I travelled to Ahmedabad with a light suitcase and a small backpack. But by day 3, the contents of the suitcase was overflowing and the entire room was full of our purchases and the gifts we received.

I had to take some time in the morning out just for packing. While I was doing that, the rest of the BM members were doing a demo on how to prepare various podis, how to decorate salads and making Padma’s now really famous laddos.

I missed some of the demo, but I was right there when it was time to taste! I savored Valli’s and Padma’s pesarattu with great pleasure and it tasted heavenly. They had prepared a vegetable kurma too, but for me the star was pesarattu!

And talking about gifts, let me start with Vaishali’s gift hamper for each of us. I thought I had put in a lot of effort (I made cookies for everyone and was baking continouosly for 4-5 days), but Vaishali’s gifts were so thoughtful and personalized! God knows how many days she had put in for getting all this ready!!

Everything about her hamper was special – right from the name tag!

She had included a recipe booklet, which is so beautiful that I had to share the pictures here. She had also thoughtfully included a ‘Baking without Eggs’ book and some homemade carrot pickles. A pack of chocolates for kids waiting back at home for their mommies to come back.

Her BM 25 Apron (check out the first click in Day 1 post) was a huge hit already!

Going through her book was a pleasure and I loved it so much! I used to make booklets like these earlier, but not anymore.

 

She also generously shared a packet of egg replacer with us, which she got from her recent trip to US. This one is a really great gift, because now I can bake an eggless cake for my MIL with confidence.

You can see Methi masala and peeli mirch packets also. I don’t have a decent picture of her carrot pickle, but that too had her personal touch to it. It was packed perfectly so that it won’t spill over during our return travel, it also had a very cute tag of a carrot to it!

A bit of Bombay from Pradnya. You can see chakli, chivda, kokum, peda and some more stuff from her (I need to check the mails to know the exact names :D).

I have already started using many of the gifts. Valli’s, Kamalika’s and Archana’s gifts are already used as props.

Nandini’s  teddy shaped silicone mould was used the first day itself to shape my son’s dinner. She had thoughtfully gave a small gift pack for my son, which saved my day . I asked him to open it first and when he saw the contents, he forgot to cry and complain about me being away for three days.

Padma’s laddoos were finished before you could blink your eyes! I made some really flavorful sambar with Kamalika’s sambar podi. I am yet to open PJ’s gift (candles) but will do so soon.

By the time I stuffed all these inside my suitcase, Vaishali took us out again to have the BEST vada pavs I have ever had. They melted right in my mouth and tasted out of this world. We stopped by some farsaan shops and did a bit of vegetable shopping too.

I did quite a bit of strawberry shopping!

By 5 PM, we left The Nest our home for the past three days and went towards the airport. The fun we had was unlimited(the food we had also was unlimited). I will always remember these three days with a smile in my face.

Thank you my dear BM mates – for sharing some of the best days of my life with me.