Celebrating Anusha

​TROPICAL DEPRESSION BY PATTI LISZKAY
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​CELEBRATING ANUSHA

     On February 15, 2023, my niece Anusha became an American citizen.

     To celebrate this very special occasion, I proposed that we throw a party in Anusha's honor, which we did this past Saturday, March 11.
       The day before, I decorated the living room with patriotic balloons that I picked up from the Dollar Tree.  

​      N.B.: If you ever need helium balloons, the Dollar Tree is the place to go. The  balloons are $1.25 each and they last a whole lot longer than you want them too. I once let a bunch of Dollar Tree balloons continue to float around my house  after the party was over just to see how long they'd last. Two months later they were still afloat.   (See post from 8/15/2015, https://www.ailantha.com/blog/the-persistence-ofmemoryballoons). 

          On Saturday morning  Tommy and Randy - Anusha's hubby - came over to help Tom, Theresa and me with the preparations. I put Tommy, Randy, and Theresa on pastry patrol.
          I'd come up  with the idea, in honor of Anusha's country of birth, of decorating a batch of  mini-cupcakes as the flag of India. 

      This task I assigned to Randy (right) and Tommy (left).

    The flag of India:

     The cupcakes:

     As Anusha is also a citizen of Canada along with now being an American, I decided to commemorate this as well by making two tartes aux fruits - big soft cookies iced with a mix of whipped cream and cream cheese and topped with fresh fruit - in the shape of her flags. This task I likewise assigned to Tommy and Randy. Tommy opted to make the American flag, while Randy took the Canadian flag.

       (I also bought flags of Canada and India and hung them on the front porch, but, alas, I forgot to take pictures. Then at the end of the day I gave the porch flags to Anusha). 

     Theresa, meanwhile, worked on icing a batch of chocolate cream-filled mini-cupcakes,

...while Tom valiantly  took on dishwashing duty.

       Next I put Tommy and Randy to work on the final edible tribute, a flag of India veggie tray,

...stylized, of course.

      And then it was all hands hustling around doing whatever else needed to be done before the guests arrived.

     At one o'clock the guests began arriving, 

...including guest of honor Anusha, who, in her typical fashion, immediately chipped in to help with the last-minute details.

     By the time all the guests had arrived - 17 family members (and one friend) in all - the table was set.

      We called everyone to the dining room and I said a blessing.

          On the menu was:
          Rice with garlic and lemon shrimp and vegetables
          Corn with sauteed vegetables       

        Tater rounds
        Green beans almondine                  

        Mac and cheese
        Shredded pork

         Hot rolls
         Ham and cheese stromboli
         Margherita pizza stromboli
          Flag of India veggie tray and dip

      Vanilla flag of India mini-cupcakes 
      American flag tarte aux fruits
      Canadian flag tarte aux fruits
      Red, white and blue M&M cookies
      Chocolate cream-filled mini-cupcakes

         Fruit salad brought by my sister-in-law Mary Jane
         Jelly fruit slices
         Chips

         I gave a blessing,

....then Anusha gave a lovely little speech of thanks for family and friends and in gratitude for her new citizenship and for this day.

      Then we all dug in.

        A little later I gave Anusha a citizenship gift,       

...a bird feeder set with glass mosaic pieces, the colors of which evoked the colors of the globe: blue like the oceans, green like the trees and plants, and golden brown like the desert areas.

       Then we spent the rest of the day sitting around,

...chatting,

...going back for seconds, thirds, and fourths,

...and otherwise enjoying the day.

      As the day wound down and people began to leave, I asked everyone to take with them a balloon and a piled-up plate or two (or three) of left-overs. Most were glad to oblige.
     And then the party was over and everyone was gone. But - as the song goes - the memory lingered on.

         And it was a happy one.