Wow! That’s all I can say! What an amazing time we had reliving our adventures in Incredible India!
Planning for this evening was lots of fun. As for every evening we host, we like to share the various foods we tried during our travels, and the flavours of India are particularly tasty. We always practice preparing the foods ahead of time, especially since we have found that the local ingredients and spices are not always the same – nor are they always available here.
It was fun shopping for the ingredients…we were really surprised to see a number of familiar Indian products at our local Loblaws grocery store…..
as well as some others that we didn’t expect…like this…
We even found a kit to do pani puri!
We had fun preparing the foods and taste-testing them ahead of time. One of Katina’s friends, Iniyial, came early and taught the girls how to make puttu. We experienced this traditional dish of steamed rice flour and ground coconut while in Kerala the South of India. Thanks to Iniyal’s mom for lending us her special steamer to make the puttu!
Soon, our guests began to arrive, and after a flurry of activity our collection of food was ready for sampling. In addition to the the puttu, we made a number of our favourites including butter chicken, tandoori chicken, and rice pulao.
The good food was enjoyed by all…
Soon it was time to share…
What made our evening a bit different this time is that we had some virtual guest speakers join us! Our incredible Indian family and wonderful hosts – Ravi, Anju and Pranav – joined us virtually, sending us some video footage as they answered some interview questions that the girls put together.
It all started with a greeting…
Next, the girls asked “What is the best thing about India?”…
“What would you like to see change?”…
What is your favourite food (of course!) ?
What are your favourite festivals?
The last, and probably hardest question to answer…”When are you coming to Canada?”
Our neighbour, Bill Kennedy, also added to our evening by sharing some photos and stories from the visit he and his family made to Nepal not too long ago.
We also had the benefit of some more “hands on” participation as Mina, the art teacher at Zoe’s school, brought a collection of all things India, including saree’s, henna, and a beautiful set of decorative lamps used during Diwali.
Some of our guests were also in the Indian spirit and dressed up…
Beautiful henna designs were to be seen everywhere.
It seems that fun was to be found widely…
We loved the opportunity to share one of our favourite, and certainly most memorable, destinations on our trip. We saw so much, and yet there is still so much more to see,…can’t wait to go back!
Waiting for that special invitation Inspector!!!
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