The floor of the nursery was specked with little jasmine flowers…almost looking like a carpet…I picked out a few and enjoyed the fragrance for a few minutes…Shruti, another friend of mine, also shares my passion on jasmines. So when I went to my favourite Trader Joe`s , last week in the peak of the crazy january winter, and I saw little Jasmine Shrubs, shipped all the way from Florida…I picked one for her…She is waiting for the day, it would bloom and flood her with lovely fragrant flowers….And I am going to watch it grow in her place, and experience the delight as if it were my own!!!
12 Days of Christmas – Indian Style.
I realise that this post is a month late coming…but I could not contain myself till `09 Christmas to place it here. My daughter`s school recital this year had all the teachers perform for 12 Days of Christmas….I guess its almost like a recount of the singer`s 12 days to christmas and what he/she did…Typically, it`s all over Youtube modified to so many flavours…Indian, Hawaiian, Chinese, Mexican and the like. My cousin S, showed this to me when I visited her during christmas and I fell for it. Here are the lyrics for the song and the link to this video itself!!! ENJOY!!!
On the ________ day of Christmas my true love gave to me –
01 A totally insufficent dowry
02 Two nosy in-laws
03 Three buttered chicken
04 Four Hare Krishnas
05 Five Indian gangs (5 minutes of fame on the 12th day)
06 Six IT graduates
07 Seven eleven workers
08 Eight Hollywood films
09 Nine telemarketers
10 Ten-minute yoga
11 Eleven-syllable names
12 Twelve cricket ball tamperers
At a loss for words???
My little one, S, was watching me empty the clothes out from the washer to the dryer – a mundane scene from everyday at home…and she suddenly wanted to know “Where is the gift that Shruti didi gifted you, on your b`day?
I, for one, had no clue what Shruti had gifted to me on my bday that had happened in April..she was desperately trying to remind me some thing that was easily on top of her head …
“It was a glass tumbler with chop-sticks” , she said…Now she really had be flummoxed…I could`nt for the life of me imagine why Shruti would give me a glass tumbler that too filled with chopsticks…She was really at a loss for words now…She desperately wanted me to remember..”It makes the room smell nice”, she twitted in…Then it struck me in a flash!!! Shruti had gifted me a lovely Lavender flavoured reed diffuser!!!!!
Life Outside…
This morning was a little choatic after a lovely day home with my daughter yesterday as the schools here were closed on account of snow. Its always a little more difficult when you get a day off from daily routine, during the midweek….Anyways, S showered and dressed and grudgingly drank up her Ragimalt. She does have a bone with the Ragimalt drink. She wants Bournvita every single tme she drinks her milk!!!
When dad and daughter left for school, I stole a minute to go to the patio to drink in the beauty of the morning. Still, around me, not even a whisper of wind…White..Even the lake ahead of my patio, had some how gotten drawn in to the cold of the morning and frozen! Lovely moment, me and the white of the snow. …Should I take a walk there? I was wildly contemplating, when S called to say that schools were closed and they were on the way home…oh well…its another day !
Carpe Diem – Sieze Every Moment!!!
From the very first time I ever heard this phrase, Ive had the strong urge to actually live it….To seize every moment that is there and live it as if it were my last, to drink every drop of life.. We are all here and something bridges time….what???
Anubhavati -Tastes from my kitchen 