Duplicitous Birds

 
Birds - spectacular here in the Jama Masjid in Delhi..., but not so great when they're pooping on your head in the Agra train station. (Sorry, I didn't take a picture of the birdpoop.) 

Christmas Feast

On Sunday, there was a big Christmas dinner thrown for the AIESEC trainees (and I got to join in!) courtesy of Kent's boss in the USA. Kent got authorisation to spend a whole bunch of money on decorations, food and drinks and he went to town with the help of his housemates. The house was decorated festively with Christmas lights and even a mini-Christmas tree. Candles were lit and champagne was poured. (And it was really good champagne, too.)

The spread consisted of four different types of cheese, none being paneer, cocktail sausages, pineapple, orange slices, bread, guacomole, cheese dip, and an assortment of alcohol and juice. The first five minutes of the feasting consisted of "Mm... Mmmm... mmmmmmmm" as we enjoyed an almost exclusively non-Indian meal (oh ya, I forgot there was chicken tikka). The cheese was SO good!

After we stuffed ourselves full, mostly full of cheese that is - Mmmmmm cheeeese, dessert was served. There were chocolates and cookies. And we even got Ferrero Rochers later as an after-dinner snack. What luxury!

Here are some pictures of the evening (along with some pictures of the Alcolympics held the night before).

Christmas Cake

Here are the before-and-after pictures of our improvised Christmas cake. (Look! It had babies!) I haven't tasted it yet, but it sure smelled good while it was baking. Check out Ryan's blog post for a making-of feature. And here is the recipe that we sort-of used.

Surprise Breakfast

Last weekend I woke up and was told that Ihad to stay in bed for one more hour. "No problem," I thought. But I was curious as to the reason for this imposed bedrest. After the time was up, I was escorted downstairs by my newly-acquired-unbenownst-to-me German butler, Benjamin. When I arrived downstairs, I saw this feast waiting for me in my dining room, complete with fresh flowers! I was very surprised and touched by this homecooked meal.

The breakfast was composed of:
- crêpes made for the first time by Johanna following a recipe from my very own cookbook (a recipe that I've never tried, I might add - no surprise there),
- various jams and peanut butters found in my fridge,
- some bread from Monica's (or as the locals say it, "Moe-nee-cahz"),
- hardboiled eggs balancing in my escargot plate that the Germans thought was a dysfunctional egg holder,
- and some smoked salmon from home (thanks Dad and Pam!).
And to top it all off, I cracked open my maple syrup from Canada - yummy!

The crêpes were delicious - Johanna, how did you know I LOVE crêpes? And the Germans (the AIESEC trainees, not to be confused with the factory-manager-Germans) enjoyed their first taste of maple syrup. The flowers have bloomed in my house as a warm reminder of the event.

Thank you so much Johanna and Ben for your wonderful (and delicious) German hospitality!!! 

Chinese Cameraderie

Last weekend, my housekeeper Saroj told me about a place where you could buy Chinese food in Chandigarh. She seemed excited to give me this piece of news and I was excited at the prospect of buying some Chinese ingredients.

So we headed off for Sector 15. When we arrived, I realised that I'd actually been to this market before. And when we walked up to the Chinese restaurant, I also realised that Saroj had meant that there was Chinese food to be eaten here and not to be bought and cooked at home. I had misunderstood her.

We walked in anyway to check out the restaurant and met the owner - a Chinese man who was born and had lived all his life in India. I think his mother tongue was Hakka (a Chinese dialect), but he said he also spoke a little Cantonese and Mandarin. These last two also happen to be the dialects that I speak, but not very fluently. So there he was speaking a mixture of Hindi and Cantonese, but with an Indian accent, while I was speaking a mixture of English and Cantonese with a Canadian accent.

When he said that there weren't any Chinese grocery stores in town, Saroj said something to him in Hindi and he quickly ushered us into the restaurant kitchen. With all the kitchen staff peering on curiously, the owner started pulling Chinese vegetables out of the freezer to give me. I tried to graciously refuse, but he just wouldn't take no for an answer. And when I asked him how much, he would not hear of taking any money for them. He said he didn't see Chinese people very often in town and that I was like his sister. He just pulled more and more out while I tried frantically to prevent him from giving away his whole supply. I was so touched at his generosity - it's those little moments that make living here great. Finally we were able to settle on just one bag full of veggies (include broccoli - YUM!) and we returned home.

Now I wonder how I should cook these...

Chandigarh Dance Parties

If you've ever said to yourself, "I wonder what Samantha does in her spare time in Chandigarh. Is there any nightlife there? Or does she just sit alone in her enormous empty house pondering life's mysteries?" then wonder no further! My social life in Chandigarh is now comprised of weekly parties with the young, hip'n happenin' AIESEC trainee crowd. For a taste of what goes on at these parties, check out my friend, Ryan's very funny blog posting on international dance styles of the up-and-coming cosmopolitan go-getters of Chandigarh.

If you think it's funny reading about it, just imagine how funny it is witnessing it. :)

If the Titanic was made in India...

1. There would be 10 times as many people on the ship.

2. The ship would sink from the weight of all the people who had boarded without tickets.

3. There would be a song with Ashwariya Ria in a white flowing dress, standing at the bow of the ship and singing in the rain.

4. By the end of the movie, the hero would have co-incidentally found his long-lost mom, dad, sister, twin brother and childhood friend.

5. It would be a seven-and-a-half hour movie with three intermissions.

6. The movie would be called "Pyaar kiya to marna kya" or PKTMK for short.

7. The hero, heroine, his mom, dad, sister and brother would float in the cold water for days and yet survive.

8. The villain would drown in the first drop of water.

9. The iceberg would have been sent by the heroine's father to teach a lesson to the hero (Shah Rukh Khan, naturally).

10. None of the females would float for long because of the saris, but the heroine (Ashwariya, of course) would have survived as she would have used her sari to make a big bandage for the hero's bleeding head.

11. The orchestra would play a Qawaali song and the ship would only start to sink after the song ends.

12. Can you imagine how many times we would hear "BACHAOOO!!! BACHAOOOO!!!?

Mutant cookies

The German AIESECers, Johanna and Ben, came over the week to use my extensive kitchen facilities to make German cookies. Check out the fun shapes we made! I made mostly the cool Maple leaf cookies with my fun new cookie stamp - thanks Lara! But there are also some Hindi letters there, as well as anything else we could think of. See if you can pick out my last name.

The cookies were good, but tasted a bit funny due to the salted butter that we didn't realise we were using.

They also showed me how to make "Glow Wine" or Glü Vine (I have no idea how to spell that). Low quality red wine, heated with sugar and cinnamon and cloves added at the end. Yummy and oh so Christmas-y!

Ack!! What is Santa doing?!

SANTA BABA JI IS EATING THE CHILDREN!!! SAVE THEM!!!!!!!!!!!

Homemade chapattis

Check out the homemade chapattis Kent and I made! We made them a few weeks ago, but I just got around to looking through my pictures today. We totally winged it (wung it?) As you can see, they don't have the typical round shape, nor are they hole-free. I'll have to get Saroj, my new housekeeper, to show us how to make them properly. They tasted good though! Even if they were a little stiff.