What I'm missing most of all...

I may be approaching the proverbial 'wall' that expats talk about when living abroad- the time when you are kind of sick of where you are and start pining for things of home or, at least, familiarity. It's not that you want to hop on the next plane outta Dodge permanently but need a good dose of home. A few things have certainly not made things easier on me lately...

With a baby on the way, I'm certainly feeling the effects of family and friends being so far away. Bradd and I cannot just jump in the car to meet close friends for dinner, drive to Mom's house for an afternoon, meet the parents for breakfast, visit our friends new babies (we've already missed 3 in April!) or do any family holiday gatherings. The time difference even limits our ability to talk on the phone easily. I know it will just get harder still without the normal parade of people that would come to visit us once home from the hospital with our new little guy. I sort of feel bad that the baby won't get that kind of attention and that everyone at home will have to suffice with photos, short videos, and this blog.

We may have gone from Winter straight to 11o degree Summer, but Spring is progressing everywhere else and my email has been bombarded with seasonal newsletters from my CSA (farm delivery), Saveur Magazine and others tempting me with unattainable delights. Farm deliveries we won't get, recipes with ingredients we'll never find, and flowers I can only reminisce of their lovely smells. Alas. My "seasonal disorder" and general food sadness was further increased by my finally putting together a list of food resources and restaurants for my cousin, Katti, who is currently living in house in Pittsburgh. After compiling the list in an email, I had to scroll back up to the top to add something and realized I had listed about 20 places! The first step is admitting I have a problem.

Fresh asparagus, peas, strawberries (ok, we can get these but they're always covered in ants and not that great), baby salad greens, parsley, sage, rosemary and yes, thyme. Oh- and avocados.

Goat cheese, cheddar, blue-veined cheeses, Swiss, sage derby, Manchego....oh god -ALL CHEESE! That is a whole other issue entirely...they only make one type of cheese in India: paneer. Honestly. One kind. Let's take a look at the equation below:

Plethora of goats, cows, and water buffalo + ancient culture = multiple types of cheese

Right? WRONG.

Our favorite eateries; Coca's (everything brunch!), Mad Mex (awesome salsa & beer), Kaya , Tram's (I have written poems of their fresh rolls and #17), D's 6 Pack & Dogs, La Filipiana, Graziano's Pizza (thin, crispy, gooey, greasy, and yummy), Pamela's P & G Diner, Willow (crabcakes), Kasab's (perfect falafals), Dozen, etc.

French bread, croissants, brioche, quiche (all from Jean Marc), Italian bread from Enrico's, biscuits, scones, banana bread, bagels, English muffins, old-fashioned cake donuts from that place in the West End (thanks for getting us hooked, Diane!), homemade tortillas, cupcakes from Vanilla, pastries, really anything baked in an oven and not skimping on eggs or butter in the recipe.

Plus, the places we would buy all these wonderful items and the people that owned or worked there, especially Enrico's, the organic farmers market, Stamoli's, Penn Mac, Presto George Coffee (the Strip in general), Whole Foods, and Reyna's. I'm sure there are plenty I have forgotten.

People, the morale of the story is, do not take these things for granted! Bradd said it the other day, that Pittsburgh may not be considered a foodie kind of city but we have a great variety of things available to us for a relatively small city. When the things we know and love are out of reach you realize how lucky you, your taste buds, and belly were.

Sinagpore '09

Singapore!

I know it's a bit belated but...

What a huge difference from Ahmedabad. We really couldn't have picked a more opposite place to visit (especially for still being in Asia). Even as we stepped into the airport, we noticed such a huge change...Gloria Jean's Coffee in the entrance, beautiful plants and landscaping, clean, etc. Now, granted Ahmedabad is not a 1st class city and therefore has no reason to aspire to greatness in their own airport but even with that - it has a lot to be desired.

Our hotel, the Quincy, arranged airport pickup for us as part of our stay, although we still didn't expect a brand new Mercedes S Class (that was our first taste of how amazing our hotel was). We noticed on the drive to our hotel that the city took very great care of landscaping everything....the median, bridges, and the tops of buildings even all had plantings with trees, hanging flowers and so much greenery. Constant heat and humidity keep things beautiful all year there. Everything was so clean, well-kept, a great metro and...did I mention green?

The hotel itself was only opened 2 months before our stay. It's very modern, has a sweet 12th floor infinity pool with a see through bottom, and the staff was amazing. We were in love. Little did we know that the room rate (which we splurged a bit on) was all inclusive; 3 meals a day, evening cocktails, all day access to the coolest coffee/espresso/etc machine ever and they even encouraged us to use everything in our mini-fridge and the snacks provided. It included beer! Bradd was very happy. We were kind of bummed, though, because our main focus while in Singapore was to tackle a list of food items, hawker centers, and restaurants. (Singapore is well known as a food capital with a blend of Chinese, Malaysian and Indian influences).


the Quincy Hotel / The pool overlooking the city


Our hotel was situated in the Orchard Rd. district which is a uber-rich area. We took a stroll to Orchard Rd. and our first views were of Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Prada, Cartier, Ferragamo, etc. We knew it was a huge shopping area but had no idea at what level. But the great thing was, there was still plenty of less lofty options...even peppered with a few risque' skin clubs along with your expected McDonald's. Malls abound, one after another with amazing food courts that I really can't do justice explaining but...bright, clean, fresh, exotic treats of all kinds, and even the mundane foods are done with stylish efficiency. During our research before leaving, we found a location of this awesome dumpling restaurant that we'd had in Taiwan and we psyched to eat there again, Din Tai Fung. It was also in one of those amazing food courts but as a stand alone restaurant. Everything was just as good as we remembered and they even had Taiwan Beer!


Orchard Rd. / Din Tai Fung (I think Bradd could do a Taiwan Beer commercial)


Something that did stand out was the amount of very pregnant ex-pats strolling about so most likly not traveling but living in Singapore. Turns out that because the city is so cosmopolitan, clean, plethora of great food, one of the financial centers of the world, world-class medical care and top notch schools, it is a veritable mecca for ex-pats. There are a huge number living and working in Singapore. -And they have to making pretty good money to live comfortably there because the cost of living is very high.

The only thing that was pretty cheap were the hawker center/ food centers all around the city. They're well known for having cheap, fast, and great food. It's basically like a stand-alone food court with numbered stalls selling all the favorites...again, the major influences so Chinese, Malay and Indian. We had to check out one of the official dishes of Singpore, chicken & rice, plus some random deep fried wonders and exotic juices to wash it down. All that for about $10 US. Since the hawker center, famous Maxwell Rd Food Center, was in China Town we wandered the busy streets a while with all the stalls selling trinkets and crazy food.


Chinatown / Maxwell Rd Food Center

Bright and early, we headed North by subway to the end of the line to Changi Village to take a ferry to the island of Palau Ubin. It sits in the Straights, a channel/river that separates the island of Singapore from Malaysia proper. The ferry's were called Bum Boats with their faded paint and diesel exhaust pumping out black smoke (thank god I don't get motion sickness!). We wanted a taste of rural, undeveloped Singapore and we got it. The island itself is preserve, of sorts, that has a very small population and is quite wild. There are trails for hiking, or roads to bike or walk - we opted to walk the roads. If you're lucky, you can see wild cocks, horn billed birds, monitor lizards, and other types of exotic birds. We noticed right away the large amount of blood-thirsty mosquitoes, a mangy dog, and some huge spiders that flipped over and squirted Bradd as soon as he got close to photograph. It was beautiful though, with bright flowers and the sounds of so many birds (we did hear the wild cocks but didn't see one). We were also rewarded with a close sighting of a large monitor lizard who was just slinking off the road as we approached. Pretty cool! After a lovely trek (and lots of reapplications of bug repellent), we headed back to town for for Straights cooking, and the famous chili crab dish. We ended up getting the black pepper crab instead but man, was it delicious! With some greens and fried rice on the side and a dock-side view of the water, we were set. As a bonus, we also had front row seats for a storm blowing in over the water and a healthy wind that made us forget how bad we had been sweating minutes before. By the time we finished eating and headed back to the boats, it had blown over and the waters calmed. Perfect!


Bumboats / Little town of Palau Ubin

We checked into our new hotel in China Town later that day, already missing the Quincy Hotel (and kind of regretting the move) but the Scarlet was still an interesting, swanky boutique hotel. Kind of vampire chic meets French-Louis the 14th opulence. The room was small and all amenities were additional BUT they has a great roof top lounge where Bradd was finally able to try the Singapore Sling cocktail, created by the Raffles Hotel in Singapore. First in line of business, a reflexology foot message. Our feet and legs were killing us from all the hills in the city and our hike the day before so China Town was the place for that. Last morning we headed back to the Maxwell Rd Food Center for some banana fritters and bubble tea along with a tour of the Red Dot Museum. The museum showcases modern art, inventions, and technology that have won their awards in the past...really cool stuff. Thus ended our trip which made us very sad. Goodbye green and clean Singapore!


View from roof top / Bubble tea (in a bag, of course)

Sun Temple and Step Well photos

Sun Temple at Modhera








Rani-Vav Stepwell- Patan
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Sun Temple at Modhera / Rani-vav Stepwell in Patan

Renting another trusty Toyota Innova van (and a driver, of course), myself, Bradd, and 3 of his co-workers took off to the city of Modhera where 1 of only 7 sun temples of the world is located. It's only about a 1.5 hr drive north-west of Ahmedabad but in some ways feels like the other side of India. Passing through villages, fields and farms, we found our way to the temple. I was there earlier in January without Bradd for the annual Modhera Dance Festival at night but wanted to experience it during the daylight and so Bradd could see it.

We arrived early morning around 6:30 am so we could get the light of the rising sun. We were the first people there so it was wonderfully quiet and personal without any other tourists around. As we approached the temple, a troop of monkeys were playing on the rocks next to us and a large number of peacocks were hanging around he main structure. How cool!

The Sun Temple was built in 1026 a.d. and is still magnificent! It's not really a huge structure but has the most elaborate details carved into almost every available surface. Various flora and fauna are represented, decorative filigree, busty women and virile men in a proud array of poses and yes - quite a few sexually explicit scenes as well (India did create the Kama Sutra, you know). All these craving were punctuated by the multitude of common squirrels running rampant and birds tucked into overhangs...even 2 little owls. The front entrance steps lead straight down to a huge, open well that is almost like a reverse ziggarat. Even this structure has hundreds of it's own small shrines and decorative work. A bit dizzying, it's fairly steep and hand rails weren't very big back in 1026 so I personally didn't go down into the well very far. The sight is no longer used as a religious temple but is well-maintained and there has been a small shrine erected right next to the temple for religious offerings. I was lured into the shrine to make an offering, aka- money, in exchange for a blessing. I figured it couldn't hurt and at 10 Rupees (20 cents), I wasn't loosing much. Bradd made me rub off my "blessing" later because he said it looked like I had a dab of mustard between my eyes.

The step well was about a half hour away from Modhera in a decent size town called Patan. It's known mostly for the step well, an old fort that circles part of the town and for it's fine silk weaving. I read they actually dye the silk thread for the pattern before weaving the fabric and it takes 4-6 months to make a sari! I didn't see it but it sounds impressive.

The step well was uncovered in 1986 and is in really impressive condition. It was built around 1050 a.d. for a queen so the carvings are quite amazing. The area surrounding the step well was a sort of strange park with a meandering walkway going in no particular direction. But I was certainly amused by the troops of langur monkeys running all around us and the warning sign for the giant honey bees (just in case one is allergic). I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Dinner with the Prime Minister of Gujarat

"The President of Gujarat Chamber of Commerce & Industry
cordially invite you along with your spouse
to
Celebrate the Unprecedental Grand Success
of
Vibrant Gujarat Global Investor's Summit- 2009
along with
Shri Narendrabhai Modi
Hon'ble Chief Minister of Gujarat"

I haven't quite figured out why we were asked to join Bradd's boss & wife to this dinner but we were and of course, we went! Bradd had attended the actual summit which was a really big deal for the whole state of Gujarat. The state actually built a new "city" just for the the Vibrant Gujarat Summit outside of Ahmedabad. The summit was in the newspapers every day for weeks leading up to it and it's purpose (as I understand) was to showcase Gujarat state and it's possibilities to local and especially foreign investors - Japan was a biggie. This particular dinner was held in honor of how well the summit went and so the Chief Prime Minister could expound on the success of the event. It was held at the house of a very influential family of Ahmedabad's, at their "farmhouse" outside of the city which is now considered the farthest suburb. The grounds were beautifully landscaped with lovely greenery and lights and candles. And appropriately catered by a local restaurant owner. After the Prime Minsters speech, which I only understood a few words but apparently very entertaining, everybody lined up to shake his hand...which Bradd and I both did. Very cool considering I've never met the mayor of my home town, let alone the governor!

Better quality and more pics are coming...

Nal Sarovar Bird Sanctuary

This past weekend we took a little jaunt West out of Ahmedabad to the Nal Sarovar Bird Sanctuary. Tis a large lake with marshes hosting large flocks of migratory birds in the winter months from November - February...flamingos, different varieties of cranes, storks, ibis, etc. We walked around the small shore line as the boat tours initially scared us - it looked like our only option was to ride in a tiny row boat, driven gondola-style, with 10 other people. Other than the trash strewn shore, which was swept & burned as is most trash in India, it was quite beautiful.

Over the chattering of the weekender crowds, we could enjoy sounds of the water, birds and a lovely breeze. After some chai and photos of local water buffalo, we saw there were small boats with only a few people inside so Bradd and I opted for a 1 hour ride. Apparently, only the 2 hour ride would allow us to get to the flamingos but it was still a pleasant ride even though the majority of visible birds were black ducks and sea gulls. Although disappointed in not seeing the huge flocks of flamingos or other masses of exotic birds, we were able to spot some black ibis, storks, spoonbills, grumpy brown herons, emerald green kingfishers, 3 flamingos, and a few others I haven't found the names of yet.

On the drive out of the park, I spotted a flock of enormous birds in a field which ended up being demoiselle or sarus cranes...not positive. They were magnificent birds that we were lucky to photograph on land and in a swirling flock above our heads. They looked to be at last as tall as me with a 5-6 foot wingspan so it made quite an impact on me flying above our heads.

Rajwadu

We ex-pats tend to roam in herds ourselves so a group of us went to this great place called Rajwadu. Now if you're thinking Xanadu, then I'm your #1 fan but that's a whole other issue.

Anywho - Rajwadu is one of 2 places in Ahmedabad that provides a lovely evening of traditional Gujarati cuisine, dance, and puppetry, with a little Rajasthani thrown in for good measure. It may sound cheezy but it's quite cool! It's tucked away in a very non-descript neighboorhood with a very unassuming entrance. They have created this open air venue that's very intimate; it's almost like a secret garden with winding pathways with little bridges over ponds and greenery everywhere and all lit with candles and torches. There are larger, main areas with lounges to watch traditional dancing with women balancing burning pots on their heads (not sure if that part is traditional but still a really great effect!) and fire-breathing men. In another corner, a puppet show with an elaborate stage set up. I may be missing something but after the dancing, we were called to dinner and led through the pathways to our private dining area. The food is served in Gujarati Thali style which is a large metal plate with a multitude of small dishes on it...server after server come around with every type of dish imaginable; dal (lentil stew/soup) kadhai (similar to dal but more sour/ yogurt based), at least 5 kinds of bread, 3-4 types of cooked vegetables/potatos, 2 sweets, buttermilk, raita (raw vegetables in a spiced yogurt) and of course pani (water). But as if ths weren't enough, the servers come back a few times each offering 2nd, 3rd, or 4th helpings! And they still serve ice cream as desert (they even offered a 2nd helping of that). The cost of all this is still a meager Rs. 325 (approx US $6.65). I love india.