Looking back, it was really a Friday the 13^th; I woke up with a sore throat and in a sour mood from not getting much sleep in the night; constantly waking up and then rotating about in bed trying to fall back to sleep. I had no time to sleep in either, the kid had an exam to write and had to be dropped off at school. The rain made it a chilly morning, cloudy, looked like it may rain anytime, but I was feeling very cold and threw on a windcheater to ward off the chill and possible rain🌧.

The school drop off went fine, but on the way back I was uncomfortable and knew I had fever. Then the body pain started. Back home, I took a Dolo 650 tablet and crashed into bed, remained there for the next four days. By Saturday evening, minor but irritating headaches and cough started. The cough grew steadily worse! The arsenal of cures included Dolo 650 tablet, cough syrup plus homemade remedies such as turmeric milk for cough, salt water gargle for sore throat and a concoction of turmeric, lemon, honey and ginger for boosting immunity.

There was no travelling that week; the fever may have been due to the drastic change in the Bangalore weather from April to May and I may have been exposed to the unexpected cold at night sometime. Surprisingly, on Sunday, the fever broke, the soreness in the throat and severe cough remained. I had little energy to do anything. The reclining position is the most comfortable, standing up was too much effort.

I was much better by Tuesday, able to balance on bipedal and just in time too, the fridge was empty, food needed to be cooked !

Cooking requires effort and I was still feeling lethargic, but I want to eat my food; the food I ate at my parent’s house, rice, fish and curry. An extremely easy but typical Kerala lunch will be boiled plain rice (coarse red matta rice), Fish curry (Meen vevichathu), Spiced cooked buttermilk (Moru kachiyathu), a veg dish (either a coconut based thoran dish or a stir fry (mezhukkupuratti)).

The Meen vevichathu, fish curry is spicy and addictive. It’s red in colour from the chilli powder with a tangy verve from the pot tamarind (Kudampuli). The dishes uses very little oil and is very tasty! It is always cooked in an earthen pot and the gravy is left to simmer and reduce.

The gravy dish is the Spiced cooked buttermilk (Moru kachiyathu), an easy dish made from curd diluted and whisked together with water. The garnish is crackling mustard seeds, shallots, green chillies, ginger, dried red chillies, turmeric powder and curry leaves, all sauteed in hot coconut oil. The dish should not be left to boil, just to warm up.

It’s been over a week since I stepped out of the apartment; outside is lush green from the rain. In the green, the frangipani flowers stand out, fragrant and elegant in white. There are two types of the white frangipani’s seen about – the Plumeria obtusa with the blunt rounded leaf tip and flowers with no overlapping petals while the Plumeria pudica has long narrow leaves widening to a triangle shape at the leaf tip; it’s flowers have overlapping petals. Both type have the yellow at the center, it’s a beautiful flower !

Till next post, take care !!