Our 'Homestay' Vacation

Our travel plans grounded  this  Dussehra Vacation and we also had no official celebrations this year at home but all these did not deter the spirit. We celebrated our 'home stay' vacation in a different way.

And how?

Shop, eat, celebrate that was the mantra for us this vacation.

For the past 15 days , we had no alarm to wake us up, no hurried curry to make, no rolling rotis at 5.30  in the morning, no waiting school bus at 7 , no worry about the tiffin box menu, no googling socks and books - It was as though the world had stopped for us. For we never saw the sun rise but slept close to sunrise.

We woke up  leisurely, read our news papers and went about enjoying life in a slow pace....

They planned the menu for the day and daily  they  made it a part of their  routine to make something new. They did'nt stick to the Pizza, burgers and baking black forest cakes. With age,they had to move ahead, from budding chefs to  gourmet gurus and now they had to be  Junior  master chefs in the making. 

And so , together they googled the recipes,  cooked Multigrain carrot cake(substituting eggs with Flax seeds),Homemade chocolates and Au gratins.

And they  helped me to make multi cuisine like vegetable  Sizzlers, Jeera rice, Makhana pulao,  Malai koftas, Hyderabadi Biryani and mirch ki salan, appam - stew, pineapple gojju and of course we never forgot our own traditional tanjore cuisine of vathal kozhumbu, Thengai thogaiyal,  paringikkai paal kootu,  rasam etc.,. 

Each day we tried to add variety in our menu, we browsed in the internet,  shopped the ingredients  and churned out something exotic by tweaking and twisting the original recipe. 

They had holiday home work/project time too which doubled as  slumber parties where the team mates got together to make a project for the national children science Congress (Koodangalum nuclear project) which begins tomorrow.

For this the menu were  Veg sizzler, Pasta Arabiata and the flax seed cake and for an other punjabi friend slumber party, we had  Kal Chatti vathal kozhumbu, idli and sambar, Rava dosa and eggless  Chocolate Ganache cake . Now of course we impressed  the  friends so much that they loved the vatthal kozhumbu and want to buy a kal chatti(stone vessel - a heirloom which i cherish).  

In the evening, we went our ways, He went to make soccer moves with his friends, She for her cycling and girlie talk time with her friends and I for the golu  visits. 

We watched movies, our fav serials and shows swapping between cookery, travel, music  shows, cartoon and sports shows.

As always bed time is our bonding time-  recalling memories by browsing through our old photo albums, narrating their childhood memories and then  listening to songs  from barfi, aiyaa and the latest hits. In short, this stay at home vacation  would make an entry into our memory chip as 'Rishton ka time' of course the skype time completed the family picture. 

They  hugged,  They cuddled, they cajoled,  they  cried, they kicked, they fought, they sang, they danced . I was  a mute spectator admiring   their antics, wise cracks* and talks, admonishing their fights  sometimes and at most times a referee too .Who ever said "Having one child makes you a parent, having two makes you a referee" - I raise my hand.

Personally for me the most endearing moment were when my dot helped me clean the house, wash the dishes and  when my son made me the 'chai', put the clothes for drying and helped me in his own little ways without even being told. ( My maid was on her dussehra vacation).

These little things are what goes to show they love they care.

In short to summarize our vacation was nothing grand and exotic it was simple, sweet, stylish  and slow paced  like barfi's song "Itni si hasi,itni si  kushi...."

We are back to our routine tomorrow charged emotionally and physically. I have added a couple of kilos. But i am sure, I will shed them for I will run the race of fast paced life from tomorrow. 

P.S: Sharing with you a wise crack my son made:
A friend who came home asked my 13 year old  " How is it S, despite playing in the hot sun you never get tanned, you are so fair"

My son promptly replied "that is because i am not in Congress"

My friend looked askance at me and i relayed the expression to my son.

He replied " I don't make unfair decisions, so I am fair". Got the drift?


And now our vacation menu rolls:

                                        Hommade chocolates in the moulds

                                              All ready to be wrapped

All wrapped and colorful, nothing beats the feeling to make your own chocolates. They had total fun.

Our first attempt at making Sizzler, simply mast said my son and my dot who according to me qualifies   to be a master chef  Australia judge said " Awesome ma". 

                                                                  Appam - Stew

                                               Malai Kofta curry with multigrain rotis

Pine apple gojju

  Will edit to add my vatal kozhumbu pic.

vatal Kozhumbu( a tangy traditional cuisine of southern tamilnadu made with sun dried veggies) in a  black stone vessel,   pumpkin paal kootu( a gravy made with milk and tender pumpkin) and sundried fried berries( manathakali)