"What do we do with all this?"
"I don't know. Just don't make all my efforts go waste."
"Okay, so more thokku? Or should I just blanche, peel, and make paste to freeze? And what about this one? Cut and freeze? What I'll do is dice this one up and put it in 3 freezer bags, keep one here, keep one in the freezer downstairs, and the last one we can keep…"
"Chumma don't say big big dialogs. Simply show off…"
"Wait… what? No… I'm really asking…"
"Leave it, Lalit. Already that one from last week I went bad. I had to throw it…"
"Haan…"
"What haan…"
"I mean, yeah… sorry… I meant to cut that one…"
"Your sorry has no meaning… simply show off…"
"Hmm…"
"What hmm…"
"Okay, tell me what to do with all this?"
"You figure it out na? Why am I responsible for everything in this house?"
"Okay, so cut and freeze? And what about thokku?"
"Grrrr… I don't know… Just don't make all my efforts go waste."
"Tell na…"
"…"
I have a problem. Sometimes I keep asking the same question and inciting conflict even when I know the conversation has reached a stalemate. Especially in situations where I am in denial about not being of much help.
In any case. The point I'm trying to make here is that I heretofore haven't adequately appreciated the fact that Pavana has a green thumb. I have largely failed to recognize her remarkable prowess as a home gardener until now. I mean, I always appreciated her passion for growing vegetables, but being geoponically challenged, I never comprehended the laudability of Pavana's talent in this area until recently when I realized that every single visitor to our house lately not only admired the viridity of our indoor plants but were also awed when they saw the huge ash gourds (white pumpkins) she grew. If there were a reality show like MasterChef for home gardeners, say MasterGardener or PlantingPundits or something (ABC/NBC are you listening?), Pavana would certainly be a strong contender.
With that said, 2021 for us has been a year of roma tomatoes, big boy tomatoes, grape tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, green beans, long beans, Chinese eggplants, bitter gourds, snap peas, ash gourds, delicata squashes, drumstick greens, red amaranth greens, green amaranth greens, lettuce, karpuravalli, mint, malabar spinach, green peppers, purple bell peppers, and I feel like I am forgetting some more crop. And mind you, my contribution of effort toward this bounty is minimal to nada. Our freezers are brimming with veggie rations ready for winter cooking, some diced, some whole. I am actually surprised we didn't get a censorious letter from our HOA during the summer, because when someone asked us directions to our house, we literally told them to come to the one with a cladding of trellises of tomato and squash vines near the front door!
