Afternoon Melodies

In my last blog, I mentioned that I cooked my kind of special pasta in my very special day, to treat myself! So, why pasta? Why I didn't cook any other special dish in my birthday? Well, there are quite a few reasons for that. First of all, pasta is one of those easy-to-cook and quick-to-cook menu, in my little bit of culinary knowledge. Secondly, I prepare it quite frequently, so I've developed some skill on cooking pasta, you can say. And thirdly, my kind of pasta, is just made for my taste buds. With so many days of pasta-cooking experience, I've balanced all the spices and ingredients in such a way - that I just don't find any other pasta as delicious as my kind of pasta. Even though we are typically Bengali, in terms of food choices - still pasta has secured a place in my dinning room. So, when my girls were staying with us - pasta was their favorite dish, as well. Those days, planning and prepping up for the school lunch-box, was a real task. I mean, every n...

Last 17th Jan was my day - when I completed 50-long years on this beautiful earth, having all the nice and loving people all around me from my very childhood - and it was so, so special for me, that I wanted to celebrate this special day, in a very special and unique way!! I have never been into celebrating my birthday - being from a middle-class Bengali family, my parents had never indulged in a birthday party having all my friends around, while me cutting my birthday cake. And I never had any regret for that. My mom used to cook payesh - that eternal rice pudding with a fresh aroma of nolen gur , the date palm jaggery, which is available only during winter season in Bengal. And there used to be some special lunch or dinner. As a birthday gift, most of the time I used to get story books, and my mom used to buy new dresses and a new stainless steel dinner plate along with a bowl, in which she used to serve the special food. I remember when I grew little old, I used to tell my mom...