Vinayaka Chavithi/ Ganesh Chathurthi

తొండము నేకదంతమును దోరపుబొజ్జయు వామాహస్తమున్
మెండుగ మ్రోయు గజ్జలును మెల్లని చూపుల మందహాసమున్
గొండొక గుజ్జురూపమునఁ గోరిన విద్యలకెల్ల నొజ్జ వై
యుండెడి పార్వతీతనయ ৷ ఓయి గణాధిప ৷ నీకు మ్రుఎక్కెదన్

Happy Vinayaka Chavithi to all !!! This is one of my favorite days of the year. I have fond memories of how we used to welcome Ganesha home and perform the puja. It used to be grand affair then and it still is for me. The entire family used to involve in decorating the palavelli (mandap) the night before with flowers and fruits and the next morning we all dressed up in our finery and performed pooja while Dad read out the pooja vidhanam. When it came to the story time, we kids used to read it out loud. Then came the part we all loved...prasadam :). Mom used to make Undrallu (steamed rice balls) along with many other dishes. And that evening we used to make it a point to see atleast nine Ganapatis. Oh how much I miss those fun days.

Yesterday at our home here in Los Angeles, we celebrated Vinayaka Chavithi with our one year old son. He enjoyed seeing Ganesha and kept folding his hands to say "namaste" every other minute. Here is our eco friendly Ganesha made out of clay. I used play dough to make it.

                                                        Before pooja -

After pooja -

For Prasadam, I made Undrallu (steamed rice balls), Allam chutney (Ginger chutney), Pulihora (Tamarind rice), Badusha (sweet made with flour and dipped in sugar syrup), Panakam (Jaggery syrup).

Recipes for all the above dishes coming up soon :).