It is the harvest festival.. Pongal and we did celebrate at home and went to the Livermore temple for a quick prayer!
To thank the Sun and to make the earth a little greener.. we also did something good to celebrate Pongal!
Introducing the newest member of our traveling family.. the Nissan Leaf!
Having a blast and wishing you all have a great 2013 ahead from all of us here!
The MIL has been in India as of the last week. Time moves so fast. It has been a full week since we saw her off at the airport.
This time the kids were all grown up about saying their goodbyes and promised to behave in her absence. They are holding at around 75% of the promise and going down rapidly!
The adults have transitioned as well to the new routines. I have been left without a Yoga partner and have missed the MIL giving me the usual sermon about either not waking up early enough or pushing myself too hard in the room. The new Yoga studio is motivation in itself and have been going regularly just to keep up my promise to the MIL!
San is back in the kitchen working hard to impress the kids the last few days..
On Monday she made Okra curry with Okra that was not ripe enough. Not her fault because that was all the Indian store had, but the little one was brutal.
She could become a judge on the Iron chef program or "Chopped" where she gets to deliver the bad news. The comments and critique were even too hard for me to handle! San put on a brave face and came up with a Tindora Curry the next evening.
The little one said "Before you put it on my plate, I want a taste. I cannot trust your cooking!"
This is what happens when we have grandma letting her sit on the kitchen counter top, encouraging her to taste things as they are being made. On the bright side she did have a taste and say "It is delicious!" and that made San's day! Seriously, with critics like this at home, things are getting a little out of hand.
Today, I made sweet Pongal to celebrate Pongal. She did not have a problem with the taste of the pongal but with the smell of my hand as I took it to her mouth. "I don't like that strong temple like smell in the Pongal!". She was right!
Actually the smell was from the "pachai kalpooram" (edible camphor) that was crushed with my fingers to season the Pongal. The smell was in my hand not the Pongal. We should use the little one at airports instead of sniffing dogs and we will probably make a fortune if we got a cut on what we find!
We are now down to a new but interesting routine.
Wishing each and everyone of you a happy Pongal!!!
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Work has been so crazy that by Friday evening we just want to come and crash and recharge our batteries. Yet to figure out how 2010 suddenly started off in this mode.
Friday evening came and it was time to make Pongal. This year there was no prayer, no dressing up.. just daddy making Sweet Pongal in his office clothes!
Yes. It was an odd sight to see daddy in formal clothes in front of the stove. To compensate for all the stress, just threw in an extra cup of ghee into the mix and the results were more than satisfactory!
Wanted to videoblog the making of Pongal but that has to wait for another day. Today we went to the Livermore temple, saw Aandal Kalyanam and were served a wedding feast at the temple. There was standing room only in that temple and the little one thought she had been transported to Mylapore for a few minutes. She was even heard whispering that she wanted to be back in the USA..
One would think that with this kind of stuff at home, the kids would be happy to eat Pongal for a late snack? .. the answer is ...
NO!
They wanted Mac and Cheese from the local Target store for dinner.
Well we just think the family has celebrated Makara sankaraanthi and Macand cheesearaanthi in the same day!
Happy Pongal again to all of you.
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Copyright © 2012, Sundar Narayanan. All rights reserved.