Food Sense- I Have None!

Ice Cream

This post revolves around ice creams and tea. Long time back when I was a Ph.D student at Kanpur, I went out for dinner with a visiting faculty from Sweden, one of the few people whom I consider a thorough gentleman. He, I think, was fond of food. One has to marvel how he survived on the mess food for a year on campus. And he is one person who beat me at every single TT game I played with him. On top of that my feeling is, it is because of his generosity I could make 14-15 points with him, if he wished he could thrash me under 10 always. But then I am digressing.

So, that night at dinner, the food was over and we were ordering desserts. We decided to order ice creams, he was very sure he wanted to eat Kesar Pista (an Indian flavor) and I vaguely ordered vanilla. Some discussion about our choices occurred and I remarked, "I am really quite indifferent to food." A little later we were eating our ice creams and I told him, "Mine tastes good." And the gentleman that he was, he said "Because you are eating mine." I must have gobbled at least a quarter if it by then (the waiter served it wrong!) but we exchanged the ice creams and I had to finish the bland vanilla one. I told him, "See, I am that indifferent to food." This incident is almost a decade old, the time when I didn't need to watch the number of ice creams I ate in a week or even in a day.

I was reminded of this incident because last week I was drinking 'black coffee' and I was telling someone that it is not good, there is too much coffee in it. And I was told, "Well, it is not coffee, it is tea."

Hmm, a decade later I am as bad, still not able to differentiate between tea and coffee (but only black) but I am sure I would know a vanilla ice cream now, or better still I will not order a vanilla ice cream anymore!

Lazy Sunday Photo- Aloo Pakoda (Potato Snack)

Aloo Pakoda (Potato Based Indian Snack)

I am not at all fond of fried stuff and Aloo Pakoda is one fried stuff, but on certain days they do look tempting. And today somehow happens to be one of those days. But then I am to going to make it. Feeling just too lazy to take the trouble.

How Come I Never Posted a Picture of Sidu on My Blog?

Sidu/Sidhu- Himanchali Dish

I have talked about this heavenly Himachali dish Sidu before but it is a sacrilege that I never posted a picture of it on my blog. Actually I got comment from Dilliwala on India Mike and my blog about Shringi Vatika and that prompted me to search for a picture of Sidu on my blog. Then I realized that even though I have talked about it, I never actually posted a picture. And even though the dish looks like the Holi sweet Gujhia, but this one salty and tastes heavenly. Let me see if I can go back there once again!

Lazy Sunday Photo- The Chang Story

Chang- The Local Home Brewed Beer from Spiti

Once again, I decided to write about food or rather drinks, this time. I generally do not like alcoholic drinks and stay away from them. Given a choice I like soup over alcohol any day. And both tend to cost a ton in restaurants! I know it is strange comparison but that is how it is.

This changed a little when I discovered chang in Spiti. The locally brewed beer tastes nothing like a Foster brewed in Aurangabad or some such place. I mean I can't stand Foster or Kingfisher. They have such a nasty stink (or so I feel and I know I am alone in this) that after one sip I do not try another. Chang has no nasty sting about it and I liked both the barley and the rice versions.

Then on the trip to Oxford last year we had a dinner hosted by the university (no and this is not the Oxford I am referring to) at a Thai restaurant called Chiang Mai. There were four of us, my colleague from India and two of my colleagues from UK. So when we started ordering soon the question came, "What would you like to drink?" I gave the default option, "Nothing." Then I browsed the beer list anyway and discovered Chang on the list. Not thinking too much, I changed my mind and decided to order Chang. It of course turned out to be a popular beer from Thailand but minus the stink. It was not the Chang I wanted but it was quite OK. The end result was that I ended up trying a lot of beers in UK and now I have to say, once in a blue moon I may pick them up over soup.

More Food, from Spiti this Time

Bread from Spiti- The Taste still remains. And along with local butter it was heavenly

So were these greens.

I wonder why it took me so long to post these images.

And once again, it has been very hectic at work, but we would be heading out soon, though not to Corbett! It didn't work out.

South Indian Side Dishes

Lunch at Kamath's in Bangalore, Side Dishes on a Banana Leaf

Can't I have a lazy Sunday on a Tuesday? Looks like I can!

The Noodle Bar- Oxford, Gloucester Green

The Noodle Bar, Oxford, Gloucester Green

Noodle Bar turned out to be my favorite eating joint in Oxford. One, the place was not too heavy on the pocket and two, if given a choice, I invariably end up eating Chinese. A few of the dinners and lunches were hosted by the university, so it felt quite strange when one day my colleague asked me what should we have for dinner? I have said this before, I am quite indifferent to food. So, I tried hard to make him decide but he would not budge. We were walking around the city and as I am vegetarian my options are just a little bit limited. I think I looked at every restaurant in the two hour walk as a potential eating place. We had ruled out the Indian fare, as we thought we anyway get a lot of it back home. And some places where ruled out because a single dish would cost more than 20 pounds (don't you think it is a neat idea to display the price list outside the restaurants? I wonder why we often don't do it in India).

After walking round and round I remembered the Noodle Bar near the Gloucester Green bus station. So, we decided to head there. I think almost the entire crowd (the waiting staff and the customers) consisted of students, only we and a few others were the odd people out (read older :).

The Dish with Thick Noodles, Noodle Bar, Oxford

I scanned the menu for vegetarian fare and found a dish with mushrooms (my absolute favorites) and decided to order it. But then the young guy who came to take the order had a bouncer. What kind of noodles would we like Ho Fun, Mai Fun, or Udon? Well, the names definitely sounded Chinese to me. Had to ask him to explain what did they mean! He told us one was really thin noodles, the other really thick noodles and the last something in between. But don't ask me which was which. So we decided to try two types. The portions were huge and I really struggled to finish my stuff. My colleague this day also ordered a veg dish.

Then the next day, we had the same question. Where to go for dinner? And you guessed it, we went to the noodle bar again. And this time we realized that out of the three vegetarian dishes we had already ordered two the previous day! Still, it was fun to have dinner at the Noodle Bar in a typical student environment but where none of the students knew me :)

Off Topic- That Magic Drink, Tea

A Cup of Tea- Magical!

I am really surprised how come I did not wax eloquent about my favorite drink in the world. No, this was not the planned post for today. Smita is responsible for this one. She has waxed eloquent about tea and it is infectious. And I have to quote her-

Drinking tea is a form of meditation, did you know?

Just sitting there, with a steaming cup in the hand, the mind is so relaxed, so much at peace. The Buddhist monks still use it as a mode of meditation. Tea is regularly offered as means of learning, practicing, and experiencing awareness in simple, everyday activities.

I absolutely agree with her. There was a time when my daily average (read Ph.D. days) tea consumption was about 20 cups. No, this is true, I can count from one to twenty. Now it is down just to six cups of tea. But 20 or six, I do absolutely adore the drink.

Food at Prashar Lake

When we reached the forest guesthouse at the Prashar Lake after climbing for 4.5 hours (it took me 4.5 hours, you may take more or less) from Bagi (the starting point of the trek) food was the dominant thought. The trek route and the jeep route are different. At Bagi there are a few Dhabas but there is nothing on the way. So, if you like to munch in between 4.5 hours of climbing up and up and up, one has to carry stuff from below. The Dhaba gives good bun -omelette but little else. We carried chocolates and stuff from Mandi.

Once we reached the guesthouse and finally given a room food was the next logical question. The Chowkidaji (caretaker) who cooks the food does so on wood and buys ration only when someone is there, so nothing was immediately available.

Prashar Lake Near Mandi in Himachal Pradesh, India

The lake that is 1.5 (approx) kilometres away from the guesthouse and has two canteens or so we were told. We headed there next for a late lunch. One canteen is near the entrance and other close to the temple. At the canteen near the gate the only food available was Dal (curry) and rice with no vegetables or anything. But we were so hungry that the food tasted like one the best meals we ever had. The dinner was promised at the guesthouse and as cooking on wood is difficult again you get either Dal and rice or Chapatti and vegetables.

We got Maggi Finally

We asked for Maggi (noodles) at the canteen the next day and they were not available. It was a little disappointing. For us eating Maggi after a trek is almost a ritual. However, the day after there were mules and jeeps as the canteen near the gate was replenishing stocks and we finally got Maggi! Both the canteens make equally good tea but the one near the gate has the location advantage. We did not feel like walking down (and later climbing up) to the canteen behind the temple.

The Kitchen Where We Took Our Meals

We took all the major meals at the guesthouse. There was no breakfast available at the guesthouse on any of the days. The guesthouse room rent charges this season were Rupees 200 per day.

When we were finally settling our account on the last day, our room rent was Rs. 400 and when we were asked about the food charges to the gentleman who cooked food for us, his reply just stunned me. He said, (in Hindi and I am translating loosely) “Room rent is the government charge but give us whatever you wish for food, we are not going to quote any price!” Both my husband and I were floored by this completely unexpected reply. We gave what we thought was fair money and he seemed to be happy for it. But I mean in this day and age who says stuff like the above anymore?

PS. Now also cross posted at myHimachal, from where I saw the first picture of this place.

Kungis Soup: Himachali Cusine

How many of you recognise this plant? Those who frequent the hills, chances are they know this is the bicchu jari (rough translation: scorpion plant, I do not know its real name). It stings if you touch it. Now this time at Shringi, I realized that they make a soup out of it (a different variety from the one in the picture above) and no, the soup doesn't sting. It was called Kungis soup in the menu of the Shringi Vatika and it tastes quite decent. This time around I tried two more Himachali dishes, Sidu and sweet rajma (now what is rajma called in English?) I am no foodie (ten years of hostel food killed all my taste buds) but I enjoyed all the three dishes mentioned here. If you get a chance, do try it.

PS. The full post on this trip is just not happening, give me some more time.

PPS. I might go to the place again to get my cell phone back sometime in March :)))))))))
I will surely bring back a picture of Sidu and then try to describe it.

Another One From IITK Days

Mess Food Anyone? I ordered an omelet once and found something else 'free' altogether.

Have some Parathas

I get people directed from google search to my blog through the keyword 'picture of parathas.' So I decided to oblige those who want to see a picture of the Paratha! This is from a restaurant called 'Satyam' in Pathankot. We sat here while going to Bharmour. It is just next to the bus station and if you find yourself at Pathankot, do give this resstaurant a try. Nothing very extraordinary but basic and clean and light on your pocket.

That, and my mind is not functioning properly, there is a 'thought jam' there, hence this post.

The Food that Keeps Me Walking

trOn my visit to Bharmour, we logged 12 kilometers everyday on foot for three days, one after another! On the first and the third day we could easily have taken a jeep to and from Hadsar, but when H is around such things rarely happen. I protest initially but in the end, the photo opportunities are just too good to ignore while walking. The waterfall or ice block on the road becomes a blur from the jeep, whereas I can stop as often as I want when we are walking. So, I always agree to get tortured one more time, after putting in a token protest initially.

I think I can still walk 12 kilometers because once upon a time, I used to run a lot. I could run for 10 kilometers at a stretch but that is real ancient history now. The second thing that makes me walk is the thought of food, that I can eat without any guilt if I walk something like 12 kilometers.
Looks yummy? A steaming pot of Maggie noodles is just the kind of food I like to gobble at the end of a long day's walk. I like it anyway but I am teased mercilessly by my two nephews, H and even my dad joins in and calls me 'head junkie' of the home, all for savoring some Maggie :( Whenever I have a bad day, there is nothing like a hot plate of Maggie made by my elder nephew (B1 = Brat 1) to cheer me up. I think he cooks the best Maggie in the world. But after a long day's walk I am forgiven for eating it. H feels I have earned it. That, or he knows one wrong word and I would refuse to budge even an inch on the next day, forget 12 kilometers.

Dhaba Tea Anyone?

Maggie is something that I like a lot but I like tea even more. There was a time and I am not joking, I must have been gulping at least 20 cups a day, now I am down to 4 or 5. I do not like the nes-tea (ever occured to you it ryhmes with nasty?) that they serve in my office. I like the hot cup I get at my home and it is B2 (Brat 2 = Younger Nephew) who makes it so well. But nothing can beat the dabha tea. As soon as I see one, I refuse to move ahead without having a cup and H again behaves like an angel (he is not so fond of tea) cause he knows he has to make me walk again the next day, so better to keep me in good humor.


The next best thing in this world is jalebi but I did not get a very good picture of it here, for the uninitiated it is the left most iteam in the picture above. There was a time when I could gulp one packet of cake daily and remain feather weight because I would spend 2 to 3 hours on a badminton court or a basketball court. Gone are those days now. All I get to play is some TT, and though I enjoy it thoroughly, but I cannot gulp sweets like I used to. Still, I seem to gain weight everyday! After walking 12 kilometers I can afford to have a few sweets without feeling guilty.

This is Mr. Sharma of Sharma Dabha near the bus stand, Bharmour. He makes the most wonderful parathas (stuffed Indian bread) and tea in Bharmour. He puts a few clove flakes in the tea and it tastes heavenly. We got chatting with him and he told us that he worked for IB (Intelligence Bureau) for 21 years before taking voluntary retirement and coming back to his village. If you ever head to Bharmour do not miss his tea or parathas.