A Mamma Amma hug and an apple juice
Got back late last night from Alexandra Palace (you get great views of London from there) where I got a hug from Mamma Amma - the famous Hindu leader, lover, saint, woman of India, celebrity and more... (not sure what her proper description really is? she is likened to the Dalai Lama too). It was a long wait with chanting, meditation, music and speeches before the ultimate hug session starts. She does hug you into her bosom like the picture above and she is heavily perfumed with Jasmine so when she hugs you and murmurs sweet nothings into your ear (she said to me, 'my darling, my darling, my darling') all you can do is scrunch your face into some spot in her breast and inhale the jasmine and try to find enlightenment / enjoy it as much as possible as it is over in a few seconds. After our hug, she gave me a rose petal and a candy and her people quickly ushered me off so the next few thousand people behind us in the queue could get a big, warm, jasmine-scented embrace too.

No photographs were allowed so I couldn't take a picture of the vegetarian Indian meal being served in the restaurant, nor could I take pics of the freshly pressed and frothy, green apple juice that Andrea bought us. The juice break killed a few minutes of the long wait and was tangy, sour and refreshing in a nice Yogic kinda way. There had to be food relevance to this posting, non?

Get onto her site Amma.org to hear about all her charitable projects around the world, her next hug dates, her ashrams in India (Andrea's brother peeled potatoes there a few times in the past few years) and look at or purchase one of her many books that she has written. She is a truly powerful woman who is spreading love around the world one hug at a time. She has been honoured by the Nobel society, the UN and more so it is all very warm and fuzzy seeing her cherub like face smiling at you.

Every time I have a freshly squeezed green apple juice I will remember my hug with Mamma Amma!

To Clairify - Curry

This posting is for Momma Dolce.

Curry is a misunderstood food. The original word, kari means sauce and refers to a sauce that was poured over rice, lentils or any other food to give it a flavour. However, it was only a relish rather than the bulk of the dish. Also it was not hot and spicy. Chilis are now an integral part of the dish but did not appear in India until the 1500s when they were introduced by the Yanks.

During the era of the East India Company, the Europeans devised a forumla for the spice mixtures, and in 1889 at the Universal Paris Exhibition the composition of curry powder was fixed at

• 34g tamarind


• 44g onion


• 20g coriander


• 5g chili pepper


• 3g tumeric


• 2g cumin


• 3g fenugreek


• 2g pepper


• 2g mustard

However in India and in any home that makes curry the ingredients vary wildly (I omit the cumin as I don't like it much). Many people in India vary according to their regional customs, caste and spices available - just like the Italians do with their pastas and sauces. That is what makes curry great, it comes in so many different variations depending on the chef. I especially like the coconut versions.

I think a trip to the Amin household is in order!

Happy Diwali Or as my nephew says, Happy Dee-wally!
Deepika's Diwali party extravaganza was filled with fun, laughter, fireworks and Bollywood dancing in her living room.

Now it wasn't fireworks like her brother in law did last year in India, those are illegal in the UK and probably only used at Olympic ceremonies (they were enormous! And we set them off on a rooftop terrace with no bucket of water or anything to protect us if any of them went awry! He also thought as I was a guest, that I should be the one to light them with a teeny match - as you can imagine I gave him a big thanks but NO thanks) it was fireworks from the surrounding neighbors in St. Johns Wood. Perhaps Paul McCartney was having a little Diwali party in his garden...

The Indian food was also slightly unlike her mother's feast in Delhi... Mexican fajitas were served, she is into the Mexican fajita thing lately! She served Indian street mix (Bombay mix) in newspaper - as it is served in India, made the chick pea dish in the pic which she described as, 'chick peas with Indian stuff' and some Indian potato balls (not sure what they were called).

The cookies on the top of the tiered tray (see pic) are Indian sweets (but she didn't make those) she did bake the chocolate ones on the second tier which aren't Indian :)

It was a great Diwali celebration and I teased her all night about how great her mother's food was last year compared to her hybrid-Mexican-British-Indian one this year. But that's what friends are for right?

The wine was flowing, the Bollywood music going, Nab was putting beautiful bindi designs on our foreheads and there was a great mix of people so it didn't really matter in the end...
Happy Diwali and Happy New Year

;)

Masala Zone
Don't these thali pics speak for themselves? Masala Zone is a great restauarant in London which serves great Indian food. My old neighbour Sunil who owns The Punch Tavern (will do a review of them soon-they have a great new website!)always recommended Chutney Mary,owned by the same family. He said it was the best place to get an Indian and would go there every Sunday. Still have not been to Chutney Mary but have frequented Masala Zone and each time I am impressed with the service (our waitress last week was so sweet and helpful it was beyond words), food (we ate those dishes in a very short time and as you can see dug in before we could take any nice photos), price (not bad on the wallet), and atmosphere (there always seems to be a buzzing crowd).


In 2005, Masala World won the Restaurateur of the Year Award in the Tatler 2005 Restaurant Awards, the first time this has been awarded to a Group serving non-European food. Serving over 550,000 customers a year they must be doing something right. Thx Sunil for the recommendation!

Farewell India

Farewell snake charmers, crazy bus drivers, elephants, camels, smiling faces, spicy food, the busy city and drivers who are honk-a holics.

Back to England where all is a little more orderly and the assault on my senses is a little less. It was a great time and I will miss my lovely hosts the Gils and the Chawlas (below) Thx for a great time and a brief glimpse at life in India.
Mrs. Chawla taught me some Pranayama breathing exercises which help mind, body and soul to become focused, stronger, centered and to bring peace to mind and body.

Do this first thing in the morning...
Sit in a quiet place on the floor in the lotus position (legs crossed and arms resting gently on your knees)
1. Pranayan -breathe in deeply raising the chest and exhaling through the mouth -do this 10 times (Mrs . C does this like 100-but you can slowly build up to that)

2. Kaban Bhati - breathe in and out flexing the stomach for 5 min (or do as much as you can to start)

3. Anulome Vilome -I like this one - take a deep breath holding down one nostril then exhale holding the other nostril. All breath should be inhaled and released from the nostrils. This is good for balancing and bringing oxygen to the brain and for hormones.

4. Bhramari - hold your hands out flat-palms facing inwards, take the middle three fingers and cover your eyes with them, put your pinkys on your chin, and your pointer finger on your forehead, with your thumbs gently plug your ears and take deep breaths (100 reps = Mrs Chawla or 10+ for us beginners) this one is very good as you hear all the sounds your body makes.

5. Om -take a deep breath and do the OMmmmmmm sound as you exhale, feel the vibration in your mouth, tongue etc.. 10 times

http://www.amazon.ca/Light-Pranayama-B-K-S-Iyengar/dp/0824506863
You can buy the book that Mr. C got me from the master and learn more.

Then you are ready for your day with lots more oxygen and peace in the body. This doesn't relate to cooking or the cookbook but thought it would come in handy for any one experiencing stress...

Thx to my new Indian family for being so kind and loving. They are a true example of a loving family with their actions, words, life and passions - they work on some wonderful charity projects www.giveindia.org and a dispensary for poor people to give them access to medical attention that they would otherwise not have.


(pic of Mr. & Mrs. Chawla at his birthday dinner celebration at Punjabi by Nature restaurant)

Fancy foot work at the butcher shop
For preparations for Diwali which is a religious festival which celebrates the coming of a goddess who brings, prosperity, health and good luck we went to get some provisions.

On the list:

Candles-for lighting the path for the goddess to find the home -the house had candles and marigold and rose petals lined from the drive way all the way up to the little altar set up in the home

Firecrackers -for celebration afterwards-these are the illegal kind you can't get in Canada or the UK anymore -they are massive -think Symphony of Fire at Ontario place -this is what we did on the terrace a few feet away from all the guests.

Sweets -traditionally eaten after dinner or exchanged as gifts (this festival is very similar to Xmas)

Mutton - for the main meal -this was where the talented butcher came on the scene.

The two butchers were on a little platform stage like place in a shop selling fish, meat and more... There was a round tree stump which he is sitting behind on a smaller stool where he chopped the various meats. But then to my surprise his hands went down behind visible terrain and there he was with a large meat cleaver held between his toes (keeping both hands free) for trimming fat off some other cuts of meat. Very clever use of space and body parts I thought, although a bit odd at first. Got to have strong feet for this type of job!

Didn't take a pic of the footwork but should've..next time. And most Indian men love getting their picture taken so this man adjusted his handlebar moustache for the camera and gave a few poses...enjoy.

Mr & Mrs. Gil
Our hosts in Delhi...a pic of them smiling sweetly after the spiciest Chinese dinner ever.

Spicy in India

We didn't get to Kasa Gelato today in the market to scope out the ice cream but am sure it was spicy! Actually everything here is spicy, even our Chinese food dinner tonight was mouth burning, nostril cleansing hot! (except for the locals Mr & Mrs. Gill who ate it all without flinching)

Have seen some great sights like the Taj Mahal and the colorful city of Jaipur in Rajastan along with several others. All were stunning and filled with fascinating histories. India has such a wide variety of sights, smells and tastes -it can be overwhelming at times but it needs to be taken in quite quickly as there is so much happening all at once. The country is filled with many religions, the roads filled with many travelers (horses, donkeys, camels, cars, trucks, bikes, rickshaws, mopeds, scooters, old men walking across motorways at a slow pace, elephants, people, monkeys, dogs and more!) and the restaurants are filled with several types of food -Indian food from all areas; north, south and more and other foods that all seem to have an Indian twist.

I have tasted some great and v.interesting food but all very spicy enough to make a man's moustache curl!
Namaste...and Happy Divali for tomorrow.