Cappachuno and Croissant.

Ma liked the finer things in life. She also grew up in an erstwhile French colony, Chandannagar but went to Bengali medium so didn’t have to learn the unforgiving language (her daughters were not spared). So she would have lived well as a French lady (except perhaps the smoking). She did enjoy fine breads, fish, and even wine and vodka until the liver disease was diagnosed. She also loved coffee and croissants. When she visited me in the US, we are coffee drinkers - she would always opt for my husbands carefully brewed coffee. She perceived the difference between the Whole Foods trail mix and the Costco trail mix. When she was very ill, but in a short window of relief from poor appetite, even with severe liquid intake restrictions she forsook other liquids for the cappuccino from Starbucks (she would tolerate the cafe coffee day one for my dad’s budget). And a croissant. She called it “cappachuno”. Watching her drink that was a joy to my heart. She savored every sip and sometimes compensated for water restrictions by taking her meds with it. Baba also brought her cappuccino a couple of times after I returned to the States.  Later, she couldn’t have the croissant with further loss of appetite and rued the end of her cappachuno allowance, especially as she headed into the ICU. Here she is savoring it, slurping away to her heart’s content. My mother was a simple lady  and enjoyed the simple things in life. These things cost us very little but brought her great joy. I will think of her gladly every time I sip on a cappachuno.