The best compliment on my cooking ..thus far..

Before I start this post I must write a note to Subhash that everytime he eats something that I make and says "Too much undi!!!" I have a flutter:) I get really happy and feel it was all worth doing:) He is always appreciative of what I make:) Which makes my life in the kitchen a very pleasurable one indeed!

Valli, a common friend of ours from Engineering has his mother over in the US on a short trip:) His wife's mom was here too, so we invited them for lunch. I was not even speculating on what to make;) Mummy had recently sent Maagai and it had been a long long time since I had Maagai pappu, so that was decided. Pulihara is my specialty, or so Subhash says, so that was also decided. Then I had to make my favorite (proprietary recipe!) Gutti Vankaya, as a) It had been a long time since I made it myself b)It was yet another thing that Subhash always likes, even though he doesn't particularly eat Vankaya. Actually that is a common laugh among friends that I always make Vankaya when I call someone over for lunch;)

So anyway I started around 10.45 and had everything ready by 12:) Rathi had recently given me a buffet style serving stand which holds two dishes so I even had them arranged nicely in that;) For the first time I was presenting something nicely:D:D

When everyone came over we started lunch and they were wondering what the dal was, and when I told them it was Maagai pappu, Valli's mom said, ohh yes, we used to make that, I almost forgot that something like that existed:) You reminded me of it :D (I was very happy by now;) ). Then they all started eating and she said that Maagai pappu was very good (Last year Subhash's brother had it and loved it too;), well, its in the Maagai, is what I say:D ). Everyone had the Gutti Vankaya and said it was amazing:) I feel particularly proud/happy when my Gutti Vankaya is praised as it was a recipe I "discovered" and learnt from a lot of trial and error all on my own:) Not borrowed from anywhere except for my instinctive taste buds:):D:D

Valli's mom had the Gutti Vankaya too and she said it was just like the one her mom used to make. Everyone had the pappu and loved it:) Then Valli's mom said, "Ivaalla ma amma vanta ni gurthu chesavu, ma amma vanta ilage untundi" and that was it, I was so upbeat, I can hardly express it:) She said that to Shaila's mom too, "Ivaalla ma amma vanta tinnaru ani anukondi, ilage chesedi ma amma". And she told Valli a little while later "Ammamma chesina dani lagane undi". That was it, I was overjoyed. Shaila had a lunch all over again after finishing her first round, and Valli also had a hearty lunch. Shaila's mom also loved the Dabbakaya which Mummy sent and all in all it was happy lunch. We then treated everyone to Dibs, our standard dessert menu:D

If I thought that was the best compliment ever, then I was wrong:) After they left saying they were really heavy (and I know they were not kidding, we almost fell short on rice), Subhash didn't stop saying how good the food was that whole evening:) Everytime he looked at me he would go, lunch was tooooo much!;)

I was one happy and content soul:):) Loved the fact that everyone liked what I made so much:) Subhash always said my cooking was very traditional, but I never imagined it would remind someone of a cooking style two generations ago!:D

Great!:)