Thread by @aleyakassam

157 days of longing

A tale of yearning, of the taste of laughter, of hand written envelopes and smoky sunny afternoons, the quest to share the joy of togetherness in a triangle of crispy, juicy deliciousness (even as grief lingers)

A new chapter from @WauEats

(A thread)

If you follow me here, you'll have heard me talk a lot about my beloved grandfather, Raju, the man who holds the full moon in his left eye....

...if he likes you, he'll let you see the man in his full moon

instagram.com/p/Btc_8_mgbnc/…

Raju, the one who told the ancestors to go back, because he had things to do still here

and even when they got angry

he did not move

chanyado.wordpress.com/2018/08/28/the…

Raju, the man who over 50 years ago, with my grandmother, made samosas that he'd sell out the Giraffe Snack Bar, samosas that became so beloved, 30 years after it was demolished by Big Men, we get people sliding into our DMs to ask if we are of the Giraffe Snack Bar lineage

Raju, who matched his ties with his kerchiefs & wore the same Kaunda Suit for both portions of the journey...the clothes that got him to his destination safely, could be trusted to get him home safey.

Raju, with so much love, he'd embarrass my granny with gestures of affection

Our Raju is turning 94 years old this week!

Now, I couldn't tell you the exact age, because really, who counted in those days

And I couldn't tell you the exact day....

Some years he celebrated it on the 22nd of August
Some years he celebrated it on the 24th of August

He wouldn't tell you which one he chose that year...

You'd find out the hard way

If you celebrated on the 22nd, he'd be annoyed that you got the date incorrect

If you celebrated on the 24th, he'd be annoyed that you missed the real date

But the annoyance only lasted a moment.

And then we'd celebrate

In our home that always meant family barbecues where people streamed in all day long, each bringing a little something to add to the table

Somehow, the food stretched no matter how many people visited

If it was someone else's birthday, Raju always made an envelope - you know the ones with blue and white borders.

He'd slip away in the middle of the merriment, and sit at his desk.

He'd dip his fountain pen into the bottle of blue ink, and then with the most beautiful handwriting, he'd write you a message....

It always began with a sparkling of endearments

My beloved, dearest, special, mithu Granddaughter...

Long after the note inside spent, we'd hold on to those beautifully crafted envelopes

Then he'd come back outside, and when the cake was being cut and everybody was putting pieces of cake into the birthday person's mouth, when it was his turn he'd slip you this envelope

(the only time I didn't receive an envelope was when he decided to buy me a boom box ☺️ - that's a story for another day)

Despite whatever food was on the table, we'd always celebrate with chicken tikka.

Mum would have marinated these at least a day before, for the masala to really set in and make itself comfortabl

Let me tell you, the aroma of chicken tikka grilling on the jiko is next to none.

And then the gorgeous bits of char on juicy flesh

That's the taste of birthdays for us 🙃

So to celebrate Raju's birthday, of course...of course, of course, of course we had to create a Chicken Tikka Samosa!!

Honestly....this year the birthday celebrations won't be the same. There will not be people streaming in, all hugging and feeding cake

It's been 157 days of Corona in Kenya

It's been 157 days since Raju held his great-grandson, my beloved Mithu in his arms
(at 94 years old, who knows if he ever will again)

In that 157 days, he's lost his daughter
The grief lingers....but still we search for joy where we can

This Chicken Tikka Samosa is an attempt to lovingly stuff the taste of the joy of togetherness, of when we could hug each other on sunny birthday celebrations....to hold those memories in triangular pockets of crispy deliciousness...

and to share those with you

So that's the story behind this week's special flavour

Because we need time to marinate the chicken with our special family recipe, I highly advise placing your order soon

Also it can't be a birthday without some gifting!

In honour of Raju's birthday, we're sharing gifts :)

1 box of Chicken Tikka samosas for you to gift to a beloved & 1 box for yourself

Simply follow @WauEats and QT this, sharing your fave birthday memory

Papa Kassam will select his fave on Friday midday for delivery on Sat

And then on Saturday afternoon, we will celebrate beloved Raju's birthday together :)