Mamta's Kitchen - A Family Cookbook
Visit to Bengaluru (Bangalore)
I am going to Bangalore for a visit in five weeks time for four days, before catching a train to South Goa for a further two weeks. My wife works for a company that has connections in Bangalore and we are going to be escorted during our stay. The person escorting us is fully aware of our love for all Indian food and has promised to surprise us on our tour, and make our tastebuds come alive,(his words).
We are both excited beyond belief and cannot wait for this experience. I just thought I would share this with you all. :)
Lucky you....while in Goa do try the Goan Balchao (prawn pickle)and Cafreal paste (chicken sandwich spread). Enjoy your stay.
How wonderful! Have a great time, both of you.
Love
Mamta
PS Make sure to get all your immunisations/antimalarials etc. up-to-date and take a selection of travel medicines, especially for diarrhoea'. This should include not only Imodium (Loperamide) but also an antibiotic suitable for infective diarrhoea and a few packets of electrolytes. You should be able to get a prescription from your GP.
Oh, how exciting, thanks for sharing with us, means we can wish you bon voyage and hope your trip is wonderful!
If you occasionally get internet access, do consider dropping us a note on your highlights while you are there. If not, can't wait to hear about it when you get back - the more detail the better so take notes! ; )
x
Kavey
I will certainly try to make some notes and indeed try to post on here whilst out there, so to speak. From what I have Googled about Bangalore, it has many and varied restaurants serving all types of Indian food, we really can't wait.
Bangalore is good for food. Let me see if I can find out about it. My sister's son and family live there.
Sounds great, take plenty of pictures and report back :-)
(I just have this image of this guide taking you with a big smile on his face, to the lastest and most sort after Indian food... here you go my friend "the MacTikka burger"..... LOL )
Steve
Your are not kidding Steve, they do a McCurry;http://www.flickr.com/photos/xclockwise/2950181700/
I promise not to have a Mcdonalds anything, curried or not. :)
my first meal in Bangalore was in a mall that had a McD. My Indian gourmet friend said they had to change the usual offerings to suit local tastes (like no beef burgers).
Restaurant food was a little too spicy (I mean spice, not chillies) and oily, like so many other places. There was one restarant that was decorated in the style of Bollywood. We had a tour of the kitchens, and the chef made us his signature dish (something with palak, wasn't impressed!). Overall, food was OK, and cheap. Best meal was at a big Hotel, where we had lunch with the executive chef (for free), who said there's no such thing as a free lunch.
The thing I remember most is the contrast between the rich and poor in the city, with high rise flats interspersed with blue tarp tents, much like Mumbai. And the canal through the centre of the city had no water, just millions of carrier bags and prophylactics.
What was funny was when the electrical power was cut in the shopping area, all the store owners came out and started their little generators. Like something out of a SCIFI movie!
An eye (and mind) opener.
Lapis, everyone in India that can afford it, has a generator. At home, they have something called an 'inverter' which stores electricity automatically when it is on and lets a few electric gadgets, like 1-2 fans in the house, run for a few hours when electricity goes off. All stores and factories have their own ability to generate electricity.
In summer months, when the demand is huge, supply can not cope demand and it is switched off area by area throughout the day and night. It can be murder on a very hot day/night!
yes the inverter is a piece of electronics which converts low voltage DC to mains frequency AC. In times of a mains supply it will convert the mains to low voltage, which is stored in batteries. They are not usually high power, so no good for shops, or even an electric cooker! not even a microwave. There's still a lot to be said for wood ;?)
There is no DC in India any more. I know, because I was almost electrocuted by it as a child!
We have a small generator at home in India --petrol run but still no good for refrigerators. Inverters have become powerful nowadays, the more you spend the more voltage you get. INverter unlike petrol generator is noiseless and smoke free.
the inverter gets its energy from battery storage (which is DC). It converts it to mains AC. The power available is dependant on the size of battery, and will provide whatever voltage it was designed to deliver. The size reflects the power, not the voltage.
Whether the generator or the inverter is better depends on your point of view, but note they are not the same thing. The generator generates, the inverter converts. And compare burning fossile fuels with the use of toxic lead in the batteries.
The batteries can be charged using 'renewable energy', wind, wave or solar, which may be a point in their favour.