We had so much fun seeing a Kathakali dance performance! The Cochin Culture Center did a wonderful job introducing the dance, the story, and the skills of the dancers.
Monthly Archives: February 2015
Breakfast in Tamil Nadu
There are a few very common choices for breakfast in Tamil Nadu. Here’s what I ate one morning:
Sambar is a soup made with vegetables and lentils and spices. It is very popular here, and everyone makes it a little differently. For this breakfast, I ate it poured over idly, which are very soft, fluffy, porus cakes made with rice flour. They are slightly tangy and soak up the sambar like a sponge.
If you like, you can pour sambar over the vada, which is in the shape of a donut but is savory, with minced vegetables and spices mixed in. Vada has a very crisp outer shell.
The coconut chutney is as ubiquitous as the sambar here, but be warned that it is sometimes spicy!
The rava kesari is sweet, with cashews or rasins mixed in sometimes. I think it is a nice way to end the meal.
Traditional Singaporean Breakfast
It’s no surprise that there is some food that I want to bring home with me from every place we go. In Singapore, one of my favorite foods was Kaya Jam – a breakfast spread made of coconut milk or cream, eggs, and lots of sugar. It tastes almost like a crystalline version of a rich coconut custard! If you want to be traditional, eat it spread on toast with coffee. Surprisingly, the fat and sugar keep me fueled for a while (but it is probably good that I don’t know where to buy it, because the sugar isn’t that healthy!)
The version below was colored and flavored with pandan leaves, which is why it’s green. Mostly I just tasted coconut.
Dancing is Forbidden
According to the sign…
Spend a while with a crocodile
There is an amazing place to go and see lots and lots of Crocodiles in Tamil Nadu, India. We saw crocodilian species from all over the world. Below is a Gharial and a bask of Muggers, both species native to India.
No sleep in Singapore
This title is an exaggeration, Â but Singapore certainly has a lot going on every night after the sun sets. The photo is of the supertrees at the Gardens by the Bay, which have a music and light show every night.
Sweet Shredded Coconut Cakes
Yesterday morning, we started our walking tour of Chinatown by going to the Maxwell Food Center, a building filled with the stalls of food vendors. The place was still quiet – but we were here on a mission to try some sweets from Xing Xing Tapioca Cake.
My verdict is that this is worth a try. The tapioca cake was soft, and only a bit chewy, and sweet. It was perfect with the strong flavor of the fresh shredded coconut!
5 pieces for $2
Selamat Tinggal, Indonesia
After just under a month touring Indonesia, it was very hard for me to say goodbye (or more properly in Bahasa, “Selamat Tinggal”).
I confess that I was already predisposed to like Indonesia and was really excited to see the country for the first time, but my visit completely exceeded my high expectations. Not only do I want to go back, I definitely encourage everyone to go!
Indonesia has amazing natural beauty, and it would be easy to spend a whole trip watching the indigenous wildlife you can’t find anywhere else. The soft sand beaches leading to turquoise waters could convince almost anyone to spend a day as a beach bum. If the above isn’t enough, there are also bubbling volcanos and sulfur springs to climb, coral reefs to snorkel, and giant trees that according to local tradition contain the spirits of the ancestors.
For me, the natural beauty is only a piece of why I am happy I went to Indonesia. I have been fascinated by the farmland flowing over the steep volcanic ridges, been enchanted by the food showcasing flavors and ingredients completly new to me, and completely won over by the warmth and kindness of the people I’ve met.
Let’s just say that I’m in love…. and if you can make the trip to Indonesia, send me pictures 🙂
Steep Hillside Plantation!
While on our fun roadtrip around Java, we visited the area around Mount Lawu. Much of the steep hillsides were covered in tea plants.
I hadn’t known how bushy the tea plant looks before this trip. After my youth seeing the farms on the American midwestern plains, I definitely didn’t imagine farms on steep steep slopes. (The tea plants like the cooler temperatures from the higher elevations)
So I bring you a photo of a tea plantation in Java…
and if you were wondering, unprocessed mature tea leaves are slightly bitter and have almost no hint of the flavor of the final beverage – I had to try 🙂
the mint tea drinkers society 