Just Walking Around

Yuletide Season ----Merry Christmas

Its that time of the year again when there a dip in the temperatures and nip in the air , cheerful atmosphere , all across town you see shops and mall decorated in hues of Red , White and Green symbolizing the most child friendly festival adopted from the west. Its “Christmas” time..

What with 2 kids at home celebrating Christmas has become sort of a ritual @ Pikle’s ,in our home in Matunga. Every year around this time we start preparing by buying goodies (special Christmas sweets ) and small accessories to decorate the small pint sized Christmas tree that we put up on the Christmas eve. Its fun shopping for the Star shaped lantern in Red or Snowy White , to be lit up in our French window along with the sparkling –twinkling rice bulb lights. Then some more decorative nick knacks like , small bells , colorful balls , candy canes , little angles and the great big start to be hung from the mini Christmas tree.Not to missed are those red and green Hollies to put up along with the Star lantern. And finally some special gifts to be placed below the tree as surprise for the kids to opened on Christmas day.

A week before Christmas if you walk across the Christian dominated areas of Mumbai like in Mahim –Bandra or Orlem in Malad or the IC colony in Borivili or closer home near Wadala , you can soak in the festivities. You will find corner shops selling Christmas trees , decoration for the tree and the home, Santa caps & masks , holiday cards and banners. The atmosphere is cheerful and generally up-beat. If you are lucky you may some one dressed up as Santa and cheering the crowd with his loud HO HO HO…What fun it is.

At the Don Bosco Church just behind from where we live , and near the Five Gardens on the Sunday a week before Christmas you will find small roadside stalls selling the Christmas sweets and goodies. These are put by local Christians staying in Wadala and Matunga. Here you get traditional festive sweets like  Rich Plum Cakes. No Christmas celebration can ever be complete without this dark, rich fruit cake. The plums, nuts and cherries that go into it are macerated in dark rum for months before they get mixed into a batter with secret spices like nutmeg and other wonders to produce a moist, dense knockout of a cake. Next comes the Marzipan mini chocolates .While the original French marzipan is made from almond meal, the desi one has been employing the use of cashew nuts to come up with a sweet that is truly the Queen of Christmas. It can be either moulded into cute fruit shapes or simply rolled out onto the top of a cake for that extra indulgent layer of goodness.

The other sweets you can try are the Milk Cream chocolates . These are  truly laborious sweet to make, this one sees a liter of milk reduced to a quarter to which ground cashews and sugar are added. The skill in this one is that the whiteness of the milk has got to be maintained and even the slightest hints of beige are not acceptable. Next come the Kul-Kuls , these are crunchy wonders and they are equally fun to eat. Basically fried bits of rolled up milk and flour dough. Then there are the Coconut Cakes , not a choice if your are calorie crunchers . This cake is a dense, moist confection of fresh and desiccated coconut melded with salted butter and other secret ingredients. Also called ‘bhat cake’ in Goa and delectable to the very last crumb. A special and unique sweet is the Gauva Cheese .A warning though : no cheese goes into the making of this halwa-like sweet that is made from the pulp of guavas that are simmered with lime juice and sugar to reach a fudgy consistency. Translucent and jelly-like this is one sweet that is worth its weight in gold or rather sugar if you may say so..

Then there is the Walnut Fudge a hit with all the ladies due to its chocolaty taste .Its luscious and dense with a lingering taste of chopped walnuts and condensed milk and treacle tempting your palate this is one is a knockout of a sweet that may not be very traditional, but one that has come to adorn the tables all across the city during this season

Also favorite with the shoppers are the Nankhaties a totally Indian biscuit of the purest white colour is a crumbly, melt-in-the-mouth crowd pleaser that is more-ish to a fault. Originally a round button-like cookie, nankaties that are also called ‘snowballs’ can also be seen cut in shapes like stars and hearts. Or you can eat the melt in the mouth Date Rolls which are nothing but 

a plump date stuffed with a quarter of a walnut. Then enrobe it in soft milk-flour dough and bake the little finger–sized cookie to a shimmering golden hue. Voila! You have a simple and yum date roll ready.And last but not the least there are the Coconut Ice and Cocoa Rocks .While the former is a luridly pink coconut barfi-like sweet, the latter is a blob of freshly grated coconut coated in melted chocolate which you can call the original Bounty bar.

Buy them , eat them or share these with your kiddos and friends and have a wonderful time . Go out the night before Christmas to the nearest Church and enjoy the fun filled festive environment. Listen to the children or the elderly group sing the Carols . Watch the decorative Cribs put up at the church  show casing the birth of the baby Jesus .In the decoration scene put up ,close by is his mother Mary and the three wise men who traveled all the way to seek His blessings. A year before last we were in Goa and went about the small town of Ponda close to mid-night enjoying  the various Crib decoration put up at the local Churches and open grounds near the Convent Schools. It looked like as if  baby Jesus was smiling from behind the clouds showering us with his blessing in the form of soft glow emanating from shining Moon and the twinkling Stars in the sky.

So this year be sure to have a hearty laugh with your kids when you buy them the red and white balloons. Soak in the energy and the general buzz and leave the mundane worries behind. And for now here’s wishing all of you A Merry Christmas ….Have Fun and enjoy the holiday season…

PS --- For the Christmas Enthusiasts a special list from where you can get the goodies mentioned the blog

Ann Dias at Dadar (west). Call, 9869173268 for all kinds of delectable goodies that take the form of sweets and cakes.
Betty Bayross at Santacruz. Call, 9870047712 for varieties of moist, yummy cakes.
Vienna Bakery at Santacruz (east). Call, 022 26672811 for cakes, cookies and sweets.
Hearsch Bakery at Bandra (west). Call, 022 26435361 for sweets and savouries.
Gary’s at Mazgaon. Call, 022 23741447, 9819751551 for cakes and divine rum balls.
Venus Cake Shop at Malad (west). Call, 022 28805710 for cakes and other confectionery.
A1 Bakery Bandra (west). Call, 022 26426211 for cakes and sweet buns.