Foodie ramblings

I am a bit of a home body really.

My home or someone else's no problem. I also love to travel and experience new places- the most joy comes when I get to meet people.

I love to see where they live, all the monuments and beautiful places become more real when I can add a personal perspective to it.

For me, to get up super early and wander the streets as people wake up and get ready for the day is a very special time. It feels like a more personal insight than looking at the world when their Day Face is on and people are out and about their work. You can see why the Post Colonial World [ I say that rather than Developing World because they are not backward and trying to catch up- they were plundered for the benefit of the Colonial Powers and are trying to get on their feet] is my place... a lot more of life happens on the streets too.

Long before I had the opportunity to travel I used to imagine what places would be like through cooking- I'd borrow recipe books from the library [ as we did before the wonders of the verb "Google it" came along] and try to find a sense of the exotic through the flavours.

I cooked Indian for 20 years before I got to eat in India. What a treat, I had been on the right track but getting into people's homes and kitchens was so much MORE. Often much simpler, yet more present.

One thing I learnt from my Ladies at the workshop was focus and care add a huge dimension to even the humblest ingredients. Love brings out the flavours and nutrition of the simplest ingredients.

Our local food co-op put out a call for recipes for the calendar- I thought I would offer a Dal recipe and it became a minefield of options. 

This is what I sent in, I could have written a whole tomb of recipes I have used and Dal I have tasted and mean to cook one day.

Country Feast – Dal

• Title- Dal
• preparation time- 15 mins to throw it in the pot.
• cooking time- depends on the legume used. Green Lentils- 45 mins, chickpeas a few hours.
• things you love about it In India dal is the most common dish served.

Nutritious, economical and so tasty. It is 1 dish with a million faces- any dried legume can be used and the spices vary greatly from region to region, household to household.

 This is a basic recipe with variations mentioned, but only the start to discovering a new Dal recipe for every night of the month if you choose.

Ingredient list with amounts 

1T oil
1t cumin seed
1 t black mustard seed
1 t turmeric
½- 1 or none kashmiri chilli powder
2 t coriander powder
2 cloves garlic
2cm ginger
1 or 2 or none green chilli
I cup green lentils or channa dal or toor dal or red lentils
Salt to taste
-water

• method/instructions

 -sizzle cumin, mustard seed in oil until it makes popping sound

- pound garlic, ginger and green chilli to a paste or chop finely

- throw into oil, stir like crazy so does not catch until smell hits you

- add dry spices and KEEP stirring

- add lentils and toast briefly

- add a few T water, stir getting anything stuck on the bottom up

- add 2 cups water

-Bring to boil and turn down- simmer until cooked

-Dal in India is often very moist, I like it thicker so I leave the lid off, watching it until I get it as thick as I like.

-season with salt at the end

 This is a very basic dal

There are a million options to twist and change it.

1. add 2 cloves, 1 cm cinnamon stick
2. 1 t nigella seed with the cumin and mustard
3. 1 t fengreek seed with cumin and mustard
4. Or all of the above
5. 2 chopped tomatoes when adding water
6. Sizzle a chopped onion with the popped seeds before adding other ingredients
7. Handful of chopped spinach or mustard greens towards the end of cooking
8. Go south Indian- sizzle some coconut and curry leaves in with the powders- add coconut milk to cooking liquid- especially good with red lentils
9. Separate to the dal in a small pan sizzle 2 T oil or ghee with 3 to 6 peeled and roughly chopped garlic cloves &/or sliced fresh chilli until the garlic is golden nuggets and carefully poor over finished dal before serving. This is called a Tadka and adds a lot of flavour. Whole coriander seeds are wonderful sizzled too.
10. Liberally strew chopped coriander leaf over finished dal, finish with a squeeze of lemon juice.
11. Use same spices but add cooked chickpeas, chopped tomatoes and coconut milk
12. Use red kidney beans and go Punjabi, finishing with cream or ghee and coriander leaf

See the dal on the right. That is a TADKA- some coriander seeds and a dried red chilli have been sizzled in a little oil and dropped on top just before serving. It is magic, it makes all the flavours pop.

On our Rajasthan Tour, we always have people to our house, there is a cooking class and Gypsy Dancers for entertainment. Indian food is easy to cook, just the long list of ingredients make it look complicated- I think sharing the cooking experience helps de-mystify it.

Plus people get to see in an Indian house and hang out in a village. 😘

I have been home for 6 weeks now, and have a few more months here. Wonderful, I get to garden but kind of weird as well I am used to wandering.

If I were in India- there would be somewhere needing to be visited, the weavers, the indigo guy.... endless lists really.

The more peaceful pace here is great, yet I am perhaps, a little twitchy. 

So I am polishing off the old cook-around-the-world skills, Travel via Tummy- working on a few new recipes from various places.... 

I got all Vietnam centred this morning, I am working on a jacket using old pieces of fabrics I have collected and some stitch I have done to pick up motifs.... it got me thinking of the village we are staying in next March to do the same type of things .... and then how great the food is in that village.... 

yep just a stomach on legs.

All this bled into more planning....I had meant to prevail upon a friend in Morocco to let us cook with her.... it will add another dimension to our visit with her and be fun, reminded me to add this to our tour.

I am waiting on my tomatoes to take off to try my hand at Uzbek flavours- everyone obsesses over Plov or Osh - a rice and meat dish and it is delicious but what set it off was the amazing salads that go on the side. Uzbek obsession with flavoursome old fashioned tomatoes reminded me just how good they can be.

This is the tray of sides, you choose what you would like. Pickled garlic, a fruity grape vinegar, tomatoes whole or sliced into a salad. Yoghurt with fresh herbs mixed through, sour cream and herbs, lightly fermented vegetables.

 All yum

Happy cooking, travel the world from your kitchen.

It is the love and care we put into any meal that makes it taste better. 

Share the LOVE.

Moorish Moroccan Salads

Sometimes you travel via your palette.

I often cook, chasing memories of meals I have experienced or flavours that have crossed my palette.

In Morocco, it is hard to get into people's kitchens. The guest is special and must relax whilst a feast is prepared. 

At my riad in Marrakech, I managed one year to be allowed to chop vegetables and 'help' the women. 

I remember the smell of roasting Capsicum over a flame.

Then, the wonderful salad we made combining it with preserved lemons and other things.

Hmmmm

The weather is warming up and it is time to get our salads going.

When you think of Morocco you probably think couscous or tagines, the real treat though is their

fantastic fresh salads. Each meal starts with a salad of some kind before you have a meat dish- or

Couscous on Friday [ like a Sunday roast special idea], then finished with fruit.

The simplest is a mix of fresh chopped vegetables and a squeeze of lemon juice but there are a

whole range of more complex mixed salads.

Here is a favourite- it uses those preserved lemons I put a way



in lemon season. Last time I made it I

used some of my broad bean crop [fresh broad beans- steam them in a little water, splash of olive oil,

garlic and thyme to heighten their flavour] or use cooked butter beans or borlotti.

Roasted Peppers and bean salad with preserved lemons.

Red capsicum- char them over a flame or in the oven until all gnarly and black on the outside, let

them sit under a tea towel to cool down, then rub the black charred skin off and you have luscious

roasted red capsicum- cut it into strips. Heap it on a plate, add cooked beans and make a dressing

from fine diced preserved lemon, garlic, lots of parsley, olive oil and lemon juice. Sumptuous and

refreshing with the bright pops of preserved lemons.

The garden is starting to produce a summer feast, we need lots of recipes to honour its’ bounty.

Feel free to contact me if you have questions Fiona fiona@creative-arts-safaris

Or daydream Morocco with me

Ohh the Pause

 I am more a bull at a gate type person

all this Pausing is driving me nuts.....

freaked me out really, especially now with India and my people there, my Praveen....

what to do?

Actually the rest coming from being here in Oz has been really good for me, I think perhaps if I had kept up at the pace I used to run I might have snapped real soon.

Good lesson- The Pause does have a silver lining...

and I do see people starting to consider their priorities, I see governments being questioned about just what their priorities are. Keep that going!!

So I am here in Oz, 

re-inventing myself in a way.... still me, still the same passions but at a different time and place.

I am back in my old neighbourhood

and must admit I love the landscape and being able to wander up the road and have a good chat. My place in India i love and am loved by many but am the outsider, Madam and a good chat is difficult with language restraints and such a different cultural background.

Didn't know how much I missed being able to babble in Ozzstralian until I had it again 😊

Getting to Australia took me a month or quarantine- first in Delhi, then in Darwin....I knew I would get out eventually but even that felt like it could go on forever being constantly watching for the virus....

I thought of all those people in limbo stuck because they could not stay where they came from and wanted somewhere safe to live.

I admire the work of entities like the ASRC - 1 month being locked up was horrible, how can indefinite detention for just wanting to be safe feel?

I like to cook- Feasting for Freedom sounded like a good way to reconnect to my community and be positive. Menu here

Kelewele Nostaglia

Having a foodie minute with my mate this morning, dreaming of delectable kelewele from Ghana
Lightly spiced fried plantain, the ultimate and most addictive comfort food.
OH yum.
Bonus, googling a recipe for her I found a new site called Demand Africa which looks good for whetting the travel appetite 😊
try the recipe 
On their own or with Red Red Beans- ohhhh yum.

Hopefully August 2021 we can enjoy them again during West African Wanderings

foodie things

 My mate Dawn and I have always cooked up our latest finds for each other and shared them...we are lucky we share similar tastes and all our kids will eat most everything put in front of them...we just have to modify the spiciness for some of them and her husband L....
It is a bit different when you don't live around the corner from each other.
Each visit to her in Oz is busy with  Dawn serving me old favourites and me trying to make as many of my new finds as I can....
Well now I have sent Dawn a copy of my new most favourite cook book and we can swap back and forth comments.
The above is the Bengali style Fish cooked in Mustard Oil and Yoghurt- absolutely divine.
Mustard oil is a funny ingredient- I think it stinks when you open the bottle and it is so thick and greasy you can see why it was once used to grease mechanical things [would you believe the brand I buy here is "Engine Oil Brand"- seriously, they do sesame pil and others as well.....someone should explain something about branding to them...it worries me]
yet once you heat the oil until it is smoking, really smoking it changes colour and becomes all nice and thin, when it cools it smells nice and you cook with it like any other oil and get this amazing flavour base.

This is the book to look out for, everything I have tried is great, a way to start to appreciate the regionality of Indian cooking, and what a wealth of flavours and styles there is- sssssooooooo far removed from the non-descript Indian food serves in most restauarants. [if you can't get it over there I am happy to order you a copy 400rp RRP [like $8] and post it to you....you can paypal me the costs...this si a great book to share around.]

Being a bit of a foodie I do come across other food things from time to time that I like.
Vineet Bhatia has a show Twist of Taste on here....watch it if you can....he is a clever cook, first Indian cook to get a Michelin Star -I hope to eat at his restaurant in London one day....and another cookbook I plan on treating myself to one day...
he was in Bagalore on his show recently and hooked up with local foodie Nandita Iyer whose blog Saffron Trails is interesting...just recently she has shown this spiced potato dish- try it- yum!

and I don't know how I found this guy, Indrajeet Chandrachud and I wish he was still writing...but anyway enjoy his recollections of food in the Home country...the story of the trip to the flour mill [called a Chuckie around here is priceless]....freshness and quality of food is so important to Indian thinking.

Sometimes trying to make a point about quality to our Stitching Ladies it can be  rather difficult....quality not just what you can get away with is ssssoooo important. Since I have been drawing an analogy with the quality of flour you would accept from the chuckie women just simply go "Oh yes I get that" and all the manouvering and trying to pass off less quality goes. They know what is acceptable from the Chuckie ONLY good quality or they will go somewhere else....

a big yum to you all, good food is based on good ingredients, combined with care and the secret ingredient is always the love you stir into it...that is when it truely is life giving :)

Life goes on...thankfully

Life does go and there is much to be thankful for.

On Sunday we lost someone and with in the hour someone else came into our lives. Rangit [the young man on the left, our very capable store room manager and right hand man became a father. He and his wife Angelie welcomed their first child a boy into the world. Mum and baby doing well.

After Karlu's wake we will take time to celebrate properly [ usually it happens around 20 days after arrival] here.

 

 We make about 5 kilo of yoghurt a day and every second day butter making happens.
 Butter churning is in full action Nandu, in pink and famous as our block print lady also knows about butter churning. Here she is showing Reckha who does cleaning for us how to make butter.

 It is hard work and Nandu has been working through everyone here- getting them to learn and take a turn, The big swizzle stick is suspended via the straps and you have to keep it straight and centred whilst you act like the engine on oyur blender and spin 6 or 7 kilos of yoghurt around.

 Not an easy task....at the end we have many litres of buttermilk. Everyone here loves buttermilk- so some goes to the workshop to be had with dinner, everyone involved in butter making takes litres and then the rest gets given to staff andf local people.
Some mornings there is a small line at the back door of people with a kettle to collect some.
Good, good nutrition in buttermilk as well as delicious and refreshing in hot weather.

Praveen then turns the butter into ghee, which her swears is Indian health food. It gives him great satisfaction to play milk, yoghurt and ghee maker. The ghee we send to family in Delhi and now are storing the next 3 weeks worth for the baby celebrations for Ranjit. You will notice Praveen is strickly forbidden to eat heaps of it- it is not Australian heathfood and he has had heart problems.
Every so oftern I soften and make him Biriani and put a table spoon full over the top. It is delicious but very far from everyday.
OHHH and, a big 'and', Praveen's 2 youngest boys are staying with us for a few weeks of the school holidays...this is a big one as it is being thought that they may come to us to go to school.
Huge changes perhaps. A part of me [and Praveen as well] love our alone-ness. Fulfilling family responsibilities at a distance but the boys will grow up and especially the middle one Monish, without a Papa's guiding and hand is the type to get up to big mischeif.
Perhaps taking them on now, we will see they stick at their schooling, better guide their growing up and have a lot of fun along the way. Many details to sort out, but things are going well.
Happy day to you, be kind to someone :)

Gonna be HOT!!!

 This is the sun rise- 6.15 am and a mere 27'C- it's gonna be scary hot today.

 Yesterday at the workshop it felt like a flashback t othe days of Steiner School Teacher. Afternoon craft- keeping all the active boys busy with some purposeful activity. Even the Boss was out there learning a new skill.

 Good man- it is hard for him to be in the learner's seat in front of everyone. I think he is bigger for it.

 My man...

Running late for lunch we picked up street food in Ajmer....boy does India do fast food so well. Healthy.

Fresh  made chickpea curry/ sauce, fresh made soft flatbreads, spit and toasted, all topped with fresh chopped tomato, onion and corriander leaf.

Final special touch a spicy pickled chilli....not one food additive, all freshly made today, now in front of you.
Flavour to drool over and crave again, and again, and again....yes my latest favourite snack.

flat out like a lizard drinking!

Home, home which is lovely but rather busy...like the Australian expression

"flat out like a lizzard drinking"

So many things to get happening, visits to accountant with paperwork stuff. India really does love its' paperwork and does not seem to have got to the stage of save a tree- so we are producing much paper to be filed and apparently we have to keep records for 10 years.

Home, iI am enjoying my home if it is rather breifly as I rush off to the workshop....the garden is still mostly alive after 3 + weeks in the hands of staff- you can see the lemon grass is rather dryed, that kind of sums up everything.

Karllu almost killed the grape and rhubarb I brough from Australia but a little TLC and they are coming back.

 Under the lemongrass someone has been busy. A Teetar [like a small pratidge, bigger than a quail] has hidden a nest and I am noticing a new egg every few days.

 I am standing on the house's garden steps and from here I have the rich, pungent aroma of billy goat assailing my nostals and filling the house. If you have never encounterd billy goat perfume [ and you would remeber it if you had] it is pungent and musty- obviously very sexy in the goat world but not a scent likely to occur in a perfume bottle. My lovely Spot is over tied under yonder small tree the other side of the fence.

 He is still as friendly and playful as when a baby, loves being played with and patted, yet now I need a bath if I even lead him around by his lead! Spot loves to self clean [and really self-pleasure] rather vigorously , I know Praveen had not noticed this before but the other day got his first eyeful- shocked!! wanted him nuetered or eaten immediately. took a bit of talking on my part to assure him it was perfectly normal and even his prescious dog George was up to the same thing when not being noticed.
Ohh it is funny as Praveen learns more of the farming life.

 My little Chortu the tortoise is awake and active. When I come home of an evening I whistle in the garden and about 10 minutes later Chortu arrives for his dinner. Last night he had a tomato and was obviously still hungry and he kept circling around the step very loudly indicating he is now hungry enough for 2 tomotos an evening!

 Matilda the cow is producing buckets of milk which Praveen is making into yoghurt [souring really] and then churning to make butter every few days, this he later happily cooks up and makes ghee. According to him ghee for cow is a health food. One I keep telling him is better in small batches!!

When I am in Australia I eat like a starving person, can't taste enough cheese, bacon and good bread. These are all things I would have in moderation if everyday available but because they are a treat I over indulge and so pack on at least a kilo per week I am away...now home suffering from that extra tyre around my middle and appreciating good Indian home cooking.
Really Indian veg food, for me, is the most satisfying day in day out, I feel lighter and healthier for eating that way, even if I do have momentary lapses.
This is a new rice dish- a twist on Konkyian Cooking...my version because I forgot where the new  recipe went.
Special Rice

• cook up some basmati rice and set aside.
• in pot put a dab of oil [2t]
• add mustard seed
• cumin seed
• nigella seed
• fenugreek seed
• fennel seed [or which ever of these you have- this combination is really Bengali Panch Poran and so a step away from Konkyian but yummy]
• sizzle until seeds splutter
• add chunks of onion
• heaps of garlic
• 1t ginger -fine dice
• 2-3 T nuts- raw peanuts, pine nuts, chirongi [Indian pine nut type things] or even cashews
• few green chilli to taste and saute slowly  until onion goes sweet and caramelized
• add 2 T urad dal or mung dal - a lentil that is peeled and split you can get from Indian shop- optional adds to texture and protein content and taste
• cook until dal has turned golden
• stir through few teaspoons red chilli powder [ to taste]
• 1/2 t tumeric
• 2 t corriander powder
• 2 t of green mango powder or 2 T tamarind paste and fry a few minutes to get flavours moving [ might add dab of water if seems dry]
• stir rice through

Enjoy- soo tasty be careful not to have that extra serving. Praveen did last night and then had a sore belly he was so full!!
so lovely to be home, and we appreciate having plenty to do in the workshop
so off to another blistering day - kushi, kushi!

Valentine's Day

 Happy Valentine's Day...I hope yours was lovely....we worked together as usual. Had the odd melt down but generally a smooth and busy day getting things packed, counted, new stitch ideas played with and etc. Another big day at the workshop. Big excitment was sending off the first parcel of Zac's watts wright designs to a shop in Melbourne Australia. Yippee!! fingers crossed for us all.
Next plan for us is to start getting more items photographed and up on websites.


Our stuff is now relaibley good, Stitching Ladies are doing well....new skirts for Tasty Old Chooks just been given onto the ladies of Banseli village to work on....a bit of a sneak priview.
Nothing too challenging to stitch but important to follow the sample colour scheme. Focus needed. I know the Ladies can do it but here people need some encouragement to maintain focus and some jsut freak out at something new.

Comfortable a line skirt in heavy handloom. The great thing about the handloom is it breathes so this skirt will work well in summer with sandles or with a pair of leggings and boots be fabulous for winter.
Length is just below the knee...usually even if you have a big bum like me the calves are good....so I think this skirt will be flattering to women and set off with the right outfit a sharp looker.

Oh cooking....flattering thing happened yesterday- don't know what will come of it but I take it as a compliment. A TV company based in Mombai contacted us- they are working on a new show about travel and cooking and wondered if we might like to be featured. Sounds good need to find out more info of course.
So sat on the steps peeling peas last night day dreaming. Peeling peas always reminds me of my grandmother Charlton, the person I most like to emulate, my Nan. She always cooked with love and I learnt so much from her.
I have been doing a real big bout of research into dals or legume dishes of late. We eat mostly vegetarian becuase it tastes good, is easier- buying meat entails driving for more than an hour and it is also much healthier. In India the variety of driend legumes is astounding and each has quite a distinct flavour and texture so you are never bored thinking same old, same old.
Last night though it was fresh peas in the spot light, being winter time they are readily available [and much cheaper than last year by some miracle] and so delicious. At a pinch you could use frozen but nothing beats the 15 minutes peace and daydreaming of podding peas and nothing beats the sweet texture they have.
Here is a simple recipe to set them off. This is an Indian Andhra style recipe
Peas in a Yoghurt Sauce.
1. sizzle in a little oil

• 1 t cumin seeds
• 1 cm cinnamon stick
• 4 cloves
• 1 t husked urad dal [if you have it or red lentils]
• 1 t mustard seeds
• 5 black peppercorns

2. throw in pounded and gently fry off

• 3 or 4 garlic cloves
• few green chillies [to taste]
• 1 " ginger
• 2 finelyy chooped onions

3. add and let cook a little to soften everything

• 1 t red chilli powder
• 1/2 t tumeric
• 2 finely chopped tomaotes

4. add and gently cook until ready

• 1 and 1/2 cups fresh peas
• 1/2 cup yoghurt
• 1 t gir/sugar cake or palm sugar or brown sugar or white sugar
• perhaps a little water
• salt as needed

5. serve scattered with fresh corriander leaves.

a big yum to you :)!

home again

Ghana was great. lots of pics to sort....the new to do list seems endless.
Arrived home last night and did a Gourmet Indian Cooking Class for a group of 10...lot of fun
now officially exhausted and being lazy today....
it all starts in earnest tomorrow.
book, sun lounge and that is it today.

New stitching just in....simpler pieces for new ladies to practice on and boy have they nailed them!!
I am so happy with these. They are intended for bags but have such possibilities for other things as well.
happy days!

Indian food....

Indian food....is so yummy,

if you choose the right things it is so healthy....even the stuff that is fried is freshly made that day from fresh, fresh, fresh ingredients, fresh spices and lots of care and showmanship.

 Praveen and I were up in Delhi to do a visa thing for moe....last step to have residency proof, the man on the phone said it was really easy rock up between 10 and 12 drop off papers and then a stamp goes into your passport, pick up at 5.00pm that same day. SSSSSSSSSSSsssssoooooo easy it made me nervous and I asked about 5 times - are you sure that is all??
yes madame no problems and do you know I think it will be that easy once I do one little thing, make an on-line appointment to lodge those papers....ahhhh India!!! always something.
So Praveen and I abandoned that ship and went shopping and exploring for our business.
What fun, we have established clients so there were details we wanted to fill in on supplies for them and we are thinking about  designs for Tasty Clothes for Old Chooks...so we wanted to see what is around that we could add into our dreamings.....
First food,
we have just had lunch at the workshop- boy what a treat it is everyday. Everyone shares what is in their lunch box and we make fresh chapatitis to go with it...Papu is a particularly hungry fellow and he eyes off everyone opening up with glee to see what there is...with good cause we have been able to brag we have the best thali [Indian for mixed plate] in the country- some days 5 or 6 mouthwatering vegatables and dals to enjoy for lunch....last week was comical though, we have made bhindi [okra or ladies fingers you might know it as] and so had Papu's wife, and so had Shankar's wife and so had Padam's wife....yes a feast of bhindi.
Today it was the day of green chillis- Papu's wife makes an excellent stuffed green chilli, which I am trying to mimic, so my attempt was what I brought with us today, Papu had the original in his lunch box and Padam had a spiced green chill vegetable, three versions in one meal will certainly clear the sinuses and then there was a green chilli pickle.
We are all getting along very well at work but this is becoming a bit crazy.....
You know we have won a lot of browny points with the staff because we eat with them- most Indian bosses would not- they must be crazy, the chat is always fun and the variety of food is fabulous.

Photo above is a quick snack Praveen and I had whilst shopping in Delhi- this is Indian fast food at it's best. Paranthas [wholemeal flour freshly made breads stuffed with various vegetables] served with a variety of vegatable curries and chutneys. This comes from a famous little alley way in Old Delhi - Parantha Alley, the vegatables were as good as the paranthas- pumkin curry, potato and onion curry, mixed veg in a tomato sauce, and fresh mint chtney and the piece de resistance an imli [tamarind ]chutney with a slice of fresh banana floating in it. Scoop that up with a parantha filled with chopped green chillis and you are in heaven!!

 Then the rest of the day was as pleasing for us....I always use shell buttons on my clothes and have never seen them in India...so was feeling a little lost what to think of for buttons -yes I know there are millions of other options but shell buttons have always seemed so special to me- a little of the magic of listening in a sea shell somehow and discovering the sound of the sea....well as they say In India anything is possible and we found some! as well as all these interesting little dangly things we might add into the finish one one of our clients magical coats....

 fabulous little shop in Old Delhi's Chadni Chowk area....

Exhausted by the end of the day, blisters on our feet and mountains of satisfaction- learning our business and where to source things a little better every day.
Live away from a functioning Yellow Pages and you start to realise what a valuable resource that is- here we have to physically look for things and poke our noses into shops to see what they have....still doing it together is fun- cheers
off to see our Stitching Ladies now....new jackets will be ready to be assembled tomorrow- yeh!!

Bikaner and back....

Fabulous trip, such fun to be out exploring again, we just work and are at home if we are not racing off to Delhi for work....both Praveen and I had a pretty hard and miserable life before we met, now with our happy home and working together we are very happy and know we are blessed to have the experience and opportunities, so don't feel sad for us always saying work, work, work we really enjoy it because we share it.

Life is short you don't know what is around the corner,

enjoy every minute.

An unexpected treat driving along the road, this lady had the most beautiful jewellery, bangles all the way up her arms, huge silver anklets and a torq around her neck and an embroidered skirt with shisha

.....it is so rare to see those on village ladies these days I had Praveen chasing the motor bike for quite a few kilometres to get this close with out running them down....we are on open highway dodging trucks, cars and ox carts at the time!

 We were in Bikaner to meet the gentleman I am seated next to at the bottom of the  picture Ashok, he runs and NGO to support the work of village artisans and handweavers. This is his website- I think he explains himself quite well The 2 ladies further up in the picture [and yes I am very rude, I did not write their names down and have completely forgot them]
a mother and her newly married daughter travelled from about 100km out in the desert to meet us.
They live in small villages very close to the border which made it impossible for me a foreigner to just go visit...their families originally came from Pakisthan but after the war of 1971 were all Hindu people were thrown out, for many years they lived in camps until the government could find them land [well desert] out near the border.
About 1500 ladies still embroider in the traditional manner- many have a contract with Fabindia to do work on their clothes and others work for smaller vendors, isolation and lack of education makes it hard for the women to market their work themselves, but good people like Ashok, Fabindia and others' help keep them busy and an ancient tradition alive.

The stitching was beautiful as were the ladies, we could not help admiring them and their jewelery, It was a fair exchange as they could not help peeking at our student Kylie, they were discreetly wispering among themselves wondering if she was the famous movie star who was once Miss World.

 Spinning wool to weave

 Two of the weavers Jetaram-ji [whose house we were in] and Mullaram on the left.
These guys embody generations of fine craftmanship, but with the rather poor wages they can earn as weavers Mullaram is constantly thinking of leaving the profession and not having his children take it up.
Ashok pays Fairtrade prices for what he commisssions, but unfortunatley at the moment he can not move the volume they need to sell [and could produce] to live a reasonable life- you know food, kids to shool, healthcare, perhaps a TV.....mostly they have to sell to other dealers who push the prices right down.

 Kylie our student, a great person, as I was saying on Facebook where there are many more photos by the way...it really adds to oue status travelling with an entourage and then when you say she is our student it is like a big wow- so impressive.

 The kitchen

 samples of cotton handloom weaving from another village, fairly traded. We will be using this in one of our clients summer range.

 This scarf is beautiful can you see how fine the work is?....it would equal anything ytou would find in the very best shops- how do we make the links to those places so the ancient traditions and skills embodies in it have a chance to flower in the future?

I was most productive in the car on the loing drive making silk flowers for a clients wedding reception tableclothes- it is going to look like a room full of jewels.

and a wonderful dhaba we have found- the bbbeeesssstttt food. simple,spicy and delicious, nothing beats truckstops for the best food.

They made a wonderful raita so simple and delicios the perfect accompaniment to the dal and spicy veg.
Naugaur Raita

• sizzle some cumin seed and sliced green chilli in a little oil until nice and a little sort of chared on the chilli skins
• add a handfull of finely chopped mint
• stir through fresh yoghurt with a pinch of salt

simple and simply wonderful!
Have a great day