A Girl's Gotta Eat

It took 27 days in India for me to admit that I cannot live on restaurant food and pasta alone. I have to start cooking again. Unless a cook happens to knock on my door, I either need to get out and search for one or light the stove myself.

I took a trip to the bookstore yesterday and came home with 5 cookbooks. Four of them are mini ones so I really didn't go crazy. Here are the titles:

Nita Metha's Indian Cooking
Choicest Indian Curries
Fabulous Flavors Vegetarian
50 Great Curries of India

and the one that shouted "Buy me! Buy me!":
Simple Cooking for the Desperate Housewife

Yup, that's how I felt: desperate. A great majority of South Indians are vegetarian. Their grocery stores reflect this. Most of the ones I have visited do NOT sell any kind of meat, neither fresh nor frozen. What I have found are huge barrels of lentils, grains, and lots of other mysterious legumes that would probably be fun to plunge your hands into. Unfortunately, I don't know what or how to cook all of those things! Where's the meat? So my desperation led me to the bookstore.

Today I had to start stocking the cupboards. I perused my new assortment of recipes, and made a grocery list. Thankfully I wrote the Hindi translations down as well as the English, because I would have left the grocery store with either empty hands or a daring assortment of "this looks like whole cumin...I hope."

So my cupboards now contain things like garam masala, chat masala, ginger paste, garlic paste, chili powder, and whole cumin. Just opening the cupboard doors releases a nice waft of spicy air. Lets hope my cooking smells as good.

The Nehru Zoo Review

We spent yesterday at the Nehru Zoological Park in Hyderabad. It is the largest zoo in India and we're lucky to have it in our city. It has over 300 acres of land and over 250 different species of birds and animals. The phrase 'Zoo Park' is quite accurate. There are many large areas to sit and relax in the shade. The animal enclosures were often separated from the walkways by large moats rather than by fences or plexiglass. It made a nicer viewing atmosphere and made it seem more 'natural' for the animals. Perhaps the best benefits of going to a zoo in India was the hot climate. I should specify that it was a benefit for viewing the animals rather than a personal benefit (I was dripping with sweat the whole day). Rarely have I been to a zoo where the animals were out and about as much as they were here. It was very hot yesterday with a light breeze. Almost every single animal was out of its cave and visible if not moving around. It was a great improvement from going to the Washington DC Zoo in the winter and wondering why all of these hot weather animals were inside their shelters.





Once again, we were an attraction as well. Crowds would form around us and stare at us, not only at the animals. Friendly Indians would approach us and attempt small talk in English. On more than one occasion Indian parents would push (sometimes literally) their young children to say hello to us. Sometimes the poor kids would squeak out a shy "Hello", other times they'd engage in polite and friendly conversation. You could see the pride in the parents' eyes.



We had a great day at the zoo and didn't have the energy for the safari through the lion habitat. We'll save that for next time. Another great part of the day was our driver, Prasad, who helped us immensely by buying tickets, jumping lines, and most importantly by carrying Sammy around the zoo. I think he carried her more than she walked around by herself and also more than anyone else carried her, which was a godsend on such a hot day.

Good Eats-Mangoes

When we first arrived in Hyderabad, my driver from the airport told me that mango season was just starting. Now, mangoes are my absolute favorite tropical fruit. Bill and I have the bar set pretty high when it comes to mangoes: they are all compared to "the ones we bought on the side of the road in St. Thomas." Just the mention of them causes a Pavlovian response for me. My first trip to the grocery store made me realize that were more kinds of mangoes than I had ever anticipated. There are some that are best for eating, best for pickling, best for chutneys, best for this and that, and best for juice.

The other day, our friend, Bill's co-worker, and Hyderabad native, Anjali brought us some mangoes that her dad had picked for us. One type was for eating, the other was for juice. Not realizing that there were 'juice' mangoes, I was very intrigued. The instructions were to wash the outside of the mango really well, massage it, pull off the stem, hold the mango up to your mouth and drink. Wow oh wow. Nectar from the gods! I started making sounds like my buddy Carmine does when he eats a meatball sub: Mmm...oh...MMM..ohhh... Not wanting to overdose on enjoyment I squeezed the remaining pulp from the pit, and squeezed another full mango into a cereal bowl. The bowl was full(!) from the juice of 2 mangoes. Heaven...I'm in heaven... Then to save it for later, I poured my sweet mango elixir into popsicle molds, dropped in some craft sticks and popped the molds into the freezer. Frozen fresh squeezed mango-pops...life is good.

Play imitates Life

I had some chuckles last night and this afternoon watching the girls play. Last night Cory decided that she would clean the apartment, and play 'Maid'. This afternoon Doctor Cory & Doctor Sammy were tending the wounds of their stuffed animals. Then they'd rush into another room with the cry "she's bleeding she's bleeding" (meaning a stuffed kitten/dog/monkey and tend another one.

I guess the things that have made an impression on them is the frequency of seeing someone else come to clean, and our urgent trip to the hospital for Cory's knife wound.

I need it now...

During the past few months I have gotten into the mindset to bargain shop. I have a few friends who are experts at finding the best bargains by using coupons, store reward dollars, outright research, and anything else they can think of. They'll get the best deals on groceries even if it means going to several grocery stores in one day. I was certainly awed by their success and had made attempts to economize as well. most notably at CVS where I would make purchases to maximize the ExtraCare Bucks I'd receive as well as using the register coupons to save money.

Fast forward to Hyderabad. We moved into a furnished apartment. It has furniture but no dishes, cookware, glasses, cutlery, utensils, etc. So when I went out shopping, it was almost a relief to know that I was only going to go to one store, and if I needed something, it was going in the cart.

That being said, nothing I have found has been expensive. I bought a darker set of curtains for 2 of the bedrooms and sheets for the girls' beds. I did look at the prices and decided that they were still cheaper than they'd be if I were purchasing them at home, so to the checkout I went. Then when everything was rung up...50% off everything. Woo Hoo!

So even though I got lucky, hopefully the lessons I've learned from my frugal friends won't be forgotten. For all of you who are still in the mindset of bargain hunting, check out my friends' blogs:

http://www.frugalinvirginia.com
http://www.madamedeal.wordpress.com
http://www.funfabulousandfrugal.com

A little Quiz

What do the following songs have in common?

Camptown Races
Dixieland
The Lone Ranger
When the Saints go Marching in
Love Me Tender
She'll be Coming 'round the Mountain
Clementine
Three Blind Mice
The Toreador Song
There's no Place Like Home
America the Beautiful

Give up? Well all of these songs are played by our Doorbell! Yes, you read that right. No boring old 'ding-dong' here; the Sullivans get serenaded every time someone comes to the door. It's becoming a game: what song is next???

How do we sleep? Let me count the ways...

Jet lag has been rough, especially for Cory. The first few days we were here, we all were napping whenever we could, but Cory would fall asleep whenever and wherever she was. Here are a few photos. Words don't do some of these justice.