happy mother's day from around the world!

yes, i know the real mother's day was a while ago. but my sisters and i always do a big dinner event, and it always ends up happening during the last week of june. all of us leave very different, yet super busy, lives, and it's when we can all get together to make the magic happen. even though it's always late, all of our mothers always feel super special, which they should. we all have multiple moms, and every one of them is very important to us.

so every year, we pick a place from around the world, and have a special dinner based on that theme. the food, the music, the decorations, all of it is made by us, by hand, and based on one specific location. most have been places we've been, but some have just been places we enjoy or wish we could go.

it all started many years ago, like back in 1999 or so, with a high tea. we served little sandwiches and assorted teas and little cakes. it was such a huge success, we've repeated the event almost every year, inviting more moms as they've joined our large and nontraditional family.

after the high tea, we did hawaii, with fish dishes and lots of pineapple. then there was new orleans, where we had a crayfish boil and beignets and lots of zydeco music. we did a carnival theme, where we played games like ring toss, ate corn dogs and homemade funnel cake, and even had a pie eating contest. after that was a carribean theme, with jerk chicken, fried plantains, and tropical flavors ices. next was a kentucky derby theme, because the party fell on the day of the race. we ate mashed potatoes and fried chicken, drank sweet mint tea, and had strawberry pie for dessert, and everybody got a fancy hat to wear. then we did greece, and decorated with grapes and lots of white and blue. we ate olives and feta, spanakopita and dolmadakia, and of course, baklava. after greece, we had a spanish theme, with many tapas and a huge paella. then we did germany, and had pretzels with various mustards, good dark breads, and spatzle and schnitzel. and, with my love of baking, i made a huge german chocolate cake. that brings us to last year, where we made french food. appetizers includes a cheese platter, then french onion soup, coq au reisling, and homemade salted caramels for a take-home snack.

this year, i decided to challenge myself. my sister suggested india, a cuisine and culture i am not really familiar with, but i still agreed. and yesterday, we transported all of the mothers to india. we danced, my sister gave henna tatoos, and we ate. i helped to make so many things i've never had before, like aloo tikki (a fried potato patty), pakora (a deep fried vegitable fritter), chicken tikka masala, chana masala (a chickpea dish), and chapati (a flat bread). for dessert i made kheer (a very loose rice pudding) and kulfi (an ice cream). everyone said it was a great success. even though i've never had most of the dishes, so i didn't know if they turned out how they were supposed to, i can still say i thought everything was delicious.

now i'm already thinking about "where" we should go next year.