Cooking

Today, Wednesday, was Valentines day, but hardly anybody here took any note of it. My practice was a little rushed and afterwards I bought some pumpkin bread and almond butter. The Almond butter is Rs 175 for 200g, whereas peanut butter is Rs 60. There is also cashew nut butter for Rs 160, which I will try out too some time. Unfortunately though, I did not eat any of this, as I had made arrangements with Mayra and Jay to meet at Shakti house for breakfast. Service is very slow but food is good.
Over breakfast Mayra told me about the books Shantaram and The life of Pi, and we discussed all the things that will be happening over the next few days...

After breakfast there was an hour or two until we would meet again for cooking class, during which time I did my sanskrit homework. Licha also moved into the 3rd room, so now the flat is full and I have made some of my initial outlay of Rs 13,500 back, which I am happy about.
Yes, you read right... I attended a cooking class on Indian food :-). It was excellent. Tina explained the masala (spices) to us, why the north indian people are brawny (because that is where all the bread comes from - wheat is good for muscle tone) and south indian people are the brainy :-) That is what she said!!!
She then explained how curd (yhogurt) is made and then she showed us how to make paneer (cheese) with milk and lime. We all thought it would take hours, like curd, but within minutes we tasted warm cheese that had just seperated from the whey in the boiled milk. That was interesting.
She then started the palak paneer (spinach & cheese dish) and made stuffed eggplant, and we finished with roti / chapati. I actually made some chapati and paratha / prathi (same dough as roti, but square). That was fun.
The course was completed by us eating the food that was made and it was yummy :-).

Later it was time for my sanskrit and changing classes. We had a test today in which I fared very well considering I had not really studied... I think the next test will be a lot harder though!