Dear Friends,
This is an episode I may never be able to forget nor have I been tempted to attempt it ever.
A relative and an admirer of mine wanted help in cooking for a large number of people for our family function. So I suggested we all organized our workloads in such way that each will be responsible to make 2 or 3 dishes sharing time slots in the same kitchen.
It was a novel idea and was a huge success except for the main sweet dish we call 'payasam' (a porridge) with milk and sugar as base. This relative's daughter was to prepare the main sweet dish while I was concentrating on mine nearby.
The daughter kept the dish on boil mode asking her mother to keep stirring it and went on some errand. Her mother poured some payasam into a glass to taste. I saw her taste it and also saw how half spill over a dirty counter. It was scooped into the glass again. In the few seconds and before her daughter could come in, she poured the dirty stuff into the big dish saying we should not waste anything!!
I knew what that payasam will taste like later on. Sure enough the payasam curdled and the entire dish was gone as soon as the small amount of that scooped stuff was poured in.
At such times it is wise not to think of the wastage. One can keep it separately and drink it too without spoiling the entire thing meant to be served to all guests.
I still wonder about such kind of philosophy even now. Whenever I am confronted with a choice I never have second thoughts, I just junk such things rather than suffer a thoroughly spoilt dish.
The guests were commenting about the payasam. The daughter was so puzzled but dint know how it got spoilt. I dint reveal nor did her mother as she was afraid of the reaction from her daughter.
Mahalakshmi.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Avakka and Thangai (Mango Pickle and Younger Sister)
Dear Friends!
Let me explain some terminology so that you can understand what I want to convey today!
Avakka is an Andhra special pickle made of raw mangoes, fine powders of chilli and mustard, salt and enough sesame oil to soak the cut mangoes.
Akka is elder sister in Tamil.
Thangai is younger sister in Tamil.
What does an Avakka, akka and thangai have in common you might wonder. There is, there is.
My husband's sister had made some avakka and shared it with us before going away to Abu Dhabi last month.
My brother-in-law (husband's brother) has come down. As I was serving him food, he wanted to taste the avakka pickle at home. Just to keep the conversation going I told him it was not av'akka but thangai pickle!
He dint understand and I asked him to guess why I was saying thangai instead of av-akka for this pickle.
He came up with some other ingredients for the thangai pickle instead of the usual ones for avakka! He tried taking a few more guesses. I hinted that he could just ring up Abu Dhabi and say the pickle was nice. Even then he just could not connect!
Then I asked him who was in Abu Dhabi? He named his sister's husband who works there! I had to tell him the connection by asking the following questions :D
Where is your sister?
She made the pickle.
She is your thangai.
So this is not akka pickle but a thangai pickle :D
We all had a laughing session after that.
Then later in the day today, I was asked to make the Andhra peanut powder (groundnuts, salt, chilli and other masalas) for someone and I had run out of stock of peanuts.
So I requested my brother-in-law to buy some raw peanuts from a nearby shop.
When I opened the packet I was surprised to find dried green peas in them!
He innocently asked me whether I dint want the dried green peas (Green chana or battanna)! Then I knew again that he had translated the pea to green peas and bought dried green peas instead of groundnuts or peanuts!
I knew I had not communicated properly to him what exactly I wanted.
We should never presume that everybody knows everything that we know.
May god give us patience to extract work from others by communicating in simple and effective way.
Cheers!
Mahalakshmi
Let me explain some terminology so that you can understand what I want to convey today!
Avakka is an Andhra special pickle made of raw mangoes, fine powders of chilli and mustard, salt and enough sesame oil to soak the cut mangoes.
Akka is elder sister in Tamil.
Thangai is younger sister in Tamil.
What does an Avakka, akka and thangai have in common you might wonder. There is, there is.
My husband's sister had made some avakka and shared it with us before going away to Abu Dhabi last month.
My brother-in-law (husband's brother) has come down. As I was serving him food, he wanted to taste the avakka pickle at home. Just to keep the conversation going I told him it was not av'akka but thangai pickle!
He dint understand and I asked him to guess why I was saying thangai instead of av-akka for this pickle.
He came up with some other ingredients for the thangai pickle instead of the usual ones for avakka! He tried taking a few more guesses. I hinted that he could just ring up Abu Dhabi and say the pickle was nice. Even then he just could not connect!
Then I asked him who was in Abu Dhabi? He named his sister's husband who works there! I had to tell him the connection by asking the following questions :D
Where is your sister?
She made the pickle.
She is your thangai.
So this is not akka pickle but a thangai pickle :D
We all had a laughing session after that.
Then later in the day today, I was asked to make the Andhra peanut powder (groundnuts, salt, chilli and other masalas) for someone and I had run out of stock of peanuts.
So I requested my brother-in-law to buy some raw peanuts from a nearby shop.
When I opened the packet I was surprised to find dried green peas in them!
He innocently asked me whether I dint want the dried green peas (Green chana or battanna)! Then I knew again that he had translated the pea to green peas and bought dried green peas instead of groundnuts or peanuts!
I knew I had not communicated properly to him what exactly I wanted.
We should never presume that everybody knows everything that we know.
May god give us patience to extract work from others by communicating in simple and effective way.
Cheers!
Mahalakshmi
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Household Expenses
Dear Friends,
This morning my mother was walking down memory lane. She had this story to tell for today, though I have heard it many times, I will record it for posterity for you all!
Her aunt's daughter-in-law was always given a fixed amount as household expenses by her husband each month. She would be very fond of deep frying papads, snacks, tiffins like puris, brewing strong South Indian coffee, etc., and her excuse for making anything special had to have a strong reason as her husband would scold her if she were to ask for more money before the month ended. She had to account for every little household expense for him. They had a large family those days with their children alone numbering about 7 or 8.
It seems she would invite some guest or the other and take that as an excuse/opportunity to make special items for them and feed the entire family to sumptious meals and tiffins. Her provisions for the month would be over within a fortnight.
She would account under the heading 'guests' to escape her husband's questioning. She must have been a very popular host serving all her guests with so much affection.
Those were the days when women stayed strictly at home to look after the family. The sole earning member would be the man. This was in the late 1930s.
Atithi Devo Bhava!
Cheers!
Mahalakshmi.
This morning my mother was walking down memory lane. She had this story to tell for today, though I have heard it many times, I will record it for posterity for you all!
Her aunt's daughter-in-law was always given a fixed amount as household expenses by her husband each month. She would be very fond of deep frying papads, snacks, tiffins like puris, brewing strong South Indian coffee, etc., and her excuse for making anything special had to have a strong reason as her husband would scold her if she were to ask for more money before the month ended. She had to account for every little household expense for him. They had a large family those days with their children alone numbering about 7 or 8.
It seems she would invite some guest or the other and take that as an excuse/opportunity to make special items for them and feed the entire family to sumptious meals and tiffins. Her provisions for the month would be over within a fortnight.
She would account under the heading 'guests' to escape her husband's questioning. She must have been a very popular host serving all her guests with so much affection.
Those were the days when women stayed strictly at home to look after the family. The sole earning member would be the man. This was in the late 1930s.
Atithi Devo Bhava!
Cheers!
Mahalakshmi.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Unconditional Love
Dear Friends,
We all know unconditional love is got from one's parents as a matter of course and most times it is also taken for granted.
In a Tamil TV serial 'Tendral' which is about the struggle of a young girl to do her engineering at any cost and what all she has to undergo to achieve that is what the story line is all about. The father who does not like this daughter now starts liking her a lot and takes her to a garment shop to buy her new clothes as her college is about to start. This is the first time he is buying her clothes out of love and affection. Seeing this particlar episode reminded me of my own two sisters.
The eldest one is a very affectionate type and treats my youngest sister as her own daughter though she is younger by only 8 years. I remember how the eldest would take the youngest to shops in T.Nagar and buy her good sets of clothes to wear to college, then to office once she got employed and the for her marriage. This kind of love is pure gesture without pre-conditions. It comes from the heart.
It makes both happy to be able to do for another and for the other to recieve it.
When I recall such beautiful and unforgettable moments, I feel we have to be born in such close knit families to experience such unconditonal love. We are blessed because we are born in certain families where all are there for one another. It takes some effort on the part of every member in such family to give our love unconditionally so that there is happiness in the family circle.
Cheers.
Mahalakshmi
We all know unconditional love is got from one's parents as a matter of course and most times it is also taken for granted.
In a Tamil TV serial 'Tendral' which is about the struggle of a young girl to do her engineering at any cost and what all she has to undergo to achieve that is what the story line is all about. The father who does not like this daughter now starts liking her a lot and takes her to a garment shop to buy her new clothes as her college is about to start. This is the first time he is buying her clothes out of love and affection. Seeing this particlar episode reminded me of my own two sisters.
The eldest one is a very affectionate type and treats my youngest sister as her own daughter though she is younger by only 8 years. I remember how the eldest would take the youngest to shops in T.Nagar and buy her good sets of clothes to wear to college, then to office once she got employed and the for her marriage. This kind of love is pure gesture without pre-conditions. It comes from the heart.
It makes both happy to be able to do for another and for the other to recieve it.
When I recall such beautiful and unforgettable moments, I feel we have to be born in such close knit families to experience such unconditonal love. We are blessed because we are born in certain families where all are there for one another. It takes some effort on the part of every member in such family to give our love unconditionally so that there is happiness in the family circle.
Cheers.
Mahalakshmi
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