City girl's rural quest !

My quest for getting cow's milk in the city was not getting any far. I had almost given up - such times always lead me into some daydreaming of living in a self sustained farm. But alas I had to set this wishful thinking aside and look for the elusive milk. This sudden interest in cow's milk was due to my keenness to make dulce de leche  or 'milk jam'.

 I had tasted it for the first time in New York. Our landlady gifted me a bottle of this gooey, sticky toffeeish stuff and every time I opened the fridge I would pop a spoon of this delish milk candy straight from the jar - one of my guilty pleasures.

 Dulce de leche is a confiture made from sweetened milk. It is a South American staple, hugely popular in countries like Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil where it is almost an obsession. This dessert has a caramelish flavor and is very versatile - can be spread on toast or as a filling for cakes or even ice cream.

The Mexican version of dulce de leche called cajeto is equally delicious but since it also requires goat's milk apart from cows, I had to abandon any thoughts of ever making that.

I finally found a milkman, (yes, the same guy who in the good old days of our parents

time would deliver fresh unpasteurized milk to our doorstep). The fellow is an an affable chap and  comes all the way from Faridabad to deliver milk, and so despite whatever misgivings I may harbor about the quality of his milk, I have still stuck around with him. My conversations with him are on very predictable lines of the milk being less, or not being thick enough and he also gives him his oft repeated lines about how the foam in the milk makes it seem less or how the milk is more watery because the cow is calving. I can imagine hubby dear listening to our conversation and looking heavenwards ...when will this girl learn not to be such a sucker, but then he has learnt to indulge me and just rolls his eyes and lets it be.

So finally made the rich milk jam and as was expected can't keep my hands of it. Will need to take some more extra rounds of the park to burn it off but what the heck some things are too hard to resist so might as well enjoy. By the way, there is another, perhaps  not necessarily easier way to make dulce de leche - get a can of the typical Nestlé’s 'milkmaid' and let it simmer in hot water - this recipe has a somewhat dangerous tinge to it - the can may

explode and one could spend an entire afternoon cleaning the kitchen roof.

Am not sure how long this new found fondness for fresh milk would last, but as of now I am sure enjoying it. The scent and look of raw fresh milk has me still fairly enraptured and it is perhaps the reminder of a bygone era when small little things made one happy and life was so much more simpler - I guess this is a vestige of the small town girl in me which the fast paced city life has not been able to erase.