Food and Random Remembered Reminisces

bruchetta

coffee morning

with attitude...

May 2

Every day I say I am going to write about food, as food has been a highlight for us on this trip. Mmm…Food…Tasty Food…I love trying new things on a menu, often ordering something that I have no idea what it is. I can do this in a Hindu country, as I know I won’t be served any meat. We could fill a photo album with the amount of meal shots we’ve taken! In Goa the food has been sublime. For about two weeks we sat on the beach, or in the shade of our patio on our little beach hut, leaving only for a quick swim, yoga, a run or a meal. I haven’t gone more than 5 kilometers in all this time, and Heath and Raven have moved less! We have devoured exceptionally fine food.  

We arrived at the end of tourist season, to one of the quieter beaches in Southern Goa. We stay at Patnem beach, about one kilometre south of the more popular and populated Palolem beach. Most of the accommodations and restaurants have been shutting down around us. Literally shutting down, as in being dismantled bamboo pole by bamboo pole. Tourist season is six months long- and by law the restaurants with their adjacent beach huts have to be taken down before the monsoon season. It seems like such a lot of work, because these are semi-permanent structures.

We lucked out by finding a hut with an actual double bed-it may even be queen sized, as it feels so large.  Typically our ‘doubles’ have been two singles pushed together, and we take turns sleeping in the crack. Not this place.  Because it is end of season, we are paying 250Rs (5$) for a hut that normally goes for 20$. Ours is back a few meters from the beach in the shade of banana trees. If we want to sit with a view we only have to move into the relaxed restaurant lounge-y area.

Even though there are only three restaurants still open, Patnem beach has got to be known for its food. It is an excellent mix between Western and Indian. We are eating super-healthily. We take our meals at either the Sea-Land restaurant that is connected to our hut, or walk two doors down to a Mexican styled place called Casa Fiesta that does excellent pizza and a salad with humous plate. The menu at Casa Fiesta happily offers ‘off season’ prices, as well.

Beer is cheap and cold in Goa. 40-50 rupees for a small bottle (300ml) or 80 rupees for the one that serves two people (625 ml). We have free wifi during the day (barring the power outages and wonky service), and a warm ocean breeze. We thought that we would stay at and check out a few different beaches along the Goan coast, but instead, we have slowed down like molasses in the fridge. (Except that the temperature is in the high 30’s). I think Heath is proud of me- I have reached a new low of doing close to nothing all day, and being O.K. with it! It took us ten days to get the initiative or inertia to walk over to Palolem beach, all of a lovely half an hour jaunt away! We were going to have to make our way a few hours North to catch our next train, at 7:30 am, in a town called Vasco de Gama, then realized we could catch it closer- only 45 minutes North from an inland town called Margoa. We will stay just one night, just to avoid a really early morning.

Our Goan ‘schedule’ revolves around meals. I typically wake up just after 6 am and go for a 30-40 minute run. The beach is quiet and cool at this time, with only a few other walkers enjoying the sunrise. I am so thankful that it is safe and free from harassment here, so I am able to regain the cardio fitness I feared I had lost during the last six months. At first I had to run/walk, but now I am back to running. The moon has been filling since arriving here, and the beach has become more and more of a joy to run barefoot on each day, as the low tide corresponds with early morning. The fine sand is firm yet yielding, and is less sloped the further out the tide goes.  The beach is mostly free from garbage, and there are no villagers using the ocean as their toilet. This means the only ‘land mines’ I have to worry is from the beach dogs, and not at the intertidal zone.

I meet Heath just after 7 for a yoga class on the beach. Raven has started to join in for a while, as well. We all try to do push ups throughout the day, for upper body strength. Heath has us on an increasing schedule. Every Saturday we add one more to our sets.

The food:

We have breakfast at Sea-Land- this consists of fruit salad with curd and honey and chai for me. I add my masala mix to the milk tea, and eat a tablespoon of peanut butter with the bananas. I used to order plain toast, but it is store bought white processed toast, so I have omitted it. Raven always has the fruit salad and curd and alternates between an omelet or a chocolate pancake. Heath will order the chocolate pancake and omelet, sometimes hash browns, with filter coffee.

We’ll spend half an hour or so a day ‘taking the sun’ (that’s all I can stand just sitting in the direct sun) and swimming. The heat ranges from 25 degrees at night up to 35 plus during the day. The humidity sits at about 70%, and adds a few degrees of heat. The ocean is warm and not as forceful as at Varkala. It is easy to swim past the break and hang out in the gentle swell. I am not as afraid of sharks here for some reason.

Lunch we usually eat at the Mexican place. They do a wicked humous, with salad and bread. They even have olives. Sometimes we’ll order Mexican fajitas or soft shell tacos with rice and beans.






 I may have a lemon or lime soda (Soda water with lime juice) or the others may enjoy a cold pepsi or sprite.

These two meals are eaten ‘lounge style’. The front of these restaurants have middle-eastern style divans and pillows with low tables, built on covered platforms over the sand. It’s like lounge lizard lapping our meals; we don’t even bother with the table, just leave the plates on the mattress or hold it in our laps. We are right at the front of the beach watching the world go by. There may be only 10 to 20 other people staying at this beach. It is super quiet and peaceful.

Dinner we usually eat at Sea Land. The glass topped tables with the most comfortably cushioned chairs are brought down to the beach each night. Every restaurant does this, with two lit hurricane candles per table, providing the beach dining area glittering lights and a romantic mood. We eat after the sun has set, and watch the stars come out. This place makes the tastiest palak paneer, paneer kofta, and mushroom dho pyaja (garlic and strips of ginger); probably the best Indian food we have eaten yet. India has changed Heath- he is willfully eating spinach.

mushroom dho pyaja

palak paneer

It has changed Raven, too, she is talking about remaining a vegetarian. A few months of forced vegetarianism, and they both realize it isn’t so bad….We’ll see what happens to that resolve the first time they are met with an Albertan steak hot off the BBQ.

For a dinner change, we may go to the Mexican place, which offers free taco chip starters and salsa. I was excited about the idea of salsa, but it is only spiced ketchup! Their pizza is to die for, with real European style cheese and an amazing thin crust. We have only ever ordered the pineapple pizza- how can you not when the pineapple is fresh cut and super succulent? They also offer a banana pizza.  

I do miss preparing food for us, especially when I order a meal and it is really disappointing. Sandwiches are foods to mostly avoid in India. These are only available in the touristy areas, and served with the-crusts-cut-off- processed white bread. I love a fresh sandwich that has nutty or seedy bread lots of vegetables and the perfect amount of mayo or protein rich humous. While I am off on a food tangent, I may as well reveal I am missing the taste of red licorice. (Repugnant gelatin, glucose, preservatives, colouring and all…)

On a sandwich tangent- did we ever mention that we went to a Subway in Chennai? It was pretty similar to home, and expensive to boot, but pretty tasty.

Random Remembered Reminisces:

®     On one of my morning runs in Goa I ran past a middle aged Indian couple who had just been in the water. The woman, wearing a wet house dress (this cool, simple and shapeless cotton house dress is what most Indian women in the south seem to wear if they are at home, or not in their more dressed up and decorative kurtas or saris.) motioned me over with her camera. I assumed she wanted a picture with me, as that has been our typical experience. Remember? “Hey, a white person- let’s get a photo with them!” It turned out she wanted me to take a picture of her with her husband. He was wearing only a swimming suit and had a large ‘living the good life’ belly. She also had a lot of probably well earned ‘middle age spread’. Of course I obliged, and had to pick my chin off the sand when the woman removed her shapeless housedress to pose with her husband by the ocean wearing a tiny mesh camouflage bikini! I took about ten photos of them before continuing on with my sweaty face. Of course they didn’t want pictures of me!

®     Karen Schneider (Llena’s mummy) had given Raven a story book years ago about chirping geckos. Geckos have been our constant hotel room companions in India, but only recently have I noticed their chirping. They are such lovely creatures. They sing so loudly, it is easy to mistake them for birds or crickets. Raven and Heath spend some time trying to capture them. We had a little frog sharing our beach house, too.

®     About a month ago Raven was talking in the middle of the night. I thought she was awake, but she didn’t remember this in the morning. She asked, “Where is the way out?”. Poor thing. I put it down to staying in too many hotel rooms!  The other night she asked “Where’s dad’s underwear?” They both laughed when shared that one in the morning!

®     Coconut trees, when they move in the wind sound like rain. They make a dry crackly sound. The (leaves?) of the coconut trees are designed to be incredible rain drippers. In the deluges that we have experienced, the rain collects in the long fronds of the coconut tree, and like a river, directs the rain down to earth.