SUNDAY LUNCHES!!

i reunited with my folks after a fairly long gap of about 8 years.

i spent the last couple of years in hostel rooms, dormitories ,paying guest accomadations, rented aparments,a mortifying youth hostel, homes of relatives and friends..you name it.

I have survived on meagre buns and feasted on awesome-ly cheap chinese............so reuniting with my dramatic extended family was just another challenge.

whoever knows my family knows that family lunches in our household can be more than just entertaining.well, im not talking elaborate 12 course meals served in the finest china man can buy and served with intoxicating quantities of Dom Pérignon...or the type where shah rukh would come jive to entertain us tulu folks........our gathering where were people would talk a lot,laugh wholeheartedly, sleep on the floor, talk about philosohy,life,death,women, movies and family gods in quick sucession.

my mum like most of her cousins and aunts was born to be a good hostess.she loves feeding people...she would fed my dad more medicines when he last had his bout of flu.she would be upset if she cant empty the contents of the fridge onto the table...her knees have slowed her down but she can still feed you like a pro. she will feed you till you cry or die!

ask DT(and dont tell my mum!)

This sunday was another one of those gathering.

some uncles, aunts,a couple of hannah montana loving kids,cousins, me and food!

the party started early and ended only by late monday afternoon,.

any south indian will tell you that puris mean business and it marks an event. so there was puri.chicken curry with a good measure of yummy potatoes thrown in for the vegetarians, mutton fish-plump,white and bonless, but only till we slapped some cornflour and rice powder on it and shallow fried it till it turned golden brown and smelt like heaven.

the mums however thought that it was bland and flavourless to their refined seaside palatte which had gorged for years on sea fish everyday for a measly annual fee of a rupee.

Then of course,there was the biryani...the brown green biryani with a forest full of mint and corriander....amply moist and still dry...accompanied by the superstars of the spice trade...high on masala....with a good shower of ghee and garnished with clumps of brown fried onions ....

shockingly yummy!

The food disappears soon enough and we bring out the ice cream...fat scoops sitting uneasily in small bowls....

you could be on a diet, you could have a cold, you could be bursting at the seams and rushing to the loo, you could hate ice cream but you still got to eat it:)

since the crowd was pretty much fifty plus, we handed them a broken blood pressure checking device (a working one would be a total bummer!)

and were the oldies entertained or what!!!