Khavanu: diwali

I love the Diwali holiday. You can light candles, celebrate with your friends, and perform special pooja's. Thank goodness Diwali has become so much more mainstream. I miss garba's and the Navratri celebrations, but it's also nice to have some new traditions as well.

This year the Gyllstrave's are having a Diwali gathering. I am baking chocolate cupcakes and carrot cupcakes today (and it hasn't been a disaster so far, but then I've only gotten to the chocolate ones) and updating my CV to fit into the Euro job market (believe me there are many differences in what is the social norm on Euro CV's).

I'm gonna try frosting the choco-cupcakes with a saffron-cream cheese frosting. I'm making some of my mom's sakarpara (basically spicy fried wheat and cream of wheat crispy crackers), making some of her dry Gujurati-style potatoes with cilantro, an adaptation of kala channa that I enjoy, and Karl is going to try his hand at making some pita breads. Other appearances include rice pulao, yogurt raitu, and some Pathak's mango pickle.

I love Diwali!