Joni, Owen, Olive, Maya, Tim

I was amused to notice that Olive is wearing the ugly Christmas sweater that Maya won in our silly gift exchange a few years ago and Maya, on the other hand, is playing it cool with lobsters instead of reindeer.

We are expecting our Indian friends who are staying in Walnut Creek  with friends. However, they have had no luck renting a car. After several false starts and no luck finding a car, their lovely friends have offered them theirs.

We met Ruta when she started cooking classes just a few blocks from our house in Berkeley. I give her credit for convincing John that he could cook on a heat source other than a barbecue. We soon all became good friends, and when they impulsively sold their house before moving back to India with their two little girls, they even stayed with us for a few months.

We had a wonderful time. Neville made exotic and delicious cocktails and Ruta cooked dinner almost every night. The girls entertained us and loved our dog. It was almost like living in a resort, except that we had to make our own beds.

It’s been at least ten years since we last saw them and we have much catching up to do once they get here.

We’ll be cooking dinner together once again. For a selection of what we might be cooking, check out her wonderful cookbook 5 Spices, 50 Dishes.* She wrote it  when we told her that we loved cooking and learning about Indian food in her classes. We even threw a couple of dinner parties prepared the food with another couple and invited Ruta and Neville. But it was too complicated for one or two people to make a meal like that at home.

But Ruta can pull it off. And she tells me she has a new book coming out next year.

*extra