Dinner time...

The more food experiences we have with anything surrounding India, the more excited I get. Last week we picked up with dishes from Trader Joe's - ready-to-eat packets of "Indian Fare." I was skeptical of their quality until I saw they were actually made in India.

They both were very good with unique flavors. The Dal (black lentils) was spicier than the Choley, and had a deep tomato-cream base that we great. I wasn't looking forward to the chickpeas ( I mainly got it because it said Punjab on the box) but they were better than I thought - it also had a tomato base. I didn't realize tomatoes were so prevalent in Indian food, but like Italian, they form the base for many sauces in a lot of different dishes. Not native to India (nor to Italy) the tomato seems to be a more successful conquerer than the British, Dutch or Portuguese!

We had these two dishes on separate nights with a marinated pork tenderloin. I used this recipe below - one day in the fridge in a ziplock bag, cooked on the grill.

• Indian Spice Paste:
• 4 large cloves garlic
• 2 tablespoons curry powder
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon ground coriander
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons water

I am blown away by the spice mixtures and the intensity of them all - even without heat. I also didn't realize so much coriander was used. Violet seems to enjoy it all, although we are being very careful and cautious. This house sure smells like Indian food!

--Tyler

Food Adventures

As we prepare for this trip, I find myself looking to food for hints of what is to come. The sensory experience of eating Indian food is overwhelming - the smells, the heat, the colors, the spices - and in grey Seattle, seems to provide the closest "real" Indian experience we can find. With all our concerns with Violet, gaining confidence in the food we'll eat and give to her in Chandigarh rises to the top.

A few weeks ago we went to Mayuri, a fantastic Indian restaurant on the East Side. At 11am on a Wednesday (the joys of an academic schedule!) we fired up the Jetta and navigated the suburban Redmond street. It was fittingly a very hot day, but the place was air-conditioned (unlike our apartment) and the lunch buffet was just opening up. I filled my plate first while Rachel sat with Violet. Chick peas and spinach, paneer tikka, naan, potatoes, raita, roast chicken - the buffet looked fantastic. In my mind, though, I am trying to sort for a one-year old's palate: too spicy? too hard? too spicy? too spicy? As I finished my (heaping) plate I realized, that spicy (hot spicy) food was my only real worry - and everything had a little heat. When I returned to the table, and relieved Rachel, my concerns dissolved as I watched Violet eat bit after bite of mildly spicy food. I dare say she liked it that way.

Dining out with a one-year old is always a challenge, but she did very well. As we were leaving, all three of us full from a big lunch, I felt a bit more assured about our food encounters in India.

I think eating food in Chandigarh (like eating food here) requires judgement decisions, health choices, and overall attention. We really don't know what it will be like exactly - and there is no way to find out. But I am confident we can handle what ever we find. I continue to be fascinated by Indian food (north and south, veg or meat) and look forward to learning more.

--Tyler

pack 'n play

We have this portable bed that we are planning on taking to India for Violet-- a pack 'n play.  It looks like a fairly normal crib when it's set up-- but then you push a few buttons and it collapses into itself, and you stuff it into this 4-foot carrying sack.  It has been very convenient for us in the past when we've traveled....    

...But I keep thinking about it.  I can't stop.

At 3am I am awake in bed picturing our arrival in India-- we're carrying Violet, suitcases, backpacks, and then this enormous pack 'n play.  It is about as easy to carry as a box full of trombones--  this cumbersome rectangular thing with one little meshy handle sticking out the top.  I picture the scene-- trying to find this thing as we get off the plane, thrown around with all the other cargo-- and then there we are trying to make ourselves as small as possible as we move through a crowded airport, running into people, dropping stuff, shuffling Violet with everything else.  
By 4am I have moved on-- assuming it actually arrives in India still bound together in one piece, and assuming we somehow manage to locate it and get it out of the airport---  I drive myself crazy wondering if we are going to have to puzzle piece ourselves and all of our bags and this pack 'n play into one of these to get to our new home.....

And then around 5am, assuming we manage to get to our place of residence, I start wondering if the pack 'n play is even going to work for Violet by January.  Will she be too big by then to sleep in it?  Will it fit in our room?  Will she be able to climb out of it by then?

Like a good American mother, I have rigorously trained Violet from day one to sleep in her own bed because I was told by everyone that having her sleep with us would be a hard habit to break, and wouldn't work well for anyone involved.  But now that we are going to India, I wish that we didn't have to worry about her having her own separate bed.  Also, in a foreign land, I feel like I am going to want to have her tucked safely in between us at night.  But she is so trained now, and every time we have tried to bring her into bed with us it turns into a bit of a circus.  She stands up and looks down at us and laughs.  She crawls around and is too excited for sleep. I feel like she's going to fall on the floor while we're sleeping (if we don't roll over and crush her first)-- and then she'll started moving around the dark room playing with the electrical outlets; pulling bureaus onto herself; falling out the window.
These are the everyday worries of a mother--  adding India to the equation doesn't help.
But then I breathe a bit and think that maybe we just need to give in, and make it work, and decide that bringing this bed to tote around India just isn't something worth doing.  Maybe we just need to make ourselves adjust.  But also, maybe, it represents a sense of safety for me-- of security.  --Violet will be fine, if only I can provide her with the normalcy of her own bed.  And maybe this is true.
Anyway, I can't seem to come to a resolution.
See you at 3am.

Rachel

passport

Today we ordered Violet's passport. All three of us had to go, and Tyler and I both had to sign the papers. It was all very official, naturally. It's a funny thing though, ordering a passport for a baby. --because by the time we go, 5 months from now, she will look miles different from the photo, and by the time we return it will probably seem as though we're trying to pass her off as her younger sister. She has just recently become a toddler, but by that point she will have passed out of that phase and be well into kid-hood.

But, let me tell you, this passport is going to be adorable. She has this little turnip grin on her face-- she's not smiling exactly (she wasn't allowed to smile in the picture; isn't that strange?) but she has this fabulous smirk on her face with these big round cheeks and her curls waving hello from behind her ears. Tyler and I both about melted when the Wallgreens guy handed them to us. She looks so eager. So very here I am, ready to go.

Rachel

Violet: Ready for Anything