iron chefs in the making

we just discovered a fun easy little snack to make. it is called "peecha pudi" (i think it is translated as flour that is pinched). it is a snack that my mom's mom used to make for them after school. it is a mixture of rice flour, coconut and water with a little sugar, and then steamed. mahala and noble had fun making it! i think this may be a our new favorite activity when we get home.

mahala's favorite part

we asked mahala what her favorite part of our trip has been so far. i thought she was going to say the elephants, but she said it was riding the auto rickshaw (three wheeled taxi vehicles-you can see them in the photo). i guess she is really enjoying life without car seats! we took one to go shopping-she rode on the end one time but it was "too dusty" but she really enjoyed sitting in the middle. that way she got to enjoy the bumps and the view without having dirt blown in her face.

kerala backwaters

kerala is known for its beautiful "backwaters". kochi (the city where my parents live) in particular has many waterways that weave in and out around islands that make up the greater kochi area. not exactly venice but beautiful in its own right! we took a boat ride this morning and saw many small canoes with fisherman aboard and even some men diving in the water to catch fish by hand..











the backwaters are lined with coconut trees and homes as well as the chinese fishing nets.

india part two

mahala and quinn got to dress up today for a big party we had here for my uncles and aunts and their families. we also celebrated my dad's 70th birthday. from an outline put together by seens and i, douglas wrote a wonderful script for our skit about my dad's life-it was amusing mostly because mahala and quinn acted out parts of the skit. (noble unfortunately had to back out because he had a fever). we are not so sure the that our humor translated, but it seemed like everyone enjoyed themselves.












douglas was decked out in a jubha and munda. i also had the chance to finally wear my wedding sari...almost 8 years later. needless to say, i needed to let it out a bit! but according to many relatives, i have "gained weight and look much better" - honestly, this has been said to me more often than anything. indians consider it as a compliment. americans consider it the time to call jenny craig.












yesterday we went shopping and scored at a great new store called
"fabindia". all i can say is that cochin needed a hip place like this! noble and mahala were treated to many new outfits on behalf of ammamma and appappan. douglas could not come with us so we are going to take him next week and hopefully get him to look like the next model for indian gq.

india part one

we went to my aunt's house where my aunt lives with my cousin and his wife. we toured their land with rice paddies, banana trees, pepper plants, jasmine plants and coconut trees, enjoyed some coconut juice and flesh. here is mahala walking in the rice paddy.












then the kids got to play around with water, rocks and coconuts. mahala and quinn spent most of the time washing rocks and coconuts. noble liked moving the pails around!












quinn and mahala holding coconut husks.

one daddy elephant and two babies came to visit after breakfast. mahala and i got to hop up on top of the daddy and then we were able to feed all of them some bananas, pineapples and molasses biscuits. noble was a bit frightened at first but had some time to enjoy them and feed them too. it was a fast visit because the elephant keepers were only supposed to be taking the elephants for a walk-not going to visit foreigners!

we then ate a wonderful lunch on banana leaves in traditional style!

noble on line 1