Homecooking in India

Finally, no more KFCs, Macs, Pizza Hut and Chinese takeaways! Woo Hoo!
After surviving 3 full weeks here on fast food, restaurants eating and takeaways, I was so ready to cook! Can't wait for a taste of home.

On Mon when I first cooked, it took me 3 whole hours from the start of preparing the ingredients to the washing. The results: Potato, Carrot and Onion Soup + Sweet and Sour Cabbage for dinner; chicken fried rice for hubby's lunchbox tomorrow. 3 dishes and I was so knocked out.

Tues was better because I told myself that I need to plan. Even the usage of plates needs to be strategic! Here's what is on the menu: Melon soup with dates + Pepper beef with french beans for dinner; Mince chicken corn fritter + Chicken with potato in dark soy sauce for next day's lunch. 

Ok, I was very happy with the end results and the time was shaved by 30mins to 2h30mins. As a result, I could shower and then sit back to watch Masterchef Australia on StarWorld (yes, my fav show currently) and wait for the hubby to come home. :)

But... over dinner, we found out that the beef was so tough that it was inedible! Not sure if it is because I overcooked it or because they sell beef here in cubes and that the cut is meant for stews only. Anyway, I still have half of it in the freezer and I will experiment stewing with it! 

Today,I clocked in 2h30 mins too. 2 course dinner tonight of Tomato Garlic Prawns + Tofu with Mixed veg; Lunchbox tomorrow has Onion Omelette + Cabbage with Chicken in Oyster Sauce.

Tofu with Mixed veg + Tomato Garlic Prawns

Cabbage with Chicken in Oyster Sauce + Onion Omelette

As I am writing this, its 1010pm (India Standard Time) and I am waiting for hubby to come back to have dinner together. He called earlier to say that today will be a long night. So, that gives me the time to update the blog!

A few peeves about cooking so far:

1. My nails are peeling! This is the worst state I have ever seen my nails in, suffering from the food prep and washing. MUST use the gloves more diligently. Thank you Claire for your thoughtful gift of L'occitane hand cream, most useful!

2. Garlic. I love garlic and can eat lots of it but it is such a pain to include garlic in cooking here. The cloves of the garlic are so small that after all the effort of peeling it, you only get that much! Either I am going to try that garlic paste that supermarkets are selling or I will eat less of it.

3. For the last 25 days, me and the hubby had not tasted pork at all. Closest to finding pork would be the canned sausages that contains pork. This is definitely the longest time I had gone without pork for sure! This could be because 40% of people here in the state are Muslims. I heard you can get it at 5-star hotels and specific "pork shops" but I wonder what is the freshness of it.

Things to rave about:

1. Teflon pots and pans are definitely one of the best thing to have in a kitchen! I found out that because they are non-stick, I can get away with not washing the pan at all if I plan the cooking well (i.e. start from dishes with no sauce to the one with sauce/ strong flavours). Just let it cool a bit and wipe it with napkins.

2. Microwave oven is an essential item. On Mon, the gas was leaking and I couldn't start cooking. Called for a gas repair person but given their rubber band timing, was not sure if they would turn up at all. I was determined to eat home cooked food today at all costs! So, I started using the microwave to cook rice and it works. Made me realise that one can cook an entire meal using a microwave. Just make sure you have read the manual or still have it around.

Clockwise: Our Reverse Osmosis water machine, Whirlpool microwave, Teflon pot, Drinking Water

3. The satisfaction from seeing all your dishes gives me a real high! Sense of great accomplishment! :)

Anyway, one challenge is that I need more recipes so that I can do many varieties of the same ingredients. So, please do share with me recipes that works for you and is simple!

P.s: I am still keeping the fish in the freezer till when I feel more confident to handle it. Maybe tomorrow. 

Tummy Troubles

Oops. It had finally hit us on Day 5. Or to be more specific, it had hit the hubby.
After the dinner at Hyderabad House on Friday night, the hubby had woken up in the morning to a spat of visits to the toilet. What we had for dinner that night: Lamb curry, vegetable curry and naan.


Though he had no appetite for breakfast, he had forced himself to eat half a slice of bread so that he could self medicate on anti-diarrhoea pills and oral rehydration salts. We lazed around in the morning doing our research on things like power inverters if we were to move into an unfurnished apartment.


As he spoke to the staff at the service apartment, he found out that food at the Hyderabad House where we had dinner were pre-heated food. This chain of restaurant does not cook on the spot but instead reheats the food that had been sent to them from a central kitchen. But seriously, as visitors, how would we ever know if the food is being re-heated or freshly cooked?!?!?
Of course, that will be the last time we will be stepping into that place.


Lunch was a 'parcel' or takeaway from Thai Express. He had tang hoon soup which he finished but I know he really doesnt fancy such bland foodstuff. While waiting for the food, we had grabbed bottles of 100-Plus for him to drink through the day. Wished so much that I had a kitchen where I could have just prepared a simple fare of porridge for lunch.


After lunch, his energy level just went down and he rested most of the afternoon. Think he was also running a slight temperature and thankfully it went away after his nap.


Worst case scenario is of course to go on drip at the hospital which is something we are trying to avoid at all costs. We were even kidding over dinner that we should have brought our own syringes to use when necessary.


With low energy level, rapid pulse and him feeling faint, praying hard that he will recover soon!

Moving House!

We are finally moving into our permanent place today! Our agent - Vinay had found the place for us about a week ago but was not able to move in as the tenants were only moving out on the 15th.

During the last few days, the hubby and myself had been going on shopping sprees. It is not the usual shopping spree that I would usually do but its great fun! Items that we have been buying are household items like pots, pans, pails, crockery, etc. I know it sure doesn't sound like anything close to glamourous but its fun doing it together. Its like playing house - setting up your own place and buying what you want in the house. We now have many big bags of shopping sitting in the room waiting to be moved on top of our luggage from Singapore. Can we make it in one trip? Hm... we will find out later.


Today will be a long day moving things, then cleaning up the new place. The cable tv guy from Tata Sky and delivery of other items like washing machine will come in tomorrow. Hopefully the broadband guy from Reliance will also call us back today so that we can arrange for internet access at the new place soon.


One interesting thing to note about services here. The business is not set up for customers to do a walk in to their shops or to call the company's hotline. What most consumers do here is to leave their names and contact number on their website and wait for them to call you back. When they call back, they will send guys down to your house in the next one to two days to do the necessary. Even travellers cheques can be exchanged this way where the company staff will come to your house with the cash and required documentation! Guess the million dollar question here is: When do those people call you back? So far, as we are setting up new accounts, they have been quite prompt and will call back within 24 hours. But in forums when there are issues with the products and services, the companies almost seem to like never return calls.


Alright, guess we will not be having internet access for the next few days as we are getting the new place set up. Will update everyone again once we get settled in and hopefully post some pictures too. Wish us luck!

Movie Date

Our first movie experience in India!


I had been wanting to watch Inception before leaving Singapore because everyone was talking about it. So, since we had a bit of time this afternoon, it was movie time!


Vidul, our new found friend had told us to go to multi-cineplexes and not the individual stand alone ones. So, we headed off to the INOX at GVK1 mall.


We had not known how to prebook tickets so we checked out show times from today's newspapers and went a couple of hours earlier to get the tickets. Like the good old times of queuing at box office before the era of phone/ online ticket booking.


Tickets are cheap here as compared to Singapore. We paid Rs300 for 2 regular tickets which is about SGD$4.50 per ticket. They also have the premium tickets that goes for Rs250/ SGD$7.50 each. In my mind, I was going, "Oh no! $4.50 only per ticket. What was the cinema going to be like? Was the stale air in the cinema going to suffocate me or have dinghy seats or have creepies crawling around?" No idea and can't wait to find out!


Going into the theatre, there were strict checks on our bags again especially for cameras. Guess they didn't want any sort of illegal recordings.


Act II popcorn is a big thing here. Yes, its the same brand of microwave popcorn that we get back home except that at the cinemas here, they are freshly popped and of course I had to get some of that butter smelling popcorn.


First thing that came to mind when we entered is that this place reminds me of GV Grand! Where the popcorn counters are placed, the colours and the feel. So yes, the place was not bad. The cinema surprised us further with a screen larger than what we are used to and the seats could even be reclined slightly. What made my day was that they got the incline of the cinema right. Even with 2 tall guys sitting in front of me, they did not block my view very much. Two thumbs up! I was all ready to watch Inception!


There was a surprise halfway through the movie when the lights came on. I thought it was a mistake and the lights would be off in no time. This happened when Cobb and the team was going into the 2nd level of the dream. But no, people started moving and I saw the word "Intermission" flashed. What???? This is not a musical or theatre! A break at this exciting part... when they had just transported Robert Fisher to the hotel bar? :(


Anyway, from the intermission break, I saw how the male queue for the toilets were longer than the ladies (I have no idea why) and that the crowd really stock up on a second round of snacks and drinks!


Movie ended and I told the hubby that we could be in a dream of our own and that we were actually sleeping on our bed in Thomson waiting to be kicked. Maybe Hyderabad is not real. Only way to find out - where is the totem?

Sunshine after the Rain

Nope. The title has got nothing to do with the song by 98 Degrees but it does correctly express my feelings now.


Sunday marked our first complete week here and it was also the day which we both felt lowest in spirits since we arrived. The hubby was still recovering from diarrhoea but as we had wanted to view one more apartment, we made our way out. The apartment, as expected did not wow us but it was a clean place with lots of sunshine. Following our usual protocol of walking around the area after viewing, it was immediately stuck off our list as there were quite a few beggars in the vicinity and that made it difficult to walk around.


With beggars, my rule of thumb is never to look at them in the eye. This was one good lesson learnt from a senior crew during my flying days. I remember clearly it was at San Francisco, in the evening when we were heading out to dinner because the beggars come out in the streets after dark. Once these homeless wanderers catches your gaze of sympathy, they will be heading in your direction. But yesterday, I caught the eye of this female beggar and the look on her elderly face made my heart chill. It was a look of lost hope and desperation.


Lunch was at the Pizza Hut around the corner. This place is usually on the hubby's list of top 5 fav places to eat but yesterday, he commented that he can't help thinking of army rations while eating it! Think of red bean soup, mee goreng, etc. It strucked me that though we are at the same Pizza Hut with red chairs, we will NEVER be able to order a Hawaiian or Pepperoni pizza here.


While looking through the classifieds yesterday during lunch, my first pang of homesickness hit me. It was because I missed my Sunday Times! Couldn't believe that I am that much of a creature of habit. But I did miss my weekly Sunday reading about what food places Wong Ah Yoke is reviewing this week, Colin Goh and his yakuza baby, etc. Think for this post, The Straits Times should send me a hardcopy weekly!


Anyway, to top the day off, we visited this new area called Hitech City where tech companies like IBM, Google, Microsoft has set up base. It is where new developments have come up and they have a huge mall called Inorbit Mall. True that they had your Mark and Spencers, Body Shop, Lacoste, Lush but it is nothing at all exciting. This area is where supposedly the expats are staying but they were definitely not at the mall yesterday. Dinner was even worse than lunch and not worth mentioning. I did not finish my fried rice and the hubby's tummy acted up again. And so the day ended with the uneventful trip to the mall and me having a headache from the bumpy ride home. Bleah.


So where's the sunshine?
Today - 9th Aug - Singapore's National Day!


We had finally viewed an apartment that we both like, meeting all our criteria. In fact, exceeding it. Details should be finalised tomorrow and we are looking to move in around 15-Aug when the current tenant vacates. FINALLY!!! I am so looking forward to setting up home and the kitchen!!


Also, the hubby had met up with his colleagues today and will start work once we have settled into the new place.
We have been looking forward to reaching this stage so that some form of normalcy and routine will finally return. No more living out of suitcases!

Weather in this city

Today's weather: 29°C - Sunny Intervals - Min: 24°C / Max 29°C - Humidity at 57%


The sun is out again today which is great as since Thurs night, it has been drizzling continuously. We always have our trusty brollys and I always think of Jen when I open mine cos it was her christmas present to me! To think that it was actually put to good use only in India.


What I have seen on the streets on a rainy day - most people do not open umbrellas. In fact, they move around as if there was no rain. Most motorists would wear windbreakers and some others would be wearing ponchos. If you ask me, I think ponchos are the way to go plus a pair of really chic wellies!


Weather in this place has pleasantly surprised me with its low humidity level. Turns out that this city is generally cool especially during mornings and evenings because of its elevation.


While going out, I have not been perspiring at all and I think outdoor sports would just really be great here. Too bad running outdoors here is out of the question due to the pollution near the roads and of course, safety.


In Singapore, we only get to around 29°C on rainy days but still with high humidity. On thurs night when we were heading back from dinner, I was actually feeling cold with the wind chill from sitting in the open auto. 
Through the last week, I have been thinking quite several times that this is the weather that Singapore needs!


Going out in the day is comfortable with T-shirt and jeans - bearing in mind that I almost never wear jeans in Singapore. Ever since I stopped travelling often, my jeans have remained nicely packed in a corner of my cupboard. Now I regret not bringing over more than 1 pair!
Also, I should have packed long sleeve tops along with me. But that's ok, cos it gives me a reason to go shopping! But more than temperature reasons, wearing long sleeves would also help combat the mosquitoes.


On the average, I have had more than 5 mozzie bites a day. :( These mozzies may look small and harmless but I tell you, they are commando trained. One day, I killed one in a vehicle after I felt the itch on my legs. It was one bloody mosquito cos it had already left me with 4-5 love bites in that short time. Now, bringing insect repellent and mopiko when going out is a MUST for me.


We are still in the monsoon period and the rainy spells will end somewhere in early October. I am sure I will have a different story to tell when the next summer approaches but for now, I am enjoying this.

Foodstuff

In Singapore, I live to eat. In Hyderabad, I eat to live.


So far, that is how I am feeling about food though we are discovering more interesting places to eat. Many thanks to our new friend - Vidul who has brought us to excellent places.


Last night, we went to Little Italy, tucked somewhere in the corner of Jubilee Hills. It is a chain of Italian vegetarian restaurants over India. The place was done up very chic, just like any place you would see in Singapore or Hong Kong. Too bad that my iphone could not take proper night shots. :( That's why I need my new camera soon! LX-5, when are you going on retail in Singapore? 


Today, she introduced us to Naturals - a chain of ice cream parlours where no preservatives are used. They mainly have lots of fruit flavours (watermelon, custard apple, mango, jackfruit, etc). I had the chiku ice cream and it was so so so good! The place is walking distance from the service apartment, so I am definitely going back. Oops forgot to also mention that it had cost only about SGD$1 per scoop. :p


On our own, we have been less adventurous - eating at known places like MacDonald's, Thai Express, Subway, KFC. We had passed this restaurant the other day which I had read about before online and went in for lunch. Ohris - where we had the very yummy fruit naan (its better than garlic naan!), Paneer Tikka Lababdar (Cottage cheese with honey and mirch) and chicken briyani. The basmatic rice grain as compared to our normal rice grain is at least like twice as long! The portions here are huge so we cant order too much. Well, when and if I DO have visitors, I will bring you guys here.


Breakfast is the interesting bit. This is provided by the service apartment so being very safe for the first 2 days - we had opted for the international b'fast (fried eggs, toast, warm milk, jam, butter, "lao hong" cornflakes/ cornflakes that had gone soft, tea). And we didn't drink the milk. It was a miserable affair until the hubby decided it was enough and opted for Indian b'fast the next day. Since then, it is interesting cos everyday is a different menu! We have had so far: Thosai, Idli, Aloo Pratha so far. Let's see what's for tomorow.


Btw, I must make mention that at MacDonald's today, they are giving 2 free nuggets for every value meal and the hubby who is missing comfort food so much, ate my 1 nugget and there was only 1 for me! :(


This is it so far. We think there are nice chic restaurants around but we just need to know where! Hopefully, by the time we leave here, I can say again that I live to eat!

First 48 Hours

The past 48 hours since we landed has been a whirlwind of new experiences and activities. As much as I like writing in journals, the thoughts in my head are coming so fast and thick that typing is really the best way.

Flight MI0478 was better than I had expected. Of course the crying infant was onboard but otherwise, it was an aircraft that had a good "PSI" level. If you know what I mean. :p

Service was great! and sad to say better than what I get from SQ flights sometimes. The plane feels like a budget flight with no in flight entertainment or extra amenities. The meals options were chicken briyani or vegetarian rice. So, I will pre-order special meal on my return flight! Didn't think that I will become a SPML passenger one day. 

Hyderabad has one of the nicest airports in India, if not the best but it is not a reflection of what the city is like. Sadly. Thanks to the really helpful advice from the owner of the service apartment that we are staying at, we found Meru/ Easy cabs which are the more reliable cabs in the city. It took us awhile to locate it but it did save us from the touts. 

As the flight arrives at 1130pm, the street lights have all gone off when our cab was going through the city. There is a new expressway which speeds up vehicles going to the city and just as we were thinking this is all going very well, the driver arrives at the road and ask us where is the place. Did he really think that we two Chinese people who are here for the first time know where the service apartment is? We made him call the service apartment but he didn't seem any much wiser after the call.

Once again, it was the instructions of the service apartment owner that rescued the day. Though I have no idea what or who Dr Batra is, I spotted the signboard along the road and made the driver return to the area. The email had said "lane between Dr Batra and Q-Mart" very clearly. Remember that there are no street lights and this looks like a dark dark lane... but of course the owner was right and we found the place - Nirvana Service Apartments.

Our room that had initially looked drab is now our sweet heaven at the end of the day. Its nothing fancy and at the price that we are paying, we would have expected more fanciful stuff but then again, this is Hyderabad. I cant be expecting flat screen LCD with iphone docking sound system right? The most important thing is that this place is very very clean and owners, friendly.

Nikhil, the person whom I had emailed with turned out to be this interesting pek-pek who gave us his two cents worth of advice. But the most spot on one was: You should slow down and take your time to be familiar with the environment first. Do not rush to rent a permanent place. Well, of course it is vested advice since he is probably earning a lot from us staying with him but it gave us a timely reminder that this is not Singapore where everything moves fast.

Our first destination was to the bank the next day and as taxis are not readily available unless you pre book them, we took what the locals would take - the Auto. It is very similar to what the Tuk Tuk is in Bangkok. But the similarities ends there. Traffic in Hyderabad is AMAZING!!! You hardly stop on the roads because there are hardly any traffic lights anywhere. Vehicles zip in and out of every corner and I think the term blind spot while driving does not apply here. Till I have the confidence to sit in an Auto and take a video, you can only imagine. Cars move at like 10-15km/h and if there is a Masters in Driving Skills, these guys will definitely get it. They can avoid anything/ anyone at any speed/ any distance. I am sure now that we will be awarded the best jaywalkers when we get back. We had viewed this on YouTube before we got here about road crossing and it is indeed what you see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9DLlMMXhKg

Also, you can throw addresses out of the window here cos it doesn't work. Imagine that you want to get to Orchard Road. They will bring you there but don't expect them to know where is the building. Its like no one will know which building is at 200 Orchard Road.

Every place is being referenced to by a landmark. So, to get to Heeren for example, you have to tell them a prominent landmark - Takashimaya. Once you are there, keep your eyes peeled for the place. After 2 days, we kind of know which are the landmarks they reference to in the area of Somajiguda (where the hubby works) and Banjara Hills (where we stay).

Oh, I now am a subscriber of an Airtel mobile number! Without going into much details, all I can say is that we had managed to get our numbers without too much hassle by exploring all different means. Guess, this is amongst one of the first lessons learnt here that when you encounter roadblocks doing things the right way, you just got to look for left ways to still get what you want.

On the more upbeat side, we are holding up good with no signs of stomach upsets. We are keeping to safe food, avoiding things like unbottled water, ice, milk, cut fruits, raw food. Have not really had local food yet and will probably start soon. Once you read about what we had for lunch, you will probably think that life here cant be too bad afterall. Yesterday lunch was Subway and dinner was Thai Express. Honestly, I almost want to bet that Crystal Jade is hiding somewhere in one of the malls!

This is barely half of what I have to say. But to avoid being too lengthy, this is my first update for you guys. :) Look out for the next!