Briha

Our school project day coincides with Chacha Nehru's birthday every year. And if things were normal, by now we would have decided the topic for our project display over hot tea and biscuits staying after school for long meetings. Some times we get to eat samosas and cupcakes if it's someone's birthday. We would have by now given n number of suggestions for the project topic. Once the topic gets decided we in smaller groups would have come up with notes, illustrations pertaining to that particular class level. The fracas over who will do what, some times when an interesting concept overlaps then we want to keep it for our own class. Hence the fracas. Otherwise, we are a group of very accommodating ladies. You must see us after the project. We are like sisters who got lost ( lost and found) in some carnival long ago. laughing, hugging, and congratulating each other on our success. It's a sight to been seen. The emotions are at a peak. How I miss it all now. After the t...

#MIL power Yes it's been a long time since we started interacting on opos theme. Long long ago very long ago RK was thrown out of a group for using too much of PC and his attitude. But we were staunch followers, not knowing the next step, just kept mum. I thought fb was all about these small talks and then vanish off kind of stuff.  Then out of no where, a small group with just  the few us + RK was formed. Those days I would wait to wake up in the morning to try cooking an opos dish, take pictures, write a recipe, post from my pc, take a quick bath, check for CV's and RK's comments. And then my day would start at school. Afternoon, back from school, I would switch on the computer first and then eat a snack. I started using a spoon to eat so that I can use my hands on the mouse to scroll up and down to check posts. It was a craze, once I pmed RK to ask which mobile phone will be good for checking fb posts. As per his suggestion bought a  samsung, dropped it broke it ...

#forgottenfavourite KOZHAMBU, RASAM and KAI. Always, this was the menu for lunch at my pukkaam. Sometimes add-ons were thovayal, thair pachadi and appalam. Typically South Indian, with slight Andra touch, because my mil lived in Andra before her marriage. By the way I want to tell you all that she was Vahitha Rehman's class mate in school. In my pukkaam, food was  cooked in large quantities because we were a big family. We were not the touch and go kind of eaters. We liked all vegetables, none of us were finicky about garlic and onions. My mother in law cooked very tasty food. She spent a lot of time in kitchen.  She liked to serve all of us and then eat. But but but...... I missed the variety that I was used to in my mom's kitchen. She cooked quickly and came out of the kitchen to watch her favourite TV soaps. She was not very fond of staying in the kitchen, she just went in to do her duty. At times she tried Mallika Badrinath recipes, and we used to make fun of it....

When I saw posts on Dalgona coffee all over the social media, I was not even able to pronounce it properly, I even called it dulcolax coffee. Don't laugh, ....both serve the same purpose. With nothing else to do, I did a goosearch  and got some info about the coffee and it's origin. This coffee originated in South Korea, and they wrongly say it requires only 3 ingredients. Actually it requires  five ingredients.  Instant coffee, sugar, and hot water are vigorously mixed together until the froth becomes fluffy and aerated. Then this froth is poured on top of ice and milk.  In South Korea it's called Ppopgi, and it means honey comb toffee. They used to look like lollipops those days and were available as street food, but now it's taken the form of a drink. This easy-to-make drink melts into a beautiful, white and gold ombré color and boasts a sweet coffee flavor with a pillowy texture. This coffee  has gained popularity as "Dalgona coffee" during the  ...

 My mother Vanaja Ranganathan  was a self taught cook. She married when she was 18, and had to go to Delhi after her marriage. She was the Chella kuzhandai (ladli beti) in her household, all the more  because she lost her mother as soon as she was born. She learnt to cook from her neighbours and my father also helped her. One thing she learnt the hard way was to make Kali. Kali is a sweet dish associated with a festival called Thiruvadirai, but can be made even otherwise. It is like a sweet rice Upma. If jaggery is added early,  the rice will not cook properly and if added later then it may not mix well, becomes soggy and may taste not so good.  It's a tricky dish. She took a long time to crack it. We were three siblings, year after year we saw the Kali taking shape. Different shapes. Pun unintended, she is after all my mother. 😊 The red letter day came. It was Thiruvadirai and she had made Kali. The Kali that she brought to the table was a partly cooked/ par...

Same place.. Same pose.. Same people.. After more than 5 years, we left for Krishnapuram on 2020 Valentine's day late evening by podigai express. Krishnapuram is a small village near Kadayanallur, Thenkasi. We had been there long time ago, much before  Abhaya- my sister, Mani athimber, Meena and Bhattacharya jee built their retirement bungalows in this beautiful scenic village. They now live here in great peace, with western ghats behind them, an overflowing branch of ganges river just a few yards away and  greenery allover. (Read the sthalapuranam of jaya veera anjaneya temple to know the story of ganges that runs here) We visited the temple of Jaya Veera Abhaya Hastha Anjaneya on the day we arrived. Since it was  a saturday it was full of devotees from near by villages. This temple has the distinction of being a holy place that can be traced back to the Ramayana. There is a reference to this place in the Kishkinda Kandam of Valmiki’s Ramayana. The figure of Ha...