My Dearest Komal, Anjli and Amar,
મારા વ્હાલા કોમલ, અંજલી અને અમર
There has been a big gap since my last letter……. you hadn’t noticed! Aw!
All the excursions to the UK and then with Lalitaba here with me, I just haven’t made the time to write! Ba is keeping me on my toes.
We have already made good use of the lovely warm weather and made papdi(પાપડી) and vadios(વળીઓ) to keep us stocked for the next 18 months. There is already a threat of making ganthia(ગાંઠિયા), samosa pastry(સમોસાના પડ) and much more!
I do really enjoy it. It is fun to learn all these old traditional food items and soon there will be nobody left to make them! I have written down all the recipes and promise to pass them on to you in the near future. I feel that there is nothing like actually getting involved in the making of it.
As you know, my last trip to the UK was to attend Sonal’s wedding. It was a wonderful time of meeting family, enjoying the great celebrations and undoubtedly the scrumptious food. One of the newish additions to the family (a nephew’s wife, bhabhi, ભાભી, to you), was amazed as to how I was able to juggle so many things in life! I was proudly able to tell her, ‘I get all my inspiration from my 83-year-old mum’.
I am having a great mother-daughter bonding session. Ba has been telling me all her childhood stories: life with her grandmother in the village of Naar, her pioneering times in the jungles of Kenya, her young married life with Gangaba’s big family in Jinja and even a story of death/murder? involving my grandfather. Intriguing indeed. I shall save all these stories for another letter.
Many people associate the term ‘subservient’ with the Indian females. I have been influenced greatly by the females in my life, Gangaba, Surajba and Lalitaba, and I would definitely not associate the term ‘subservient’ to them. More like ‘pioneering’ women.
With this letter I want to remedy the lack of recipes in my last few letters. Today the recipes are for Mixed Daal-દાળ ઢીલી and Rotli-રોટલી. I have also uploaded a video on ‘How to make rotli’ on YouTube for which I have Komal to thank for. Good job Komal. Please also look up the ‘Top 7 Cooking Tips’ page.
So does the video inspire any of you to make rotlis? Besides reactions to the letters, I always await comments on the recipes. So please humour me!
With lots of love, hugs and kisses,
Vishfully yours,
Mum
Hi Komal, Glad to see you are cooking a lot more now….super!
Hi Anjli…..when? Xmas? Or perhaps January?
Hi mum,
Oooh you’ve whet my appetite for the food and for the murder story with your dada. Although I’m terrible at following your recipes to the letter, I have learned a lot from you in terms of cooking. My latest dinner party where I made fish curry and vegan curry, a lot of the basics in terms of ‘vaghar’ etc. all come naturally to me now! And the feedback speaks for itself! So thank you for that!!
Will make a date to make these dishes very soon…watch this space….#mustbuyapressurecooker
Glad you’re enjoying your time with ba mum! I hope to get a good mother-daughter session in with you sometime soon!! Missing you!
Anjli
xxx
At this rate I should arrange a workshop to make rotlis! I can already pinpoint my partner in crime in Zurich! Thank you Durrat for your complements.
So are you including your sisters in this group? Just like Lalitaba , I feel I have more energy as I age! Glad you are reading the letters too.
Thanks Achala. It is great to have mum here. The days are just zooming by.
Dear Vishvala,
love the picture of the papdi drying on your sunny terrace, they have been placed with such beautiful symmetry that at first glance it looks like a floor mosaic! Must be a 100 papdi’s. Mum and daughter keep up the energy and enjoy the wonderful late summer in zurich.
Also checked out your you tube video, it looks very professional and you make, making nice round rotli’s look so easy.
Love,
Durrat
I think subservient is the last word anyone would use to describe the women in your family!
Glad you are enjoying time with Mum!
Really enjoyed reading the latest blog.