Lucky us!

My childhood friend, who lives two houses away from us, has fondly nicknamed her Annapoorni, a name associated with goddesses of food and nourishment in Hinduism. 

Almost every mid-week, she visits my friend to drop two bags of treats. One for each of our families. It’s a visit that we have come to expect with fondness and gratitude. The treats are her culinary experiments and they vary by week and by season. Her speciality is what the boys call as monuts – a cross between donuts and muffins. Some days it is ricotta filled pancakes. On other days it would be savory corn breads, hakka noodles or pasta. During the summer it can vary from watermelon ice cream to strawberry shortcakes to peach strudels. And in fall, it’s pumpkin and cranberry filled delicacies and apple cakes. Did I forget to mention the holiday treats? Mint flavored brownies, fruit cakes, bread pudding, raisin and choc chip cookies, fudge, just to name a few. My personal favorite is the simple dhal, and the spicy potato sabzi she brings.

And it’s just not about the treats and the food. It’s in how she shares them with us, week after week, unconditionally, without expecting an acknowledgement, a thank you or a favor in return. She doesn’t even mind that we don’t return her food containers. It’s baking, cooking, and sharing simply for the love and joy of it. Nothing more, nothing less. 

Who can be so selfless with their time, energy, talent and resources, you ask? Only someone who has a heart filled with goodness and has earned the nickname of Annapoorni.