Kitchen Interviews

I have a little time this morning before heading out to get a tour of the very special Horticultural Society garden here in Cal thanks to my internal alarm clock.  Since a time difference of 9.5 hrs makes my head hurt when I try to convert it, I’ve been leaving my BlackBerry on Eastern Standard Time and set my wristwatch to “Indian Stretchable Time” so that I can easily communicate with folks at home and here.  Because I need to leave the house on the dot at 9:30 a.m. local time here in order to meet the guide on time (Mukund’s father is on the board there and has so generously hooked me up with a visit of the grounds,) and I was concerned that I’d make a mistake setting my BlackBerry alarm to an adjusted Eastern Standard Time, I swapped the time zones on the devices.  I woke up on my own this morning only to run in histerics and check my now EST-set wristwatch and find it reading “10:15″ which, in my groggy state, and without an a.m./p.m. readout, gave me a minor heart attack as I had forgotten the switch up!  Boy was I relieved to find my BlackBerry and remember all was good and that I actually had all the time in the world to eat breakfast and get ready.  It was 7:45 a.m. in Calcutta. 

Here are just a few more images from the trip thus far, because of time this morning.  While I’m still here, as you can imagine,  it’s an impossible task to send an assortment that will convey the whole trip, so I’m just sending bits and pieces starting from the beginning.  Otherwise, I’d be at home all day and not be able to go out and about as I have been.  So, I will get more detailed when I have a chance to sort through everything once back in the States.  I have taken hundreds of pictures on both my BlackBerry and my digital camera, and have only now begun to sort through them on the computer.

One other quick note, on my city travel progression (itinerary in extremely brief form,) to better orient you: 

New Delhi/Delhi -> Mussoorie -> New Delhi/Delhi -> Agra/Fatehpur Sikri -> New Delhi/Delhi -> Calcutta

A poppy in Mussoorie. They close up when the light fades during dusk.

Veg pizza in Dhanolti, a short excursion from Mussoorie, served with tomato ketchup and Indian mustard.

You'll see a lot of these on the road here in India. They are Ambassadors, now manufactured by Hindustan Motors, and are one of the cab varieties (along with the many other motorized - and not - transportation) available in the country. They are known for their heartiness as well as flexibility with parts, making them very easy to fix. We took this one to Kempy Falls, another short excursion from Mussoorie.

Hello again!  I’m more than half way through my trip in India and writing from bed at my friend’s house in Calcutta.  It hasn’t been as easy as I expected to sit at the computer and post an observation or two, but I have had better luck Tweeting photo here and there.  Even that has been a mission, with temperamental service roaming on T-Mobile.  That said, the vacation has been amazing, especially for all that I’ve absorbed about this fascinating culture.  Here is a sampling of images of my first week or so here, to give you a taste before I return…

One of my favorite dishes that I've eaten so far is idli. This South Indian breakfast and snack staple consists of little steamed cakes made from ground rice and de-husked black lentils that usually come either plain or with a little bit of vegetables scattered about the dough. They are quite porous, and you can eat them with sambar and coconut chutney, as well as other condiments. I actually find them to be a nice light yet satisfying option for lunch.

Cafe Coffee Day above is a Starbucks-like chain in competition with Barista here in India. They tend to serve a rather large menu of cafe fare, and do it well, in addition to other packaged goods like "Pow" masala-spiced potato sticks that I like for their bold seasoning... but I have to side with Barista in my experience so far with the coffee. As far as the Domino's below (in the small mountain town of Mussoorie no less!) the Peppy Paneer and Mexican Green Wave thin crust pies are the way to go. I'm guessing that the medium size is a good two inches smaller in diameter here than in American franchises.

Click here to check out Domino’s India menu, the veg options specifically.  It’s so great here for folks who love vegetables and don’t happen to be vegetarian like me!  In the U.S., very few restaurant menus have many main dishes dedicated to vegetables.  On packaged goods a green dot with a square around it stands for veg, and a red dot, if they contain animal products.  Products with eggs will get a red dot, but milk, also an animal bi-product, is actually considered veg (so vegan rules don’t really apply in that sense.) 

Bhel puri = puffed rice, bhujia (yellow, crunchy fried gram flour paste, put through a strainer into the hot oil and quickly removed,) diced onion, tomato (roughly chopped,) sliced green chili, coriander flakes, tamarind sauce, chat masala, gram masala, salt/pepper, lime juice, etc. Different varieties depending on what city you are in... I just had one today in Cal that was drier and had roasted peanuts scattered about - it was served in a newspaper pouch (as opposed to the one being prepared above, and featured below that was on a little dried leaf dish.

Just one of the cheeky characters you're bound to encounter on the street...

Happy trails.