Of birthday cakes..

I had mentioned Pari's birthday cake in a recent post. Most people who saw the cake were impressed with my idea of a piano cake as well the craft of the designer. My sister, however, wasn't. She felt that by ordering the cake, I am not putting any effort and insisted that I bake one for Pari. It is understandable. Sis bakes lovely cakes and dresses them so well that they can easily pass as store bought designer cakes. I have none of her talent, and zilch willingness to make extra work for myself. We ended up ordering a cake from a professional bakery but this incident reminded of some of the innovative cakes my parents had baked for my birthday. My mother is the kitchen goddess and baking queen. I think except for the first, second and a few later ones, she always baked cakes for my birthdays and continues to do so to this day. One cake that I specifically remember was the guitar cake for my 9th birthday. I was taking guitar classes at the time and my dad thought it was a cool idea to make a cake that reflected my current hobby. I have no clue how they did it. I may have been at school or my usual absent-minded self. I would imagine that Mom would have baked multiple cakes which Papa would have cut into shapes and decorated with chocolate and frosting. I just know that it was there on the table in the living room when I came to cut the cake, and I got super excited to see it. Fortunately, I still have a picture to show Pari.

The K-wave

Pari and I love all things Korean. The fascination began with k-dramas which were our window into the Korean culture and their way of life. Through these, we have learnt about the chaebols(the super rich Korean families - thinks Ambani's and Tata's in India), Korean seasons, their flora and fauna, their food - gimbap, Tteokbokki, rameon, soju et al, their traditional wear as well as current fashion trends, the education system in Korea, the work-culture, weddings, societal structure and values - so on and so forth. Our interest in Korean culture is manifesting in different ways, which so accurately reflect how each of us pursues a common interest. Pari is learning Korean language, and has already started framing short sentences. She even manages to understand some of the k-drama conversations without the subtitles. The husband is perusing menus of various Korean restuarants to taste all the great stuff that we see in the k-dramas. Many years ago, we had visited this Korean restaurant in Bangalore by the name Soora Sang. I didn't like the food one bit but the husband liked it enough to polish off both our portions. I am sure he will like it even more now. At my end, I am reading Pachinko - an epic novel by Min Jin Lee. The book is set in Korea in the 1930's, when the country was under Japanese colonial rule. I am only on Chapter 14 and it has already become one of the most moving works that I have read in recent years. Highly recommended!

Of trying new things..

 There are so many beautiful memories that I have made with nephew S, even though he has been with us in India for just over an year. Since I have  to post every day, I am pacing myself and going easy on the content :) This is another really sweet moment we had, around the time this little guy turned 4. 

We were having lunch at my aunt's place, enjoying the all time favourite Chhole-Bhature. S surveyed the dining table and chose to sit in Pari's lap for the meal. Pari started feeding small bites to him. Being the giver that he is, S started inserting food in Pari's mouth in return. He then discovered the salt shaker on the table, poured plenty onto Pari's dish and started feeding her salt, only salt without any food. Pari refused to oblige.

P: S, don't feed me salt.

S: Why? 

P: I don't want to eat it.

S: Et baav tvy tav te detho (Ek baar try kar ke dekho - Try it just once and see)

We could barely stifle our laughter. This is exactly what we tell S every time he refuses to try a new food. Pari couldn't help smiling either!

Food nostalgia

A couple of days ago, DH and I were discussing our life and home back in Bangalore. No discussion of our lives can run over 90 seconds without gravitating towards food. We reminisced about our oft-visited restaurants in Bangalore: Samarkand, Ebony, Casa Picola, Wanleys, Treat, 3-quarters Chinese, Chung wah, Memories of China, Grameen, Bombay Post, Little Italy.. some of whom have sadly shut shop since. 

There were several establishments near our house in Indiranagar from where we would regularly order-in. Since we never visited those places, it was hard to recall the names after so many years. One of them was a Bengali restaurant and irrespective of our main course, we always ordered Bhetki Paturi for appetizers. How outrageous that we haven't had this luscious preparation since moving out of Bangalore in 2011! I decided to make Bhetki Paturi as my first dish for 2023. Ordered Bhetki fillets, watched recipes on Youtube and plucked banana leaves from our society park. The husband and I spent the better part of an hour, carefully wrapping a dozen marinated fish chunks with banana leaves, and securing each with a piece of string before placing them in the steamer. As we proudly set the fish before Pari, she looked at the platter very curiously and suspiciously - 'Mumma, shall I eat the banana leaf before the fish or alongside?' That is when we realised that the poor kid doesn't remember eating Bhetki Paturi at all! What looks like yesterday to us is so far back in the past for her that it is as good as never. I lovingly unwrapped the paturi, carved a small piece of bhetki and offered to her. The ensuing grunts of approval and satisfaction told me that she is unlikely to forget the experience any time soon.