Prerna's Strawberry Chutney

Sometime back I received my signed copy of  Prerna's The Everything Indian Slow Cooker Cookbook. Need I say, I was thrilled.

The author Prerna Singh is also the author of IndianSimmer, a beautiful blog in its own rights. I have been a long time admirer of her blog and I was looking forward to her book. Given that I am not much of a slowcooker person and do most of my cooking on the stove top and use my pressure cooker far more than the slowcooker, I was curious too. But I must tell you that book is a treasure of recipes and they are delicious, slow cooker or not.

I liked the section "Basics of Indian Cooking" a lot which explains many of the cooking terms and spices used in Indian cooking.There is also a section on Basic Sauces and Spice mixes which has recipes for Pav Bhaji Masala and Tandoori Maslaa which I am making next for sure. There are fifteen chapters in total with an array of about 300 recipes encompassing appetizer to beverage.

I tried the Five-Spice Strawberry Chutney spiced with paanch phoron from her book and though I did it on the stove top it turned out great. It is a simple chutney spiced with the fragrant paanchphoron and sweetened with jaggery and the naturally sweet strawberries. The chutney turned out really good and for recipes of that and more  check out her book on Amazon

Joynagar er Moa

Joynagar er Moa is a famous but rustic sweet of Bengal. Made from khoi , kheer and nolen gur, it is only a winter treat made in the small town of Joynagar about 50 kms from Kolkata. My father sent me these pictures from the local sweet shops in Kolkata which also sell this sweet during winter.

As a child I however remember hawkers from the village, going from home to home, selling this delicacy. They would come on bicycles, loaded with plain white paper boxes tied with yellow or blue strings,the boxes labeled as "Joynagar er Moa" in Bengali scripts. Some of those sellers were authentic, some not. Mother would know. Those plump round balls with raisin at the center and rounds of patali gur were the treats we looked forward to every winter.

Here is a good article on how they are made.

I had last tasted a joynagar er moa a decade back. This time my Father found someone who was traveling to US and is sending some for us. I cannot wait for tomorrow, for those soft sweet moas.

Happy New Year and all that...

Every year, I am kind of tongue tied at New Year. All I can think of is "Groan, the holiday season is over. Kohl's is no longer open until midnight, there is no valid reason to switch on the fairy lights every evening and I have to go back and finish all the work I had pushed aside to be done 'after the holidays'." You can see that trend in last year's post and in the year before when I had actually thought I should keep shut and not blog much anymore. Thankfully, I woke out of that. I love to be here, to blog and I have also realized that it is okay to do it at my own pace. I have been blogging for 6 years now and I don't even have 500 posts to boast about but I think I have kind of found the balance so that is fine.

I do not have any resolutions for the next year or any looking back to the last and this sign is what I will try to live my life by every day (though I have no clue what citi pond is).

This other picture that I took in the city last week kind of reflects what I expect every year or rather day to be. I hope it is tall and glamorous with shiny windows and hanging verandahs but I also know that it can just be chipped walls and cracked window panes. In that case I at least want it to be happy, bright and colorful.

 

Hope your and mine New Year is filled with color, brightness, good health, happiness.

Here is a recap of recipes from each month of this year that was most liked by someone or the other(read myself, family, friends, readers, spammers).

January -- Pati Shapta

February -- Peyaajkoli Maach and Methi Begun

March -- Niramish Alu dom and this

April -- Ilish Maacher Tauk and T's Eggless Tiramisu

May -- Paneer Korma and Tel Koi

June -- Green Beans Bhorta and Chicken in Mint, Coriander and coconut gravy

July -- Potol Posto and Roshun Murgi

August -- Ahona's Methi Machchi and A's Saturday Night Mutton Biriyani

September -- Ma-in-law's Robibarer Mangshor Jhol

October -- Sondesh

November -- Chicken Keema Chop and Cranberry relish

December -- Chocolate Sheet Cake

See you again in a few days. There are some exciting recipes like a Thai fish and a wonderful cake baked by friend T that I want to share. Till then happy everything

Sunday Night Kitchen Post

It has been almost two months since we left our old kitchen and moved into the current one and slowly I am settling into its ways. I still get confused that the cutlery drawer is not to my right when I am making tea but on the left. On the right is the spice drawer which I keep opening absent minded looking for the odd spoon.

Also the sink faucet is the exact opposite of the standard for hot and cold. We can change it but haven't yet and once in a while I am thrown off by the left which is cold while right is hot ! This has helped me get further confused when I am visiting friend's where the faucet has the standard setting. So officially my brain is addled with which is which and now I can never trust myself to open a faucet and get water at the temperature I want.

But there are things I love about this new kitchen. The first is of course the sun, the sun which this side of the house gets in plenty, all through the day. Next is the lazy susan in the corner cabinet.I have always loved that arrangement in other homes and I really like it filled with all my spices.Also the fact that now I have an ample pantry right in the kitchen is a big bonus.

The kitchen as always is not entirely mine and shared by everyone. The girls do their homework and painting/coloring on the kitchen island all the time. I had this blank wall which I thought I would set up as a display of the girls' art work. Whatever picture they draw can be put into those frames and we can have fresh new art on the wall every week almost.Don't you think that is a great idea ? I am planning to do the same for their bedroom too. Earlier I had a cork board and the refrigerator was the major place for all art display. But the framing fills my walls and so serves double purpose.

As we put in our own touches and cook more I will post more pictures and I am sure you will grow to love this kitchen as will I.

Leaving you today with some links to enjoy

I loved this post of Pia's so much that her statement "Creativity is Subtraction" is etched in my mind.

This holiday I want to try my hand at baking cookies, simple ones, even probably nankhatai or nankatai. We will see.

A friend who is a talented designer, has worked with the weavers of South 24 Parganas to design and create a new line of sarees. Each of those pieces are so beautiful and the color palette is so rich and striking that you must take a look at her Facebook Page. Since the sarees are designed by her, each is a unique piece. You can e-mail her with questions about the sarees.

See you all soon with an easy Tomato soup just right for the cold weather here.

Thank You My Kitchen

This has been my kitchen for the longest time.8 years and 7 months to be precise.To be round and fair we can also say 9 years, given the few months that we had taken to close and move.

As a kid we moved houses and hence kitchens every 3-4 years. My father's job was as they said "transferable one" and we moved with the call of his duty. Since kitchen was not on the top 15 of my priorities those days it was amongst the things I missed least when we moved. I am sure my Ma had her own woeful stories about moving from large kitchens with huge windows to galley ones but of course then I never paid attention.

Now when I am the master of my own food, I can no longer say the same. I  remember distinctly the huge kitchen of the 1BR apartment I shared in Mumbai, the one in Bangalore which had a separate faucet for Cauvery water, the ample kitchens in the apartments in the US where I was thrilled to find the gas stove light up without a match stick. But of all these I love my current kitchen the best; the one that has survived me for all of 9 years, well almost. When I look back and count the years on my fingers this is the longest time I have cooked at a stretch and this is the longest time that this kitchen has been there to support me.

For 9 years or 8 years and 7 months to be exact, almost every morning I have been standing at the same spot, facing west towards the back splash that D had put up, making my tea. Some mornings it is so early that that the sky outside my window is still a slate gray and I have the kitchen lights on. On others, sunlight is streaming through the large windows facing south, bathing my little kitchen in light. I am always there at the same exact spot, the frayed red rug soft and almost tattered under my feet, the saucepan bubbling on the front burner of my gas stove.

In this kitchen I can close my eyes and reach out for spices and masalas in the wooden cabinets that abound. I know each of them personally. The liners on each of these shelves were cut and arranged by a dear friend 9 years ago and they still work well. The shelves were filled with jars, pots, stacks of  empty Yogurt containers exactly so with help of another and I have dared  not to change the order though I have had to throw out the yogurt containers on their insistence.Psssst...secret I still have some of them.

That cabinet, the one just above the sink hold my knick knacks that I use as props for the blog, the odd plate, the scalloped bowl, the lonely table mat. The bottom cabinet, the one right of the stove has colored plastic cups, lots of them, from IKEA. Those are the ones LS uses to make a juice stand or a coffee shop.

By the window, the breakfast nook as they say, is the table, a round wood top bought 12 years ago from K-mart. One of the first piece of furniture I owned in this country. We have had umpteen meals on that table for four. We have brought in extra chairs, rubbed shoulders and sat around it even when we had more than that for company. We have cut many cakes, lighted candles, arranged gifts and served buffet lunches and dinners right there. On most days I have arranged food on it and clicked pictures for the blog. And when we have been done with food, Big Sis has finished her homework on that same table while Little Sis has scribbled and made crayon marks on its surface.

My kitchen is more than a kitchen. For almost 9 years, it is the place which has seen my daughters grow, my friends come together to rejoice happy occasions and to share the not so happy ones, my mother and my ma-in-law cook their best dishes for their granddaughters. It has seen my Baba brewing the afternoon tea and my Father-in-law chopping vegetables. It has seen the husband man packing lunches for the girls and making scrumptious breakfast on the weekend. It has seen me and him fight, make up and argue.It has seen us admonish the girls, them speaking back and then saying sorry. It has seen spartan salads, rich mutton curries laced in elaichi and zafran, simple dals bubbling in stainless steel pots, turmeric stains from fragrant Ilish jhol, brown rice, white rice, sugary gokul pithe, puffed up and the ones that refused to puff white luchi, endless days of different varieties of pasta and lots and lots of pureed, mashed baby food.And it has seen me always.

Six years ago on a Fall evening it was here, standing in this kitchen, that I had resolved to start a blog. A food blog.

In a culture and environment ,where writing a blog, that too a food one is at the best considered a hobby, and any writing that does not come close to Marquez, Ghosh, Bibhutibhushan, Shibram or even Archer is considered frivolous; there have been times when writing up anecdotes and recipes with the hope that "someday when my daughter turns 22 will cook this " has seemed too far fetching. When I have waited for the girls to go to bed and yet again missed an episode of "Big Bang Theory" just so that I can take one more pic of Gajar Halwa, the whole process has seemed futile.

But then every time when I am back in my kitchen, trying to make even a simple Khichuri and screwing it up, I have felt the excitement, the beat of the food, the urge to blog. Even when the dish is mundane and there is nothing exemplary about the aroma, I have enjoyed the process. I have loved to put in words, the food I cook and eat. I am not really a very outgoing person but I have loved to interact with everyone, (barring the ones who want to sell me viagara), who reads this blog. I have loved writing the book as much as I love this blog.And I have realized I have stuck to this whole goddamn thing for the simple reason that I love doing it.This love.I owe it to my kitchen.

And next week I will miss my current muse. Next programming for "Bong Mom's CookBook" will be from a different kitchen in a different home . Hope the new kitchen adapts me, nurtures me, makes me her own and brings the same joy to my family and friends as this one did.

Thank You My Kitchen. You will always have a special place in my life.

Choti si Kahani Hai, Ek cup Chai Hai

I am a big time tea drinker. And I have a special fondness for only my kind of tea. The one with milk and sugar and then brewed with Red Label, with a single tea bag of Earl Grey for flavor. Dipping Marie in my tea and not counting them is another of my guilty pleasures. As I was browsing through my tea posts today I came across this post I had written for Of Chalks and Chopsticks -- a food fiction event some of us bloggers had indulged in for a while.

My story around a cup of tea is here (from July 2011)

And here is a list of all the entries by other bloggers for the same event and all of which revolved around a cup of tea.(again from July 2011)

If you are looking for great Tuesday reads do go through that list and you may find the perfect thing to pair with your morning chai.

Shubho Naboborsho'r Priti o Shubhechcha

Wishing you all a very Happy Bengali New Year.

Come, have Chai For I have News to share

For the longest time I have wanted to sit cozy and gossip over a cup of chai. Legs drawn together, feet tucked under, sitting close, a cup of warmth in my hand, speaking in hushed tones.javascript:void(0) About what ? I have no clue. I have friends with whom I talk mostly over the phone. We discuss everything from Romney to the Jupiter and Venus in the night sky. The sad part is none of them have the time or inclination to spend time over hot cups of tea. Now if we are talking dinner that is another story.

So my wish remains unfulfilled. Largely. Except for a couple of folks. But even with them it never happens like it did for my Mother. Every afternoon Ma would change into a crisp cotton saree for summer or a rustling silk for the winters.She would dab some of the Mysore sandal talc on her nose, tie up her long black hair in a plait and then put a kettle of water to boil. Some days a neighborhood aunt would drop by. On others Ma would go over. They would share stories over those cups of hot chai which I was not privy to. "Ja porashuno korte bos (go, get along with your studies)" was what they said if I lingered longer.

Naturally I nurtured a secret hope of such evenings, maybe even grander ones, once I was in charge.It is yet to happen. So when this thing--- that I have been desperate to tell you all along--- happened I wanted to sit right besides you, feet tucked under my pajamas,a cup of tea in hand.

And no it is not what you are thinking. No. Not at all. Okay, what are you thinking anyway ?

But I am eternally grateful to you for what happened. For your kind words, for your belief in me, for reading me, for telling me that you liked what I wrote. This wouldn't have been possible without you.

For like you, a very nice editor from Harper Collins (India) read my blog. And last year around summer she sent me a polite mail asking if I would be interested in writing a book. First I gulped and then decided it was one of those spams like the Nigerian government promising to transfer billions to my account. Turned out it wasn't. This was really, truly, a real life editor from Harper. She wanted me to write a book based on my blog, a food narrative along with my recipes. I was so struck by the wondrous nature of the whole thing that I of course said "Yes". Only a month later I realized what I had done but by then the contract was signed. The deal was sealed. And I was going to write a book. THE BOOK. The Bong Mom's Cookbook.

So I have been writing a book. It has been nine months. Given that number I now treat it like a third child in my womb. I have been putting my everything into it. My love, my emotions, my thoughts, my life. In fact I am so attached to it that I am having separation anxiety and am yet to hand over the manuscript. Every day when my girls are finally in bed, the dishwasher is humming a Dadra, the crickets outside have given up chirping, I sit on the black poang, open up MS Word and pour my heart into it. I am also dead scared (very unlike a third time new Mother is wont to be) and that is the reason I had kept it in my heart though my mind itched to share it with you long back.

But now I need your support, your trust in me, your wishes and your blessings. Send me all your good vibes so that I can do my best. Please, pretty please.Else my toes are going to curl up cold and the gestation stage might get longer than that of an elephant.

The Book: The Bong Mom's Cookbook
The Publisher: Harper Collins India
What is it about : More of a Food narrative than a cookbook per se. In short mine, yours and everyone else's life in food with recipes thrown in. More details as I write the book.
When: Will let you know as the thing happens

Now that you guys are in the loop trust me you are going to hear of my third baby as much as you do about Big Sis and Li'l Sis. And then don't come back and tell me that irritates the heck out of you.

There's an whole army of talented bloggers whom I owe big time for this whole blog thing. Almost all of them are on my reader you see on the left.

Thanks Miri, Mandira, Manisha, Indo of Daily Musings, Sra, Vani, Nupur of One Hot Stove, Mallika, Happy Cook, Cham, Sig, Sailu, Anita, Linda, Jaya of DesiSoccerMom, Supriya, Jaya of Spice and Curry, Soma, Pree, Sharmila, Eve's Lungs and Kalyan for being there and sharing your food.  And Cynthia I owe you big time for helping me through the jargon of the contract language.Then there are those who do not blog anymore but had set up the path like Indira of Mahanadi, Inji, Asha, Mallu Girl, Sunita and Vee. I think half of my book is going to be just Acknowledgments.

Miri -- Miss Ya, Remember Ya

Raji Shanker, blogs at Peppermill Recipes. I call her Miri.Even after I knew her real name, I called her Miri. Today she is no more with us. I cannot believe it.All I have done today is thought about her. And then I decided I needed a closure. For Peace. Rest in peace, my dear friend. This post is for you and the Goshtu recipe that you mailed me will be for dinner tomorrow.

This was from a feature in Femina done on her in 2008. I think she had moved back to her financial career by now but as we all know she loved writing and excelled at it.

I had connected with Miri through the world of food alone which then transcended to motherhood, career, work-life balance and even dance classes for the kids. Her Blog tag line said "Mothers, Food, Love and Career" -- four guilt groups.So true.

I never met her in real life and yet I knew she was a vivacious, upbeat person always positive and full of life. Hers was one of the few blogs where I could leave a comment that went way beyond food and always looked out for her view on my posts. She rarely ever talked about her health on her blog and it was always a comforting place warmed by the colorful food.Even when she talked about her surgery (in her e-mail) she pointed out how the time off from work gave her more time to spend with her little girl and how her friends pitched in to make the summer special. I never once thought that her health issues would take her away.

She touched my life in many ways and maybe I never acknowledged the way her e-mails actually cleared my thoughts.Today I owe it to you Miri.

The e-mails with her discussing balancing blogging with real life had made me go back to my blog with more confidence beginning of last year. She had said in that long mail of hers "Blogging is something which stimulates me and keeps me happy. And when I'm happy then family is happy too I guess.". That she loved cooking and sharing it with people was clear from her blog. That she took the time to inspire the same joy in others is special.

On a mail in which I was hyperventilating about summer vacations and the kids she had said "our children are fine and actually manage to keep themselves entertained while enjoying themselves - so don't beat yourself up about it too much - they are doing fine! :) " You see the saneness. This could only come from a Mother who would spend time cooking and baking with her little girl, doing craft activities and reading books. It loosened me up.

On discussions about the work-life balance she had said "in this day and age I thought it was ridiculous that I had to "choose" between home and work - whatever happened to the work life balance philosophy spouted by all these MNCs? And how dare they ask me questions they wouldn't dare ask a man I used to think". I was secretly happy to know that right there was a fierce Mom who loved her profession and yet did not want any compromises on the home front.

On the Goshtu recipe that she sent, she clearly specified "You need to fry the eggplants first (after the tempering) and cover and cook to make sure they are 3/4th cooked before adding the tamarind....since the tamarind doesn't allow it to cook...". My eggplant with tamarind did have this problem always. I never did get a chance to try it out after she told me how. My Goshtu if it gets better will be only for her.

I will miss you so much Miri. You be happy and take care where you are.

******************

Manisha has shared a beautiful picture and words about her time with Raji.

Kalyan shares his warm memories of Raji

EatWriteThink, Beautiful memories from a close friend of Miri

Arch shares her own memories of her close friend Raji

Have a Holly Jolly Christmas

The year is almost at the end and I love that there is so much of holiday spirit and excitement which leaves little time to look back on the year that is past. I am not great at the whole "looking back" thing. You give me a moment to pause and ponder and I go hyper, over-analyzing things I should have done the other way. I like it better this way when everything happens so fast that I have little time to even think of the year 2011 until I have to write a check or something at which point I go, 2012, really, 2011 is over ? And so where did my money go and such crap.

But it is Christmas and so we will not talk about money because what is money but "some paper" to buy gifts.Instead we will talk about Santa, the jolly old fellow and the conversation he brings about in our home.

Me: "Little S, tomar ki chai Santa Claus er theke?" (What do you want from Santa Claus this year?)

LS: "Errrm..presents"

Me: "Ki present?" (What presents?)

LS: "Santa Claus er ki ache? (What does Santa Claus have?)"

Me: !!!###!!

Pertinent question. Why ask for something which the guy does not have.

BigSis who just turned eight does not believe in Santa any more. To test it out, this year she is not telling me what she wants. She is sending her request to Santa directly. No via media. I don't know why she is taking such risks but she is doing it.

Big Sis turned eight this week.I had started this blog a few weeks before she turned three. Time does fly. She had her party at a pottery studio where she and her friends had great fun painting mugs. I cannot wait to see the final product all fired and glazed. Little S sat and painted one whole 10 oz mug. I was itching to intervene like the proverbial Desi Mother but stayed back most of the time. Hallelujah !!

We are having a busy vacation this time with lots of family, so many that we will not even fit in our 7-seater when we go out. And so I need to cook a lot. I don't have a menu yet. But I am putting up some sample menus for the holidays which I actually might want to follow. Some days I am sure to chuck it all and make a one pot pasta for dinner. And then on others there is my favorite "Thai-Thai".

Have a Happy Holiday everyone with loads of good food and cheer.

 Day # 1

 White Rice
 Musurir Dal
 Begun Bhaja
 Tomato diye Maacher Patla Jhol
 Paneer Butter Masala
 Aamer Chaatni
 Kamlalebur Kheer

Day # 2

 Onion-Cucumber-Tomato salad
 Bangali Pulao -- I will try Pree's Microwave version
 Mutton Korma
 Tomato Chutney
 Orange Fruit Cake from Edible Garden

Day # 3

 White Rice
 Bhaja Moog er Dal
 PaanchMishali tarkari
 Doi Maach
 Kancha Lonka Murgi
 Bhapa Doi or Manisha's mishti doi

Day # 4

 White Rice
 Begun Bharta with Scrambled Eggs
 Beet Posto
 Murgir Jhol
 Ilish Bhaape

Day # 5

 Rice or Ghee Bhaat
 Cholar Dal
 Beguni
 Enchor er Dalna
 Narkel Chingri Bhaape
 Keema Koraishuti (with Goat keema)
 Cranberry Cutney

All I want is some Tea and Then some Time to drink it

Got up 20 mins later than usual.It was a chaos.While was frantically trying to rush out in time had a squabble with BigSis who was waiting for her school bus.

"I won't tell you the fun thing we had in Social Studies", she said, still mad at me.

I ignored. I was late. The fuel indicator in my car was blinking furiously. I would not be able to beat the traffic today, my mind said.

Big Sis waited and then finally blurted out "I know Prime Meridian and Anti Meridian. Nyah, nyah, nyah nyah". She made faces at me.

I itched to ask more but my Geography is rusted. I need to do my homework. Now.

So today I will read Geography, I will go deep into International Date line and around Greenwich. I will not write my blog or read another one.At lunch when everyone will munch a sandwich I will walk longitudes.

And then I will wait for a day when I can drink tea in the setting sun and read Amanda Hesser's "Cooking for Mr.Latte" in peace. Personally I like that better than Geography.

For Susan's Black & White Wednesday.

Young Hands at Play

When coking is not a chore it is fun. Why else do you think little hands fly around to make tiny rotis when the mother sucks big time at them.

This picture goes to Susan's lovely photo event Black & White Wednesday.

The second picture has nothing to do with food directly but a lot indirectly. It was taken on a rainy Saturday when we had gone all the way to the city for the sole purpose of eating Thai Jungle Curry at a place off Broadway. I loved this shot but was not sure if it suits Susan's theme so am sharing it here with you.

Giveaway Winner and a Shubho Bijoya

Sorry, I have been awfully late in declaring the winner. Couldn't help it. It was Durga Pujo after all. Not that we did a lot given that the Pujo this time spanned across all week days. But we did manage to wear our sarees, offer anjali, eat Bhog, see arati and even a bit of sindoor khela at the wee end of Bijoya evening.We also saw the wonderful Golu set up at the Krishna Temple near our home and had quiet a nice Pujo in our own quiet way. And late at night when we sat down to watch the glamorous Durga idols with their artistic mandaps in far away Kolkata via the Dish, the heart didn't even miss a beat. My transformation I guess is complete.

Ma Durga and her Family

Flowers for the Goddess

Offering Flowers

Simple setups

The Goddess

And now to the winner which I decided through Random.org. I first put the name of all commenters in an excel sheet, eliminating duplicate comments.

Then I generated the random number through Random.org which was 13. This was Miri in the excel sheet. So the winner of this giveaway is Miri who blogs at Peppermill Recipes.

On a lark I clicked on the Random Number Generator again and this time it was 32. This was Usha, the second to last commenter.

Good sense prevailed and I closed my browser to never hit the Generate button again.

So both Miri and Usha get to pick their choice of gifts. But since Miri was the first winner I will go with her charity CSA - a corporate initiative by Kale consultants to support adoption in India.Both Miri and Usha please contact me by e-mail (sandeepa(dot)blog(at)gmail(dot)com).

Shubho Bijoya to you all and I will be back soon with a Nimki recipe. Promise.

Ramadan, Paryushana, Mahalaya and a Giveaway

No, this post has nothing to do with any religion. I am not the right person for that kind of thing. I have little knowledge about the tenets and rituals of the various religion including mine. All I want myself to have is faith, a belief to guide me through life.

This B&W photo of Narkel Naru from a previous Durga Pujo goes to Susan's B&W Wednesday

Why I mention Ramadan or is it Ramzan, is because I have been always very impressed with the fasting, the rigors of sacrifice and self-control involved in that month of intense heat and scorch. When we were little and barely knew to spell "religion" our parents uttered the word "Ramzan" with hushed reverence. Reverence for Maulbi Saab who shut the green doors of his store the entire afternoon for he fasted and went without water in the searing heat and needed rest. For my classmate's parents who worked through the day and dealt with three kids without a morsel of food to sustain them until sunset. The whole idea of abstinence from food and water seemed huge, looming large above anything they might have done during that period. In those times, Iftar or the fast-breaking meal was less glorified and it was the fasting during Ramadan that held all the attention.

Paryushana is a word I heard only recently from here. And this after we spent years being neighbor to a Jain Aunty who made the best stuffed red chili pickles in the Universe.If you are ignorant like me, it is a Jain festival when the laity take on vows of study and fasting with a spiritual intensity similar to temporary monasticism.This is the time when the wandering monks take up residence for the monsoons and so the householders immerse themselves in an annual renewal of faith by meditation and self-control.The last day of the festival you ask for forgiveness from all living beings as I understand.

Very apt and fulfilling it seems, to come together for a purpose, to live a few days trying the body and mind to strict submissiveness, channeling thoughts for a greater purpose maybe.On the aside, two of my fellow bloggers a hiker and a yoga-er have already tried their body and mind in greater ways, and so it does not necessarily have to do anything with religion or festivals.

When I mulled over these two festivals from two very different religions it is the self-control that they profess to practice for a few days every year fascinated me. I do not come from a fasting household. My Mother does have her quota of vratas and fasts but none of them ask to go without food for the entire day or for a consecutive period of days.If I try to go 12 hours without food, my Mother thinks I have become weak.Mr.Hazare is clearly not her type.

As an adult on my own I have never practiced total abstinence from food or anything else willingly. Here we will ignore severe bouts of stomach flu when one eats Phuchka and egg roll on their Calcutta jaunt. This year I wanted to spend a few days practicing to eat one meal a day, to spend my day not thinking of food(my usual hobby) and cooking but something beyond myself.Sure sign that I am fast approaching the age for Vanaprastha.

DebiPoksho begun yesterday on Mahalaya. The Goddess is packing her last sari in the suitcase and checking to see if the door locks are working properly, after all she will be away for all five days and that husband, Shiva of hers is hardly trustworthy with such things. The countdown to her arrival has begun. It is a moment of anticipation and joy in the heart of the many Bengalis around the globe.On my part I will try to eat only one meal a day for these four days till Panchami. No one has asked me to do this, there is no set rule and I don't know why I am doing this at all. Heck, I might not be even able to do it and succumb to that bar of chocolate mid morning.

I have no intention to achieve anything but I hope this period will make me appreciate food and everything else that is easily available to me more.

Since it is that time of the year when the heart sings a tune even though there is no swaying kashful in sight or damp sheuli their face upturned waiting for me on the wet morning grass, I want to share the song with you. For you alone my Blog Readers who have always been with me all these years, I have a humble gift.

For the simple reason that I do not have enough riches (ha, ha), there can be only one winner and the winner of this Giveaway gets a choice to pick a

CorningWare SimplyLite 1-1/2-Quart Casserole with Glass and Plastic Lids (this I have and love) from here

OR a Le Creuset Stoneware 16-Ounce French Onion Soup Bowl, Kiwi (This I would love to have) from here
** This is if Amazon ships to where you live
If you do not want the above gifts and you are a winner, you will get the equivalent amount in Amazon Gift Card.

For those in India, I have a gift of a much loved book. I will send it from Flipkart so you have to be where they can ship.

Garlic And Sapphires: The Secret Life Of A Critic In Disguise(Paperback) by Ruth Reichl
If you do not want this book you will get a Flipkart e-voucher for the equivalent amount.

The winner of the giveaway also has a responsibility. He/She gets to pick a charity they support and I will contribute $50 towards that charity (given that it is valid and all). It is okay if you at least like the work of a certain charity and would like me to contribute towards it.

So to be part of this giveaway you need to do the following

1.Leave a comment on this post along with your e-mail id

2.Tell me since when  you read this blog and a charity you think does good work

Go ahead now and do your part. If you follow me on OR , you have to leave a comment right here to be considered for the Giveaway

And as they say over the Loudspeaker दुर्गा पूजा की हार्दिक शुभ कामना or দূর্গা পুজোর অনেক শুভেচ্ছা or tepid as it sounds in English Happy Durga Pujo

*** And oh yeah, No one has sponsored these gifts and all of them are paid by me because I love you so***

Coffee House er sei adda ta...

This post should have been written last year, but I sat on it for the longest time ever because I did not know how to write what I felt. I still don't. But what the heck I thought. It is Black & White Wednesday. And anyway what can you write about something that is as mythical as Coffee House,tucked between old bookshops, above betel-juice stained stairs on a by-lane just east off College Street.

It is not that I had my first love there, beneath those high ceilings and dusty twirling fans.Nor did I bunk classes to discuss fall of the Soviet empire over wispy smokes of Charminar and tall, grimy glasses of cold coffee. Sitting besides those mildewed walls, I did not pen my my first poem for a Little Magazine.

All that I really did was drop in whenever I was in the area, to eat and soak up the atmosphere. The food wasn't even good and the service austere. Yet, I would step in, fanning myself with a dupatta, my sling back loaded with books;to order a plate of chicken pakoda or a kobiraji cutlet and a cup of really bad coffee. The hum of the rich sounds around me, the smell that reverberated through the walls trapped since the 70's, the imperceptible presence of Calcutta's literati in the same uncomfortable wooden chairs as mine, fascinated me. I wanted to belong to the Coffee House crowd but never did.

Last year after I had spent hours browsing through the book stalls spilling with books on the narrow pavements on a particularly humid day in October, I stepped into Coffee House again. The place seemed stuck in time, relying heavily on its past glory. The walls seemed to have taken a careless brush of paint and some of the wooden chairs had given way to plastic. The sign stuck on its walls was another new addition but I doubt if anyone so much as took a glance.

Everything else including the servers with their elaborate head gears and their strict demeanor remained same. I ordered a Chicken Kobiraji for myself, D got an omlette. We sipped our cold coffee, limp and uninspiring.

I took out my DSLR but was too shy to break the rich monotonous hum with a high pitched click and so kept it away. After a few pics with my smaller camera, we stepped out in the sun into the cool interiors of the Indica, leaving the musty yet energetic 70's in our wake.

Calcutta Coffee House -- circa 2010

I don't know if the above picture qualifies, if it does off it goes to Susan's Black & White Wednesday.

This & That of Summer Vacation

This summer, being the Type A parent that I am, I had been a little worried. Big Sis might not have fun I thought. The scenario was something like this.She did not want to join a summer camp; her very good friend, the little neighbor girl left for India the day after the vacations started; she would be home with Little Sis and the nanny and nothing on TV except basic cable translated to PBS kids.

She will start whining and start off with "I am getting bored..." every afternoon I get back from work, I told all and sundry who cared to listen.

Instead last week she told me "This is the best summer vacation ever".

Harbor at Sonderborg, the small town about 3 hrs from Copenhagen

Indeed summer has been fun and busy with a lot of things happening that wasn't really planned for. First, there was this show that the kids put up, a very casual "stage-in-the-basement" kind of thing, in lines of something we ourselves did as a kid every summer. There were dances to Tagore's songs where the little ones had mismatched steps and when one did a twirl the other just looked on but they looked immensely cute in their red-bordered sarees doing whatever they did to the tunes of "Dhitang Dhitang Bole".

Next, they did a drama, Sukumar Ray's "Obaak Jolpaan". Given that the age range of kids in the drama was 5 to 8 , we Mothers had ruthlessly shortened the dialogs to make it easier for them. The kids did the drama so well that it was hilarious. And they all had loads of fun doing it too.

Pretty Windmills all around

The day after the "function", we went for a week's vacation to Denmark. D was on work there for 2 days and so we all decided to tag along and spend a week. Again being the Type A kinda Mother I was little hesitant and worried about food etc. for LS because the none of the hotels that we had booked had a kitchenette.

Ice Cream on the Boat

I shouldn't have worried at all, for there was ice cream all around and LS thrived on it. Also kids are more adaptable than we think and LS nibbled on hot dogs, pasta, Thai chicken, Indian butter chicken(this was horrible), Greek gyros and that was fine for her. In fact she was much more happier and active with the very little eating that she had to do.

The Little Mermaid

Big Sis was at the right age to enjoy what she visited. She had been reading some of Hans Christian Andersen's works and was really looking forward to see the Little Mermaid. The castles now turned into museums were also a source of great interest to her as were the many canals along which we took a ferry ride.

The Canals of CopenHagen

The Elephant Parade in CopenHagen

The Old and the New

On a rainy Morning

Back from the vacation, BigSis is off again on a sleepover, this time at a very good friend's home who is also a family friend. The little one cried her heart out because Sis will be away today. Tomorrow when BisgSis is back the regular sisterly fights can begin.

Hopen Hagen