Food

I thought I would take a little bit of time and talk about the food here. I'm a little ashamed to admit that we never had Indian food before we came. I know, we knew we were coming, there are good Indian places in Philly but somehow it never quite happened. I guess we thought that we would have Indian food once we got here so what's the rush? So now we have had Indian food and we like it.

For those of you who know, we have never been big fans of spicy food. My example has always been that we eat mild salsa. Naturally I was a little bit wary of coming to a place that is known for some of the spiciest food anywhere. In fact, a lot of people asked us when we first came how we like spicy food. We have found, though that spicy doesn't just mean hot, it means with spices. They use more spices here than anywhere else I know and they aren't just herbs. They are more like powdered stuff that I don't even know what they are. We are adjusting to the spiciness. It's not as bad as I had feared and I find it doesn't hinder the flavor too much. We are worried about going to London after this. The British are not known for their exciting cuisine. We'll probably spend the first while just eating Indian take-out.

A couple of idiosyncrasies about where we are. The state of Gujarat where we are is a vegetarian and dry state. The dry part doesn't really apply to us but the meat is a little tricky. It is possible to get meat in the Muslim part of town but even there it's just chicken and fish and there is a guy that I have heard about who sells eggs. We haven't gotten to either of these places yet so really the only meat that we have has is when we order out.

My cooking at home has been western food. Mostly because I don't know how to make Indian food. So we have a lot of pasta. I made an Alfredo sauce yesterday and the other day put together a marinara of a sorts with fresh tomatoes. I was so proud of myself. I even put together a stir fry with veggies and tofu. Jason especially liked it because it wasn't Indian or pasta. I'm going to see if I can find some Indian recipes online and try to make those partly so I can make it here and so that when we leave, I can make it when we are back in the states and missing it.

For lunch, Jason has his food brought to him. A couple of guys in the office have cooks who make their lunch and bring it in and they share it with him. So he is really getting used to the Indian food. I tend to have left-overs from the night before. We are both getting used to the spice and Anna doesn't seem to be bothered by it. In fact, yesterday Jason decided that she needed to taste it and I decided to let him. So he gave her a taste. At first, she wasn't so sure but then she decided that she liked it.