Weekly Tadka (28th June to 4th July 2020)

To summarize the week, I would say it’s been FANTASTIC!

Sunday, 28th June 2020

M & I complete 2 years in August. I decided to shortlist some gifting options before the delays in delivery get the upper hand. Also, owing to the COVID-19 virus, I’m choosing to place online deliveries from places that I trust. I chose to buy a shirt from Zara since the prints and size fit is a perfect match for his liking. I ordered him a shirt and a hairband for myself. Also shortlisted several outfits for future purchases, guilty! Since the lockdown, I started spending Sundays in the kitchen. I either experiment, learn an authentic East Indian authentic recipe, or try recipes posted online. Today, I chose to prepare Yakhni Pulao, a recipe by Farah Khan. The aroma of the spices was tempting that mom & I dug into the food before I could think of capturing a picture! As the day progressed, I came across a post from my college friend, Nilav. We were part of this girl gang that had 3 boys as well. We named ourselves DENIMMSS JJ. Over the years, we moved on with our respective lives and lost touch. Watching her singing live on Facebook was an event I wasn’t planning to miss. Paying tribute to the LGBTQ community, she sang oldies and took requests, which revived college memories.

Monday, 29th June 2020

After Nilav’s Facebook live that ended a little after midnight, a few of us caught up over a Zoom call. It had been years since we connected, but it felt like yesterday. That’s the power of friendship. During this catch-up, we also managed to get Miss Canada, Saher aka ‘pattu’ on a video call and passed on our birthday wishes. The catch-up call that lasted till dawn had us talk to Nilav and Melody’s mothers too. We’re a great bunch of friends. That’s what I’m going to conclude. We have each other’s back.
The rest of the day was spent lazing around, talking to M who reached Mumbai after being away for about 3 months. During our conversation, we realized that Ferns n Petals doesn’t deliver to small towns. So hunting for a cake delivery website, I came across Phoolwala. Now, we don’t have to rely on Ferns n Petals when we have Phoolwala for our celebrations.

Tuesday, 30th June 2020

After a successful attempt at baking bread, I decided to step it up. Mom and I usually like tutti-fruiti buns with chai for breakfast. You can either dip the plain bread in chai or spread butter on a thick slice and dip in hot chai. The butter melts into the chai, giving it an added flavor. Since my earlier attempt at Chef Vinesh’s Milk Bread was a success, I followed the same recipe to bake my wheat tutti-fruiti loaf. Look that this baked beauty! While making wheat bread, always remember to use warm water when kneading the dough.

Wednesday, 1st July 2020

While I sent M’s shirt to a friend’s address, my hairband was delivered at home. To my surprise, it came with the security tag. I tried to get in touch with Zara but since I didn’t receive any response from the team, I’m going to learn ‘how to remove a security tag from clothes’. Thank you, Zara, for assisting in upgrading my skills.

Thursday, 2nd July 2020

Another successful run at baking, I decided to make a batch of chicken liver buns. This is my take on yet another recipe from Chef Vinesh John. During this bakeathon, I omitted the milk wash and decided to brush with butter once the buns were ready. The texture of the buns was exactly what I was looking for.
While kneading the dough, my mother did a funny thing – I was asked to wipe off the sides of the bowl with a silicone spatula and add it to the dough. “Nothing should be wasted,” says my Catholic Indian mother. Have you also experienced something similar?

Friday, 3rd July 2020

There couldn’t have been a happier day during this lockdown. M came to pick me up and we met after 100 days. That’s the longest we’ve stayed apart. We drove to South Bombay in the beautiful Bombay rains and enjoyed the day together. This time apart taught us a couple of things – the two most important ones were patience and understanding. Although I missed talking to him regularly, it also taught me a sense of self-time and personal space for both.

Saturday, 4th July 2020

Whenever we stay together, meals are either not had on time or skipped. We chose to eat a heavy breakfast, skipped lunch, and binged watched Patallok on Amazon Prime Video.

Another week, another achievement. Let’s do this…
Stay tuned for week three
Cheers!