Happy 2016!

Diwali Cow

Happy New Year!  Although it's been awhile since I've nurtured my blog, there have been many things happening that are worth documenting. Sadly, Instagram is so, well, instant that once I post something there, I feel like it doesn't need mentioning again.  But, as I found out last night when I wanted to make renkon kinpra for a dinner party, Instagram has it's downfalls. It's not searchable, and it's not the right format for more than a few sentences at a time.

Cow and dog on Goan beach

Last November, I spent three weeks on a food tour of India. What this trip did was make me and the boy go on an Indian cooking spree that still hasn't fully ended - and I hope it never does! It also made me hungry to visit the country again, because I only visited a handful of cities (Dehli, Agra, Bijapur, Udaipur, Jaipur, Mumbai, Goa). The regional differences surprised me. For example, even if I spoke fluent Hindi (one of India official languages), there would be people who wouldn't be able to understand me. To an American, that's such a strange concept because I can speak English anywhere in the USA and it would be reasonable to expect that the person I'm talking to also speaks English. Not so with Hindi in India. I met a women born and raised in Mumbai who couldn't speak any Hindi, but she spoke fluent English.

Since the trip, I've been immersing myself in Bollywood movies and music, Indian history (I finally broke down and watched the movie Ghandi, and am watching every food show on India that Netflix instant streaming has to offer. The more I learn, the more I find that I need to learn more. There's serious talk about going to India again this year, this time Southern India, and taking mostly cooking classes and maybe a few yoga classes. 

Remind me to tell you one day about how I almost tipped a raj - luckily , the crisis was averted by dumb luck.