Halloween.....scary fun!!!

Chocolate cupcakes with oreo, white chocolate and hazelnut ganache 

So its that time of the year.....Halloween!!! I was first introduced to this festival after moving to the US and to tell you the truth, I was smitten!! I mean, how can moving around with your 3 month old baby in biting cold, screaming "trick or treat" and getting rewarded with bars of 100 Grand, Almond Joy, Twix etc. not be fun? Added to that, I got some pretty cool bunch of kids stopping by at my place with some fairly scary costumes to grab their treats. October 31st was definitely an evening I looked forward to.

Over the years, I have participated in neighborhood Halloween parties, horror walks, fall season bonfires and eating smores, pumpkin carving and so much more. So when I first moved back to India and heard a few people tell me, "Halloween is not our festival.", it left me nonplussed. I mean, how can you choose not to enjoy this superbly cool festival where there is a definite pot of candy at the end of the evening :). Apple bobbing, egg catching, eating popcorn shaped in various horrifying forms, drinking punch which has frozen hands floating inside it, carving a smiling pumpkin and winning the neighborhood carving competition (much to the dismay of all the kids), eating cupcakes full of gummy worms,......wow, the memories are so wonderful that I cannot help but want to share it with my children.

Thankfully, I have found enough like minded mothers of young children that we end up doing a great job making this a celebration for our kids.

It starts with getting the treat bags ready for the children (bags courtesy my most amazingly talented designer friend).....

....and something slightly simpler for the older kids.

Then there is the decorations (courtesy a friend)....

The pumpkin carving....

Pulling together some snacks....here we have some "finger" cookies and ghostly "idlis" (courtesy a friend) and carrot and almond fingers served with a roasted tomato sauce......are you getting scared as yet?

And my favorite...the "hand" popcorn....an eerie red ribbon adds just the right amount of gore :)

Did I mention that the kids need to be prepped in a scary costume? Yep, they do!

This one is from a couple of years ago....included to showcase the very cool life sized skeleton made by yours truly :)

And then we let the kids loose on the streets....with proper supervision of course :).

 

This year, we requested the children to choose two candies from their collections and donate the remainder to children who are unable to afford them. It was a great feeling so see our children be so open to giving.....

 

So what are you waiting for....answer the doorbell and keep your bowl of candy ready for your neighborhood kids and have a lot of fun celebrating a wonderful memory-maker!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh Calcutta!

Visiting Calcutta over Durga Puja after thirteen odd years was a treat beyond imaginations. From discovering my class photographs from Grade 10 and 12, finding out that I was once contemplating poetry as a form of expression (thankfully for a very short time!), to getting a good old flooding in front of my parents house on the first evening of our arrival....I truly felt like I never left Calcutta or is it that Calcutta never left me?

This post is about images....its about snippets of Calcutta that have been captured from my phone's camera and recorded forever....to keep my Calcutta alive for my children.   


There is something about this city that each time I step outside the airport, the air, the atmosphere, the yellow ambassador taxis....they all start making me itch to head towards the nearest sandesh shop and order the "notun-gur" sandesh....to see if I can douse my thirst by drinking "lassi" from the old Sharma's shop in Ballygunj....to eat without a care.

So what is a girl supposed to do for her first morning breakfast in the city that was made for foodoholics? Head to "Bhupendra Mansion" for their amazing idli,vada and dosas of course. The charm of this hidden gem is matched well by the simplicity of their service and the flavor and texture of their food!!

Did I happen to mention that a good cup of tea from "Sardarjee" is another morning must....the pictures on the top and bottom left are all captured while standing at one cross junction of Harish Mukherjee Rd. Truly, where else in India will you find the simple act of sitting under a tree transformed into a portable shaving spa for the men; the white uniformed traffic cop sitting in his station and people sitting on sidewalks after their "morning walks" around Victoria Memorial and savoring some of the best tea in terracotta "kulhars"?

Vegetable shopping at the streetside has its own benefits when you get a beautiful and smiling vendor who just adds some extra green chilies when you request a discount and who thinks its important to remind you that the cilantro is very fresh and may not be around tomorrow...so take the extra bunch :). This is truly the original "farmer's market"....

My father asked me what dessert I would like to have for lunch (yep...I am one of those who needs a dessert after every meal!!!) and of course my answer was "Ganguram's misti doi". There is nothing that can surpass its smooth and sweet taste.

This bit is debatable....however, if someone were to ask me where to go for "Calcutta Chinese"...I will only point them towards the Bengal Club's Oriental Room. There Chopsuey, spring rolls, ginger fried rice, parsley vegetables etc. are all so delicious that we always over order and over eat!!

I did mention that I was in Calcutta over Durga Puja. It was early yet and the Durga idols were still being transported from the potters to the pandals and I happened to be behind one such open truck. How could I resist? Specially when you read the message below? "Awaz Deen"...."Call out". 

Freshly fried and crispy immartis from Gupta Brothers, the sandesh from Balaram Mallick and the pastries from Kookie Jar....are your salivating as yet?

Various images of pandals lit up to showcase the true creativity of Calcuttans....its mesmerizing.

And then there are the quintessential Calcutta images....so varying that it boggles the mind. From lotus flowers available at the vegetable vendor...to the colonial British buildings...to a spider man hanging from atop a city market...to the village drummers who come from far off places to showcase their talents and hope that some pandal organizer will take them for the length of the puja celebrations....

And then I got my first sighting of the ten-armed Durga Ma riding a lion and killing a demon. It was in a breath-taking pandal completely decorated with myriad colored bangles. What a sight!!

And then of course, we did the "pandal-hopping" :). What fun!! Kids were awestruck and would keep wondering about the demon...the lion...the decorations...the beautiful facial expressions of Ma.

I did take some time from the pandals to sit at the BRC lawns and savor the best jalebis in town.

Tried a new restaurant in town....called Jhaal Farezi and was very impressed by the interesting manner in which the seating had been set up. A bungalow with rooms converted to provide a more intimate dining experience. I of course ordered the "Bengali platter" :).

The greens of Tolly Club, the children's play area, the stables...the ice cream shop...this one was for the kids :). We also ate at Kwality's on Park Street, The Tasting Room in Ballygunj and tons of other places.....

And this captures everything about Calcutta that I consider iconic. The Victoria Memorial, the Tram, the human rickshaw pullers and the Howrah bridge over the Ganges.

There is something so special about Calcutta......and that is even more apparent when you visit it during the pujas...you wake up to the sounds of Rabindra Sangeet blaring over loudspeakers, you visit a pandal and someone unexpectedly hands you a beautiful red stole blessed by the Goddess  Durga, your children are spoiled by their loving grandparents and aunts....and so much more!!

Oh Calcutta! Need I say more?

Modern times call for .....fast cooking!!!

In looking at the stats related to this blog, I have come to realize that we all have our priorities and honestly, they are superbly transparent…to prove it, I can further tell you that, the "children's lunchbox" post got maximum views, followed by the “healthy salad” post and then the “travel” to Spain one. Now, does that not tell us something about human nature/priorities?

Considering the above, I thought of making a very healthy meal/dessert/snack (depending on what time of the day it is served and to whom).

The yogurt parfait was an absolute favorite for most of my colleagues at work. It just made the 7 a.m. meetings at the office seem slightly more attractive as we drove through snow piled highways listening to the radio station.  It was also a tradition of sorts for my new year morning breakfast for friends. Of course, in the US, I had the luxury of buying frozen mixed berries (blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries etc.) and it was fairly quick to simply make the layers and accept the compliments J.

For my cousin’s anniversary, we decided to surprise them with home-made breakfast at 7 am. Obviously, the tried and tested yogurt parfait first came to mind and I used a combination of vanilla and strawberry yogurt, fresh strawberries and granola to pull the parfait together. There were a few extras helpings that I shared with my neighbors (yes, I know….just about now, you are wishing you were my neighbor J).  It surprised me to realize that this was a unique combination for most folks and that it was a surefire hit considering its “healthy” quotient. Best of all, the kids seem to love it as well!!

Here I am sharing a slightly modified version of the parfait - for everyone, whether young or old…. 

 

Mango Yogurt Parfait - (serves 6)

 

5 small packs of vanilla flavored yogurt

2 granola bars (I used "oats and honey")

1 cup Mango Puree (homemade with no added sugar)/fresh cut mangoes

1 packet mango flavored jelly (will not be fully used)

Almond flakes and raisins (optional)

Transparent individual serving containers

 

Pre-set your favorite jelly in the containers (I used mango). This step is optional.

 

 

Add vanilla flavored yogurt and top with a layer of granola bar broken in chunks.

 

 

Add fresh fruits or as in my case, the mango puree.

 

 

Simply repeat your layers, top with almond flakes and raisins (as per taste).....and refrigerate. Enjoy it chilled!!

 

This dessert is a lot better when served with fresh fruits. In case you don't have flavored yogurt handy, you can take regular yogurt and add some berry jam to it and whit it well :).

 

So go ahead.....make your day....and your kids as well!!