My Big Fat Indian Wedding

Have you ever seen the movie, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"? It inspired me this last weekend to call the wedding that my Love and I attended (not ours, don't worry!) "My Big Fat Indian Wedding." I had an absolute blast at this wedding. My Love's cousin was marrying the love of his life and there were people from out of the country who travelled to this event. There were relatives from New Zealand, Chicago and so on, and they all gathered for the auspicious event.

Besides being overwhelmed by trying to remember whose name was what (especially because many of them have the same sounds, just mixed a little differently) what really struck me was the variety of absolutely beautiful outfits. Saris abounded and each one was elegant and amazing in intricacy. This photo is of my Love's gorgeous cousin (yes, one of many) and the sari that she wore to the evening banquet and dance. I have actually impressed myself and my Love by remembering, as we went through the photos, most of the names and definitely the relationships that they are to each other. It is like an intricate weave of tapestry, each person being a thread that is woven in and entwined with the others, thus creating a stronger and more vibrant weave.

Did I mention the food? OMG!!!! The Friday evening before the wedding there was a meet and greet at the home of the bride and groom with Indian food that would pull me back to life from within my grave, just to taste another bite! I love the way the flavours are blended with just the right amount of spice to make it not too hot but just spicy enough to have an oral-gasm! Gotta love the left overs as well. I have also discovered that the Indian culture does deserts! I was not so familiar with any more than one or two deserts. But of course, at a wedding event, all the recipes come out and provide an array of taste sensations!

I am told, however, that in comparison to what most Indian weddings can be, this one was not so much a big fat Indian wedding as it was a small skinny Indian wedding. All I can say is....I am now even more looking forward to the next one so that I can hopefully see what big fat Indian wedding can be! I know there will be food!

Blessed Be

Trent
www.deerhornshamanic.com

A Vegimite Sandwich?????

Have you ever had one of those embarrassing moments where you are singing along to a song on a CD or on the radio and then have someone point out to you how you have the words all wrong? My love pointed out to me last night that I had yet another set of words wrong to the Men At Work song "Down Under". At least I think it was Men At Work, and I think the song is "Down Under", but I no longer am very sure of anything!

"He just smiled and gave me a vegimite sandwich." So what the heck is a vegimite sandwich??? I don't even know if I am spelling it correctly, but after reading the next line, you may not care either. Apparently down under they have this thing called vegimite that is like a peanut butter substitute, but is actually more like lard and tastes even worse. I is very popular down there. When it was described to me, I decided that there is a very good reason that I live up here in Canada. We actually have peanut butter. Not being allergic to legumes, I can eat all the peanut butter I want. And it doesn't have to taste like lard!

And then I also discovered something divine! My Love's parents own and operate Premala's Spicy Sensations and make all sorts of delicious Indian food and sauces and chutneys etc. They make something called Pachadi. Now, this is actually said more like "muchity" with a "p" instead of an "m". It is very important that you know how to say the words correctly. Her family is an excellent group of instructors when it comes to other language and being able to pronounce things correctly. But I think it is also because there is power in words. So if I say Love incorrectly, it is not going to have the same power as when I say it correctly. Much the same for the names of food, people, articles, animals, etc. So you need to say it right. And what the heck is Pachadi anyway? Well, it is a peanut butter based spread that is spicy. I am not talking the hideous kind of spicy that you get at cheap knock off imitation Indian food places. I am talking about absolutely wonderful flavor. That is the way they make all their food. The spice is not to knock your socks off (which I rarely wear anyway), but to bring out the flavor of the food and the blend of aromas and textures. They also bless their food every time they prepare it, so it is laced with the goodness of the gods! By the way, you can get this stuff at the Farmer's Market in Saskatoon, where they have a booth. And if you do, make sure that you ask for the recipe for the Chickpea Curry. The story will amaze you!

Blessed Be

Trent
www.deerhornshamanic.com