Sarika

Its a winter season and green peas are everywhere in market and in kitchen. Green peas pulav,Green peas usal,Matar pattice ,matar chi karanji,stuff matar paratha,matar soup and you can really get innovative here.Even simple poha upama suddenly has green appearance in abundance Now there is an argument here you get matar throughout the season or haven't you heard about frozen mutter. But then grown up in modest middle class family one of the values that got imbibed is to have seasonal stuff.Season stuff which you get Rs 30-40 sh/kg, off season can roar up to Rs 150 quarter kg and then buying it at that price is a sin :)  (here there is no question of whether you afford it or not. Just your whims to have some food will not justify that price.) So when its a season you stock it up and then deep freezer section will have different dessert boxes filled with green peas. You take out one box for the menu on the card. Whenever I make mattar pattice I remember mavshi who had invited me for ...

Scene 1: Dropped son at stop for school bus and on the way back picked up milk packets from centre . while tea was on, milk was up for boiling I was on daily task list one by one.. collect malai ,warm left over milk ,set curd , make buttermilk for day. Took vegetables out from tray and started cutting it. "So much work you have in the morning." exclaimed my sister in law who was watching all these morning silent movie. Really? Ya..we really don't do all this in USA.Just take out milk can  from freeze and make tea. Canned milk so no need to boil.Curd doesn't set well of that milk so no question of setting curd. No curd no buttermilk. Skimmed milk so no malai no butter making no ghee making. and there I am thinking >>all this may be comes naturally in many of Indian house holds..We have grown up watching mothers /grand mothers doing all these activities and as we set our own kitchen many of that we picked up unknowingly. Scene 2: All of them were meeting for schoo...

In this metro city Mumbai at times truly feel blessed to be surrounded by nature. T here are many big old GulMohar, PilaMohor, Coconut trees along with bushes and flowering plants.10 15 minutes of walk here during any time of day is super refreshing. As I walked across this tree today, familiar fragrance took  me miles away from Mumbai to city of Pune. She had this    Anant plant at the entrance of her beautiful bungalow. "Mazhi Mai Mavshi" Remembered her so dearly. Lovely garden crafted around the bungalow with Roses, Sayali Mogra ,Madhumalati ,Aaboli all flowering plants.I used to make flower garland and flaunt in hair.She never ever stopped me from plucking flowers.Rather she used to help me with exploring her garden.She would hand over curry leaves , ginger ,coconut from her garden to all her guests. This modest white flower of Ananta has special place in her Poojaghar. Wooden Poojaghar in kitchen with frames of different deities. Anna would perform his daily Pooja a...

#Seven Wants The difference between want and need is self-control.”--That is straight out of four more shots:) When I started writing about 7 wants this is the first thing that cross my mind may be because it was the latest that I bing watched on Netflix :) On serious notes..all the learnings of my inner engineering online course started a replay on my mind automatically. (a must must course for those who want clarity on this I would say. ..not giving much details as don’t want to dilute gyan with my interpretations :) Wanting is life and there is no life if there are no wants, so just choose your wants wisely. This was take away for me and since then making conscious efforts to do so. At this hour when we all are at unlock mode but scared to venture out , no doubt topmost want for everyone would be Get vaccine for Corona After close to 7 months of  mastering skill of being 'Atmanirbhar' ,we know now we have to live with this for rest of the life. Hope the doctors/scientists be...

After saying goodbye to Bappa yesterday, the morning suddenly felt strangely empty. For almost two weeks, our home had been busy with decorations, cleaning and preparations for Ganapati. My balcony plants had been somewhat neglected during all that this. So, this morning, I escaped into my little balcony garden. And what surprised me was how much had happened while I was busy elsewhere. A baby Gulbakshi plant had appeared. Tiny stems of apple mint had somehow survived months of neglect. New leaves had appeared on plants that I thought were struggling. As I started pruning, digging the soil and watering my plants, I realised something. My balcony garden had been quietly teaching me a few life lessons. * *There is this a baby plant sprouting in my Gulbakshi Pot. * *I took one abundant pot to plant something new.This pot was may be neglected for months.To my surprise there were these tiny stems of apple mint still hanging there.They must have survived for months without proper water...