Palak Paneer & Chappathis

You all must think we have stopped eating. There have been four posts in a row and not one mention of food! It shows we do other things besides eat, even though I am generally thinking about our next meal no matter what we are doing. :o) Indian food has such explosive tastes we just can't wait to experience the next wonderful thing to eat.

I didn't actually have anything to do with the meal featured in this posting. I was napping when Rowan and Shrikant cooked up this delectable Northern Indian dish. Rowan knows to be photo journalistic about our meals, so she took the photos and jotted down the recipe.

Palak (spinach) Paneer (cheese) features the wonderful flavor of cooked spinach with fresh and delicate Indian cheese (Paneer). The other ingredients are onions, tomato, cream, garam masala spices, ginger turmeric, and ghee (mmmmmm! butter :o) this all ends up being blended into a delicious spinach curry. YUM, YUM, YUM!

Here are some photos of the process -

saute the vegetables and spices

saute the Paneer

everything is blended and reduced to a think curry

Palak Paneer is served with Chappathi, yogurt and Rasamallai

Rasamallai is a sweet milk based dish (the yellow balls in the dish). The soft balls are made of milk fat and are in a milky saffron broth. Absolutely delicious! You are allowed to eat these with a spoon :o) We are so very lucky to have our friends teach us so much about Indian cooking and cuisine. Who needs to go out to eat when we can have all of this fun cooking together at home!!

LV Prasad Eye Institute

View of Hyderabad from the LVP Eye Institute

We paid our first visit to the Eye Institute on Feb. 5. It is a very impressive facility that includes the optometry school, a hospital that provides medical training and a very impressive research facility. Photography inside the facility is not allowed, so there are no photos (go here to learn about the Institute - http://www.lvpei.org/).

There are three LV Prasad campuses. Hyderabad is the main campus. Over the past two decades the LVPI network has seen over 4 million patients and performed close to 400,000 eye surgeries with over 50% of these services being performed totally free to those less privileged. It is now the leading eye care centre for provision and comprehensive, high quality eye care services in this part of the world. LVPEI is a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Prevention of Blindness. You just cannot imagine how many people we saw in the waiting rooms, exam and post surgery rooms. One Ophthalmologist told us he sees 200 patients a day!

Shrikant introduced us to many of his colleagues and then handed us to Ganesh, the research administrator for the facility. Ganesh explained to us how not one person who needs care is turned away. If you have no money, you don’t have to pay. If you are poor, but have some money, you are charged a minimum. If you are in the middle, you pay a middle price. If you are very wealthy, you pay the premium price (how this is determined seems to be a little vague!). There is no government-subsidized health care, like Medicare/Medicaid in the US. A general eye exam costs roughly $5 US. Ganesh pointed out that many people from other wealthy countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, as well as some European countries come here for eye surgeries. Their reputation is THAT GOOD. The Institute gets major support from many outside individuals as well as major global companies and foundations like Alcon, Carl Zeiss, Sun Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer, Biomedix, Bausch & Lomb, etc. We were very impressed by what we learned and by all of the Dr’s and staff we spoke to. Shrikant is very lucky to have found such a wonderful group of people to work with and in such a fantastic facility.

Rowan will be lecturing and teaching a course at the institute while she is here. It is an exciting prospect that she is looking forward to. The exposure to seeing so many people with eye conditions that we just don’t see in the US is going to be an invaluable learning experience for both of us.

Many Hands

India is certainly the land of ‘Can I help you?’. With 1.17 billion people here, that means there are many, many pairs of hands to do anything and everything for you. Any kind of service industry job has 3 or 4 times the people to do it as we do in the States. For instance, we went out to dinner last night and we had a waiter to take our order, a bus boy to take dirty things away, a person to pull our chairs out for us and bring extra plates, utensils & water, and a server who put food on each of our plates from the dishes we were sharing. We had 4 people to service our table, and each table in the place had that kind of personal service.

Many people here have a maid that comes every day to clean the house. Our maid's name is Meena (see photo of Jenni & Meena). You can hire a person to do your grocery shopping, to drive you anywhere you want to go, to cook for you, to clean your toilets or to carry anything for you. Shrikant had a banker from a local bank come meet us at the Eye Institute to change some traveler’s checks into Rupees for us. It was great how he came in with this big case of money and we did our business right outside Shrikant's office. No need to go to the bank if they will come to you! When we were shopping for Indian clothes the other day (see Jenni in one of her

new Kurtas!) the service was amazing. This country is really working hard to put its many people to work. Explains why the middle class is growing so rapidly. I decided to get into using my hands too. A load of laundry sounded like a good place to start and I learned that I am the first cycle in the process. The clothes are first scrubbed and soaked in a bucket and then put into the washer for finishing and spinning. Then, everything is hung outside to dry.

Now that we have been here a while we are feeling more confident out on the streets by ourselves, so we decided to venture out on our own today. We walked to the Eye Institute (just over a mile) to meet up with our driver. Shrikant has arranged for us to have a driver take us wherever we would like to go. A very nice man who speaks little English (this will be fun!) took us on our first food-shopping spree without Shrikant & Charanya. We helped direct our driver to take us to the Q Market. This is where most Americans and Europeans do their shopping as they stock products from our parts of the world. Rowan was delighted to find peanut butter and Scottish apricot jelly (the breakfast of champions!). We spent about $3000 rupees ($60 US) and came out of there with 6 bags of groceries. When we returned to our waiting car, the driver jumped out to assist the man who carried our things out in getting everything in the car. Now came the fun part. I jumped in the front seat of the car with the driver (we think he was Muslim and were not quite sure if a woman should be up front with him. Oh well). I was trying to explain that I would help give him directions back to the apartment. He appeared to know the English words for right and left so that was a blessing. It was just after 5pm, so you can imagine the traffic and chaos. Its like an E Ticket ride at Disneyland! We did great on our first day out alone in this huge city. Can’t wait to get out for our next adventure………….

Super bowl Report

Real Time- Monday morning, Feb. 8- 4am (local Hyderabd time) Super Bowl 2010

We woke up at 4am to organize the CBS Internet stream for the beginning of the 2010 super bowl. Ugh! We are obviously dedicated fans :o) It took me over an hour to find the right streaming from India, but thank goodness I was successful. I was about to have a nervous breakdown if I couldn't get the game. Unfortunately, the game didn't turn out the way we wanted it to, but, we would have been rooting for the Saints anyway if they were playing anyone else, so it wasn't so horrible. Plus, it was a REALLY great football game.

It was such a blast skyping our dearest friends Tim & Dave in El Cerrito California during the game. They have had a super bowl party every year for over 20 years, so we were glad we could still be a part of the fun even though we are 1/2 way around the world. The good thing is, not being there saved my head as we didn't have to do the tequila shots every time someone scored (even though I did start drinking beer at 4:30am here in Hyderabad! I HAD to! It is the super bowl for goodness sake!:o)

Here are a couple of photos from us watching the game.

Beer & the Super Bowl at 4am :o)

Skype with Gail, Tim & Dave in El Cerrito

We also had a really great chat with Jenni's parents on Skype after the game.

It is amazing what a small world it is with the internet. Bloody good fun!

As they always say, "there is always next year" :o)

Flat 202 And The Neighborhood

Shrikant and Charanya have a flat in the Jubilee Hills neighborhood of Hyderabad. It is a 30-minute walk to the Eye Institute in a very nice district of the city. This will be our home for the first two weeks of our stay here. Hopefully this will give us enough time to get our bearings in the neighborhood, learn where to shop and eat and also what to avoid before we move to our own flat at the end of next week. Their flat is very cozy and has fabulous marble floors throughout. (see front porch photo) There is even a little shrine room in the house with its collection of holy figures, Ganesha (the elephant god- the remover of obstacles) and Vishnu (the most human of the gods and the redeemer of humanity). I will share lots more about the many gods in the Hindu trinity and gods from the Muslim and Buddhist faiths as we travel around India. These religious images are found everywhere.

Bedroom / Dining Room

Shrine Room

There are two toilets in the house. Guess witch one we are using :o)

There is a small neighborhood Hindu temple just across the alley from the flat so we are awakened at sunrise every morning with drum beats calling people to prayer. There is also the chanting call to prayer in the afternoon at sunset. We were able to watch a bit of a service on our walk the other night (see video).

The neighborhood bustles with activity first thing in the morning. The women come outside and wash the pavement and entryways to their houses with water and then draw elaborate Kolam on the sidewalks in front of the door. Kolams are a symbol of auspiciousness. It is Hindu belief that the geometrical patterns & designs applied with rice flour at the entrance to a home, invite Goddess lakshmi into the household, and drive away the evil spirits. Also, the reason for using rice flour is that they are providing food for the ants & other small insects. Here is a photo of Kolam in front of Shrikant & Charanya’s front door.

The other thing that happens is the cart vendors come down the streets selling fruits, vegetables, coconuts, household items, etc. You can tell when they are approaching because they sing very loud chants that echo down the lanes to announce their presence. Here is one movie. There will be more later.

At about noon every day, there is a power cut for 1 to 2 hours, similar to the brown outs we experience in the US in the heat of summer. The ones here happen year round and daily household activities are planned around these outages. There has been such an increase in the middle class that there are many more electronics, appliances, etc. being plugged in (remember the population here). The current grid just can’t deal with the demand and is in the process of being upgraded to deal with this increase. Solar energy will end up being a booming business here as the climate is perfect for it. In this region it is around 80 degrees here with soft breezes and minimal humidity.... just like California.

Here is a picture of the neighborhood from the porch of the house.

More Tomorrow............

Sleeping, Eating and Crossing the Street

February 4, 2010

One is never too old to learn new things, right? Here are a few 1^st day stories about how us two old dogs learned a few new tricks. After we passed out at 4am (sleep never felt so good) we awoke at 9:30am to Charanya ready to prepare our first Indian meal (you knew it wasn’t going to take me very long to get to food! :o). Our hosts are from southern India so this is the main type of food that is prepared in the house. Mostly vegetarian. I cannot tell you how excited I am to learn how to cook this food!

Our breakfast consisted of fresh homemade Indian crepes called Dosa that are made with two kinds of rice flour and are cooked in Gingley (sesame) Oil. The batter is prepared and they are cooked in a flat skillet. All sorts of things can be eaten with them. We chose ginger pickle (a mix of grated ginger and red chilies)

and Molaga Podi (a spice blend w/chilies and sesame and coriander seeds). The spices are mixed with gingley oil to make a paste. YUM! Did I say YUM?! Fresh homemade yogurt is also served to cool the heat of the dish. Did I say YUM yet!!!! We were so, so happy after our meal that filled our tired bellies. I was so overcome with food joy; I had to take a nap (love that jetlag). Rowan worked, of course.

As I awoke from my nap, there was Charanya again ready to prepare our next meal. :o) It is truly amazing what this woman prepares in her kitchen. Rowan and I stand around her asking questions and writing things down. This is where you might need google to figure out what some of the ingredients are.

Our meal consisted of Kara Potato Curry (cubed potato with a variety of Indian spices and red chilies), Sambar (toor dal, tamarind and radish plus Tadka - mustard seed, fenugreek, curry leaves) and Rasam (tamarind, peppercorn, coriander, chilies and toor). The last bit was the dry roasted spices that included cumin, coriander, red chilies, pepper corns, channa dal and toor dal - an absolute flavor explosion in the mouth. This was all eaten with rice an Indian wheat tortillas called Chappathi.

Kara Potato Curry

spices & herbs

Sambar

Dry Roasted Spices

Cooking Chappathi

Heaven! I fear there may be a digestive emergency about to happen :o) I will now resist more YUMS; you just have to know they are there. Now the funniest lesson of this meal…….Indians eat with their hands. No forks, spoons and knives here. Charanya began the instruction on using the right hand only (you know what the other one is used for :o) it was so hilarious watching Rowan absolutely cringe with fright that her proper British upbringing was being violated. She could barely use three fingers to pick up the food. Of course I was using my whole hand like a ladle. Just try eating soup with your hands! This is where the rice comes in handy as a vehicle for soaking up some of the liquid. Keeping it from running down your arm and dripping off of your elbow onto your pants and the floor is nearly impossible! Hilarious! What great fun we had. No eating out until we perfect these maneuvers.

Again the food induced the next nap.............Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Now, about our crash course on how to survive the streets of this city. About 5pm we hit the road for the 30 minute walk down to the LV Prasad Eye Institute where Shrikant has his research lab. Chaos is the only word I can come up with to describe what goes on out here. It doesn’t matter what time of day or night; the streets are active with people, motorbikes, cars, bicycles and small 3 wheeled taxis called ‘autos’ which swarm at high speed in every direction possible. Lanes don’t exist. No double yellow lines. When one walks, one walks in the street along with this chaos. There are few stoplights, even at major junctions. There are cows along the street. People just EVERYWHERE! Pedestrians do not have the right of way. Ever! Taxis and motorbikes nearly skim your pant leg as they whisk by you on the street. The small motorbikes often carry 3 people or more. The noise is constant as people constantly honk their horns so they don't run over each other. Charanya’s most difficult task was teaching us how to cross the street amongst all of this chaos. One really does take one’s life in their own hands when attempting this. No one stops. It’s like playing dodge car. We really wanted to take pictures of the street during our walk but the chaos was so intense we didn’t want to distract ourselves from learning how to survive out here (nothing worse than having your toes run over by an auto). It took us nearly 15 minutes to cross one street! Timing is everything, and it also helps to learn to stare a driver down so they at least slow down for you. When we got to the other side of the road, we had to go through an electronic security/search checkpoint before entering the mall where we were meeting Shrikant to get a snack. Security is very high here for reasons we do not have to explain. Pictures from the streets will come later once our street-smart confidence is in order and we feel OK about multitasking out there. Whew!

Our last lesson of the day was surviving the horror of getting in a car and pulling on to the street in all of this chaos. Not something for the weak of heart to do (Mom, I promise I will never bring you here!).

We passed one police security checkpoint on the road on our 7-minute drive back to the house. Shrikant then thought it would be fun to take us on a night walk (help!) down the street from their house to get some tonic for that gin we got in duty free at the airport (boy do we need one of those after today!) We came to the famous chaos junction as we walked. I'll let the video speak for itself.

We returned home and guess what? Time to eat again! The four of us prepared Chappathi (wheat tortillas) and Gobi Masala (cauliflower, peas, onion and chilies in curry). Sleep came to us without a problem. Call it sensory overload. What a wonderful, wonderful day!

Making Chappathi

TO INDIA

February 2, 2010

It is hard to believe this day is finally here! Going to a place so far away and so culturally different will present us with many challenges we are excited to experience; taking us outside of our own comfort zone and the many things we take for granted in the USA. Hopefully all of the preparations we have made are the right ones. We are so lucky to have had Shrikant and Charanya to help guide us.

We decided to travel light; taking only a roll-a-board suitcase and small backpack each. We figure the enhanced mobility this will give us will be an advantage in a country with 1.17 billion people (6,833,000 in Hyderabad). Leaving the snow in Bloomington behind, we flew east to Washington DC for our connection to Frankfurt, Germany. We had snow in DC and again when we arrived in Frankfurt at 7:30am Feb. 3. Luckily, we were on time with every flight (must have been that kiss for luck!). We spent 5 hours in Frankfurt between flights, and of course, had to have a bloody mary and check out the frankfurter menu. :o).

Golly, I sure LOVE sausages. (see photo) It was fun sitting in the café listening to people speak languages from all over the world and trying to figure out what the announcements over the PA system were trying to tell us in German. We know we will need to get used to not being able to understand most of what will be spoken around us for the next two months. We took Shrikant’s advice to ‘just follow all of the Indian’s’ to help us find our departure gate. Once in line, we were quick to realize that we were now entering a minority status for the rest of our trip. A humbling thought. We spent the next 8 hours in the air flying over Croatia, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia, the Arabian Sea and into India and Hyderabad.

In all we spent about 18 hours in the air and a total of 24 hours to get here. Being delighted to get off of the airplane with our feet firmly on the ground is an understatement. It is now 1am Feb. 4 and the airport is full of people arriving from all over the world. We passed quickly through immigration and customs and proceeded to the arrivals exit to find Shrikant and Charanya. It was hilarious how we now had to pick out our Indian friends in a sea of other Indians. Not an easy task, especially when you are being surrounded by porters and taxi drivers trying to get your attention for some business. It took us less than 10 minutes to find our friends. Shrikant had a driver from the Eye Institute take us on our way. Whew! We made it!