Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Of Christmas Puddings and Apple Pie

Making Christmas Pudding is my project every year. As much as I am part of Katy's Kitchen and help the business in many ways, the making of the Christmas Pudding is one aspect of the business that is absolutely mine.

I wrote about it last year and here I am again, talking about Christmas Pudding.

This time it was a melancholy experience and I didn't enjoy it one bit. We lost K's dad just a couple of weeks ago, in fact it is exactly two weeks today.

He was one of my biggest fans as far as my cooking went. He's the Dad I didn't have and he filled up many holes in my heart. He was so proud of me and whatever I churned out of my kitchen - always looking forward to what I would make next, happily asking me to make this or that again, and steadfastly refusing to eat chocolate mousse anywhere else because "no one makes it like Rhea".

My mom in law had many cook books and once in a way I would borrow one and try out something new. One day I made an apple pie - something that's very mundane to people in the west but for us it is something exotic and different - or at least it was when I tried it roughly 10 years ago. I don't know how good it really was but Daddy said it was the best he'd ever had - even better than the ones he'd had on his innumerable travels abroad.

Once I took over the making of the yearly Christmas puddings he would eagerly wait for his pudding. We'd wait till New Year's Day and the whole family would gather to celebrate Katy's birthday and the New Year with the pudding. It would be duly steamed for an hour and then brought to the table with the flambéed Brandy burning on it steadily, making it look spectacular. He always maintained that the pudding tasted just as good as when Katy was in charge. This time I didn't make one for the family.

Is it any wonder that I have a new hole in my heart? Now I have two Dads to miss...

25 December 2013
Marathon Bloggers


4 comments:

AJ said...

Big hug!

Lajwanti Shahani said...

{huggg} Apple pie and donuts are my favorites from western cuisine! Also, I remember the time you once made shortbread for uncle while we were living in the DC hostel... I begged for a piece but you refused because it was all for him :)

Rhea Mitra Dalal said...

Lajo, There were so many things he loved.. shortbread, mousse, Bong style fish curry, apple pie, plain sponge cake... I could just go on!

Pinku said...

Hugs to you Rhea....this must be so hard.