cabbage thoran

so i am still in cochin, still taking cooking classes every day and being utterly spoiled from all the delicious home-cooked food. i've got almost 50 recipes, and my teacher leena has been so kind and sweet to me, inviting me to dinner, worrying over me when i don't feel well, sending me home with packages of food... i've been so lucky to have met her and her family.
so here's one of my favorite simple recipes, it's for cabbage thoran, a very traditional south indian keralan dish. it's usually served as an accompaniment to either rice or chapati, and some kind of pulse or meat/fish curry.

cabbage thoran for 4-6

thinly slice about 1/3-1/2 a head of green cabbage--you should cut it like you're making coleslaw
finely julienne 1 carrot--coleslaw style
halve 2-4 green chilis
thinly slice 1 large red onion
sliver 6-8 cloves of garlic

put all the ingredients in a bowl
add to the veg mix
10-12 curry leaves roughly torn in half
1/2 teaspoon cumin seed
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 large handful of unsweetened dessicated coconut, preferably fresh, but realistically you can find unsweetened coconut at the healthfood store, if this is the case prior to adding it to the veg mix you should soak it in 1/4 cup or so of water for about 10 minutes to make it more tender, then strain

mix the spices into the vegetables with your hands, (they will be stained yellow from the turmeric) and allow to dry marinate for about 10-15 minutes

heat 2 tablespoons of coconut oil
when it is hot add 1/2 tablespoon of black mustard seeds
allow the seeds to pop, then add the cabbage mixture
cook for 10 minutes or so until everything is tender
season to taste with salt

Drowning in Human Unity

In the middle of a monsoon things are very 'Quiet'

Since all of Auroville has lost electricity for the past two days (this computer lab is solar powered) we've tried to occupy ourselves with new things. This morning we headed down to the Quiet Healing Center where we took a deep relaxation meditation class this morning. In the few moments when the rains were not pounding down we managed to get a few pictures of the beach that Quiet sits on:


We excitedly anticipate the return of power to Auroville so that services are up and running again here and we can get around by other means than candlelight.

For those of you who didn't know, Southern India and Sri Lanka are being pummeled by a serious cyclone right now that's just getting worse. The forecast is:

The weather news flash is Tropical Cyclone Six, swirling around the
South of India with winds up to 74 kph, plenty of driving rain, roads
more like lakes and numerous uprooted trees. Plus no power as many
trees fell on low and high tension lines over wide spread areas from
Auroville's centre to the Greenbelt to Quilapalayam and points
in-between, resulting in broken poles, discs and insulators. The
extent of the damage will take more than 2 days to get cleared so
that power resumes.

Please pray for our wet souls.

Hey Baby, Guest Birds Are Here

Katie and I have found ourselves in Auroville.

I don't want to be too quick to judge, but so far....um....it's nice. (eye roll) I really started to get attached to Fort Cochin, but Katie and I are determined to get the most out of this trip so we agreed on a change of scenery. So we headed for the hills to Kumily. Which is suppose to be a really special place, the home of tea and spice plantations. Which really just ended up being a wet, cold and miserable destination. Both Katie and I got altitude sickness and because we were two of the only Westerns in the town, we were rigorously targeted and harassed by touts.

We didn't visit a single tourist destination. No boat rides, no Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary, no day or evening treks. We just stayed there two nights, got spices (30 pounds I think) and got the heck out of there. Everyone at home will get a nice organic spice package of cinnamon, turmeric, coco, curry, pepper, coriander, chilly powder, etc. Katie and I are still working out the details on sending it home. (DHL) If anyone has any good ideas of how to ship things cheap internationally please let us know. Getting through customs will be comical.

So then we took a car to Madurai and stayed there for about 10 or so hours until we caught a train (6 hours) to Villapuram and then an hour and half car ride to Pondicherry. We stayed in this amazing French style guest house that couldn't have been quainter.

So now that we're caught up, we'll share with you a little about this far out place that we're going to be spending the next week in. Auroville.

Auroville is a universal township in the making for a population of up to 50,000 people from around the world. They come from some 35 nations, from all age groups (from infancy to over eighty, averaging around 30), from all social classes, backgrounds and cultures, representing humanity as a whole. The population of the township is constantly growing, but currently stands
at around 1,700 people, of whom approx one-third are Indian.

On the surface, Auroville can appear rather incomprehensible. It is an intense and challenging experiment, attempting the seemingly impossible, and one needs to be ready to actively participate in such an adventure. The meaning of Auroville only becomes clearer in the context of the vision of its founders, which has stimulated people from all over the world to join in this 'laboratory of evolution'.

To be a True Aurovilian

BACK to the Kristen chronicles:

Katie and I called the day we got to Pondicherry to set up a tour, trying to be formal and respectful of this charming and wonderful place. So we called the visitors center and no one answering the phone spoke English. Ok so we took a rickshaw to Auroville. Still no one really speaks English and if they do they don't seem particularly interested in speaking it. So I wait with our mountain of backpacks and new travelling companion 'The Spice Bag' and Katie investigates the scene and works on finding us accommodations. Yippy she finally finds us a cheap place for two nights. Well yeah it's cheap, it's a hut! Now we are in the back woods, sleeping in a hut with mud walls with the lizards, mice and a trillion different bugs. 100 feet from an open public squat toilet structure. Ok so we made it through the first night.

We go to guest services to find out how to navigate around this dark muddy maze and the person there is ZERO help. The only English he knows is "leave your shoes outside". Well thank you Mr. Guest Services Man for being a fountain of useful information. Now Katie and I know all about Auroville and how to navigate this lovely experimental community in the middle of nowhere land during monsoon season. So we pull out the map Katie was insightful enough to purchase yesterday. As a wonderful Indian woman said to me today "Nothing is free in Auroville." I disagree being wet it free, bug bites are free and getting lost in this muddy maze is free.

So resourceful Katie and I created a financial account (auroville works on a cash card system) you put money in an account and just submit your number everywhere to pay for food and other goods. We then got our hands on a moped. Auroville is very spread out.

The we called and visited a number of guesthouses and finally found livable conditions at a community called creativity. Creativity is a collective community of about forty people, in the South-West of the Residential Zone. The Aurovilians who conceived of Creativity were residents in need of houses, as well as people who wanted to study how the Auroville housing shortage could be met by building modest apartments, at low cost and environment friendly. Some of the aspects they studied, before starting, were: cost-effective building/maintenance, low environmental impact, functionality of design for a commune, and the suitability for residents of varying ages and nationalities.

Just our luck. Luck, Luck, Luck, Luck

We called them yesterday and they didn't have any openings then we go yesterday at the most perfect moment and speak with Lloyd (the steward) who mentioned that if we came a moment sooner he couldn't have helped us because his head was in his number and the person who was suppose to stay at least another week decided to move on and travel to Goa. So we move in
today.

So.... The thing about this place so far is that is, Yes Experimental! It looks very good on paper but in reality it's pretty rustic and people seem very distant. Katie and I are not sure what brings everyone here, because it seems very individualistic. Do people live here because they want unity or is it because everyone just wants to live off the grid. I don't want to say too much because I have only been here for a limited period of time. But, I will say this Auroville really needs a dose of Colleen Anne Reed. A ball of developmental, creative, pleasure seeking, community mobilizing, spiritual, fun, positive, family supportive energy. Mom i know you are
living in the a lower gear these days but, Auroville needs you.

Last night we headed to dinner at Solar Kitchen for some dinner. The Solar Kitchen building has been designed as a major collective kitchen for the Auroville community and was finalized in December 1997. Since then it has served lunches in its Dining Hall and in the same time sent lunches to different outlets like schools or individuals. While we were there we experienced the full breath of the monsoon season, it feels like we were in the middle of a hurricane.

We took advantage of the break in the torrential rain to drive home. We quickly found out that there were trees down everywhere though, blocking our way back home.

So we lifted the bike. Over the tree.

We finally made it home last night to our hut. And we were never so relieved to be sleeping in it, with all the bugs and mice, etc. The guest house experienced some of its own devastation. Check out the bathroom:

This morning as we tried to check out, one of the residents called out to the host "Hey Baby, Guest birds are here". Guest birds?! We love these people.

*Some text has been taken directly from the Aurovilled website*

cooking in cochin

so i decided to stay in cochin while kristen and katie head for the hills. i have been fortunate enough to land an amazing teacher named leena--she has been teaching me traditional kerela-style indian food. it's very different from the indian food we're used to in the states, in fact it's nothing like it. most indian restaurants in the u.s. serve northern indian mulgai or punjab food. maybe it's because quite a few punjab people were displaced during and after of partition, and they became part of the indian diaspora and opened restaurants. whatever the reasons, when we think of indian food we think of palak paneer, (spinach and cheese), dal makhani, (rich lentil-bean curry), tandoori chicken, and nan, (buttery, garlicky flat breads cooked in the tandoor oven). i love northern indian cuisine, it is delicious, but it is also very rich, by contrast, kerela food is a little lighter, with coconut oil replacing the ghee, (clarified butter), and shredded coconut or coconut milk replacing the milk and cheese, and fermented rice pancakes; idlis, utthapam, and dosas replacing the nan bread.
at only $10 per class i really couldn't afford to leave without learning everything i could.
i have also made a friend rachel, who referred me to her dentist here, so we've been spending time getting dental work done, writing in cafes, and cooking dinners with her friend and ex-sister-in-law anuja. it's great practice for me. cochin has been really warm and welcoming. i am afraid i never want to leave.

Kumily gets a little spicy

We arrived in Kumily yesterday afternoon after taking a beautiful scenic drive from Fort Cochin, following the windy roads up into the clouds.

We found it much less charming here, since it has been raining constantly and has been chilly with lots of overly idle touts, since it's the low tourist season here. We'll have to pass on the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary for now since Kristen and I have both been suffering with a bit of altitude sickness. We'll be taking a car tomorrow morning to Madurai to get back into lower lands.
During our brief stay here we landed upon the 'Lord's Spices', a spice shop where we bought a bounty of different spices and tea to bring back to the states.

Kristen drove a pretty hard bargain with them. They commented just like every other Indian guys who's had the pleasure of doing with business with us, that she can be a bit "spicy".

Sampling of some of the stuff we got: vanilla bean, cinnamon, tumeric, chili powder, pepper, masala mix, tea, coffee, cardamom, saffron, etc.

No backup generator

Katie and I are heading for the hills tomorrow. We plan to arrive in Kumily late afternoon. Genevieve will be staying in Fort Kochin for a little while longer. A place I will hold dear to my heart forever. Katie and I have gotten to experience a part of Fort Cochin that surely most travlers have not- the Indian medical system and more specifically Gautham Hospital, one of the most touching and warm hospitals in the world. We've had an amazing respite in this charming little Portuguese and Indian fishing village that is acutally on an island. We were surprised to find a burgeoning art community, outstanding cuisine and a place where we could even do a full degustation and Kerala cooking classes, and a group of indivuals, expats and Indians alike who welcomed us into their community.

Fresh shark, caught in the Chinese style fishing nets that Fort Cohin is famous for, is on the menu tonight. It goes like this: pick out a net and subsequent fish stand, pick out the baracuda/shark/pufferfish/fish you've never seen before/heard of and buy it and bring to an assortment of places that will cook it for you on the waterfront. We'll let you know how it goes...

I may never come home. My Gyno has invited Katie and I to stay at her home and promisies to find us "good" indian husbands.

a long day in hampi

we hired this guy kali to take us out on a sunrise hike to see the famous temples of hampi. well we ended up having such a great time that we signed on for a sunset tour as well. the day evolved into a long walk with a new friend who happened to be a really great story teller. we are so glad to have met kali, and to have had the opportunity to see hampi from a better vantage point than our initial introduction offered us. these photos are in chronological order, starting with the sunrise hike and our awesome experience feeding monkeys(!)







the view from the top of the hill


a temple at the top of a hill


this is the kali temple, it's thousands of years old

where our guide kali got his name

at the snake temple, you're supposed to touch the feet

down in the old royal courts of hampi



there's kali at the royal court


detailing on a column

pilgrims on the banks of the river come to wash away their karma

we took one of those round boats out onto the river

this is our photogenic boatman


one of the thousands of temples carved into the boulders


some of the gorgeous kids of harmony house, the children's program that kali co-founded, (see later katie post)



they like to salute

this photo was taken from the bottom of a royal bathtub--it was like the size of a swimming pool, jealous? yup.

that's kali chilling in an alcove meant for courtisans to toss flowers down into the water

and this was some kind of swimming pool i think...

this is where the king would sit to address the masses

kristen and katie investicate some carvings









those crazy hampi boulders

this is a statue of one of the incarnations of shiva--a half man half lion who killed a demon in a doorway on his knee at dusk--kali told us the story, but i can't remember how it all went.

for scale...

a sweet family we met at the big ganesh statue.

some local thugs

cow break

bye kali! we'll miss you!