Athena and Arjun often joked that we knew more people in Seattle than they did. And so, we spent most days of our first 2 weeks in Seattle, including weekdays, visiting friends and family. We are so fortunate to have so many people welcome us into their homes and hearts, un-reservedly, and make time for us, no matter how busy they are.
Abha and Mayunk
I think I will talk more about the kids than Abha and Mayunk. What a delight Kabir and Alvira are. Alvi took Daksh under her wing and Kabir was the perfect host. He was so attentive to every one of us. Like I told Abha, Kabir is their pride and Alvira is their joy. Thank you Abha and Mayunk for having us over and giving us some delicious puri-chole despite the fact that you were getting ready to pack up and leave for your month-long India trip. Look forward to more such meet ups in future.
Anita and Hari
It can’t have been easy for Anita to have all of us land up on a week day for dinner. But she is so cheerful, welcoming and attentive that you don’t feel bad about it, or like you’re imposing on her. She is so amazingly thoughtful. Even when we went berry picking, and were woefully unprepared for lunch, she had cooked lunch for all of us, and had spoons, plates, pickles, and anything else you could think of, ready. Her help during Athena’s Valaikaapu was also invaluable, and I think I singlehandedly polished off most of the “7-cups” sweet she had made. Thank you, Anita, Hari, Maami, Abhijith and Ananya, for your hospitality and love. Daksh and Vedant had such a blast playing with Abhijith and Ananya. May the bond be strong with the next generation too.
Karthik and Arathi
Arathi has to get a prize for making the most delicious dal makhni, on a full work day, with kids home for summer break, and in between meetings. I’m glad the kids too got along so well. I wish we had spent more time together, but my most cherished memory of this trip will be of reading a book to Ananya and Daksh at bed time. As an aunt, I really want to make so many more memories like that one with Ananya and Aarna. We promise to spend more time together next time, and I’m so happy Daksh, Vedant, Ananya and Aarna seemed to get along so well.
Shalini and Ram
One more weekday dinner meet that couldn’t have been easy for the hosts, but Shalini, Ram, Renuga Mami and Hariharan Mama were so gracious and welcoming. The meal was delicious, and the deck of Shalini and Ram’s place was perfect for eating outdoors. It would have been a such a waste of perfectly good weather to eat indoors. Satvik is such a cutie – hopefully we can get the kids to spend more time together on our next visit.
Roger and Fiona
Thank you Roger and Fiona for coming to visit us. Daksh is now enjoying the hot chocolate that was actually a gift for me! We had very fond memories of the Bali trip, and we should do another trip like that when your grand daughter is here :-).
Ankur and Reshma
Another family that we so wish we had more time with, but we are so glad we could celebrate Sia’s first birthday with Ankur and Reshma. They had just returned from Iceland, so we spent most of our time at the party quizzing them about things to do and what to take while traveling with kids. I feel so bad about that now. Reshma’s tips for Iceland travel were spot on and helped make our trip so much easier.
Saket and Nupur
Unfortunately, we don’t have any photos of our visit to Saket and Nupur’s place, or of the kids playing with Avishi and Meera, but memories are plenty. Nupur is a fantastic cook, so I was looking forward to dinner, and she, of course, did not disappoint. She also had very thoughtful gifts for the kids – a full colouring set for Daksh and a little laptop for Vedant. She remembered from the last time we met that Daksh liked to draw, colour and paint. That laptop was pretty much the only toy the kids played with in Seattle. And here’s Daksh coping with jet lag, drawing and colouring using the set.
Ankur and Kirti
I remembered reading on Ankur’s facebook timeline that Kirti had started a food stall in Sammamish Farmer’s market, and so when, Karthik suggested we visit the market, we decided to drop in at the stall. What a strong motivator food can be ;-). Kirti must have been flabbergasted when we went up to her and introduced ourselves, but quickly made the connection. We enjoyed some delicious samosas, chaat and chai at her stall while waiting for Ankur. Next time we have to get the four boys to meet.
Indira and Priyank
No matter how much time we spend with Indira and Priyank, it doesn’t seem enough! There is always so much to talk about, experiences to share, ideas to discuss, food to enjoy together (I won’t ever forget Katsu burger, and Indira will never forget Rahul’s sandwich). Nila and Daksh had such a blast together – Vedant and Nidhir seemed out of their age bracket. That will hopefully fix itself as the kids grow older. We can only hope we’ll keep having opportunities to meet up and spend time together. Please move back to Chennai ;-).
Pragya and Harish
Once again, we were too busy having a good time and catching up to remember to take photos. Pragya and Harish had organized a barbecue, and thinking of the pita wrap that Pragya assembled for me still makes my mouth water. Kshiraj and Atharv were the perfect hosts too – sharing all their toys with the guests.
I won’t forget the coffee session after dinner either :-). Affogato experiments with every every flavor of ice cream they had in their fridge.
Rohan and Janice
This meeting almost didn’t happen, given the packed schedule both of us had. But thanks to Rohan, we finally made it. We met at a park near Joshua’s day care – Little Howe Park. We could only spend about 45 minutes together, but managed to catch up, and eat some delicious snack that Janice had brought along. I wonder how she knew food was so important to us :-).
Radha and Ramesh
When I told Radha we were visiting Toronto and I wanted to meet her, she very graciously invited us home for dinner. It had only been a couple of days that we’d been eating out, but we were already craving simple, home made food, and devoured her lip smacking South Indian meal. We shamelessly asked to pack stuff to take home too, and enjoyed that for lunch too, the next day.
Thank you Ramesh, Radha and Abhinav for the lovely dinner and the gifts for the kids.
Harshal and Shweta
Our flight from Toronto to New York was 3 hours late, so by the time we reached our Airbnb, it was 3pm. We still hadn’t had lunch, and had all been awake from 4am, having slept only a couple of hours to previous night too. But I still had no hesitation whatsoever in getting the kids and ourselves ready, and making the 2 hour trip to New Jersey in peak time, to see Harshal, Shweta, Aarav and Krishna. That is how important he is to me. I might not have made the effort for many other people.
Shweta had cooked some delicious food, of which we relished the sol-kadi the most. By the time we left his home, it was already 10pm, we were all sleepy and dead tired, but I was once again left wishing we had more time together.
Harshal will also be remembered by the family for having arranged for 120 delicious theplas, that fueled us during our Iceland trip. I told Harshal, “You are one of the very few people I would ask to get theplas for me”. He replied, “You are among the select couple of people I would go get theplas for!” 🙂
Lavanya and Akshay
We almost didn’t meet, but then the universe conspired and we did :-). Then the universe conspired some more, and we ended up spending time with Naren in the Bay Area, meeting on Raksha Bandhan no less.
This is one more family with who, no matter how much time we spend, we are left wanting for more. They were meeting Vedant for the first time, and we met the newest member of their family, Coco, for the first time. We packed in so much in 4 days we were there – so many delicious meals, a hike to Little Yosemite, and an initiation to the wonderful game of ticket to ride! A most important exhchange of powders too happened – their palli podi for our jeeravan. And the marriage of the two powders resulted in an epic egg dosa that will be remembered for long.
Here’s to many more such board game sessions, and hopefully a vacation together.
