Meetings- of various minds

First birthdays are usually for the parents! Or so I thought... until last evening... when my niece went on to have a blast, and proclaim that the day was hers after all!

It was an eclectic bunch- close to 50 people all jostling for space with musical chairs being the game for the evening with a shortage of chairs and all. And it must be said in their favour- and in that of their hosts- that they were an extremely comfortable, no frills bunch that made the evening the success it was! It was much much more than bearable! Conversation flowed- babies were the theme of the evening and the focus of more than one of the conversations.

I did not join any of them- not because I was not invited- but because Anan had my undivided attention for the evening... Strangely, I discovered that she is terrified of a toy puppy they got her which does cartwheels. Her baby heart was skipping beats and she was visibly (and audibly, of course- my little angel loves to let you hear her displeasure!) distressed. And this was rather strange- as the little one had fearlessly put her hand into Butch's mouth and scared him away
when she was much younger!

Needless to say, I stayed over and spent the morning dawdling and waiting for ms teensy to wake up and give me direction. The fact that the sun was hiding all morning added to the general ennui and consequently, it was well past noon before I wended my way back to Chef's palace and the pronmise of a long day cooking! Chef called me with all his last minute requests- wine (Fortant- a Cabernet Sauvignon that is recommended if you favor a medium dry red), chives/ shallots and spring onions (which were not to be seen anywhere!) and flowers (which btw- I duly forgot!). I trudged in post lunch and we started off. The chicken was already on the stove... and it smelled delicious! In less than half an hour, I was tucking hungrily into my brunch of rotis with the chicken (I was tasting- doing Chef a favour- you see?). The chicken was flavored with coriander and was a little on the spicy side. Besides chef refused to take my suggestion of adding chopped coriander leaves- and I have to crib!

Post lunch, we started off with the dessert- a twist on the ras malai. I readied the paneer balls and we decided to pack in some sweetened khowa- a disaster. We made tennis ball sized paneer balls. On boiling, the khowa disappeared. I went easy on the sugar as is my wont, and the sweet dish was less sweet and more dish! On we marched to the mutton... this one and I must admit- checf did a tremendous job on this one. Mid-way I was dispatched to fetch the cake- a peachy concoction that was rather egg-y. I just polished off the last piece earlier this evening. And it was mmmmmm...

Paddy is at work with Chef giving her his inputs on making rotis with Bharwan bindi . Dinner sounds promising at this stage. The cooker had to be opened early as pads put the dal in it with a little less water.

Chef is trying to convince her that she must learn to make chicken. Pads is a true blue veggie! I can hear him promising her a psir of gloves so she never has to touch the meat. And Pads is going chee- no!

The wine is adding a mellow glow to a relaxed evening.

It is time to get back to the kitchen and contribute to the conversation and be a part of my world!!!