Hindustan!

Before this trip, I didn’t know that the Hindi name for India is Hindustan. So fitting, seeing as how the country is bordered by Pakistan, Afghanistan, and other –stan countries. I’ve always wondered why we don’t just call all countries by their native names? Why do we it Japan and not Nippon? I think it would make sense if everyone just learned the correct names.

But I digress.

Since Amritsar is only about 28km from the Pakistan border, Dana and I headed to the Wagha border one evening to witness the special border-closing ceremony between India and Pakistan.

Waiting in line to access the border area:

From K - India I

From K - India I

The stands starting to fill up:

From K - India I

The crowd on the Indian side of the border put the Pakistan side to shame.

From K - India I

From K - India I

Pakistan:

From K - India I

Rainbow Sikhs!

From K - India I

Indian women breaking it down with some Bhangra dancing:

From K - India I

Basically, soldiers from each country don old-fashioned uniforms with ridiculous hats and march around in a choreographed spectacle.

From K - India I

At the end of the “show”, a Pakistani and Indian soldier shake hands and the border is closed for the evening. They repeat this spectacle each night and it’s a huge draw for (mostly domestic) tourists.

From K - India I

From K - India I

It was definitely a cool sight – as foreigners we got great seats and I came closer to the Pakistani border than I’ll probably ever be.

From K - India I

Grow Your Own Sprouts

I love sprouts in salads, and I recently came across my old sprout grower, hidden in a kitchen cupboard.

Growing your own sprouts is incredibly easy, and you don't even need a special sprouter. In a pinch, you can grow sprouts in any glass jar.

I looked around and found some adzuki bean seeds, alfalfa, and radish.

Since my sprouter has three trays, I thought I would try to grow one tray of each. I think they take different amounts of time to germinate, but I'll just wait and see.

Apparently raw sprouts are one of the foods most likely to become tainted by bacteria that leads to food poisoning. On the package of adzuki bean sprouts, it recommended that you soak the seeds for 5 minutes in 135 degree water, in order to kill any bacteria.




Don't keep the seeds in the water for longer than 5 minutes, or else they might not germinate. I took this precaution for the adzuki bean seeds, but the alfalfa and radish seeds seemed too small and I didn't want to deal with painstakingly draining the seeds after soaking them. Honestly, I'm really not that worried about getting food poisoning from my own sprouts.

Alfalfa seeds:




Adzuki bean seeds:




Radish seeds:



After pouring water into the top level, it drips through each of the three trays, moistening the seeds.




We'll check on these little guys in a couple days!

The Golden Temple

After our Golden Triangle tour wrapped up, we took the train from Delhi to Amritsar, in the north of India near the Pakistani border.

Some say a visit to India is incomplete without a train ride. We were fortunate enough to experience the Indian railway system at its most authentic, as all the cars with air-con were sold out and we managed to squeeze on the general train car. It was an 8-hour journey, making many stops, and supplying us with fascinating people-watching opportunities.

During the train ride, a constant parade of beggars, children, amputees, musicians, chai-wallahs, people selling chips and soda, transvestites, gypsies, and 4-year old acrobats walked down the aisles of our train car. There were men shining shoes and men playing drums. At one point a man walked by, balancing a large pot on his head that contained hot oil and was frying up fresh pakoras and samosas. I was quite impressed by his balance. The last part of our train ride was especially exciting, because there was some sort of altercation between the men in the seats behind us that nearly came to blows.

After 8 hours of constant stimulation, we arrived in Amritsar, the holiest city of the Sikh religion.

Amritsar is home to the Golden Temple, a beautiful temple located at the heart of the old town. I really enjoyed visting the Golden Temple because it seemed very unique and welcoming. The design of the temple is symbolic: it has four entrances, meaning that people from any religion are welcome in the temple. There is also a kitchen providing free meals for all visitors to the temple. After walking around the temple, Dana and I visited the free kitchen and ate some lentils and flatbread on metal tins on the floor, surrounded by Sikh pilgrims.

Afterward, we had a tour of the Temple and we learned a bit about the history of Sikhism and Amritsar.

Now this is a golden temple.

THE Golden Temple.

From K - India I

Sikh pilgrims circumambulating the temple.

From K - India I

As the sun set, the temple grew more and more golden.

From K - India I

From K - India I

From K - India I

From K - India I

From K - India I

From K - India I

Butterscotch Cinnamon Coconut Pancakes

This morning I decided to break in the new food processor. After 3 months of vagabonding, and eating at restaurants 3x per day, I am so excited to be back in the kitchen, able to cook up strange concoctions.

 

My project this morning: High-protein, gluten-free, low-carb, sugar-free pancakes.

Adapted from this recipe at the edible perspective

Butterscotch Cinnamon Coconut Pancakes

Ingredients:

1 egg plus 2 egg whites
6 T unsweetened almond milk
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t Saigon cinnamon
1/4 t sea salt
1/4 t stevia (optional)
1/4 butterscotch extract (can substitute vanilla)
2 T coconut flour
2 T ground flaxseed

Blend eggs for 30 seconds in food processor. Add other ingredients and mix for additional 30 seconds.

 

 

My toppings? Greek yogurt with a tiny bit of homemade strawberry jam. And some peanut butter.

 

 

Sprinkled with some additional Saigon cinnamon, local bee pollen, and topped with frozen raspberries.

 

 

Feels good to be back in the kitchen.

 

Back on Home Turf

After one last crazy overnight bus ride, 16 hours waiting in the Delhi airport, 2 days recovering in Bangkok, and the flight back to LA, Dana and I returned home from our trip intact. Delirious, but intact.

So. In the madness, there was not time to blog about my last adventures in India, namely Amritsar/the Golden Temple, visiting the Pakistan border, and spending 10 wonderful days doing yoga in Dharamsala.

I'm going to put up some pictures of these places soon, because although they happened at the end of our trip, they were some of my favorite destinations of the entire trip. Timely or no, those photos will be going up!

From K - India I

From K - India I

Just a taste of pictures to come.

Also, since returning home, I've been thinking about continuing to blog. Obviously the focus of the blog will change, since I'm no longer on an awesome adventure in Asia. Instead, I'll probably blog about the crazy projects I pursue in the kitchen. I've always liked to read cooking blogs, so I may start writing about my own concoctions. We'll see how often I'll have time to blog, since I'll be starting my MBA program in a week!

Being home is nice, although I have been avoiding spending too much time looking through closet. After wearing the same clothes and living out of a backpack for 3 months, it is overwhelming and terrifying to think about the sheer number of material possessions I own.

My wardrobe for 3 months:

From K - Bangkok I

Teardrop on the Face of Eternity

Despite the difficulties we’ve encountered traveling in India and the fact that walking around the great Subcontinent can be less than comfortable and pleasant at times, the great Taj Mahal more than compensates for any inconvieninces.

I would agree with descriptions I’ve heard as the Taj Mahal being “the most perfect and beautiful building in the world”.

After paying for our entrance tickets, we walked into the Taj Mahal complex and slowly began walking toward the Taj. First we walked through the Great Gate.

From K - India I

From K - India I

The first glimpse of the building (from the front, we had already glimpsed the back of the building the night before) legitimately gave me goosebumps. Kind of strange, but goosebumps can occur involuntarily when one experiences something profound or moving. It has also happened to me when I hear an excellent song or I hear about a really good idea.

From K - India I

But back to the Taj Mahal.

From K - India I

From K - India I

The building was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal.

From K - India I

From K - India I

We spent almost 3 hours wandering around the Taj, taking pictures, and soaking in the architectural perfection. When it was time to go and meet our driver, Sheru, the four of us stood at the entrance, transfixed by the Taj and unable to take our eyes off it. Leaving was quite a process because every few steps we took toward the exit, we had to turn around for one last glimpse.

From K - India I

From K - India I

Photos really don’t do the building justice. It is immense and awe-inspiring.

One last peek.

From K - India I

Monsoons in Agra

When we arrived in Agra, it became clear that monsoon season was in full swing. We walked around the old city, in search of a good place to admire the Taj Mahal from afar. Entrance to the Taj is quite expensive, about $20, so we decided we wanted to save our entrance for the next morning, when we could enjoy the sunrise and hopefully avoid the torrential rain.


Some young Indian boys playing in the rain. One of them found a mouse in the gutter and brought it over to show us.

From K - India I

From K - India I

From K - India I

After a while, the rain abated and we walked to the river bordering the Taj Mahal. Here we had our first glimpse of the famous building.

From K - India I

From K - India I

From K - India I

From K - India I

We could only see the back of the building, but it was illuminated beautifully by the colorful sunset. We stayed by the river with our British friends Farah and Steve and talked with some local Indian students.
The group on the far right is a bunch of Indian students and policeman talking to Dana.

From K - India I

Indian postgraduate studies are conducted in English. However, most Indians learn a very formal version of English that sounds pretty humorous to us Americans. Shopkeepers call us “madam” and they call the male travelers “good sir”.
When talking with the Indian university students, one used the word “congruent” to say that two things were the same. He then described the annoying monkeys that steal tourists’ sunglasses as “dreadful”. Dana and I have spent the past couple weeks describing everything bad as “dreadful”. Definitely an underused word in the English language.