I’m still alive

March 30, 2016 • 12:00 pm

I have been out and about with no Internet, and that will continue tomorrow. I’m back in Bhubaneswar for one night before we head out for Crocodile City and Turtle Beach tomorrow, so will quickly post some photos.

At the Temple of the Sun at Konarak, I made friends with a calf; it shows some red dye for Holi (even the animals get colored!). Cows really are sacred here; it’s highly illegal to kill one, although there are exceptions in some states. Almost nobody in the entire country eats beef, though water buffalos don’t count as cows.

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Lunch yesterday started with baked paneer (Indian cheese) with onions, mint, and pepper:

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Main course: Hyderabadi chicken biryani; excellent!

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And raita to accompany the biryani, of course.

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An amorous couple at Konarak, stealing a quiet moment:

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More pictures of noms, people, and temples in the next few days!

44 thoughts on “I’m still alive”

  2. Does your safe space serve hyderabadi chicken biryani, and if it does, can I come too? It looks delicious.

  4. It appears Jerry is having a very serious conversation with the cow. Surely it is way over my head.

  5. Is the woman wearing a fancy purple hat? I want to say she is carrying an umbrella, but her hands seem to be free in the picture.

    Would you please consider bringing along a loyal reader like me for your next trip?
    🙂

        1. Jeez, I thought it was the man’s left hand covering his own mouth so his words could not be read.

  6. Now I have an ear worm and a hard to shake image of Jerry rocking out on stage with Eddie Vedder.

  8. Do they milk the cows? I think paneer is made with cow’s milk, no?

    Lovely noms. Indian food is so satisfying.

    Have fun herping tomorrow!

    1. I like that better – I see people do a double take when they see the words “missionary position” in my book case!

      1. And, speaking as a ‘Murican, especially so if you know the typical British use of “cow” (when not referring to actual female bovines).

        1. “Mad Cow Disease” was a disease which spread rapidly in Britain in the period of Thatcher’s Prime Ministership.
          May she rot in a particularly fetid hell.

  10. Glad to hear that you are alive and well! By the way, you had posted the trailer for “God’s Not Dead 2” a while back. Well, our local free weekly here got me to review the movie for them. Here’s a sample:

    “It helps to think of the “God’s Not Dead” film series as essentially “The Vagina Monologues” for evangelical Christians. Here in the United States, Eve Ensler and other writers and activists have long worked to get women to talk openly about their bodies, using that v-word that causes so much cultural discomfort. Well, in the world of “God’s Not Dead 2,” respectable people simply don’t say the g-word in public, don’t talk openly about their God or their Jesus or their Savior — whatever you want to call it. So when high school history teacher Grace Wesley (Melissa Joan Hart) fields an innocent question about her God from a student and dares to answer it openly, without employing any cute little euphemism, school officials are naturally scandalized and threaten to discipline her. But Grace is not ashamed of her God. Her God is beautiful. Her God is powerful. Most importantly, her God is not a dry, dusty, dead thing. Her God is vibrant and alive, and she’s going to court to show the world that her God can take all the thrusts and jabs from these hateful men and come back for more.”

    If you want, you can read the rest here: http://www.arktimes.com/arkansas/we-watched-gods-not-dead-2-so-you-wouldnt-have-to/Content?oid=4345912

  11. I really like the photo with the cow! More than all the other pictures, it makes me feel vicariously like I’m on holiday.

      1. I’ve had excellent biryani and very dry biryani. I’d maybe cook the chicken for a little less time than this recipe calla for before cooking it with the rice. In fact, I’d probably just brown the chicken in the spices and then do most all of its cooking in the stock with the rice. I hate dried-out, over-cooked meat.

          1. Yes, most def legs! I used to date an Indian guy and I think he just marinated the chicken in the spices and yoghurt for a few hours and then cooked it with the rice and stock. I might add an intermediate step of browning the meat. Not sure why I’ve never cooked biryani myself – yet. I might even experiment with a small batch in my small rice cooker.

        1. Not very tricky. Just marinate the chicken in the spices and yoghurt and then either brown the chicken, or, skipping this step, throw the chicken, rice, and stock together and cook. Yum!

  13. So do water buffalo fulfil the same dietary role for Hindus as fish do for Catholics on Friday?

  14. Cows really are sacred here; it’s highly illegal to kill one, although there are exceptions in some states.

    I wonder if Indian politics has a cousin of the abortion debate, over humanitarian euthanasia of old/ injured/ diseased cattle.

    1. That recipe looks great! I think I’ll try this one instead of the one I posted above. Of course, I’ll use aluminum foil instead of the tea towel…. the latter would likely go up in flames in my kitchen!
      (from the recipe —
      “If you do not like to use a cloth for trapping the steam or dum, you can use dough to seal the lid of the utensil, but cleaning up the mess is difficult. An aluminium foil too works ok.”)

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