whose food we eat, their song we sing

Two of Pedatha’s stars are featured in this photograph. One is great grandson Nandan, the apple of her eye, and the other, Cooking at home with Pedatha, a new dawn in the dusk of her life. For as Pedatha said, life can begin even after 80.
At 84, with Cooking at home with Pedatha, she found fame, received letters of love and admiration from strangers far and wide, from bloggers around the globe, and in her own words, became a model without walking the ramp. To many of you, she sent back her message of love, she read and re-read your loving comments and told us about the joy it brought to her heart.
At 85, with the birth of Nandan, she found yet another link to posterity. His gurgles and babbles brought back the innocent laughter of childhood to her life.

’Cooking at home with Pedatha’ was not just a book. It was for her, a creation of love, a space that recorded her beauty, wisdom & knowledge forever and ever, thus keeping her alive…immortal.
So also, Nandan was not just a child, he was her little Krishna. He is well behaved, he is naughty, he is obedient, yet has a mind of his own, he looks like butter won’t melt in his mouth, yet is so caring…as soft as butter….utterly irresistible.
Last week, Nandan was in Chennai with his adorable parents, Rohit & Aarti. While we were chatting together he did something that we as authors of ‘Cooking at Home with Pedatha’ simply consider the most spectacular moment in the history of the book. He was playing and suddenly picked up the book from the coffee table and said with glee, “Naama Poo buk.” That’s what he called her – Naamapoo…and he gave the most affectionate, uninhibited, slurpy kiss to her picture on the cover. And it didn’t stop there. He turned to every page which carries Pedatha’s picture and planted a kiss on each one with the pure innocent love that only babies have in abundance! We watched with wonder as he closed the book, placed it back on the table & went back to playing with his ball…it was like he had just stepped into his Naamapoo’s room, chatted with her in their very own language of love and then got back to the business of life.

That very same day, we found that our blog had received the “You Made My Day” award from Swati of Chatkhor.

Google could not take us to the blogger who started this award, all we understood is that it is to be passed on to ten bloggers for similar reasons. It is our pleasure now to pass on this award to some of those bloggers whose comments had reached Pedatha and added to her joy. What better way to express our appreciation than to give away the award along with these beautiful pictures of those precious kisses?

We feel so happy to continue the tradition by presenting the “You make my day” award to:-

1. Indira of Mahanandi whose review of our book inspired many readers to own the book and cook from it. In her simple, profound style, she called this book an “emerald gem…that would bring good health and good luck to my cooking.”
2. Jyotsna of The Cook’s Cottage who was one of the first bloggers who posted this book on her site. Someone sent us that link and that’s when our fascination with blogs began. For her, each of the recipe from the book was “accurate in the measurement of ingredients, true to the Andhra style of cooking and is absolutely ‘no fail’. An added advantage is the simplicity of every one of them…”
3. Jai & Bee of Jugalbandi who have ardently tried many recipes, encouraging us with their compliments such as - “The title description of Cooking at Home with Pedatha is “Vegetarian recipes from a traditional Andhra kitchen”. The book makes no further claims. What you see is what you get. There are just 61 recipes, but no one dish is like the next…”
4. Linda of Out of the Garden who wrote about ‘Cooking at home with Pedatha’- “Full of simple, beautiful photographs, it conveys the wisdom and instinct of a woman who reminds me very much of my own nana. When I returned to the kitchen, instead of facing a quandry, I was inspired…”
5. SRA who wrote at When My Soup Came Alive - “This is the only book I’ve noticed that tells us exactly how to temper a dish – what goes in first, the mustard seed or the urad dal, and it’s fail-proof…” Pedatha really enjoyed seeing our book prominently displayed in SRA’s collection.
6. Suganya of Tasty palettes who has tried and posted many recipes using Pedatha’s insights wrote at her blog, “Thank you Pedatha, for your inspiration and ingenious ideas. The recipes I have tried and techniques I have adapted from this book, have never failed me…”
7. Barbara of Tigers & Strawberries who wrote about Pedatha, “She also is a woman who understands innately that cooking is a deeply spiritual act which is intimate and intensely personal…”
8. Aahaar Vihaar who bought the book after reading the review at Mahanandi wrote, “I…picked the book and read from start to finish. The book not only has recipes from the 86 year old culinary queen Pedatha, but also the variations and tips with which a recipe can be cooked…”
9. Gini of Salt & Pepper who wrote at her blog, “It has a green hardcover, pictures in every page, simple instructions - what’s not to like…I had forgotten to do that slow stirring for sometime now but this
   cookbook has reminded me to slow down, and enjoy my cooking…”
10. Mythili of Vindu who said, “The narration and recipe in the book jonesed me to try out Spinach (palakoora) chutney. Needless to say it came out awesome and I was surprised at the results.”

Thank you all from the depths of our hearts. We hope you enjoy these awesome pictures that capture the essence of life….pure & uncomplicated LOVE.

Ten is a small number and did not complete our list J. As if providence agreed with us, within a couple of days, Madhu of Eggless Cooking thought of us for the Nice Matters Award. This award was started by Genevieve of Bella Enchanted “for those bloggers who are just nice people, good blog friends and those who inspire good feelings and inspiration. Those that care about others that are there to lend support or those that are just a positive influence on our blogging world.”

Thank you very much for thinking of us Madhu. We happily pass on this award to those bloggers who were our first links to the blogging world:

1. Kiruba Shankar – Much before we became familiar with culinary blogs, we were regular visitors at kiruba.com. Therefore, when we published “Cooking at Home with Pedatha”, we wrote to him and he responded promptly and warmly. He said he liked the idea of documenting grandma’s recipes and wrote on his blog, “Pratibha and Jigyasa did something I had long wanted to do. Capture Grandma’s expertise in a book…”
2. Prabha of Food for Thought – Prabha’s blog is one of our first favourites. Her wit, unassuming humour and latitude of thoughts makes it a place one wants to visit again and again. We were naturally delighted when we discovered our book being mentioned at her site, “It’s just the book to have no matter how long you have been cooking…”
3. Sailu of Sailus Food – The first culinary blog we chanced upon, thanks to Google. We still remember our first impressions of being stunned. When we wrote to her asking her if she had seen our book, she replied, “Let me inform you that I am a proud owner of your wonderful book. I bought it the day it arrived at my regular bookstore in Vizag. How can I miss it?…”

Thank you friends for making “Cooking at Home with Pedatha” a special experience for us with your warm words and encouragements. You may continue this blog friendship chain by passing on these awards that you have received to those you cherish.

POSTED by Pratibha & Jigyasa