Cold Winter, Hot Soups & Bread Rolls

Temperatures hit all time low । Mumbai shivered and woollens (mothballs preserved-in –case –of- a -trip- to-nothern hillstations , as well as not- so- well- preserved-slightly- moth eaten ones too ! ) came out and Mumbaikars who would rather be dead than caught wearing woollens even in winter (after all a couple of cool days in Dec-Jan can hardly be called winter ! ) flaunted their winterwear !

At home the family too indulged in this activity, especially my very own flesh & blood (my jigar ki tukdi ! ) who though she hated the cold weather , loved to dress up for any occasion and if this years winter was anything to go by,it really & a truly was an occasion to dress to the teeth (pun intended !) Out came her pullovers, cardigans, jackets and woollen scarves and caps (only mittens were missing !) My better half (blessed with an oversensitive skin which breaks out into rashes the minute he wears anything other than cotton ) made do with his (as usual sober )cotton and corduroy jackets, while I got to experiment with my daughter’s fluffy jacket (thoughtfully sent to her by her uncle in Delhi ) which she dismissed as too thick for Mumbai’s winter- but which came of good use when I attended a music festival ( where Mumbaikars came sporting all kinds of winterwear quite similar to mine ) that was held in an open area.

Not to be outdone in the celebrations , I rolled up my sleeves and got down to serious matters of the tongue and tastebuds ! As papers reported mercury level dipping lower and lower everyday, the temperature in my kitchen rose everyday ! For dinner , one day it was vegetable soup-croutons-pasta for dinner , another day spinach soup , baked beans-garlic bread ,yet another day, tomato soup-grilled sandwichfor dinner,another day creamy onion soup( instant soup packet!) vada pav and caramel custard ( to those who wonder –in this cold weather ? I say why not ? ) . Of course Sunday evenings were reserved for more delights – bhajiyas, pakodas , breadrolls ,sundal (steamed and seasoned lentils) cheese fingers (thanks to Godrej for bringing out this wonderful ready to make cheese fingers and coming to the rescue of many a kitchen mistress/master ! The family tucked into all these with full gusto not even sensing for a moment that the creator (ahem… who but me ) was longing for the roadside vadapav !

Looks like winter is all set to bid goodbye – well its also goodbye to the marathon session of soups and breadrolls and other such fried delights (rather, cholesterol raising demons ) !