It's a Treat! Children Love It!

A Sweet Gift And A Pleasant Memory

I very nice patron stopped by the library the other day with a gift. We had helped him sort through some complicated jpg/email issues regarding a plumbing job at home which took a long, long time!

“I wanted to give you this,” he said. “It’s a treat. Children love it!”

He had picked it up at an Indian Market in Massachusetts and seemed hesitate at first to offer it to me, but Little Bean and I eat Nepali and Indian sweets all the time. No problem there!

“It’s like a milkshake,” he said. I looked at the ingredients - maybe a yogurt and pistachio milkshake, more like. But hey, sugar, so we’d give it a go.

My wife, whom is an old hat at cooking up these complicated Indian treats, made a whole pot of the stuff and into the fridge for an overnight cooling it went.

“When you two drink it,” she added. “Put in some whipped cream. It’s not going to look anything like what’s on the cover, by the way.”

She was, of course, correct as she usually is.

At any rate, Little Bean and I made a big evening out of testing the new treat. After 24 hours it was nice and frosty. We pulled out chilled glass mason jar cups, poured ourselves a tall glass each, counted to three and chugged!

It was… ok. I couldn’t really put my finger on what was holding it back. Even Little Bean scrunched her nose a bit.

“What’s the issue?” I asked.

She thought about it for a second. “It’s like the pieces of these things.”

The badam, or almonds, were not really liquified so the texture on top of the sugary mixture was somewhat off-putting.

“Wait,” she said, “can we just strain it?”

I pulled out a ladle and strainer and repoured our drinks, eliminating the almond shavings.

She took a big gulp and went ahhhhh! “That’s better, 9.5 out of 10!”

“What makes it so good now?”

She thought about it for a minute. “It tastes like Ama’s yogurt.” No finer compliment than loving a sweet because it reminds you of something your grandma makes. And much gratitude to a friendly patron who wanted to give my kid a treat.