The "King" of Good Times!!!

Come this life moving event, and I am running helter skelter formulating  it! While the world prepares themselves for the kind of outfits and themes they wish to have, whether the cake would reflect what they want, I am busy preparing a menu to suit the theme of my birthday! Being blessed with a big family has perks in these things more than any thing else. We have 6 birthdays in the year! And we are pigging all those 6 birthdays too!

My mom is credited to be the mastermind behind this. From donkeys years, she’s ensured that unless and until there is a life threatening event on that fateful day, we will always make a big deal about birthdays. She will toil and turn in the kitchen a day in advance, preparing all the ingredients, matching the upholstery to the birthday (yes she does that EVERY TIME) and cooking mountains of food to feed the entire city of Bombay if they are invited.

She follows one thumb rule-On a birthday, you cook the birthday persons food. Period. You can suggest all the fancy shamancy stuff but NO. Its bearable when its us kids but come my dads birthday and voila!! We have the animals. And the “eat-from-head-to-tail” policy! In fact when we have additional people coming over for dinner and they see the quantity of food prepared, they suffer a minor stroke. Inevitably their first question is “are you’ll expecting others over too??”  And there comes the eye popping when you nod a “NO, its just us”. Its scared the day lights of most of the new comers(in-laws) in our house too!!

But even today, if its birthdays in our house and my mom hasn't cooked (like her normal times), you bring Marco Pierre over but it wont be good enough. My entire family would still eat like they haven’t been fed from birth and then would complain. Also we never had giveaways for our birthdays as such. But no one ever leaves empty handed. My mom packs them portions of the food to take home every time there is a party in our house. And those little parcels bring happiness equivalent to receiving a Dairy Milk on an ordinary day! Bliss!!

My most vivid memories were of our 13^th birthday celebrations in our house. Each of us have had a unique one every time. And that would include my childhood friends too!! Apart from the exaggerated invitations, the endless hunt of the perfect birthday dress, favors designing etc., my mom would make 13 of our favorite foods that day! There would be platters of the most exquisite junk and unhealthy teenage foods! We would invite 13 friends and have 13 types of small games running through the party. It was the best birthday of all times! This strategy first took place with my elder sister and was adopted by all my friends and classmates too eventually. The food was all homemade and we ate like there was no tomorrow! I don’t think there has been any restaurant party that has appealed to me or my family ever after we’ve had one of these for ourselves. If we’ve not being the ones organizing it, we convince the others too. That’s why till date, what we miss the most are the birthday celebrations we had when we were kids. And trust me, ask one of us from the lot that has grown up together and the most vibrant birthday memories we would have wouldn’t be the theme, or gift or even the cake. But the food. That’s what I miss the most and look forward to every 11^th November at least!

Take a break from the bundles you empty every birthday over liquids now a days and go old school people. Or else, I’ve just rendered a kickass birthday plan for you to adopt the next time you are throwing one for a family member or friend. Themed on their favorite foods! And take my word for it. There’ll be no other birthday gift that’ll be able to compensate this gesture. Something they will never forget. Otherwise cake stuffed in the ears also will also serve the same purpose!

LOLITA'S CELEBRATION PUDDING

And I present to you today as a gift in advance a recipe very close to a lot of my Kuwait family friends and relatives. A pudding my mom christened and will always be something we’ve missed once we left there. It is dead simple. No cooking apart from the jellies. Eat it on any ordinary day to get the birthday feeling every time!!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 liter KDD fruit n nut ice cream melted (Amul vanilla with a few chopped dry fruits will suffice)
• 2 Big bars grated Dairy Milk chocolate
• 300 gms each of strawberry and lime green jelly (set and cut in cubes)
• 2 tiny tins milkmaid
• 400 gms lightly whipped cream
• 300gms mixed fruits, chopped (pineapple, apple, grapes, mango)

METHOD

• Take a flat bottomed long bowl and put it in the freezer for 10 mins.
• Lightly fold the whipped cream and milkmaid to form ripples. Do not over mix.
• To assemble, first layer the bottom of the bowl with the cream mixture. Add a good layer of fruits. Scatter jelly cubes in random but ensure you don’t use the whole lot.
• Put half the ice cream mixture and lay it out evenly. Add the remaining jelly and half the quantity of grated chocolate.
• Add the final layer of melted cream and top with extra lots grated chocolate! Set in the fridge for atleast an hour before you dive in this divine masterpiece… and share and have this… it always tastes better that way. cheers!!!