Wednesday 10 February 2010

My Giants and my Self Esteem Booster

These are my floral giants.
January was a cold dark foggy month for us
redeemed of course by the cheerfulness and warmth
of Namrita 's visit.
Our garden was not doing well at all.
Now that the sun is shining brightly
our roses have perked up.

These are the largest ones.
Huge aren 't they?


Last night we has a spell of rain
and I ran out to pluck these from the soggy flower bed
in my rubber slippers
before the rain wash them off.
My family has been growing roses since the past 40 years.
Its a family hobby and tradition.
We lived in various bungalows before we built our house
but we always had a rose garden.
We even had a little rooftop garden in
the flat we lived In.

Now comes the self esteem part.
I tried making meatball curry (koftas)
before and failed miserably
as my meatballs disintegrated in the hot curry sauce or rasa.
I could make the Italian style meatballs easily.
But last Sunday with
instructions from Sonia I was able to make these.
She is an expert.
I was putting in too much of
chana ( black gram ) powder in the mince meat
and therefore my meatballs would fall apart.
This time I reduced the amount
so they held together.
So this really boosted my self esteem'
When Namrita was here I set off to make
her my famous kadhi, (chickpea dumplings
in a yellow yogurt sauce)
I usually manage to make it quite well and praised myself
to high heavens before my sister.
The result was worse a disaster than
the sinking of the Titanic.
Instead of putting besan or chickpea flour
into the batter I dumped in self raising flour
or maida. And I kept stirring and simmering
it for over an hour wondering why
I was not getting the right consistency
and smell.
It was too late before I realized my mistake.
Namrita tried to salvage the mess, but couldn 't.
So we had a good laugh and
disposed off the inedible goop.
Lesson:
Pride goes before a fall
and
Whatsoever a man sows shall he reap.
So the success of the kofta curry
was a life lesson for me.
Put in the right life ingredients
and the right amount too
and you will get a pleasing result.
The same principle works for the roses too.
One has to be very careful with the fertilizers
and watering.
Good advice from the Book of Proverbs
in the Bible.
"Watch your heart with all diligence.
For from it flow the springs of life"
Prov. 4;23

16 Fertilize my soul:

Buttercup said...

Would love to be able to visit and enjoy your kofta curry. I know it is delicious. Thanks for the beautiful flowers. We are having a blizzard here and they are so full of the promise of spring.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful roses..we have a rose garden also but they are asleep right now..can't wait until spring...
the curry sounds yummy....

Robin said...

nice food photo and gorgeous flowers!!

Pat said...

Are those roses as fragrant as they are beautiful! I love them, and started growing roses last year.
Great analogy between the right ingredients in our life and in our cooking...and of course pride!

madison said...

Your flowers are beautiful. Roses in February. Only one of my rose bushes bloomed last year, and only one rose to. Maybe because it was such a cool summer, I don't know.
Hubby says the weather is nice over there right now. Glad it's not one of the extremes. It's been snowing all day here.

Olde Dame Penniwig said...

Gracious, those roses are as big as cabbages!

Amrita, I know you are an expert cook! Your newest dish looks delicious.

Pia said...

those are lovely, amrita! so beautiful!

Gerry said...

A beautiful entry with unbelievable roses. I loved the header, too. Sorry about your cooking troubles but sounds like you are not afraid to try and try again. That's what makes a good cook. I always note what the woman is making at the Farmer's Market who does Indian food. Those dishes remind me of your blog. I made soup a couple of days ago with the best organic carrots ever!

Joseph Pulikotil said...

Hi Amrita:)

Greetings:)

Lovely roses in your garden. You are a real expert in roses. I tried to grow roses several times but miserably failed:) And now I have given up on roses except to admire roses grown by others.

It must have been really thrilling to have succeeded in making the dishes. The satisfaction and pride in a job well done must be enormous.

I agree with you about life. If we mix proper ingredients at the proper time life will be good and satisfying otherwise it can become hell.

Have wonderful day Amrita:)
Joseph

Felisol said...

Dear Amrita,
Oh, no, I'm not jealous of you, but; wonderful roses in February, that is not even a dream to me.
How beautiful they are, perfect to the smallest petal.
If I should count my mishaps in the kitchen, they would be as numerous as the stars on the sky.
The course on the place looks delicious to me.
From Felisol

John Cowart said...

Great about the roses. Sorry about the goop.

Paresh Palicha said...

Didi, your Kofta story made my mouth water even though I'm vegetarian :) That is the magic of your writing.

And, loved the proverb at the end.

Sita said...

Could use Amrita's kofta curry right now (:...beautiful flowers---you really need to come over and transform our wasteland which is our yard into a thing of beauty...(:
Blessings and thank you so much!
Love, Sita

the mother of this lot said...

Your roses are giants indeed Amrita, and I'm glad you and your sister could laugh at your mistakes!

Julie said...

Great post, I also always manage to balance my ego out with my disasters, keeps us humble doesn't it, LOL. Love your flowers.

Terry said...

amrita..did you put this meatball recipe over at the sisterhood recipe blog..yummy!! they look soooo good!!!.love terry