Space Jam

Last week, all hell broke loose. It all started with two of the house help taking off on a romantic vacation to their village (they are a couple, not that my home is a love nest or a single’s joint even though it may be referring to any strata of society), the onus of the chores came upon the other two simpletons picked fresh out of the sugarcane fields of inner Maharashtra. Though they too were adequately trained to adapt to the housekeeping they were also easily swayed by the sudden freedom bestowed upon by the non-presence of the head man-Friday (or as I like to call the male half of the wandering couple).

Simpleton No.1 caught a viral ‘allegedly’, went off with his sack and bedding to the village clearly never to show his face again when the actual story was that he was in lust with another woman in the vicinity and his wife, on finding out about his urban shenanigans with the other woman tackled him single handedly by his nether regions and dragged him to his hometown, while Simpleton No. 2 was not much of a simpleton as he took to drinking local liquor every night, the reason which we found soon enough was that he had a case against him in the village for battery assault against a government official, the case which he lost.

If this does not call for real life drama being played on loop in our home, we can safely thank our stars that nothing untoward befell the family with the atrocities of these cretins. With all due respects, I am usually never this condescending towards any human being but when someone betrays my trust, they are scum.

This was not the least of our problems; clearly the honeymooning househelp (though they are not newly married, they do take off annually to their village or whenever they feel the desire) had decided to extend their rural adventures indefinitely. Left without any help at home the household got a bit disrupted in facing the daily chores. In the years I have lived in my home and before that my parents, there has never been even a single day when the house was devoid of any external help. We have had old-timers, guardians, housekeepers, groundskeepers, sweepers, gardeners, drivers, maids and man-fridays all somehow filling in for the other in one way or another ensuring the home was kept in impeccable condition.

This sudden unfortunate situation came flying like an upper-cut punch out of the blue. One fine day the house was teeming with people (also including the festivity like air during the sibling’s marriage when there was barely space to keep a toothbrush let alone park yourself in your space) and now it was the chores staring at us malignantly like the increasing dust layer on the mantelpiece. It urged us to embrace the tools which were, at one point, wielded by hands other than the blood members of the household.

The first morning without the help was excruciatingly painful, in short akin to plague in your very own home. Half of the house members were away at work; I was having a home-working day, and faced, along with the other half of the members – a pile of dishes, cooking from scratch (which technically was not a predicament for me), dusting, cleaning, washing, drying, watering, making the bed, sweeping and other chores one terms as mundane followed by many other nitty-gritty’s which were lost in the maze of tasks lying ahead of us. Panic was mounting two fold as we wondered if the dust should be attacked with the broom first or the spatula should be wielded to complete the days cooking.

The tasks looked on with surmounting pressure with each passing minute, but what had to be done – had to be done. We got around pathetically completing the chores and for some miraculous reason the flow was established and the cribbing got less and the work got completed.

It’s been a week since there has been no help. Today as I write this post the household members have got a grip on all the work which is routinely done by the help. Things are smooth but definitely tiring as its not easy balancing housework, work (everyone in the family is in a different professional field), social life and alone time can be bid goodbye.

In all this confusion an important lesson was well learnt, I realized that working together on household chores as a family brought an important part of a family-life together, i.e. communication. Though all the time we banter about the our personal space and crave to stay away from each other since we anyway see each other everyday, when we are forced by such circumstances to come together a sense of harmony, cohabitation, generosity, looking out for the other and plain adjustment comes into view.

Abroad and other countries this situation is quite prevalent considering there are no full time servants but then again apart from cooking (which is barely everyday in most households) and cleaning – the washing and dusting is left for the weekly-fortnightly cleaners or for weekends. If you have to do this everyday ‘together’ (being the key word) the real test of closeness is created and a huge communication gap which was prevalent is closed. There is a mysterious aura of closeness and bonding created and for some reason this seems like it has opened up our true personalities and feelings towards each other.

An unequivocal sense of understanding has permeated our inner selves and things have moved like clockwork with the occasional hitch. To an extent every well-lived household in the city has faced this situation, the only hope is that if you have not, there will be a time when you shall be made to face it (help is always temporary) and it shall remain an eye opener to embrace the situation and make use of the space created in the positive sense.

I recently got some mulberries which were in season a while ago, I made use of some of them in a simple salad, I dunked some onto my morning breakfast cereal but I still had over two cups remaining. There was too much clutter in my fridge with no space to keep these delightful little berries and I thought to myself that I should save them and to do that what better way than to make jam or preserves. This recipe is a heady mix of my favorite flavors and somehow balsamic marries well with these tangy berries. A little hint of sweetness is all it takes to make this a perfectly balance preserve which you will learn to enjoy with the various serving suggestions I have mentioned at the end of this post. Enjoy making and relishing this no-fuss recipe as soon as possible.

Mulberry Balsamic Preserve

Ingredients

• 2 cups Mulberries
• ¾ cup Sugar
• 3 tablsp Balsamic Vinegar
• Juice of 2 Lemons
• 1 tsp Rosemary
• ½ tsp Nutmeg
• ½ tsp Lemon Zest
• A twist of freshly ground pepper

In a large non-stick pan or pot, place the de-stemmed mulberries, cover with sugar. Leave for about 15 minutes or till
the sugar starts melting and the fruit starts releasing juice. Place the pan/pot on a low flame and heat till simmering.
Add the vinegar and stir.

Add the spices, herbs and seasoning’s (except lemon) and continue to simmer on a low flame for about 15 minutes. The
residual liquid has to boil away till its reduced to half.

Finish off with lemon juice, give it a good stir and remove from heat to cool.

Once cooled, spoon into sterilized glass jars and seal well. The jam should thicken by the time it is cooled. This stays
well up in the fridge for a couple of weeks.

Nonchalant Gourmand Serving Suggestions & Variations:

• Spoon over cream crackers, top with a slice of hard strong cheese and serve
• Stir fry some finely chopped onions and garlic in some olive oil and spoon in about half cup of Mulberry
  Balsamic Preserve, let it settle and get incorporated. Take your favourite pieces of chicken and marinate them
  in this mixture, finally grill or sauté to perfection. Season with salt to enhance flavour
• Add a few drops of vanilla essence or drop in a pod of vanilla in the first simmer to use this fragrant
  variation with your morning pancakes. Serve with some whipped cream and nuts
• Spread on whole wheat bread and top with slices of boiled eggs, toss over some fresh Arugula and a sprinkling of
  red pepper and you have a delicious open faced sandwich

Nonchalant Gourmand Preserving Instructions

Glass Jars Canning

A brand of Glass Jars called Quattro Stagioni is available easily in most Indian kitchen supply stores. These are
excellent for storing home-made preserves, pickles and jams as they are specifically designed for canning purposes. The
glass is tempered to withstand high heat and is a perfect jar for home canning water bath style. The instructions are
given below for easy reference (A similar set of instructions are given with each jar, have just briefed it for quick
perusal)

• You will need to sterilize the jars and the lids together in boiling water in which a teaspoon of vinegar has been added, simmer the jars and the lids for 15 minutes and then drain and dry on cloth towels, again try not to touch your hands or foreign objects.
• Spoon in the preserve till it reaches just about ½” below the rim (make sure there is no preserve on the rim or edges)
• With a sterilized knife stir the mixture so as to remove any air pockets.
• Clean the rim with a cloth or tissue to ensure no preserve residue is remaining.
• Seal the jar with the lid, snugly.
• Heat a large pot of water to boil, the water should be atleast 2 inches above the jar when it will be placed inside. Once boiling, place the jar carefully into the pot and cover the pot tightly.
• Let it boil for about 15 minutes to 20 minutes, keep checking the water level it should not come below the level of jar and should stay at 1” to 2” above the jar.
• Switch off the gas and leave the jar and water undisturbed for about 10 minutes.
• Remove carefully with jar lifter or a set of kitchen pliers. Be careful not to tilt the jar while removing.
• Place on wire rack and let it cool. You jar should be sealed when you see the indentation in the middle of the lid turn into a concave.

Tomorrow the happy house-help couple is coming back from their honeymoon, things will definitely be thrown back to normal, but I sure do hope the space which was filled when they were not around remains and is here to stay. The feeling should be mutual.