A bumpy week

We made it through last week, and that was no small feat. Last Wednesday was the third anniversary of Dad's death. Just knowing it was coming up made for a horrid Monday, but on Wednesday we were all troopers and went to the Friendship Inn and cooked a huge curry dinner for about 400 people. It was a bit more work than I expected since we had thought our friend, who is a caterer, was going to cook the chicken the night before. Turns out she went to cook but the place was locked up. So early Wednesday morning, mom and I headed out and started cooking. Cooking for 400 is very different from cooking for a small dinner gathering.

Since I never use recipes and just throw in my spices, it was kind of weird to be adding 10 fistfuls of something rather than my usual pinch. Also, the Friendship Inn's cook decided the chicken should be prebaked and then we would add the curry sauce over it, ahem, I don't think so! I compromised and told him to cook the chicken half way, then we would put it in the curry sauce and cook the rest of the way. Then I found out they weren't going to skin the chicken...er GAG.

I gave up at that point and said fine, but what I should have done was pull that skin off when it was half cooked, it would have just fallen off really, but I was too tired to think by then. Mom and I started the curry by chopping ten gazillion onions and garlic. Fortunately, mom had the presence of mind to bring her food processor and told me to bring mine as well, if not, I think we would have still been there chopping. Anyway, the cooking process is a boring story...the chicken turned out wonderfully, lots of friends came to help, so it was a good day. Sad but good.

Then came the ramp up to Mother's day. Sadly, when Dad died three years ago, he died on Mother's day. I doubt it will fall on the 9th again for a long time, but it really doesn't matter, as far as mom is concerned, she really doesn't ever want to celebrate Mother's day again. I can't blame her, so on Friday I took her some flowers and we went and had lunch together. Then I planned to keep her occupied all Sunday.

So while most of you were out pampering your mother, or being pampered yourself, I was keeping mom busy a different way. That's right, I put her to work in my garden. Brilliant plan really, since she enjoyed it and now my front yard is picture perfect. Actually, it wasn't a total day of making mom into a slave. She came over really early, so we started the day with porridge and fresh fruit and yogurt, then around lunchtime I made grilled salmon and veggies on the barbecue, and finally, we ended the afternoon with me giving her a hand and foot massage. Then it was off to Hindi class for me (I had to go sit in the corner and work by myself because I missed last week's class and I hadn't done any of my homework...as if that wasn't humiliating enough, I should remind all of you that other than Anu and I, the rest of my classmates are all about 12 years old.)

So after that I dropped Anu and her kids off which was a whole other production! Anu looked so tired, I felt so bad for her. Anyway, we get to her place and the kids pile out of the jeep, and she just sat there. So we started chatting, I think she needed a tiny break. Sadly our tiny break kept getting interrupted by her kids. First one daughter comes out of the garage door and yells, "MOM! You were supposed to pick up the food for dinner on the way home!" "Great" says Anu, "Mother's Day and I decide not to cook then I find out I was supposed to pick it up." Turns out her daughter was just kidding the food was on the table, but I guess everyone was hungry and didn't want mom out chatting with me in the car. This notion was reinforced when the second daughter sticks her head out the garage door and literally shrieked,"Mom tell Aunty Swapna to come in the house and talk to you, we are STARVED and daddy won't let us eat till you come in." About then we realized our chat was just not going to happen, so I watched Anu drag herself into the house, then drove off. Next on the list was to call mom again and make sure she wasn't alone and unhappy. Turns out my brother had snagged her and they were on their way out for dinner, so home I went!

By the way, it was a rather uneventful night, other than watching the season finale of Survivor, where I screamed in outrage at stupid Dreamz...
Yau Man, I weep for your misfortune...but geez why would you trust the psychotic Dreamz???? *cry*

Err I had more to tell you but work calls and so far this is a boring post. Let me return when I am inspired.
Swap