Boots in the Oven

I spy with my little eye... MUMBAI!

2012-01-27T07:51:00-06:00

While we were availing ourselves of Shailesh and Nilima's hospitality and waiting for our Chinese visas to come through so we could plan onward travel, we actually did get out and about a bit. They live in a part of town called Worli Sea Face, so we walked up and down the waterfront several times (smog is original, not added for effect).

We braved the security lines, relics of the atrocious 26/11/2008 terrorist attacks, to get into the Gateway of India, the Georgian mass built in 1911 right near the Taj hotel.

We also went into the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, where the effects of the terrorist attacks are completely invisible, though we did get patted down on entry.

Mumbai is a great place to shop, and Nilima took us one day to Linking Road. There are super shops to buy inexpensive Indian outfits and tunics, and I filled my bags. I am going to live in these clothes during Austin summer 2012.

There are also a couple of museums in town, including the Chhatrapati Shivaji Majaraj Vastu Sangrahalaya, formerly known as the Prince of Wales Museum. My foreigner brain finds the older name quite a bit easier to remember.

There was a fascinating and informative exhibit on traditional Indian miniature painting, which taught us a LOT about what to look for when we went later in our trip to Rajasthan, where you practically have to wade through drifts of this type of painting to reach the tourist sites.

There was a special exhibition by an 18th century master named Nainsukh, whose work was spare and beautiful, but no pictures were allowed in that hall. (A movie was made recently about Nainsukh; we'll have to track it down.)

Mumbai also has a National Gallery of Modern Art, though we found the folks set up outside and some of the nearby ancillary exhibition spaces more to our liking. In this one, we crunched through leaves and the smell of autumn while admiring precisely rendered faces and lines.

The Hajj Ali mosque has a dramatic setting out in the bay, and drew our eyes each time we passed.

An example of the rules in force when you visit a Jain temple:

3 and 5 are my favorites.

And they're quite serious, too - not mentioned here, but also good to know, is that your bags will be searched to see if you're carrying anything made of leather. Luckily my wallet is paper...

And we bought train tickets, in a fairly straightforward and not particularly painful manner! There was a special window for foreigners at the ticket center and everything. I'm not sure why our visit was the time they chose to bust out the circular saws and welding tools, but the high-pitched mechanical whine sure did add to the inherent fun of waiting in line!

And that was Mumbai! For all its hugeness, it's a pretty laid back city that we really enjoyed, thanks to our terrific hosts. Another big thank you to Shailesh and Nilima!

Mumbai: Eatin' the Streets.

2012-01-25T07:11:00-06:00

While we could have stayed in and eaten Nilima's home cooking for our entire time in Mumbai, it really didn't seem like a guestly thing to do. So with the invaluable aid of our hosts, whenever we weren't stuffing our faces in their condo, we were stuffing our faces on the streets and back alleys of Mumbai.

One night early on, Shailesh warned me to eat light at dinner. "Tonight you should go out for a second dinner with my nephews. I know the best chicken place in the city."

Second dinner. How could I possibly turn that down?

Around midnight, me and the boys pulled up to Ayub's- a little hole in the wall that was surrounded by about 30 cars, all with people eating off the trunks and hoods. I left the ordering to the locals and tried to keep up with a steady stream of some of the most moist and well seasoned poultry I can remember having in a long while.

Out came marinated chicken bits wrapped in flat bread, smokey chicken shish kebab, tender minced chicken balls, and even some grilled potato for good measure, all accompanied with pickled onions and a couple of spicy, fragrant chutneys.

If they would have sold beer, I might have moved in.

Another day, we were treated to one of my all time favorite indian snacks, the vada pav. I've had quite a few in the US, but none that could compete with version we had at Soam, a little restaurant near Shailesh's office.

The silky patties of mashed potato were fried to a lovely level of crunch, setting up a fine textural treat. Once you squish it between the fluffy yeast rolls smeared with cilantro chutney and bright, lemony masala, you're in for a carb happy grin-fest.

And what goes with a potato sandwich? How about lots of fried green banana chips? Nilima walked us by her favorite frier and we stocked up on spicy chips, sweet tomato flavored chips, peppery chips, and a few more that I don't remember because I ate them all.

Occasionally, we even managed to try some vegetables.

I loved this guy's scales he used as he diligently weighed out some fresh green chickpeas (that you may remember from this salad in an earlier post.)

And I was fascinated to learn about shingoda, a lumpy black mess that looked a lot like truffles but turned out to be a starchy relative of the water chestnut (or possibly a lotus root, depending on who you believe.)

After they're boiled and cut open, their bright white interior has a sweet flavor and a dense, creamy texture similar to a roasted chestnut. They made a nice winter time snack.

Another thing I had never seen before was tadgala. These are young palm fruits, similar to immature coconuts. Once you peel back the papery exterior, the whole middle is a soft refreshing jelly perfect for slurping on. I can't say that I've really had anything like it.

It also happened to be sweet lime season, so there was no way we could pass up a few glasses of fresh pressed citrus. This guy's juicer was really more like a meat grinder and it made short work of a half dozen or so limes, leaving us with big frothy cups of refreshment. I added a few dashes of masala to give mine a little kick of salt and spice.

After Mysore, I was skeptical about sullying my palate with what I suspected would be inferior dosas, but this one drew my eye. It wasn't anything like the dosas we had farther south and I couldn't pass it up because the filling seem to make use of copious amounts of raw grated beet.

Wtf? Who fills a pancake with raw beet?

This guy apparently. While the wrapper was a bit soggy and didn't really hold up, the big mishmash of vegetables in middle were definitely worth the 20 rupees. Note to self: beet pancakes.

Mumbai is particularly famous for a type of chaat called bhel puri. Unfortunately, bhel puri stalls are also famous for gastro-intestinally incapacitating unsuspecting tourists. Hm.

When I told our hosts about my little dilemma, Shailesh, in true Shailesh style, thought for a moment and then announced, "I know a guy."

I'm pretty sure he "knows a guy" for just about everything.

Half an hour later, a man shows up at his office with a mobile bhel puri stand. I shit you not. One call and moments later here this guy is with all the fillings, toppings, sauces, crispy bits, and accoutrement necessary. Everything was scrupulously clean of course.

The bhel puri was fantastic. A crunchy blend of puffed rice, sev, onion, tomato, cilantro, chilies, and tamarind chutney. It's hot and sweet, and totally addictive.

And since the guy had made a special trip and all, we decided we might as well try a few more of his offerings.

He quickly whipped up some amazing veg sandwiches with cucumber, potato, onion, tomato, and generous smears of various chutneys.

He followed that up with a plate of batata puri. Batata puri is similar to bhel puri, but it incorporates a lot of smashed potato and he laid it all out on individual little chips disks, kind of like indian nachos. I love him.

As we made our way home, I passed this great street barber. The scene inspired me to get a shave myself the next day. I'm not sure if it was a cultural difference or a translation issue, but during the grooming, the guy managed to get his fingers into my mouth on three separate occasions and then boldly pressed on after running out of shaving cream. It all ended with a very smooth face, but I'm sure there's a lesson in there somewhere.

Happy Lunar New Year from Beijing (with EXPLOSIONS!)

2012-01-23T10:19:10-06:00

Stepping out of the chronology on the blog for a moment, we are in Beijing for the Lunar New Year! What a crazy time of year to be here. It's freezing cold, but that's OK because everyone is in a festive New Year spirit and our room has heat. We've been eating lots of Peking duck and wearing all the clothes in our backpacks.

I'd heard that the Chinese are into fireworks for the Lunar New Year, but I was nowhere near being prepared for the reality outside our hotel room last night. The fireworks started early in the day and built to a crescendo at midnight. By 1:30 or so they'd quieted down, but the festivities returned at about 5 and have been on and off all day.

Here's a little taste of what it was like to be in Beijing last night. Happy Lunar New Year, and may your Year of the Dragon be full of health, wealth, and happiness!

More China to come... but first, back to Mumbai!

A Love Letter to our Mumbai Hosts

2012-01-23T06:44:00-06:00

We were so lucky in Mumbai. In another example of just how small the Internet has made the world, years ago Logan's mother, who lives in Louisiana, met Shailesh, who lives in Mumbai, through playing internet bridge. They've been playing cards together now on and off for years, and their bridge group has even met in person a few times! So when Shailesh heard that we would be coming to Mumbai on our world tour, he very kindly insisted that we stay with him and his lovely wife Nilima.

They made our stay wonderful. It's been months since we were in a real home, and their hospitality was such a treat.

We went to an anniversary party with them, where Nilima lent me a salwaar kameez, necklace, and a bindi of my own.

They called friends of theirs to help us out with some travel minutiae that needed to be taken care of, like dealing with preparing the reams of paperwork we needed for our Chinese visa and helping with reservations and train tickets.

Shailesh called his personal tailor and got Logan an amazing price on new, tailor-made shirts AND pants, and then called a courier service to come to the house and pack up almost 25 pounds of items we'd been lugging around. The courier showed up with a box, packing material, and a scale, and tidily gathered everything and professionally packed it while we sat back and had cocktails. I could get used to this method of international shipping.

Nilima also did much of the cooking while we were there (she and Sailesh share a cook with Shailesh's brother and his family, who live in an apartment in the same building), and was extremely patient with Logan's endless questions. We were fascinated by all of the masalas and pickles and exotic (to us) vegetables she uses. Logan took a lot of notes, and I'm hoping he'll recreate some of these dishes when we get home.

Here's Nilima's twist on upma, a breakfast porridge popular in South India. She makes hers with oat flour that she toasts herself. The dish is spicy and pungent and a real wake-me-up. Oatmeal with spice and mustard seeds! Also, I love masala chai.

One day while we were out and about, Shailesh bought some fresh green chickpeas, which Nilima made into a cruncy salad with chopped onion, cilanto, lemon juice, and masala. Such texture. This is the second place we've found fresh chickpeas on our trip (the first being Mexico). Are they possible to get at home?

Nilima also pulled out the iddly (iddli) molds one day and made beautifully fluffy steamed lentil dumplings. I never liked iddly before, but they're up among my favorite foods now. Amazing what a GOOD version of a dish will do.

The family is actually Gujarati, so we had the good fortune to try many Gujarati dishes. This is Dal Dogli, a typically Gujarati sweet/spicy thick bean soup with thick, slippery wheat-flour noodles. Thank you for the invite upstairs from Shailesh's brother Rajesh and Rajesh's wife Priti!

Logan also got to try the intense saffron-flavored chewing tobacco with bits of silver leaf that Shailesh favors. He said he liked it. This face means the flavors are STRONG.

We can't thank Shailesh and Nilima enough for their hospitality. They made hectic, crowded, sweaty Mumbai into a true place of refuge for us, and we left ready to take on the rest of India!

Next up: TEA!

Beach Time in Benaulim

2012-01-20T06:54:00-06:00

So, yes, I got truly, disgustingly, stereotypically ill in India. I'm a lucky lady, though, and Logan brought me sauceless iddli and made gallon after gallon of electrolyte water for me. And then, he took me to the beach, where I could sit under an umbrella, drink water and the occasional salt lassi (salty yogurt drinks are my new make-my-tummy-happy obsession), and try my best to hide from the brightly-plumaged flocks of ladies trying to sell me henna or bracelets or anklets or sarongs or massages or necklaces or shirts or pants or internet access or or or.

We went to Benaulim, on Goa's coast near Margao. It was pretty quiet when we were there at the beginning of December; the package tourists stay up north a bit, and the domestic tourists haven't descended en masse for the Christmas and New Year's breaks. So Logan had lots of cashew fenny (white lightning made from cashew fruit!) with Limca, lemon-limey soda, and ocasionally walked out into the cool but not cold ocean.

I found a puppy to snuggle. Not sure why my face is fixed in an uncomfortable rictus; maybe I was still feeling a touch yucko. BUT PUPPY!

And not only puppy... OCCASIONAL WATER BUFFALO! I would not recommend getting your snuggle on with this guy, though. Probably end in sadness all around. And possible trampling.

We stayed at a place called Heaven Goa, with comfortable beds, no internet, and unfortunately no restaurant (though they offered a skimpy breakfast). We also opted for no a/c. At least the room had a fan, though it still got uncomfortably warm in there. And this was December!

Our view, according to the guidebook, was supposed to be of a "lily pond".

I was expecting to be eaten alive by mosquitoes, looking at this marshland outside our door, but they surprisingly weren't that bad. We tried out the white lily oil we bought in Mysore, which is supposedly a mosquito repellent, and made it through our stay with only a couple of bites.

There were often pigs rooting around in the muck, this area of India being one of the few that eats them.

One thing Heaven Goa did have going for it (besides the friendly proprietors, clean rooms, and hot water) was the menagerie. Does it count as a menagerie if it's just a sweet, hyper-ass dog named Dixie and a whole passel of kittens? Our bags apparently make good lookout points. If you're tiny.

Then this happened, without the least prompting from me. I immediately felt, like, 67 percent less sick. Kitten therapy! It's a thing, or should be. Forget all that ayurveda.

After our three nights beaching it up and relaxing and dousing ourselves in lily oil, it was time to move on to the big bustling crazyness of Mumbai! Goodbye for now, romantic beaches and candlelit dining, ocean whooshing suggestively within earshot. We'll see you again in Southeast Asia in a couple of months!