We haven't had the internet for a few days, we've been in a city called Pune near Mumbai but are leaving for Ahmedabad, in Gujarat, on an overnight train tonight.
Also: due to some weird paperwork business, the service on our phone has been cancelled. We'll probably have a new phone number within the next week or so-- though it's easier said than done. In the meantime: we're doing alright!
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Sunday, June 6, 2010
As requested: Food Update!
A few of you have been asking us what the food has been like here. To answer generally, it's been consistently fairly good, and consistently really spicy. Even on the plane ride over, on which we had ordered the "Hindimeal," our mouths were a little on fire. At some point, I had to tell Yotam that saying "this is really spicy" during every meal was no longer necessary.
Ordering food has been an interesting experience initself. Thinking that as frequenters of Indian restaurants, we'd be somewhat informed about Indian cuisine was a misguided assumption. While every menu includes the standard Indian-American restaurant fare, they also include about forty items we've never heard of. And no descriptions. We basically just pick our food completely at random, and almost always end up ordering too much. Which, aside from the guilt we get from wasting, is kind of okay since an enormous feast is rarely over $5 total.
Despite our unfamiliarity, our meals do usually consist of two curries, rice, naan, and a Kingfisher, soda in a glass bottle that look like it's been in circulation since 1970, or an "iced coffee" (which is this kind of gross drink of instant coffee, cream, and ice cream).
There have, of course, been some outstanding meals, however, which has encouraged us to make a Biweekly Top Five Meal List EXXTRAAVAGANZATHON! Here we go:
5.The meals at Honey Valley Dining Hall in Coorg were, in most ways, not that different from what we fix over at 59th street: Cooked veggies like okra, beets, and greenbeans tossed up with some spices and served with rice. Most often they were cooked with (what we think) were mustard seeds and coupled with some kind of fried sweet things and tiny bananas. What made this food special was that all the produce was organically grown on the property, and cooked using a generator that was hidden a short walk into the woods. One of the banana trees was right outside of our hut!
4. Before we boarded our bus to Mysore, we decided to stop for a quick bite at the second-floor restaurant at the bus station. Considering our locale, our expectations were low, but our minds were quickly changed when we saw how crowded the restaurant was. We both ordered the South Indian Thali, which is an all-you-can-eat meal usually consisting of rice and three or more curries or other spreads. One of the best things about thalis, though, is that because it's prepared en masse and most people order the thali, it's not usually more than an dollar. This thali was the usual unidentifiable spicy goop, but the whole thing was served up on a giant banana leaf, true Karnatakan style.
3. Another bus experience, and another thali makes it on this list, this time during our stop in Udupi on our way to Goa. Even though we only had about five minutes to scarf this one down, it was seriously delicious. We had heard that Udupi was known for it's vegetarian cuisine and with the sweet chana masala, fluffy naan, and four other tasty dishes we were not disappointed.
2. Dinner on the beach in Goa is literally on the beach. Like, sand under our chairs and beach dogs and cows roaming around. This setting was really romantic (there's just no other way to put it!). Each table was lit with a candle and we were able to see some spectacular sky stuff, including a few huge shooting stars. The food was pretty salty, but it went well with our big bottle of Kingfisher. We had veggie curry, potato-stuffed paratha (which is like naan), veggie pulao (which is rice and veggies and we're still not sure how it differs from biriyani exactly), and deep fried veggies. There were a few mishaps, however: we couldn't tell what was what inside the breading and Yotam and I BOTH ended up eating a super, super spicy chile. Like, the spiciest thing imaginable, straight to the dome. And then a dog peed on me.
1. What gets the number one slot for the past two weeks is actually also what we suspect made us sick. Our aim was to go to the highly recommended restaurant Maiyas, in Bangalore, for the unlimited thali. We weren't as hungry as we had anticipated though, and noticed that next to Maiya's there was a super long line (or, actually more of a clump, since it's rare to find and actual line in India) of men in business attire drinking out of tiny white cups. There's nothing more that Yotam and I love than standing in a good line, so we hopped on and were immediately directed by two or three people that we had to buy a ticket and then trade the ticket for a cup of coffee. While waiting for the coffee, we saw a cook throwing together at least two dozen ingredients into a bowl-sized fried dough puff. And it looked fucking delicious. We tried to order one but another one of the suits told us that "it is impossible to have both at the same time." So we decided to momentarily forgo our coffee for the puff. And it was, by far, the best thing we've eaten in India. As far as we can tell, it was a flakey bread filled with one layer of toasted soy beans, rice noodles, spices, some kind of sauce, pomegranate seeds, diced tomatoes, a bunch of other savory crunchies, a layer of creamy yogurt, and then a second layer with all of the ingredients again, topped with some fresh cilantro. It was simultaneously all flavors and textures possible. After finishing, we got back in line and enjoyed the only really good cup of coffee that we've had in India. If this is was in fact what gave us a week of stomach problems, it was by all means totally worth it.
Runners up include: Fresh Pressed Cane Juice with Lime/Ginger, Capsicum Baji, Jackfruit.
Ordering food has been an interesting experience initself. Thinking that as frequenters of Indian restaurants, we'd be somewhat informed about Indian cuisine was a misguided assumption. While every menu includes the standard Indian-American restaurant fare, they also include about forty items we've never heard of. And no descriptions. We basically just pick our food completely at random, and almost always end up ordering too much. Which, aside from the guilt we get from wasting, is kind of okay since an enormous feast is rarely over $5 total.
Despite our unfamiliarity, our meals do usually consist of two curries, rice, naan, and a Kingfisher, soda in a glass bottle that look like it's been in circulation since 1970, or an "iced coffee" (which is this kind of gross drink of instant coffee, cream, and ice cream).
There have, of course, been some outstanding meals, however, which has encouraged us to make a Biweekly Top Five Meal List EXXTRAAVAGANZATHON! Here we go:
5.The meals at Honey Valley Dining Hall in Coorg were, in most ways, not that different from what we fix over at 59th street: Cooked veggies like okra, beets, and greenbeans tossed up with some spices and served with rice. Most often they were cooked with (what we think) were mustard seeds and coupled with some kind of fried sweet things and tiny bananas. What made this food special was that all the produce was organically grown on the property, and cooked using a generator that was hidden a short walk into the woods. One of the banana trees was right outside of our hut!
4. Before we boarded our bus to Mysore, we decided to stop for a quick bite at the second-floor restaurant at the bus station. Considering our locale, our expectations were low, but our minds were quickly changed when we saw how crowded the restaurant was. We both ordered the South Indian Thali, which is an all-you-can-eat meal usually consisting of rice and three or more curries or other spreads. One of the best things about thalis, though, is that because it's prepared en masse and most people order the thali, it's not usually more than an dollar. This thali was the usual unidentifiable spicy goop, but the whole thing was served up on a giant banana leaf, true Karnatakan style.
3. Another bus experience, and another thali makes it on this list, this time during our stop in Udupi on our way to Goa. Even though we only had about five minutes to scarf this one down, it was seriously delicious. We had heard that Udupi was known for it's vegetarian cuisine and with the sweet chana masala, fluffy naan, and four other tasty dishes we were not disappointed.
2. Dinner on the beach in Goa is literally on the beach. Like, sand under our chairs and beach dogs and cows roaming around. This setting was really romantic (there's just no other way to put it!). Each table was lit with a candle and we were able to see some spectacular sky stuff, including a few huge shooting stars. The food was pretty salty, but it went well with our big bottle of Kingfisher. We had veggie curry, potato-stuffed paratha (which is like naan), veggie pulao (which is rice and veggies and we're still not sure how it differs from biriyani exactly), and deep fried veggies. There were a few mishaps, however: we couldn't tell what was what inside the breading and Yotam and I BOTH ended up eating a super, super spicy chile. Like, the spiciest thing imaginable, straight to the dome. And then a dog peed on me.
1. What gets the number one slot for the past two weeks is actually also what we suspect made us sick. Our aim was to go to the highly recommended restaurant Maiyas, in Bangalore, for the unlimited thali. We weren't as hungry as we had anticipated though, and noticed that next to Maiya's there was a super long line (or, actually more of a clump, since it's rare to find and actual line in India) of men in business attire drinking out of tiny white cups. There's nothing more that Yotam and I love than standing in a good line, so we hopped on and were immediately directed by two or three people that we had to buy a ticket and then trade the ticket for a cup of coffee. While waiting for the coffee, we saw a cook throwing together at least two dozen ingredients into a bowl-sized fried dough puff. And it looked fucking delicious. We tried to order one but another one of the suits told us that "it is impossible to have both at the same time." So we decided to momentarily forgo our coffee for the puff. And it was, by far, the best thing we've eaten in India. As far as we can tell, it was a flakey bread filled with one layer of toasted soy beans, rice noodles, spices, some kind of sauce, pomegranate seeds, diced tomatoes, a bunch of other savory crunchies, a layer of creamy yogurt, and then a second layer with all of the ingredients again, topped with some fresh cilantro. It was simultaneously all flavors and textures possible. After finishing, we got back in line and enjoyed the only really good cup of coffee that we've had in India. If this is was in fact what gave us a week of stomach problems, it was by all means totally worth it.
Runners up include: Fresh Pressed Cane Juice with Lime/Ginger, Capsicum Baji, Jackfruit.
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