Indian Food

October 12, 2024October 12, 2024Leave a comment

Here is the long-overdue epic Indian food post.

Northern India

I ate lots of delicious things when I was in West Bengal, right after I entered India. The Tibetan influence is strong from all the waves of immigration. I’m a big fan of momos, Tibetan dumplings which are made with slightly thicker dough than Chinese ones. The ones in the photo below came from the restaurant in Jaldapara National Park. I also had a giant meal of rice and two dishes – mixed vegetables and butter paneer. Butter chicken is jokingly known as the dish white Americans order from Indian restaurants because they can’t handle the spice. However, I’d never had the vegetarian version made with paneer (Indian cheese) so I figured I should try it. It was okay, but I truly enjoy a little more heat in my food. My other favorite part of many of my meals in India were getting mixed sodas. These usually have a base of lemon or lime juice, sparkling water, and both salt and sugar added. Not everyone likes salty-sweet lemonades and limeades, but in the hot weather, I am a huge fan. Side note: Mexican limonadas are made the same way.

I ate thukpa (a Tibetan noodle soup made with curry powder and vegetables) at the highly recommended Kunga’s Restaurant in Darjeeling. I waited in line for about twenty minutes and was about to give up when a woman came out and said she had room for one. I ended up sharing a table with a Bengali couple from Kolkata who were taking a long holiday weekend in the highland cooler temperatures. The whole restaurant had maybe seven or eight tables with barely any room to walk. Just as I sat down and ordered my food, the entire staff sat down around the one big table in back to eat their lunch. My new friends shared travel and festival recommendations from Kolkata while we waited a rather long time for our food to arrive. However, when it finally came, the soup was delicious and I even ordered some steamed vegetable momos to go.

vegetarian momos with dipping sauce; mixed lemon soda, rice, curried vegetables and butter paneer; vegetable thukpa

Panaji

I mentioned in an earlier post my love for Cafe Tato. They serve traditional Goan food and delicious breakfast and snacks. Chole masala is very similar to what is often called chana masala in Indian restaurants in the United States. It refers to the Punjabi way of making it, which has a very specific set of spices. Puri is delicious puffy fried bread. The best way to eat the chole is to break off a piece of puri and scoop it up with your hands. After living in Morocco for two years, I’m a big fan of not using utensils at every meal. I used the puri to eat the mushroom dish in the pictures below and I also got to try a mushroom samosa for the first time.

chole masala, puri, mushroom bhaji, mushroom samosa

Panaji was hot and I was mostly thinking about cooling down whenever I stopped for refreshments. A tiny shop across my hotel was selling these kokum coolers which were sweet and tangy. An Amul ice cream shop was a quick stop for me to escape a rainstorm. And, of course, the only hot item on here is a masala chai. I could only really drink these in the morning, because by the afternoon it was too hot.

kokum cooler, chopped almonds ice cream, masala chai

One of my favorite things to do when I visit any new place is to go into supermarkets and buy all kinds of snacks that I’ve never had before. I bought all these in Panaji and slowly made my way through them over the next few days. The sour gummy feet were like sour candies everywhere. The bugles made from billet were tastier than I thought they’d be, but they still tasted healthy. Monkers are just cheap M&Ms and the sesame balls were harder than I thought they’d be. Sabudana is actually made from sago flour and usually has the consistency of tapioca. However, these were puffed, mixed with peanuts and tiny fried potato sticks, and had the salty-sweet flavor of kettle corn. It was definitely one of my favorites.

gummy feet, millet bugles, monkers (like m&ms) and sesame balls, sabudana mix

Arambol

Arambol is much better known for its beach scene than its food. However, there was one bakery in town with a blue awning that was famous for its baked goods. Its chocolate croissants were not exactly croissants, but they were made with dark chocolate and were tasty and cheap. The mango cheesecake was passable. However, the prize for best food in Arambol unexpectedly went to a little cafe on the beach. My friend and I got a vegetarian biryani, which is a mixed rice dish cooked with vegetable and spices. This one even came with fried onions on top and was absolutely divine.

best chocolate croissant in Arambol, delicious vegetarian biryani, mango cheesecake

Yoga Teacher Training in Goa

August 10, 2024September 15, 2024Leave a comment

Arambol

I spent three weeks doing a 200-hour teacher training in Arambol, a small town in north Goa that was part of the hippie trail in the seventies. I was the oldest person in the training class by about 10 years and I must admit I shed many tears the first week. I wasn’t very good at the poses. My body wasn’t flexible. I felt like the stereotypical overweight American compared to all these young, tiny, bendy people. We had 2 hours of yoga in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon and in between were classes on anatomy, alignment, and philosophy. We got a full day off on Sunday and had a half day on Saturday. It was 90F almost every day and I would regularly have to stop mid-pose to wipe the sweat off my mat and my body so I wouldn’t slip.

However, I kept showing up to every class and I got better because I was regularly practicing yoga. It’s amazing how much body and mind can adjust to difficulty. I slowly made some friends and by the end of the training, another student was like “your Downward Dog is actually pretty good now” and I just grinned from ear to ear.

I’m not trying to become a yoga teacher, but I’m happy that I didn’t give up and kept doing the asanas even when I didn’t want to. Shout out to everyone who sent me text messages and encouraged me when I was feeling down. This may seem like a small thing, but I remember the first time I was in plank pose and I managed to bring my right foot up in line with my hands. I had never been able to do that before and I remember internally shouting with joy. I always had to scoot my foot forward because I didn’t have the flexibility. Yoga training allowed me to see my body gain strength and flexibility in real time. I’m thankful that I took this time to delve into something that was so out of my comfort zone. Growth can be so painful, but ultimately so good for the soul. I’m clearly a fan of Type II fun. 🙂

me & Gabi at the beach; Susanna, Pradnya, and me on the shala roof; roommate Mila and me

The training started and ended with ceremonies and Pradnya and I designed both of the mandalas that we gathered around. The rest of the students and staff were ripping the petals off all the flowers so we could fill in the outline. The training also offered a bunch of activities that were yoga-adjacent. In the heat, I was probably most excited for the ice bath experience in the middle of the day. Other folks struggled a bit more with the freezing water, but it felt a lot like jumping in alpine glacier lakes in the Sierras. Definitely cold, but tolerable.

beginning mandala, closing mandala, me in an ice bath in a barrel

Because of the heat, we had a lot of downtime in the middle of the day. I read quite a few novels while I was there, because even after a refreshingly cold shower, I didn’t want to do anything but hang out inside. I was perpetually washing my three yoga outfits since I would sweat through them every single practice. Our training was right at the beginning of monsoon season, so after big afternoon rain showers, the power would frequently go out for the rest of the night.

me in a sari at closing ceremony; Tina, Dheeraj, and Mila reading at a beachside restaurant when the lights went out, me in a ginormous banyan tree

We spent a lot of weekends at the nearby beaches of the Arabian Sea. There were always a lot of stares from Indian men, but we eventually found some spots that were a bit more isolated without as many onlookers. Pradnya taught me the Hindi word tharki which roughly translates to pervert. It sounds a lot like the English word turkey and it became an inside joke about yet another “Uncle Tharki” whenever men came over to try and take photos of us. India is hard travel for women. We did find a bunch of cool shells and lots of cuttlefish bones washed up on the sand.

sunset siliqua shell, Kentish plover, cuttlefish bone, Oriental garden lizard

One of the perks of the shala was the random wildlife living around us. There were a couple of lizards that joined us for our morning breathwork. Sometimes we stopped in the middle of practice to watch the pack of langur monkeys that came scampering over the roof. Darkness and rain brought out frogs that lived around the stairwell. There were also some lovely large spiders and grasshoppers always hanging about.

friends at the shala: Indian tree frog, pantropical huntsman spider, grasshopper, Malabar gray langur

Yashwantgad Fort

The yoga place did arrange one really fascinating trip just over the state border into Maharashtra. On the way there, we got pulled over by the police and our driver didn’t have his identification on him, so they had to offer him some Gandhis (Indian rupee bills all have Gandhi on them) so we could keep going.

We spent the morning at the beach, but eventually went on a tour of Yashwantgad Fort near the town of Redi. In my ignorance, I figured it was a Portuguese colonial fort, but, no, it was built in the early 1700’s by the ruling Marathas. At that time, the Maratha Empire (aka as the Confederacy) covered most of the territory of present-day India. However, there was a lot of fighting between local groups and this fort was built to shore up their defenses along the coast. Eventually the British, starting on the east coast, started chipping away at the edges of the territory and eventually took over almost everything.

The fort itself has a storied history with the Portuguese eventually claiming it and the Marathas fighting to get it back. Regardless, the fort is still stunning today. The Indian government has done a huge amount of reconstruction work and it is in beautiful shape. The best part are the huge trees growing in and around the fort making intricate abstract patterns. It reminded me a lot of Ta Prohm, a temple in Angkor Wat, that also has trees growing out of its roof. This was definitely one of my favorite places on the Indian part of my trip.

beautiful archway, round parapet, tree roots slowly reclaiming the fort

views of the courtyard, more trees growing out of the fort, overlooking the beach where we swam

Panjim

August 3, 2024October 20, 20252 Comments

Panaji City

Panaji (also known as Panjim) is the capital city of the state of Goa. I arrived there on May first, which was Labour Day (labour spelled with a u because of the British). Almost everything was closed and the streets were relatively empty, so I just wandered around town.

There was a huge parade of workers walking from one side of town to a gathering in the central park. It was fascinating to see all the different groups coming together. I saw banners for brewers, concrete workers, and beach club employees. There is a small river that runs near the city and there’s a shaded boardwalk that meanders through the mangroves that grow on each side of the river.

Although India is often associated with British colonization, Goa was originally a colony of the Portuguese. Vasco de Gama and his crew were the first to arrive, and by the early 1500’s the Portuguese had established a significant stronghold in the area. This part of India remained part of Portugal until the 1950’s when they achieved their independence. They ultimately voted to become a part of the rest of India which had become independent in 1947. The signs of Portuguese influence are everywhere. For example, in the center of Panaji stands the Immaculate Conception Church, built in 1541 to serve Catholic Portuguese sailors.

Labour Day parade, Immaculate Conception Church, mosaic bridge over the Rio de Ourém

The parks of Panaji are decorated with some interesting sculptures. The one in all the tourist books is of Abbé Faria, a Goan Catholic priest who was a master of hypnotism. The central park contains a modern sculpture dedicated to Tristão de Bragança Cunha, an anti-colonial activist who called for Goan independence from Portugal. He was arrested for organizing against Portuguese rule and spent several years in prison. Once released, he continued his liberation work and published a newspaper dedicated to the cause. My favorite sculpture, though, was probably the awkwardly helmeted Indian gaur planted right next to the main road.

statue of Abbé Faria hypnotising a subject, sculpture dedicated to TB Cunha, Indian gaur

I stayed in the Fontainhas area of Panjim when I was there. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage site due to the colorful houses dating to the time of Portuguese rule. In addition to the white churches, there are also relatively recently built Hindu temples. There are more Hindus in Goa now, but there are still many practicing Christians.

colorful Fontainhas house, Shri Hanuman Temple, Shri Vithal Rakhumai Mandir

One of my favorite parts of Panaji was the colorfully decorated stairs all over the Fontainhas area. It was probably over 100F and I was sweating profusely. Not much was open, so I just kept walking along abandoned streets, turning randomly at corners, and truly just stumbled upon these hidden gems.

bottom of stairway decorated with books, rainbow stairs, peacock stairs

Goan Food

The Portuguese influence is definitely reflected in the food. Xacuti was traditionally a coconut curry dish usually prepared with seafood, but is now offered in a variety of meat (and meatless) options. This is often served with poi, a small bread with a pocket, similar to a pita. On Labour Day, only a few restaurants were open, but I found the air-conditioned all-vegetarian Cafe Tato and it felt like I’d walked into paradise. I ate there probably 3 or 4 times and everything was delicious. It’s an iconic establishment that serves up awesome food all day long, but is known for its breakfast. That morning, I ate sukhi bhaji, a potato dish with a side of deep-fried puffed puri and a perfectly sweetened cup of masala chai. On another trip, I had batata wada, basically fried potato fritters. I have some more Indian food to share, but I’m going to leave the rest for another post.

xacuti with poi, suki bhaji with puri and masala chai, batata wada

Cashew Festival

I ended up in Panaji a few times during my month in Goa, but I want to highlight one special day. At the time, I was doing a yoga teacher training about an hour away, but another student Gabi and I taxied in for the Goa Cashew Festival. Cashews grown in Goa are sold all over the city and many local and foreign tourists return home with bags of these nuts. The festival was held in a big open space with a glittering disco ball cashew welcoming us to the festivals. In case you don’t know, the nut of the cashew actually hangs out from the bottom of the fruit. The fruit itself is very astringent, and to be honest, I’m not a big fan.

All around the festival square were local restaurants selling cashew-based dishes and a few agricultural initiatives showing off different cashew varieties. There was a huge stage set up for a cashew-inspired fashion show and tons of little booths selling cashews with lots of different flavors. (My favorite was the Sriracha.) We got hit with an unexpected downpour and ended up hiding under a table to eat our cashew dinner. The rain finally stopped long enough for us to grab some cashew ice cream before we had to head back to the shala.