Happiness is..

 When your 9 year old comes and hugs you. You ask "What happened" And she says "Nothing just wanted to hug you :) "

Rasode main kaun hai

 Yours truly, aur kaun. :D

My kitchen journey is that of a typical 80s girl. I didn't cook as a kid cos Mummy was there. In spite of having a full time job, she never asked and in fact abhorred any help in the kitchen :) She used to work in her own pace and style. When mummy was transferred to another location and sis and I were living with Papa, I was forced to pick up one key cooking skill. Making tea! I was probably 13 years old then and quickly came to grips with the process of making tea. And I started making the most amazing teas! So much so that even if Papa had the time, he would ask me to make tea. The evening chai with a big serving of Milk Bikis and Thin Arrowroot biscuits was standard practice for us three. When mummy used to come on her holidays, she used to be shocked at the full mug fulls of teas we kids used to have. But the love for chai has stayed on with my sister and I. So much so, till date there is a debate who makes the better tea :D her or me :D . (Its me!) I can write a whole post on tea itself and my love for it. I have lived with many tea lovers during my adult life. I had a room mate who used to claim "any time is tea time". I did not have a pleasant stay with her, but somehow having the morning cup of tea before starting to work and the evening cup once back were the moments of peace and weird calm. I also lived with a bunch of Delhi girls once upon a time, who were ace tea makers too. But I cannot talk about tea without mentioning roomie dear who used to make a killer tea.  Every morning a really quiet but super recharging walk, followed by hot parathas  with an unhealthy portion of butter, a cup of tea and The Time of India shared between us. We never needed any retreat. We started every day as if we were in a retreat. Some of the very best mornings of my life!

The knowledge of making coffee kinda grew as a lateral learning. There was some science to boiling the milk to the right extent and pouring it in a certain way to get the right amount of froth. There was also the measure of coffee to make it "light" or "strong". Marrying into a Tamil household opened my eyes to coffee. Its a ritual. I am not ritualistic. But the taste of fresh ground coffee, that is something that words cannot describe. I embraced coffee drinking with as much passion as tea. And I managed to introduce "real" tea in the our circle. The proper tea ;) with ginger, little bit of cardamom, the right amount of sugar, tea, milk and water. Its heaven in a cup! 

Tea, coffee aside, I cooked only for survival before marriage. Cooking when it was my "turn" to cook or when the lady who cooked didn't turn up.  In fact, when K spoke to my mother for the first time, she even mentioned "Amrita cant cook". K replied "She will learn" I chuckled "hah dream on". I thought I was one of those girls, who couldn't and wouldn't cook. Cooking wasn't cool.

Entering a partnership with a foodie changes stuff. Rather entering a partnership with a man changes stuff for a woman. Cos most men value food. They may have different tastes, but I haven't met a man who doesn't place food in the higher echelons in terms of priority ;) kuch bhi bana do is not really kuch bhi bano do :) 

After marriage along with bringing in the delicacy of tea, I also brought in matar paneer, gobi aloo, kadhi, stuffed parathas and vegetables such as pointed gourd, red spinach and Malabar spinach. I also had to imbibe the fair share of kootu, avial and a wide variety of rice dishes. I never fancied myself as a cook, but cooking equated creating. And I am one who loves seeing a tangible output. This post for instance is an output of my thoughts and gives me immense pleasure. I don't bother about who may or may not read it, but I derive immense satisfaction in writing it. Cooking in the sweltering heat of Chennai also gave the same sense of satisfaction when I saw the spread on the table later! 

Migrating to the UK was another culinary exposure. Since I was the solo person in the kitchen ( a first! no room mate or mom or mil) I learnt stuff. I picked up dishes from all over India and started experimenting. K and my Indian palette never wavered much from our traditional Indian dishes though we tried the odd Italian, Mexican or African. We reserved those cuisine for outside dining. When kids came along with their taste accustomed to the European foods thanks to day care and school, we had to drag in some international items into the kitchen. 

All was fine and dandy, but there was one thing I couldn't do. I couldn't bake. I couldn't bake to save my life! Literally. When lock down happened, I felt brave and tried a no-bake tart first. It came out swell! Ahem, beginner's luck? The next step was a doughnut recipe from a channel BakeWithShivesh. That was a roaring success too. The kids loved it since I involved them. They loved watching the video and later making it. I was feeling brave. I was doing all this with weight measurements since I had a kitchen scale. But then I thought measuring cups would be handy. I got them and tried the Devil's food cake with a lot of anxiety. And it came out perfect! There was no stopping after that. From a non-baker, I evolved into one who owns a hand and mechanical whisk, a spring form baking pan, 2 normal ones to make layered cakes, muffin trays, and knows the difference between ganache and buttercream frosting and fresh cream  frosting and is also aware of  how to make them! :D 

Lock down make me find therapy in cooking! I have started making pickles and dry chutneys, nut butters and laddoos and a plethora of other items. I relish cooking so much that a regular complaint from K is "You are always in the kitchen"

I know what I was missing

 A holiday! And I finally had one. Not a day out in the parks, not a trip to the nearby zoo and back. But a proper staying out of home holiday. And the last one we had was two years ago!

Faced with the pandemic we took a very conservative stance towards holidays. As the world opened up briefly last year around summer, we decided it was still too early to go for holidays and trips. We were more than content with the local forests and parks. During winter last year, we made a few day trips to zoos and other outdoor venues. In UK internal travel restrictions were to lifted on the 18th of May. But we had to plan in advance. Again we took a very conservative stance and booked a place close by thus making sure we were within England. Not only that the place was 1 hour from home which made it the same county which would ensure that we would mostly be under similar restrictions if things went downhill.

But planning a holiday is no child's play. Add the fact that we were looking at summer half term which is a very busy time given the probability of good weather. Also there were millions of stir crazy Britons who were desperate for a holiday..accommodations of choice were in short supply. I was close to giving up. But my dear sis nudged me on asking me to keep looking for my sake. It is important to rejuvenate and travel is rejuvenating.

I was getting frustrated. But K happened to send me a link for a probable destination. It had my interest piqued. One thing led to another and I booked a forest retreat with hot tubs. If nothing else, the hot tubs would be a novel experience ;)

There was a month and a half's wait before the holiday. A week to it I asked the kids to pack their stuff. They got super super excited. They took out bags, packed clothes, sweaters, jackets, and started counting down. Me being me had to review their choice of clothes and accessories. And as with any holiday I decided the kids needed new clothes. Nearly a year of lockdown had depleted their clothes reserves and added a lot to their pyjama collections. So 4 days prior to the hols the three girls were sitting all agog in front of the laptop choosing dresses. I ended up purchasing some real stylish clothes for the girls which was a wholly entertaining experience in itself. We made a trip to the mall to collect the clothes and tried them on there. It was novel experience since trial rooms were not available to avoid social contact. Doing something as trivial and mundane as trying out clothes made me feel good. It was some amazing mother daughters time I must say! As a pleasant surprise we met one of Pumpki 's nursery friends and her mom and spent close to an hour talking while the kids played. It was a really pleasant experience.

The day of the holiday the kids could not contain their excitement. Somehow the nice weather made sure that we were in the garden pottering about. It had been a very busy weekend with a lot of washing of winter wear and the likes and packing them up. It was finally warm!!!

Our holiday was quaint and idyllic. The sceneries were just breathtaking. There were few crowds and many places were just left for us. It was very amazing just walking and walking. The kids showed immense will power in walking close to 10k -13k steps every single day. The hot tub at the end of the day was a major motivation to keep them going. Seeing their enthusiasm we are sure they are up for many walking holidays in the future. :) We all watched a ton of TV, I read and finished the good part of a book. We ate take away food and just relished living some where else. 

It was the best 4 days we spent in a long long time. It was just splendid and I daresay perfect! Touchwood.