"What I Cooked Today" Day 248

I am writing to you in a somewhat comatose state. Jochem is making dinner after we unpacked our suitcases and I am desperately trying to write this blog post on a cruelly slow laptop while trying not to fall asleep or miss those two rascals too much who will be in Almelo till Sunday.

It took us 2 days, 3 flights, 1 awful day at a bug-infested, no-window hotel room in Mumbai trying to catch up on some sleep, countless hasslers trying to take our money for carrying 1 bag 3 meters (I do NOT like Mumbai), countless cups of coffee and 1 train ride, but we made it: we are home. And home sweet home it is!

After an incredibly tiring journey I felt quite exhilirated to be on Dutch soil - calling and texting friends and family. But the fatigue has definitely set in. I don't know how he did it, but while I was unpacking in my typical non-efficient, time-consuming way, Jochem somehow managed to buy groceries and make me mac 'n' cheese, because I wanted comfy food that did not include anything spicy and a side dish of naan. I loves him.

But there is also sad news. We came home to a dead Pasta. Pasta was pretty old for a goldfish, considering that he's lived with us for more than two years, and had been acting strangely for a while - lying still, not moving, and almost not breathing at all. But he'd always make it to another day, so when we left Pasta and Pesto with a fresh bowl, a plant and fresh food, we expected him to be there when we came back. I don't know what happened since Pesto is fine. Perhaps it was too cold because we turned off the heater completely in our absence? I guess we'll never know. We didn't quite know what to do with the fella. My dad used to flush our dead goldfish through the toilet, which surely scarred me for life since I now can't even kill a mosquito without guilt. So he's in a plastic bag in our freezer. I'm kind of hoping to bury him next to our balcony plant in a kind of Lion-King-circle-of-life kind of way. Maybe you think I'm crazy. In that case I plead innocense. Due to exhaustion.



Source: Jamie's America by Jamie Oliver

Another Note from India

Hello everyone! How are you? How was your Christmas? I heard that it snowed AGAIN in the Netherlands?! It must have been nice to have a white Christmas for once, but I must say: I hope it doesn't get in the way of our getting-home plans. I like it here very much, but I would hate to miss the New Year's Eve party my friends and I have planned.

Here everything is nice! We haven't witnessed another power cut since the last time I wrote you, we haven't been sick but at all, and besides a few mosquito bites (which I'm guessing are malaria-free), we haven't seen any scary bugs, let alone were bitten by them. As predicted, Jochem (and me as well) were getting a bit bored with beach hanging and we did some sightseeing for a couple of days. Now, in India, this is not an easy thing. Everything takes up much more time than you think it will, not the least because of the crazy roads. So we stayed relatively close by.

On Wednesday we rented a scooter, dived into Indian traffic, and visited an old Portuguese fort called Cabo da Rama. We also make quick stops at Agonda, a beach town next to Palolem, and the Shri Mallikarjuna temple near Chaudi.

On Thursday we rented a taxi plus chauffeur for the day. First, we went to the Goa Animal Welfare Trust in Curchorem to get a tour of the organisation, hug the puppies, and make a donation.



Then we made another stop at Chandor to visit the famous Braganza House. This mansion was built in the 17th century when the Portuguese were still very much present in Goa and is divided into the West Wing and East Wing. Besides being able to witness this crumbling place of decadence, the highlights were definitely the tours by the people who still live there: one an old lady who knows the origin and timeline of every piece of antique in the house (and there are a LOT!); another a small man with a big belly who was absolutely incomprehensible.

On Friday, then, we went to Ponda to visit a tropical spice farm. I really liked this outing: everything was beautiful and clean - no slums, no waste, no stray animals. In my opinion, India is best appreciated in nature - only seeing cities and towns must leave visitors wondering about the overall state of the nation (at least those tourists from the rich west, I'm guessing), which would be a shame. We had a tour with a very funny tour guide, received a lunch on banana leaves, and then had a bath with an elephant. I am principally against riding elephants on tours through the jungle (which is not so good for the actual elephants according to my friends at the WSPA), but I couldn't resist the urge to sit on top of Babu while scrubbing his thick skin. At least, this way, I was doing something in return.



On Saturday and Sunday (also known as the first and second days of Christmas in the Netherlands) Jochem and I did nothing except sleep in before heading to our now favorite beach joint (whose name we don't even remember, alas) to have breakfast, lunch and dinner on our beach beds. It was warm, but not hot, and definitely not humid, which I am thankful for. I have a bit of a tan and I finished two novels already, although I still have two more to go.

Today we went for one last outing before our holiday is over. We went to the Cotigao Wildlife Sanctuary, where we saw BIG spiders, lots of butterflies and gekkos, frogs, chipmunks, monkeys and proof of the existence of what looks like a porcupine (the actual animal, unfortunately, we did not see). Since I am vastly out of shape it was much harder than I thought it would be, but luckily our taxi driver picked us up near the end (using cars and scooters inside nature parks: not such a problem in India).

Right now we plan to have dinner at a restaurant on the beach because of its infamous bebinca. Then tomorrow we'll probably be on the beach again all day. At night we want to have dinner at the hotel and then we leave for our first flight from Goa to Mumbai at 5.30 AM. It will be brutal, I'm sure, so I'll try to relax as much as possible before then.

As for my "What I Cooked Today" blog posts (days 240, 241, 242, 243, 244, 245, 246 and 247), you will have to miss them, I'm afraid. I simply do not have the energy to keep track of all the meals we're having. Suffice it to say that it's been a colorful assortment of fresh sea food, spicy curries, and absolutely every lassi known to man. Day 248 is Thursday, December 30, which will be the day that Jochem and I will be back home. I promise to write about food once more on that day.

See you soon!

A Note from India

3 days ago we left this:



And now we are here:



India is many things. It is busy, chaotic and sometimes very depressing. But it is also fascinating, mesmerizing and very beautiful. Our trip was kind of stressful - first, because we were afraid we wouldn't be flying at all because of the snow, and then, because we were delayed anyway for 2 hours and almost missed our second flight from Istanbul to Mumbai. But, in the end, we made all 3 (!!!) of our flights and one (very bumpy) pre-paid taxi ride later (note to self: take car sickness medicine next time) and 30 hours after we first set out, we finally made it to our hotel. Our hotel is very much an Indian hotel, but very nice (fluorescent lights exluded) and situated in a beautiful green area with lots of palm trees, bright flowers and a comfortable garden, which also serves as a dining area. The people are sometimes pushy but always nice. If you can look beyond the filth, slums and stray animals, you can actually imagine yourself being in paradise. Coming from such a cold country right before Christmas, Jochem and I are very much in a state of disbelief. We often find ourselves looking around, then looking at each other, and asking: "Is this for real?"

We haven't done much yet (the trip in itself was exhausting enough). Yesterday, after arrival and a much-needed shower (which was hot, by the way, and we have only seen one power cut so far), we had dinner at the hotel before crashing at 9 PM. Today we woke up at noon, had breakfast at the hotel, spent the entire afternoon at the beach, had a beer at a beach bar during sunset, went back to the hotel, took showers again, went back to the beach, had dinner under the full moon, and now we are sitting in this internet cafe. I am having a blast reading a book about an Australian woman traveling through India and living in New Delhi, but I think Jochem is already starting to get a bit bored (beach holidays are not his thing), so I think tomorrow he wants to rent a scooter and scout the area. I am hoping to visit a temple close by.

As for my "What I Cooked Today" blog posts, I may find it impossible to keep track of those, since we are not only not cooking at all, but are having so much and so many different kind of food, since it's so ridiculously cheap and delicious, and we feel like kings here. But here's a short summary:
- On Saturday (day 236) we had dinner at the hotel near Schiphol, which was, as expected, a bit disappointing, but tolerable.
- On Sunday (day 237) we had as assortment of meals at the many airports and in the many air planes that we were in. Conclusion: Turkish Airways arguably has the best food in aviation history (I haven't had such good kofte since actually having been in Istanbul). Kingfisher, our lovely owned-by-an-Indian-beer-company airline, however, not so much.
- On Monday (day 238) we had dinner at the hotel. We fed on avocado salad and calamari, followed by the tourist version of vindaloo curry for Jochem (which he says was NOT spicy enough for him - crazy man) and prawn curry for me. Very delicous.
- Today we had breakfast at the hotel, lunch at a beach bar and dinner at another beach bar and it was all delicous. Highlights were our fish curry, our spicy fish bites with coriander dip, my tandoori-grilled red snapper and our bebinca (a Goan dessert specialty which is basically layered coconut pudding with shaved coconut on top).
And the best news is that we haven't been sick yet!

Happy holidays and talk to you soon! Love from Palolem, Goa, INDIA!

"What I Cooked Today" Day 236

Okay, fine! One more blog post before I leave for India! I feel a little bit better now that it has finally stopped snowing and the planes are flying again, but I will probably not be completely destressed until we are actually in the air (and then there are a million other things to worry about - all related to funny little plane noises that remind me that I am seconds away from plummeting to my death). In a little while we'll be leaving for our Schiphol hotel and I will use any and all of the yoga, sauna, swimming pool and jacuzzi help lines at my disposal in order to RELAX (damn it!). It's a hard job, but someone has to do it. Since we'll probably have dinner at the hotel, I won't be making dinner tonight, but I did not want to leave before showing you the French toast that Jochem and I made today for breakfast. Enjoy and have a tasty holiday season this year!

Source: A Homemade Life: Recipes from My Kitchen Table by Molly Wizenberg

"What I Cooked Today" Day 235

Ugh. What a day! You know what? I don't even want to talk about it.

We were supposed to have dinner with friends in Amersfoort, but the snow and my fowl mood got in the way. We made fajitas. From a package. The kind we used to love before, but hate now. Not worth taking a picture of, but then again, we couldn't if we had wanted to, because our camera is still dead and my dad took his camera back to Almelo (along with our cats, whom I already miss terribly in this cold and empty house).

And by the way: tomorrow Jochem and I will go to a hotel near Schiphol and on Sunday we fly to India (if all bodes well), so you might not be hearing from me for a while. Maybe not until 2011. So Happy Holidays everybody! Talk to you soon!

"What I Cooked Today" Day 234

On days like today I am thankful for only working 4 days a week. Today was my day off and I used it to do something that is usually a very stressful task: packing. When you are as obsessively compulsive as I am, you don't just throw some stuff into a suitcase and call it a day. Instead, each and every item you belong is critically analyzed: "Do I need this in India or not? What possible scenario could argue in favor of bringing this with me?" and so on and so forth. Let me tell you, it is an exhaustive way to spend one's time. Which is why I took the time to balance the packing with a healthy dose of sleeping in, watching Dawson's Creek and painting my toe nails a pinkish red (which, I might add, is not an easy feat when your two cats confuse your nail polish for a tasty treat and you are sitting on a white leather sofa). On top of all of that as well as my other daily duties, Jochem and I also did a lot of cooking. First, we made banana bread with chocolate and crystallized ginger, inspired by my new best friend.

Source: A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from my Kitchen Table by Molly Wizenberg



We made this as a snack to bring with us on our horrid flight to India, but I doubt it'll last as long. For dinner, then, we made homemade fries with a pea purée and spicy chicken wings to celebrate Jochem's last official day as a student. Lucky us. I am full and content.

Source: Nigella Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home by Nigella Lawson

"What I Cooked Today" Day 233

Today's dinner was a simple pasta dish with a homemade tomato sauce and fresh goat's cheese. We also used garlic, shalots and dried chilis. I liked it a lot, but: I'm still hungry! I can eat so much and I can always eat more. Maybe I have some kind of problem? Is there an emptiness that I am constantly trying to fill? Oh well. Who cares when there is such good food around and polka-dot-bathing suits to cover up any post-food regrets?

"What I Cooked Today" Day 232

Today I did all of the cooking by myself because we had tofu tandoori again. Every now and again I get a craving for this dish and then I buy a huge block of tofu downtown and make it twice in one week. So, that's as far as my thought process went today. This dish, however, is one of the very few dishes that is truly mine, since I never use a recipe and have tweaked it beyond recognition from its original recipe. I should start working on that should I ever want to be taken seriously as a foodie enthusiast. Foodie enthusiasts should have their own recipes. Anyway, after dinner we had chocolate milk and oreo cookies, which was quite the chocolate overload, but enjoyable nonetheless.

"What I Cooked Today" Day 231

It is Monday night. I come home to a dinner of Greek potatoes and lamb chops (Source: Nigella Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home by Nigella Lawson) and cumin carrots (Source: The Return of the Naked Chef by Jamie Oliver). For dessert I have chocolate, tea and Grey's Anatomy in bed. Now off to do yoga and then back to bed.

"What I Cooked Today" Day 230

Today was a wonderful day. It was one of those rare Sundays that you don't plan for and that suddenly end up wonderfully. I woke up at 9 AM but stayed in bed till 10.30 AM to finish the book that Anna had given me for my birthday: A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg. It is a great book - a life story interspersed with recipes and life lessons in short and manageable chapters. Starting the day in a warm bed, with the sunshine coming in, with a beatiful man sleeping besides you, one cat between your neck and shoulder and another at your feet, while reading about a chocolate wedding cake, is about as close to bliss as my Sunday mornings get. After a quick shower and some breakfast with Jochem, I headed downtown to the Bakkerswinkel with my old friends Marije and Marjolein, where I had a pot of autumn blend black tea and a piece of carrot cake. We stayed there for quite a while, discussing men, marriage, children, housing, jobs, holidays, and much more. Afterwards we had a short walk downtown before heading inside the Winkel van Sinkel for a glass of white wine. When they left to catch a train back home, I had a quick hamburger before doing my last load of laundry of the week. When that's done, I am going to Bic's place where Mag and Mar will already be to have some dinner and drinks. I'll just bring a bottle of rosé, so I won't be cooking anything today. But sometimes those days are such a blessing.