After two weeks of melting our hearts with their sweet mannerisms and angrezi accent, my niece and nephew have left for Dubai to stay with their mother's set of parents. The two weeks they had stayed here have flown by like a breath of fresh air and the saying that time flies when you are happy could never have been truer.
This visit of the brother and his family was more special as this had been their first that Anakutti would remember. She interacted actively with her cousins from London instead of watching them with curious eyes and garbled words as she had done two years ago. I was excited by their visit for the sake of the kids...my kid specifically, who craves company of people her age. So these two weeks have gone in managing pick ups and drops between mum's place and ours and organizing lunches and dinners for the family as a whole.
I don't think I have eaten out as much as this in a long while. I wanted to expose the children to a bit of Indian food during their stay here and though my mother was worthy in her efforts to do the same, I too put in my two bits. Ayan seemed to like Indian flavours and didn't have problems with it, which was not the case with my darling Roosh. She was a very picky eater and could survive on rasam and rice for ever. Still I was gratified when they both had their share of porriyals, sambar, papads and mixed rice. They even got to taste S's famous potato fry and they loved it.
When the world's second longest beach lies in your backyard (not literally) that becomes a magnet for all children - young and old. So a trip to the beach was planned and as has been over the years, we trooped to Marina beach with its long stretch of debris and soft sand and colourful stalls. It was late evening before the eager children could dip their toes in the water and squeal with laughter.We adults joined them on the pretext of taking care of them against the strong currents. Ana kutti and her cousins were all over the water - stomping and jumping and immersing themselves slyly in the water. After grinning maniacally which is so unbecoming of an aunt, I got out of the water with the kids in tow. Thankfully no one protested, quite unlike my younger self which would have wanted one last dip before leaving the water. After a quick game of Frisbee (and how long ago did I do that last!) and catch, we meandered to the stalls. The usual staples were lined out - corn on the cob, balloon shooting, bajji and bonda stalls, fried fish, merry-go-rounds, sugar cane juice stall and the like.
The sparks coming off spiritedly from the nearby roasted corn on the cob woman's stall was too tempting to miss. At Rs. 20/- per corn it delivered the message that I was getting older loud and clear. I couldn't help remembering the times when we have paid less that Rs. 5/- for the same and those were for the nutty tasting, hard Indian kernels. Now it is just American corn everywhere and I must say they are easy on the teeth though heavier on the pocket. ;)
Everything we ordered or tried was Rs. 20/- or at the best Rs. 10/- The sugarcane juice was nice with the spice of crushed ginger and tangy lemon cutting beautifully through the sweetness of the hybrid sugarcane. I don't see violet sugarcane anymore, except during Pongal festival. I think these pale golden variety give more juice and so have replaced our old ones. Anyway, after a refreshing drink the kids who were desperately pulling us to the rides got what they wanted. The garish music and lights of the merry go round didn't deter these young tucks from jumping on to horses and cars to have a go. In the pretext of taking care of Ana kutti I too had a go and was quite relieved when the petite sister in law got on to supposedly balance the merry go round...as if. It was perilously slanted towards my end like one end of a see saw. Anyway it was all okay in the end. Whew. We left the beach with the Marina beach is a testament of the flow of time. It has stood a mute, powerful spectator of the time gone by.
I have never had the stomach to try fried fish at the beach...yeah I know some foodie I am. So we stayed clear of it and were content to simply walk on the sand and reminisce. We later had a wonderful, sumptuous dinner at New Woodlands hotel on R K Salai. We ate at their Krishna restaurant which has been popular with people over years. Their South Indian fare matched expectations - tasty and ticked all the right boxes. The North Indian food however was not anywhere close and truly not the best idea in such a quintessentially South Indian place. But what turned out to be a surprise was the Chinese ordered by Roosh who we thought was brave and naive enough to try it out. What really happened was that all of us ended up dipping into her vegetable noodles leaving hardly anything for her. It was so yummy. There is certainly some thing about our Indianised Chinese. I must say, we have owned it.
The rest of the weeks went in a blur of restaurants and home visits, most memorable has been Pantry D' Or and the dawat at bestie FS's place and another at mum's house. There was a non-veg overdose but it was all absolutely tasty. The days in between were filled with the laughter and complains of the kids, which actually sounded like music to my ears. And the icing on the yummy cake of memories was getting to bake some moist, super tasty chocolate cupcakes with eager assistant Roosh. You can try out the recipe here. Sallys Baking Addiction is the perfect blog for a amateur baking enthusiast like me. Not only are her recipes so full of tips on how to get the perfect result, but they are so yummy and turn out just as she says it will. I only just reduced the sugar by one third in this recipe and I loved it. It was so simple, yet the cupcakes looked elegant and pretty. Was having so much fun baking them with Roosh, with my little rowdy and Ayan darting in and out of the kitchen that I forgot to take snaps.
With these darlings leaving, we have managed to overcome the void of their absence only because the coming days became busy again. Not to mention, the host of festivals lined up from this month on; my thoughts about it already filed in this blog last year. So here's to good food and good times in the coming months with loved ones to boot.
This visit of the brother and his family was more special as this had been their first that Anakutti would remember. She interacted actively with her cousins from London instead of watching them with curious eyes and garbled words as she had done two years ago. I was excited by their visit for the sake of the kids...my kid specifically, who craves company of people her age. So these two weeks have gone in managing pick ups and drops between mum's place and ours and organizing lunches and dinners for the family as a whole.
I don't think I have eaten out as much as this in a long while. I wanted to expose the children to a bit of Indian food during their stay here and though my mother was worthy in her efforts to do the same, I too put in my two bits. Ayan seemed to like Indian flavours and didn't have problems with it, which was not the case with my darling Roosh. She was a very picky eater and could survive on rasam and rice for ever. Still I was gratified when they both had their share of porriyals, sambar, papads and mixed rice. They even got to taste S's famous potato fry and they loved it.
When the world's second longest beach lies in your backyard (not literally) that becomes a magnet for all children - young and old. So a trip to the beach was planned and as has been over the years, we trooped to Marina beach with its long stretch of debris and soft sand and colourful stalls. It was late evening before the eager children could dip their toes in the water and squeal with laughter.We adults joined them on the pretext of taking care of them against the strong currents. Ana kutti and her cousins were all over the water - stomping and jumping and immersing themselves slyly in the water. After grinning maniacally which is so unbecoming of an aunt, I got out of the water with the kids in tow. Thankfully no one protested, quite unlike my younger self which would have wanted one last dip before leaving the water. After a quick game of Frisbee (and how long ago did I do that last!) and catch, we meandered to the stalls. The usual staples were lined out - corn on the cob, balloon shooting, bajji and bonda stalls, fried fish, merry-go-rounds, sugar cane juice stall and the like.
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| A must-have at Marina Beach - Roasted Corn on the cob |
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| The ubiquitous merry go round |
The rest of the weeks went in a blur of restaurants and home visits, most memorable has been Pantry D' Or and the dawat at bestie FS's place and another at mum's house. There was a non-veg overdose but it was all absolutely tasty. The days in between were filled with the laughter and complains of the kids, which actually sounded like music to my ears. And the icing on the yummy cake of memories was getting to bake some moist, super tasty chocolate cupcakes with eager assistant Roosh. You can try out the recipe here. Sallys Baking Addiction is the perfect blog for a amateur baking enthusiast like me. Not only are her recipes so full of tips on how to get the perfect result, but they are so yummy and turn out just as she says it will. I only just reduced the sugar by one third in this recipe and I loved it. It was so simple, yet the cupcakes looked elegant and pretty. Was having so much fun baking them with Roosh, with my little rowdy and Ayan darting in and out of the kitchen that I forgot to take snaps.
With these darlings leaving, we have managed to overcome the void of their absence only because the coming days became busy again. Not to mention, the host of festivals lined up from this month on; my thoughts about it already filed in this blog last year. So here's to good food and good times in the coming months with loved ones to boot.
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