My Turn: Son brings an unexpected treat on Mother's Day

Mother's Day 2019 turned out to be one of the best: Both in terms of quality and quantity of time spent with my younger son, who lives 30 minutes away in Queens.    

On Sunday morning at 9, my son phoned to ask what my plan for the day was. Fighting jet lag, I intoned, “Nada.”

My baby boy suggested lunch or dinner out, adding that he would be home around noon. I said, “OK,” though stepping out into the rain did not seem appealing.

At 12:30, I was famished. I wondered what happened to my lunch date. As my husband heated up some leftovers for himself, Alexa announced, "Motion detected in the driveway."

"Alexa, show me the driveway," I commanded.

"OK," she said obediently. I love her eagerness to serve.

On her screen flashed my son's car and him, a plastic foam container in hand, getting out. For a change, Alexa was not reporting about a cat, opossum, raccoon, bird or spider web. She is overprotective and takes her job seriously.

As my son opened the front door, entered and came up the steps, he offered the container to me, adding, "Help yourself; maybe going out is not such a good idea."    

The clear plastic lid revealed a hefty veggie burger. Feeling grateful for the timely arrival of grub, just as I lifted the lid of the container, my child asked, “Will you be able to eat the whole thing?”

Knowing him, it was not far-fetched of me to infer that he would like a portion. At that point, not sure about my hunger level, I offered a small section. Soon enough, realizing I could share more, I did. He was gleeful.

"What have you got in the fridge?" he asked nearing the end of the burger.    

Bemused, I said, "Dosa batter," the rice-and-black gram base for Indian crepes.

"Ah, in that case, could you make coconut-and-mint chutney? You must still have the coconut from last weekend."    

A perfect companion to dosa, chutney is labor-intensive. Still, I agreed but let him know that it would take at least half an hour. And he would have to fetch the mint from the garden.

Rarely does he respond so promptly but at that moment, he took the instructions on what exactly to do and pronto, returned with the right amount. After perusing recipes that, upon request, Alexa offered, I stuck with my nine-ingredient, true-and-tested one.

Next, as my husband de-stemmed the mint sprigs and collected the leaves, I halved the refrigerated coconut with a hammer and scooped out the pulp. The previous weekend, my son had drunk the water through a hole he made in one of the three eyes on its head.

In the next 20 minutes, the chutney was ready, and it tasted good — like the other times. My son devoured the preparation like a predator attacking its prey. I too ate with him, and as we chatted and cracked jokes, I enjoyed one of the best Mother’s Day lunches of my life.

That night I texted him that it was a fun Mother’s Day because it was unique and without any distractions like servers, loud banging and the screaming that passes for music these days, and the noisy conversation trailing from fellow restaurant guests, or mixed-up orders.

It was truly memorable.

The next day, my older son, who lived abroad, wished me a happy Mother's Day via Skype chat — no mention of being late for the party. He and I are close, but on this Mother's Day the younger one stepped in for his brother as well.

Rohini B. Ramanathan,

Oceanside