Lavender, lavender everywhere

Lavender showed up in my mail box, thanks to Bee.


My poor mailman must have loved delivering this package. He probably didn't sneeze his lungs out for a change and instead inhaled a wonderful bouquet. I will ask him the next time I have the courage to go out and meet him; after the last package of masala he delivered, I am still hiding from him.

I loved the aroma of lavender. I can now identify that wonderful whiff I get from my neighbor's yard every time the wind blows with it something other than the smell of grilled hot dogs or seared meat.

The mint in my yard was also begging to be annihilated picked and lovingly used. What?! You are surprised that mint grows in my yard? It fulfills all the required conditions. Which also means it is an obnoxious weed whose roots can travel for miles under the soil.


So yes, I made tea. Not just an infusion but real tea.

Lavender Mint Tea

• 1/2 teaspoon dried lavender flowers
• About 2 tablespoons fresh mint leaves, loosely shredded by hand
• 1/4 tsp orange pekoe black tea leaves
  
• 1 cup boiling water

1. Combine the herbs and the tea leaves in a teapot.
2. Pour boiling water into the teapot and allow to steep for 3-5 minutes.
3. You can have it hot with honey or lemon. It is delicious.
4. Or you can cool it and have it over ice. Again, with honey or lemon, as you wish. Either way, remember to strain it before you enjoy it!

This lavender had a lovely sweetness about it that the tea did not need any honey or lemon. In any case, I have my tea sans sugar or honey.

This tea can be had as a simple herbal infusion if you skip the tea leaves.


The last photo is my entry to Click: Coffee and Tea

Grow Your Own? Whatever are you talking about?!

Update: I am also sending this refreshing tea to the Flower Power Girl, Rachna of Soul Food, who is hosting JFI this month. The theme is Edible Flowers.

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Holy Bananas! It's the Big Four Oh!

Yes, that's me! And that was 39 years ago. I hit the big-four-oh today and I am on a new high. At least I think I am. I have to be, especially after going through a long period of "just what have I achieved in my life so far" and "where am I headed." I would be lying if I said I have things under control and that I know where I stand! My life did not pan out the way I thought it would. I was never quite the size 1 lissome supermodel, nor the powerful and intellectual CEO of a company that changed the world, nor did I ever become a Nobel Laureate. Actually, no-one's ever heard of me. And I don't mind because I don't think I have it in me to bear the burden for others, to shine the guiding light and carve the path ahead. I do have my sphere of influence where, no matter what, I know that I make a difference.

I dug out some of the very few pictures I have of my childhood cos I am in a sepia kind of mood. My parents used to kid me that this young man was my first love. The next two pictures are taken in Kolhapur, Maharashtra. I was not quite 2 years old.

I don't remember the cutie's name but it's pretty obvious that he didn't much care for me! Heartbreak at two! Cruel, cruel life!

This picture below was taken in Bombay, now Mumbai. Didn't everyone have a papier-mâché model of the mascot of Air-India? Almost everyone I knew had a relative in Air-India. And almost everyone had the Maharajah taking a deep bow on one of their bookcases.

And that transistor radio! I loved to fiddle with the big knob that changed the stations. Was there any other radio station besides All India Radio with their Vividh Bharati service at that time? Does anyone know or remember? It was just one of those tangential thoughts that arose through all this introspection I have been doing.

My conversation with Medha last evening was very interesting. I told her that it was probably the last day of the first half of my life. She started negotiating with me - maybe it's the last day of the first third or better still, the first quarter of my life - as though I had some control over it all. When I told her I didn't want to live that long, she said she never wanted to have to do without me. But, I pressed on, there would and should come a time when she will not need me anymore. She thought a while in deep silence, her brow furrowed, and then said, "Mumma, I may not need you but I will want you!"

Sweet! That is where I want to be. Wanted more than needed. If we ever get there, it means that there will be at least one job that I will have done well.

I am quite sure that today will be a normal / business-as-usual kind of a day. But it is an important milestone. Technically I am 'over the hill' but, as my friends tell me, there is a whole new life on the other side. I certainly hope so!

We don't have plans for today except to make Glazed Bananas with Ice cream for dessert. The rest of the day will pan out just as life has, moment by moment and no regrets.

Glazed Bananas with Ice Cream

• 1 tbsp butter
• 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup orange juice, preferably fresh
• 3 bananas
• Vanilla ice cream to serve a la mode

1. Heat butter in a small skillet until melted.
2. Add brown sugar, cinnamon and orange juice and cook till it simmers. Stir frequently.
3. Cut bananas in half lengthwise and then cut into 1 inch pieces.
4. Add bananas to the juice mixture and cook for 3-5 minutes, turning as needed to coat the bananas well with the mixture.
5. Serve hot over ice-cream.

This is a really simple dessert that is out-of-this-world delicious. My brother-in-law served it to us when we visited them earlier this summer. It was the perfect antidote to the Goa Prawn Masala that had us on fire. He said it was a recipe from a local newspaper.

I don't have a picture for you because Medha and I will be making this later tonight. If I take a picture, I will update this post with it. If not, just imagine the flavors as you know them all very well and feel the warm bananas in your mouth as it mingles with the chill of the ice-cream.

I know my day will be great! I hope yours is, too! Just don't ask me for pearls of wisdom. I am only turning 40. Not 80!

Update: And here is the picture, as promised:

It was very difficult to take a picture of this dessert. I did not chill the bowls and when warm glazed bananas met cold slow-churned vanilla ice-cream, I was looking at a white pool of ice-cream! But this was a wonderful treat and a great way to celebrate on a schoolnight.

I am sending this to Mandira, the warm and gracious host for JFI: Bananas.