An Easter Update.

Its been a cold and lengthy winter, but finally signs of spring are beginning to show.The days have become longer and milder, the sun seems a little less shy, trees have initiated the first buds of new leaves and the daffodils, a sure sign of spring, have begun to bloom all around the place. Back in India, we generally enjoy sunshine all the year round and take it for granted, but here the seasons have so much say on the moods of people, that there is even a disorder called the “seasonal affective disorder” associated with winters, during which people get distressed and depressed. About 1 in 8 people are known to be affected by this disorder in Britain, and recent research has even linked a gene to it.
Anyhow, a reassuring sign that spring is finally here is the arrival of Easter (Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring equinox). While the religious people here celebrate Easter in the traditional way by going to church, two common associations of Easter, with the general public are the Easter egg and Easter bunny. The Easter egg is usually made from chocolate and is said to represent the tomb from which Jesus Christ broke forth. The Easter bunny however, has a non Christian origin, dating back to the Pagan times.
There is a long weekend consisting of four days holiday here, and my celebration was once more with my Spanish friends – Ovi and Martha. Its been great having them around, and I’m saddened by the fact that they will be heading back to Spain next month. In any event, I decided to treat them to a little Indian cooking! As you may be aware my cooking skills are still experimental and it is still a risk submitting people to it!
However Martha and Ovi played sport and welcomed me over for the “experiment”.
Our first obstacle came when we realized that it was Easter Sunday and most shops were shut. However we did manage to find an open one and decided to do the best we could with what we could find there. So it was that we ended up with a medium sized uncut chicken, a tub of plain yoghurt , two large onions a pod of garlic, a bottle of French wine and a large tub of Ice cream!.....boy, how does one make a meal out of that?
With the French wine to calm our nerves, we put aside the meal problems and started a nonstop gossip session, with me sharing Indian stories and they sharing Spanish ones. Ovi is a member of a Spanish heavy metal band called Bifrost. If you are interested in progressive metal music do visit this link where you can download some of his music.
It was the gnawing of hunger that brought us back to the problems to tackle and we worked out that while I would play chef, Ovi would try his hand at being the butcher, while Martha would supervise! This we managed to pull of great.
Between the items we had bought and what was already there in the house I decided to go for a chicken curry with rice. Trusting my long experimented formula, I sautéed the onions, garlic and tomatoes and scooped in a few spoonfuls of curry powder and salt. When that was all done, in went Ovi`s methodically dissected chicken pieces…a little cooking followed and then a few scoops of yoghurt...more salt …a little water…and a little boiling…bingo, the curry was ready to go! The rice posed little problems, and with all that wine in our stomachs adding to the rumblings…we were ready to eat anything!
Without sounding too self complimentary, it turned out to be a great meal. And we hardly had any space to gobble up the ice cream that followed. After an hour or two of chatting over the T.V, and allowing the body to process its digestion. We were finally able to rise from the table. It turned out well past midnight by the time I made my way home…stomach still full of chicken curry and head full of French wine, but what was most satisfying was a heart full of precious moments of friendship shared.