Sunday Santhai

Sunday Santhai...an interesting enough name that got me curious to venture out on a Sunday morning...when the day dawned,it was with a fair amount of hesitation that I continued on with my agenda...to visit the new initiative of a 'Sunday Santhai'(sunday market...a concept quite popular in the earlier years,still practiced in villages and is also common abroad) at the Ladies Club at RSPuram...Since I was accompanied by my lovely German friend..I told myself and her...that we should go with an open mind as I had no idea of what to expect !!!

I'm thrilled to report that it was a wonderful experience,very informal,with friendly smiling faces,a relaxed atmosphere...a cultured bunch of people showing their wares...baked goods , beautiful handmade soaps , lovely handmade accessories( crochet jewellery...paper quilling jewellery),garments and the best discovery of today...The Suriyani Kitchen !
 Theirs was an enchanting stall filled to the brim with lovely goodies from their home kitchen...a lot of their food has the Syrian influence...they sold quaint bottles of an awesome date pickle,sweet,spicy and tangy...the perfect fusion of tastes ! YUM !!!!

To get in touch with them...they do sell out of home,you can contact ,the charming Maria...the lady in the saree at 99446 94094...she is also very passionate about her baked treats...pineapple upside down cake, a spiced cake with dates and nuts...she sources her ingredients from the Middle East,enchanting sugar cookies for Christmas in the shapes of snowflakes and stars...all beautifully packed in Santa colours...you can feel me smiling as I write this,I'm sure  ;))))))))

The other thing I noticed was this lovely red fruit in bottles, I got quite excited for a moment thinking,they were fresh cranberries and quickly had a mental vision of the perfect side for a roast turkey dinner...she hastened to educate me by pointing out that this was a native fruit to Kerala...the English name being 'scranberry'....apparently they have a tree in their ancestral home and therefore they have it in abundance...she did mention the native name but in my excitement to soak it all in ,I forgot what she said !

Scranberries

Don't they look absolutely perfect for the season ?!!!...I'm sure she will only be more than willing to share with you tips on how best to relish this lovely fruit ! She also makes her own red wine and a ginger and lime drink...all in all it was an enchanting little stall and as you can see, I was completely captured by all her wares...it was with a lot of reluctance that I finally walked away...I'm thankful to my friend Johanna who captured these photos, for me, to be able to share with you all !

Date pickle

Baked Christmas goodies

If you like what you've read and the pictures featured here,do give her a call and do post your comment here because as much as you'd like to hear from me...I would like to hear from you tooo !!!!

I really did want to post these pictures sooner but of all days,today there was a bit of a problem with my Internet connection!!!! It was truly one of those days where you expect very little and you come away feeling like you've gained a whole lot...so I do hope to see lots more of these Sunday Santhais and a big thank you to my mum who wanted me to check it out and to the organisers who decided to revive this concept !