Merry Christmas

One more Christmas**** Christmas brings me great childhood memories. It was my favourite festival while growing up. Hailing from a Christian family there was a big religious significance too.

As kids we were busy the day before Christmas setting up Christmas tree and manger. There was a silent competition among neighbours for the best decorations. Fireworks were big time for Christmas Eve. I also remember waiting for my brothers and sister to come home for Christmas. And this was my greatest joy of Christmas to be with all my siblings . Other memories included house to house carol singing, going to church to attend mid night mass in a moonlit night, getting presents and most important of all; the good food.

Since both my parents are from Kuttanad and settled in Pala, one can see a Kuttanadan influence in our cuisine, specilally in the Fish preparations. During Christmas at my house in Pala you can see a good display of my mom’s culinary skills. Special mention is needed for her ‘Appam and Pork Piralan’. I don’t think either me or my siblings can ever forget the taste of her Pork Piralan. This is a typical Pala style Pork preparation enhanced my mom’s secret ingredients. I want to thank my mom for all the good food she fed us while growing up.

We had a great Christmas this year also. Ashlyn was all into Santa Claus and was excited to get all the presents she wished for. I & Sanjesh were into Christmas decorations and trying out some new recipes. Our hit this year was ‘Roast Leg of Lamb’. As usual I made appam and pork piralan (this year it was close to my mom’s recipe) and some other nadan dishes….I have to have traditional Kerala food to get the real feel of Christmas. We also made fruit cake, another family recipe (this one from my husband’s side) and thanks to my mother in law. She bakes great cakes and her fruit cake is famous. This year our cake was so good that we even shared it with our neighbours.

Apart from all the good food and merry making we found some time to appreciate all the blessings we have and to stay grounded. And that is the message I want to pass on to my daughter.
Let’s embrace the peace and joy of Christmas and be better human beings.

London,Canada our home away from home

Let me introduce you to the beautiful place where we live now.
If Kerala is "God's own country", Canada is "God's vacation home".
We now live in a quiet and beautiful city in Canada called London(named by the early English settlers in this place) a city where you'll find miles of beautiful pathways and acres of rolling parkland. Downtown London has its own identity with unique shops, fine restaurants, intimate cafes and bistros. I can do hours of window shopping here.
We (me & my husband) are both doing our masters in the University Of Western, London - one of the oldest and prestigious universities in Canada. We are eight months into the course and we have already fallen in love with this place. I will write about our student life another time.

It is winter now and London is all covered in snow. We had a snow storm past weekend and had 30cm of snow. December is my favorite month of the year in Canada . Everything looks so beautiful in December all covered in snow. Nature is at its best now ;I should say second best because "fall/autumn" is my favorite season and that is a whole topic of its own.
Coming back to winter, since we are done with our exams now and enjoying our xmas break we find lots of time to do things we like. Today we decided to explore the scenic winter trails in London and the pictures above will take you with us......I don't think I could do justice to the nature ...but here is a sample of the visual treat the nature had for us today....Enjoy.

Hello World

Hi all
I'd been waiting all this while to let my Chinthadhara out..............and finally I have made it.
"Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavandhu"
I dedicate this to all my friends out there.
Jane.