Rekha's Ramblings

I am a mom of three grown kids, college kids. Like every parent who has children away from home, I was waiting eagerly to have them home for Thanksgiving, even if it would be brief; the house to be full again, the sound of music in the house once again. I imagined lots of dinners, them sharing stories, and some unhurried moments. Then they came; they were busy with homework the whole time. The piano, which I had dreamed of hearing again, was played just once. My heart was full to hear my favorite tunes. The first born was not as busy as the younger ones and he accompanied me on my daily walks; just the two of us, catching up. It felt like a small gift, between assignments and deadlines. My heart was full. We had all the dinners together at home and then, just like that, they left. Younger ones had to leave early as they are in marching band, and they had to go back for their college rivalry game. And even though they work just as hard as band students, it's always all...

Day 15, Thanksgiving and gratitude.  We do not celebrate any holidays except for Thanksgiving, and it is for one thing only, to reflect on the blessings and to express gratitude.  One must be grateful to know that we have enough, there is always someone worse than we are. And we are grateful for everything.  While our journey has had more ups than downs, we know that those "ups" did not happen by themselves. Along the way, we were supported by neighbors, colleagues, friends, and sometimes even strangers who have extended a helping hand when we needed it most. Thanksgiving gives us that opportunity to feel grateful and to acknowledge the countless individuals who have played a role in shaping our journey. And mind you, Thanksgiving is not about food (if you read my earlier post about cooking, you will know that I do not like cooking) but I do my best to put the American style food on the table.  Here is that link in case you missed it earlier.  https://www.rekh...

 I wish I had known this 25 years ago, back in the days without Google.  First Thanksgiving in the US. The then employer used to give free turkeys. I had never heard of or seen Turkey until then, didn't know what to do with it, so gave it to one of my colleagues. Second Thanksgiving in the US, by now heard of  and eaten Turkey. This time brought the turkey home, a massive ,> 10-12 pounds I would say.  My colleagues failed to warn me, they didn't realize that I was still fresh off the boat and that it would be my first time cooking a turkey and I had no family here to guide me.  Imagine the fiasco on Thanksgiving morning! My friends who came off the same boat with me didn't know any better either.  I put the still frozen turkey in the oven for 8 hours.... Obviously, it wasn't cooked. I don't know what we ended up eating...it stayed in the oven all night that night, I think.  My sister and I ended up fooling with it the next day, still clueless. Needl...

  This year the children are demanding an American Christmas dinner, I have never cooked traditional American Christmas dinner that includes ham and different casserole etc., that’s because either we aren’t home for Christmas or if we are home, husband is vegetarian and prefers Indian food. I went to Kroger this morning, yucky rainy day, traffic jams, and packed store. I have ordered turkey for Thanksgiving meals from Kroger in the past so secretly hoping that they would be open on Christmas day; sadly they aren’t, so no readymade ham, I will have to make my own, I don’t blame them, they want to be home with their families so what if my husband has to work. I go around the store looking for ingredients to make the meal , Sweet potato casserole too demanding , too many things which I will never use again, crossed it off my list, made the children agree to scalloped potatoes instead (comes in the box), corn casserole check, green beans casserole check, ham check (evidently it’s alrea...