The last weekend was lovely. I was kind of busy half the time and the other half, I was just doodling away, indulging in idle banter with the good man Himself.

The weather was beautiful and for a change, it was nice to do nothing but just unwind. On Saturday, the Woodys' came over for dinner. The dinner was fab and they loved it! Totally. The day was spent in preparing for the guests, and that usually means, cleaning up, making sure there is enough cutlery for the family of five plus two (that is us) and adding my final touches to the Banquet (if I may say so) with the lasts of garnishings and tasting. Not even a little spicy, warned A. Keeping that in mind, we decided on the creamy paneer butter masala and a mild and flavorful daal made out of black-eyed peas. Paranthas were stocked in the freezer and needed to be cooked just before dinner. And, yes, Jeera Pulao was the other mild entree that I could think of, next to plain rice, of course. What about the appetizer? "How about Chaat? We can make Sev Puri. No spice at all.", I said. A agreed it was a good idea. Onions, potatoes, cilantro, tomatoes were chopped, the green chutney and sweet chutney whipped,  and A with his oversized faded T-shirt made the perfect street Chaat Wala. The only thing that lacked was the sweat trickling from his brows. Yuck! I know.

The  Woodys' arrived. Hellos and hugs were exchanged. The kids were chirping away, acting out "Doctor, doctor...."  skits. Laughing. Talking. Then, it was time for Chaat. What's Chaat? Alright. Explaination followed and was received with oohs and aahs. Alrighty, bring it out, they said. D wanted the papdi topped with just the tomatoes. C wanted it with everything except the onions and Big D wanted just the papdi. Oh, these kids! "Puhleez. It's Chaat. Has to be eaten in a certain way. Eat it all or not at all", I wanted to yell. And, S said it was more like Nachos. Huh?? Yeah, except for the chips and cheese and jalapeno and olives and salsa and guacamole and sour cream, I said.

I got started with the Paranthas while A was catering to needs of his customers (Oh, BTW, he changed into a smarter T-shirt and looked more like a Chaat Wala in a five-star restaurant :) ). The table was laid and all the dishes were explained. They dug in and the food was a hit! Even the kids it. Though they ate paranthas with sugar and jeera pulao with sugar, they ate a good number of paranthas and a good helping of pulao. My legs were tired, as I stood there, making paranthas after paranthas which seemed to be vanishing minute after minute.I am glad they liked it! In the end, everyone was so stuffed and we settled to play poker. We finally opened the poker kit! It was fun.

The Woodys' got the dessert - Root Beer Float. I usually don't like Root Beer much, but it always tastes good when someone makes it for you. A took a big Coca Cola glass, put in three scoops of vanila ice cream and then P filled it up with Root Beer! Looks like it is a traditional American dessert! A was pretty sure I won't be able to eat it all because of my love for root beer ;-), but was quite surprised to see that I had tucked it all in!

And then more poker. 9 pm. Time for the kids to go to bed. Let's leave, said S. After they left, we turned the dishwasher on and crept upstairs to hit the bed. Three kids! S must be spending all time and money just feeding them. But, it's fun, nontheless!