(Hannah here again)
Thought people might be interested in the food here. I’ve certainly haven’t yet had a bad meal in India (except for something very odd we had for breakfast at the airport). South India is famous world wide for its cuisine – lots of colours, flavours, aromas and textures. Coming from a culture where we eat vast amounts of meat, it’s amazing and
beautiful to see how many different ways vegetables can be used in cooking, and how varied and even ‘meaty’ they can taste (if that makes sense).
We’ve tried many of the different dishes – somehow it’s not quite as scary to point at a dish in a language you don’t understand when there’s no chance it’s going to be some odd bit of animal, that now placed in front of you you have to eat (Nick would remember a few yak dishes we’ve had in the past!).
The South Indian Thali (as seen in pic) is very inexpensive (about £1) and you usually get rice, 3 different kinds of curry, breads, curd (yoghurt) and chutney. Refilled until you’re full. Mysore is famous for it’s Dosa – a large savoury pancake, usually served with a hot sauce and cooling coconut. Often eaten at breakfast with stuffed and spiced potato.
We’ve found some good places to eat in Mysore. We discovered the Park Lane Hotel when we first arrived here. Staying in a hotel close by we noticed that it served porridge all day. Not very Indian you may say – but it means Nick and I can happily have a meal and the girls are happy too. They haven’t really taken to the cuisine (apart from the rice/bread and curd) and not many places have non-spicy food on the menu (this place also serves cheese sandwiches and chips!). My favourite for a very mad experience is the Indra Cafe’s Paras (near to the famous Devaraja market). It’s
always absolutely packed and getting a table is a feat in itself – we’ve truly discovered that queuing is a very British thing! As in most excursions, the girls are centre of attention – Beth taking a picture of people taking their pictures. For once the girls having fun as opposed to burying their head in my lap!
We’re getting better at cooking at home
having progressed from a one burner stove to a two
burner! Also managed to find a cook book section in the local bookshop so are having more success. We’ve had a few soggy and bitter veg dishes! (Thanks for those who have sent some recipes from home). I also managed to find a kids book on veg and their names – sounds bizarre but it’s not that easy to cook dishes when you can’t actually find the ingredients. We’ve befriended a good veg stall and the guy who runs it is very helpful. The girls fill up the metal bowls, which all get weighed together, and smile sweetly so that they get a free banana! Beth will happily eat all the sweet mangoes, lychee, papaya and pomegranates. Isla is more keen on her fill of peanut butter sandwiches and chocolate gems (smartie look-alikes).
To be fair I’ve trawled all the supermarkets and between them we’ve managed to find; pasta, peanut butter, marmite, cornflakes, weetabix (£4 for 24!!), cream, mayonnaise, ketchup, tuna, sliced bread, noodles and cheese. So we’re certainly not starving, but when we hear of people having BBQ’s at home, there is a serious salivation problem! We do manage to get chicken about once/ twice a week to cook at home. The supermarket supply is very sporadic and neither Nick or I have the balls to go to the butcher and choose our own live chicken (hypocritical I know). All fun – not sure the Sainsbury’s veg counter is going to be quite the same when we head home………
Since writing this a few days ago we have expanded our kitchen appliances to include an oven. Hooray. It’s very amusing and gives a whole new meaning to temperature control (it sits on top of the gas burner), but think it will be fun trying it out. I will let you know how we get on………
………given I still haven’t posted this blog yet ( we don’t seem very good at that!) I thought you might like to see Beth & Isla’s cake. Yes, it came from a cake mix packet, but it tasted good and it worked!!! Cheese soufflé next…….
Thought people might be interested in the food here. I’ve certainly haven’t yet had a bad meal in India (except for something very odd we had for breakfast at the airport). South India is famous world wide for its cuisine – lots of colours, flavours, aromas and textures. Coming from a culture where we eat vast amounts of meat, it’s amazing and
beautiful to see how many different ways vegetables can be used in cooking, and how varied and even ‘meaty’ they can taste (if that makes sense).We’ve tried many of the different dishes – somehow it’s not quite as scary to point at a dish in a language you don’t understand when there’s no chance it’s going to be some odd bit of animal, that now placed in front of you you have to eat (Nick would remember a few yak dishes we’ve had in the past!).
The South Indian Thali (as seen in pic) is very inexpensive (about £1) and you usually get rice, 3 different kinds of curry, breads, curd (yoghurt) and chutney. Refilled until you’re full. Mysore is famous for it’s Dosa – a large savoury pancake, usually served with a hot sauce and cooling coconut. Often eaten at breakfast with stuffed and spiced potato.
We’ve found some good places to eat in Mysore. We discovered the Park Lane Hotel when we first arrived here. Staying in a hotel close by we noticed that it served porridge all day. Not very Indian you may say – but it means Nick and I can happily have a meal and the girls are happy too. They haven’t really taken to the cuisine (apart from the rice/bread and curd) and not many places have non-spicy food on the menu (this place also serves cheese sandwiches and chips!). My favourite for a very mad experience is the Indra Cafe’s Paras (near to the famous Devaraja market). It’s
always absolutely packed and getting a table is a feat in itself – we’ve truly discovered that queuing is a very British thing! As in most excursions, the girls are centre of attention – Beth taking a picture of people taking their pictures. For once the girls having fun as opposed to burying their head in my lap!We’re getting better at cooking at home
having progressed from a one burner stove to a twoburner! Also managed to find a cook book section in the local bookshop so are having more success. We’ve had a few soggy and bitter veg dishes! (Thanks for those who have sent some recipes from home). I also managed to find a kids book on veg and their names – sounds bizarre but it’s not that easy to cook dishes when you can’t actually find the ingredients. We’ve befriended a good veg stall and the guy who runs it is very helpful. The girls fill up the metal bowls, which all get weighed together, and smile sweetly so that they get a free banana! Beth will happily eat all the sweet mangoes, lychee, papaya and pomegranates. Isla is more keen on her fill of peanut butter sandwiches and chocolate gems (smartie look-alikes).
To be fair I’ve trawled all the supermarkets and between them we’ve managed to find; pasta, peanut butter, marmite, cornflakes, weetabix (£4 for 24!!), cream, mayonnaise, ketchup, tuna, sliced bread, noodles and cheese. So we’re certainly not starving, but when we hear of people having BBQ’s at home, there is a serious salivation problem! We do manage to get chicken about once/ twice a week to cook at home. The supermarket supply is very sporadic and neither Nick or I have the balls to go to the butcher and choose our own live chicken (hypocritical I know). All fun – not sure the Sainsbury’s veg counter is going to be quite the same when we head home………
Since writing this a few days ago we have expanded our kitchen appliances to include an oven. Hooray. It’s very amusing and gives a whole new meaning to temperature control (it sits on top of the gas burner), but think it will be fun trying it out. I will let you know how we get on………
………given I still haven’t posted this blog yet ( we don’t seem very good at that!) I thought you might like to see Beth & Isla’s cake. Yes, it came from a cake mix packet, but it tasted good and it worked!!! Cheese soufflé next…….
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