Magic of Kindness

Thank you for your messages and emails asking about us in the aftermath of the disastrous flooding in Boulder County, Colorado. We were very lucky and did not have any water in our home. The day it all began was Back to School Night and we were at Medha’s high school until late. We left one car in Boulder so that we were all in one car, heading home past 9pm. We had some minor scares on the way but nothing significant. Once home, we realized that leaving one car in Boulder was probably not the wisest decision as we left it in a parking lot that was very close to Boulder Creek, which rose dangerously through the night. A brand new car, at that! Luckily for us and our new material trapping, there were some surges in our parking lot but it did not flood, unlike most of the parking lots near the creek. We drove in and out of Boulder quickly, and, thanked our stars and the grey skies for sparing us. My town, the City of Louisville, saw some damage, our golf course became a wide raging river, leading to a collapsed bridge downstream and wiping out several parts of my favorite trail. But it was nothing compared to the devastation in the mountain towns, Boulder and Longmont. The road to recovery is long but it has been pretty darned amazing how the community has risen to the occasion and given back at every step. Thank you for your concern and your kindness. If you would like to help with the flood relief, please donate to The Great Colorado Flood Relief Project.

My friends on Twitter and Facebook know that I can talk about little else but the Boulder IFS Food Film Festival, especially Jadoo, a British-Indian comedy that I will be introducing on Saturday, October 12, 2013, at 7pm in CU’s Muenzinger Auditorium.

Boulder IFS Food Film Festival Program
mobile phone pics of the BFFF13 program

My friends, Meena and Shashi, as well as two talented high schoolers, will be offering henna designs for a donation before the movie. They will be there from 5:45pm to 6:45pm. All money raised will be donated through the Boulder Balvihar to Help a Child, an Indian charity that provides academic scholarships to underprivileged children in India.

Henna at Jadoo will be much better than this!
It's a good thing I won't be doing the henna!

If you are local, please consider coming out to support us!

Jadoo, which means magic, is a hilarious and interesting British-Indian film about two feuding brothers who run restaurants on opposite sides of the same street. One is known for appetizers while the other is known for mains. So many delicious visuals! Most of all, an entertaining movie about things that really matter: family and food, of course! Come on out to see it! Tickets are $7 ($6 for CU students and seniors) and parking is available at the Euclid Auto-Park Garage.

If you are in the UK, Jadoo can now be viewed at several movie theaters! I believe Boulder IFS Food Film Festival will be the first showing of Jadoo in the US!

The Boulder IFS Food Film Festival is my friend Julia Joun’s labor of love, supported by equally dedicated volunteers. Westword's online blog Cafe Society had a great preview rundown with a mention of yours truly and BFFF13 was recommended by NPR (!) as one of this weekend's best cultural happenings in Colorado! I feel honored to have been a small part of this phenomenal effort and to have made new friends along the way.

Lucky and blessed is how I have been feeling most of this year. I have been a recipient of so many acts of kindness, right out of the blue, for no reason at all, that I felt I should be singing Something Good from The Sound of Music over and over.

heirloom pineapple tomatoes
A gift of pineapple tomatoes

These might look only like luscious tomatoes to you. To me, they speak of a farmer’s kindness. She gifted me these organic pineapple tomatoes when she heard that my tomato harvest was next to nothing. Who does that? Farmers at Louisville Farmers Market, that’s who!

Just as touching was an email from Molly earlier in the year, offering me some of her abundant harvest. Why? There does not need to be a reason! The first time I visited Molly, she showed me two jars sitting out in the sun—yes, lime and lemon pickles using my recipes.

Lime and lemon pickles
Pickles in the sun

Then she showed me her garden of infinite peppers. I had never seen so many peppers all in one place, including the mightiest of them all, the bhut jolokia!

The mighty Bhut Jolokia
Orange bhut jolokia

Peppers
More peppers

More Peppers!
...and even more peppers!

Squashes, melons, tomatoes, and eggplants, oh my!

Eggplants
Orange Turkish eggplants and white eggplant

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Cherokee purple

I also met and fell in love with Mimi, Molly’s 91 year-old mother. Mimi is a doctor from South Africa and had some fantastic stories to tell about her personal fight against apartheid. Her dry wit only makes her more lovable. Every minute spent with her is truly a gift.

Molly and her mother, Mimi
Molly and Mimi

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Mimi

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Kadipatta in Colorado!

Green Tomato
Coco the dog lusts after some green tomatoes!

Molly’s husband Gordon always whipped up something delicious using their peppers. The first time it was guacamole with cayenne peppers; the next time, it was hummus over which we poured olive oil infused with bhut jolokia. The burn!

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My loot from Molly's garden

I will be back early next week with a recipe for Turkish orange eggplants, a recipe that was inspired by a family recipe shared with me by Archana Srinivas of Rang Décor. Until then, I hope you enjoyed these pictures of Molly’s garden which help ease my pain at the end of the growing season here in Colorado.

7 comments:

Kitt said...

See you tonight!

Was that kadipatta growing outside?

Shri said...

Manisha what lovely vignettes of summer bounty. Glad that you are well.

Julia said...

Manisha, your introduction of "Jadoo" was eloquent and lovely. I am so happy that I asked you to speak. Oh, and I think that "Jadoo" has played at other festivals in the US and it's a local show for Colorado Public Radio, an NPR affiliate, that recommended us. But, it was still way cool.

Unknown said...

Lovely. Always a pleasure to look at vegetable gardens.

Molly said...

The kadipatta WERE outside in pots - but they're safely inside now....
Molly

Unknown said...

Kadipatta in Colorado is the first I have seen! How lovely! I'd love to know how they keep them going in winter?

Manisha, I have always been such a fan of this blog!

DSR said...

Hi Manisha,

Missing your regular posts..Where are you?? I hope you get back to blogging soon..Missing you!