Chai etc

The first time i ever made chai (spiced &

Rajasthan chai

milky indian tea), was for about 40 people on my first night in San Francisco.  So last weekend making 20 litres (5 gallons) of chai i knew what i was getting myself into...a lot of fun!

My friends, Kamille & Satchi run the local Asian restaurant (GaspAsia).  They're  into community events...like organising a get together each month where people can experience tastes from around the world.  Knowing that i love cooking Indian food, they asked me to help out.

palak paneer, a turban & a pinny!

We cooked in the local college canteen kitchen, which was fantastic because it's set-up for cooking en-mass.  We made: South indian pumpkin curry, Spicy mashed eggplant, Palak Paneer (which was actually palak/spinach & parmesan cubes, as getting paneer round here ain't easy), a Dhal (lentil dish), Raitha (a yogurt tzatziki thing).  And of course chai.  

Kamille was kind enough to 'volunteer' to squeeze all the bitter juices out of the aubergine #bossychef

We got a projector so i could show photos on a big screen!

i gave a presentation on chai culture in India & showed some photos from my time there (i put a selection on Antoine's photo site, link at the bottom). 24 people ate & everyone seemed really happy with the meal...although, as always, people filled up on chai first!
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We also had the pre-

OEil-de-Mère Crew

premier of our short film.  It was great to see the finished result.  Incredible how much work it takes to make a 10 minute film.  Because we're going to enter it into festivals, it won't be available online for a while.  But you can see the trailer here (with rough sound, i need to do a re-edit from the movie footage but can't figure out how to upload the DVD onto final cut - any ideas???)  vimeo.com/lovethrualens/odm-trailer 


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Yesterday i sat outside the yurt in the drizzle.  After almost 2 weeks of continuous sunshine, i was surprised and confused as the familiar Scottish weather descended.  It has dripped, drizzled & poured for 3 days now.  i love the sound it makes on the yurt.  The sound of camping in Scotland!  It was also a great excuse for lighting the first fire in about a month.  i sat outside in the rain (well, under a tree) and wrote in my journal.  Eventually the page was just too wet and the words were trickling more than forming letters.

As i was sitting there a little creature kept appearing by my feet, squeaking loudly & in annoyance and fleeing.  It did this 3 times.  i called 'Dodo Rouge'???  But i don't think that it was my favourite squirrel.  i like to think he wouldn't have run so quickly.  It was so fast, that it was tough to say whether the blur was a squirrel or mouse.  i named it 'Dodo Vite' (Dodo Quick).  

i did call Dodo Rouge earlier in the week, when i was putting out crumbs, and a while later heard a squirrel calling from some nearby trees.  i like to think that he was telling me that all's good, it was just time for him to leave the nest.

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We had our weekly meditation at the yurt. (photo by Johanie Bolduc)

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A selection of my photos from India...