Nov 16, 2016The Ajanta Caves, Part 1That feeling that you get when you are standing on the second floor of an ornate monastery carved out of a cave, looking between the columns of the porch at a statue of a woman, half completed and a quarter eroded emerging out of the cliff face and then a leaf, bright, piercing yellow against the hazy background of green trees and blue sky and smog, falls upwards and out of sight. Buoyed by the thermals, the hot-air convection currents that so frequently occur near cliffs above water, your rational mind says. Like in Artemis Fowl, your rational mind says. But that is silly, and that is not here. Here it is just a yellow leaf falling upwards past the disbelieving face of the half-hewn woman, 1500 years old.
Nov 6, 2016Ginger and Molasses CakeThis is the perfect compliment to the preceding apricot and almond cake. While that was light, fruity and fun, this cake is dark and brooding, with the dense and gooey molasses mixing with the rich and piercing flavor of ginger to give it just the right spin. We added some homemade whipped cream to the top in a generous dollop that accentuated its own contrast with the other.
Nov 6, 2016Almond and Apricot CakeA light, fluffy and moist cake whose fusion of almond and apricot flavors approaches the sublime. Or anyways at least something very good.
Nov 5, 2016Vegetable PakoraPakora is rather like the Indian part of the worldwide phenomena of deep fried things. It is delicious and I'll just go ahead and claim healthy. Probably. Right? This recipe is just the batter, and really most things can probably be fried in it. We just did vegetables, though.
Nov 5, 2016NaanI have not eaten as much naan as I was expecting. In fact, I prefer chapatti (also known as roti) these days: a lighter disk of bread like a tortilla that is a nicer utensil than the heavy and filling naan. That said, you can't really go wrong with naan. We made it in a tandoor oven, but I guess a conventional oven could also do. It would be less exciting though.
Nov 5, 2016Aloo Ka ParathaThis is an analogue of potato pancakes, an excellent and healthy breakfast food. The preparation is split into two phases: making the dough and the filling, and putting it all together.
Nov 5, 2016Tandoori ChickenThe tandoor is a cylindrical clay, metal or cement oven that gets quite hot and scary but is used for a wide variety of delicious meals. It is not a common household appliance, but rather something that restaurants and hotels would have; we are lucky enough at the SIT program center to have our own. Tandoori Chicken is a specific style of chicken cooked in the tandoor.
Oct 31, 2016Rajasthan: Clay in the DesertI just spent a week in a small town in Rajasthan with three other students (Ally, Ilan, and Margaux) and our Hindi professor, Prahladji. Ally, Ilan, and Margaux are just super kind and passionate and exuberant people and were a lot of fun to be around, and Prahladji is a bit of a trickster and makes a lot of silly jokes and sticks out his tongue and I am pretty sure he enjoyed our company as much as we enjoyed his. Every day we rode a taxi from Nathdwara, the town we were staying in, into the smaller village of Molela to work with Mukeshji on making pottery. Mukesh didn't have the best English, but was extremely patient and very warm and a brilliant potter. He made everything seem so easy! And then we'd mess up and everything would be awful and he'd come over and say “No problem, no problem” and touch our pottery and it would instantly be better than it was before we spilled water everywhere or tore an arm of Ganesha.
Oct 29, 2016Two Weeks of Travel PicsOkay, so here are the pictures I took from my major excursion. Remember both the fact that I'm not that big of a fan of photography when I could instead be standing dazed and awestruck with a little bit of drool coming out my mouth as I gaze wordlessly on the splendors of yore and also the fact that I was sick for a time and didn't want to take so many photos of either myself sweating and uncomfortable or of the inside of the room where I was sitting and watching bad movies on TV while a whole other country was outside my door. Also: I don't like taking selfies.