Happy Diwali!

I have been busy. Between my daughter and work, there’s really not much time left in the day or week or month. The work week has been simply draining. Weekends have been passing by at the blink of an eye.

So this time around, Diwali came and it did not make much of an impact. I knew in my head it was the most important festival of the year, and yet there wasn’t anything special that I had planned to do, outside of reciprocating to the numerous wishes from family and friends. Something inside tugged at me. This did not feel right.

Although we had a family party planned for the weekend, the fact that the Diwali day would just pass mundanely was unacceptable. I decided to check out a few food blogs to get inspired. It was going to be hard I knew, there wasn’t much in my pantry and I wasn’t going shopping, we had cut down our sugar intake to bare minimum over recent times and of course, I was pressed for time. How could I possibly find something yummy to whip up that was actually healthy and delicious and would live up to a festival like Diwali?

Like they say, if you wish for something with all your heart and you want it bad enough, the universe conspires. I found the perfect recipe! Date and nuts burfi.

As the aroma of ghee and cardamom rose up in the air to fill the empty spaces of our house and lives, I cherished the moments of the bygone, the image of my mom, my sister and I sitting around and transforming the plate full of boondis into laddoos, while stealing bites of raisins roasted in ghee.

That was all it took. For Diwali to become real.