Pass the Milk, Please

March is here! Clearly February has been eventful, for the world and for me. My cousin’s family visited me last month, although my niece (this is the third individual niece being referred to in this blog) only spoke to me once in the four days she was here, directing me on which ice-cream to give to her. Unlike the previous guests in my house, these ones were prepared very well. Even I, the girl who plans entire trips and meals before I have left for the airport, was impressed. They had planned what to order, which bus to take from which bus stop and where the photo ops are. Look, I know travel is supposed to be relaxing but not having your day planned so you can make the most of your visit or the thought of spending two hours in your hotel stay because you can’t decide where to get lunch - is not at all relaxing to folks like me. And doing all the homework does help you plan your “free” time, better. It’s easier to be flexible when you have a roadmap already. At least, that’s what I think.

On the flip side, almost every week from the beginning of this year, since I recovered from the fever from hell, has been “hectic”. Either work is taking all my time, or my new personal training program at the gym is. If my limbs and brain have some capacity, I have been traveling; and then whatever little time left goes to socialising and regular chores. You might notice that rest hasn’t found its place yet, maybe this is why I fall very, almost knocked-out sick once in a while.  Just last weekend I traveled to a friend’s wedding in Jodhpur and my goodness, it is HOT in Rajasthan. Not Singapore or Kochi hot where you sweat, no, it’s dry and hot like you are being crisped up. I was initially surprised to see the constant service of small cut fruits, and very quickly realised why these are the best snacks for the weather. The wedding was in a beautiful palatial hotel with many events throughout the day - I can only imagine how many outfit changes that means for the bride and groom.  My layover was in Mumbai, and I had been strictly ordered by my sister to shop for a certain style of short Indian tops, given I hadn’t bought anything for her from my last visit in February. It was another morning spent in the hot sun, and the dust from construction, when I went up and down the stretch of Hill road and its many vendors only to return empty-handed. Oh well, at least I tried. To reward myself for my kind endeavour, I bought bhelpuri from a roadside eatery which was known for its good hygiene. The reason why I generally don’t eat from roadside vendors was learnt again, unfortunately. 

For someone who enjoys food so much, I did not know much about basic ingredients in Indian cooking until very recently. Did you know there is a difference between chena and khoya? I didn’t. Apparently one is made by reducing milk to milk solids and another involves curdling the milk, and the uses are also different. In my defence, neither is used in desserts in South India or at least in Kerala. We just reduce milk a little bit and make different payasams, or use coconut shavings and jackfruit and bananas in our desserts. Of course, most of my involvement in the process was after all the cooking was done too. To go further, there is a dessert called kalakand, also known as milk cake, which is somewhere in the middle of the two? Honestly, there is so so much to know and figure out about Indian cooking, in each region, that not knowing a little bit is fine. Like my cousin’s family who made a pit stop at Hyderabad before coming to Singapore and learnt the hard way exactly how spicy Andhra cuisine can get. 

While my life unfolds in its own pace, the world around me (and all of us) is noisy and seemingly taking a turn for the worse. I remember when the first war between Israel-Hamas happened in 2023, I was new to the trading floor and my first reaction was sadness/shock. My then manager was kind enough to discuss with me the morality of our job, where we trade on news and events, whatever the news may be. This time around, I do feel sadness but not shock. The war is directly and indirectly affecting a lot more countries. Even restaurants in Kochi don’t have LPG gas to cook.  And yet, all I get to do is make trading calls based on where oil prices can go in the next two months. This is hardly the first war this planet has seen, but it is a different thing to experience the kind of stuff we only read in economic textbooks in the past. Hopefully, the tune changes soon but until then, we live in denial by focusing on milk-based sweets.