Monday, September 3, 2007

Home Cooking

My mom came to visit this past Thursday for what has been a wonderful but too short trip – at least for me. While I realize that this is her vacation, and she probably wants and needs to relax a bit, not to mention spend every waking moment with Asha, she has spent half of her time cooking for me. We have taught Aurora how to make some basic Indian food (I say basic, but most of this proves even too complicated for me), my mom has made chutneys and dals and dough for rotis – enough to freeze and use at a later date – and home cooked some of my favorite foods (which amazingly taste just as good as at home, despite the restricted ingredients available to her here) nearly every day.

Around the strict cooking schedule I had devised, we did manage to get in some sight seeing and spend a lot of time with Asha. On Friday we went to Teotihuacan to see the Aztec pyramids – as you can see, the Mexican rainy season was true to form, because it began to pour about five minutes after we arrived. That didn’t stop us from climbing as much of the Moon Pyramid as was permitted, and to the top of the Sun Pyramid (the third highest pyramid in the world, according to Lonely Planet). For once I didn’t feel guilty about not going to the gym.

Over the weekend, my mom, Sonny, Asha and I went to the arts market at the Sabado Bazaar in San Angel, a charming district in the city with cobblestone streets and historic buildings. It was a lovely morning and after some shopping we stopped for lunch at a restaurant that had better atmosphere than food. It was worth the mediocre food, however, to sit outdoors on the patio while a mariachi band serenaded us. The shopping didn’t stop there – earlier today we went to a local market for souvenirs, and then to a toy store, as my mom insisted on buying Asha another toy (because as we all know, she is so deprived).
Now that my mom’s visit is coming to an end, I realize just how much I miss her, and all of my family. While it is one thing to talk about what’s new on the phone, it is so much better to talk about “nothing” in person. And of course, this visit has just reinforced how much I rely on my mom – not just for cooking but for everything from decorating my apartment, to parenting issues to just chatting about nothing in particular.


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