Shopping makes me feel good!

It's heating up in Delhi so stay in airconditioning right..... not me, I've been to Sharma Farm.... Sharma Farm is h-o-t (temperature that is). S loved shopping for outdoor furniture in 42 degree heat. I think she loved it about as much as the woman at the shop who had to serve me in that heat. I have never seen a shop assistant look more disinterested.

I went there in search of a brass bowl (urli) for our entrance. Unfortunately the brass bowls were either designed for the lobby of a massive hotel or as a cereal bowl, nothing at all in the medium size. So being flexible and versatile I shifted my attention to the lovely stone lotus bowls. SOLD! It is super heavy but makes a really nice addition to the house. I plan on filling it with floating candles and marigolds to spruce the place up a bit.

Also from Sharma Farm  is my new mirror which takes pride of place in our entrance hall.

One place that is air-conditioned and a much more suitable place to be shopping in this heat is Good Earth in Khan Market. Possibly my favourite place to go when I need a little respite. Two floors of divine homewares, toiletries, babyware, jewellery, clothing, cushions and throw rugs and a third floor which is home to Latitude cafe. In Good Earth I purchased some lovely (expensive) coffee mugs and cushions for our couches.

Other things recently purchased on a trip to Hauz Khas was this tea tray - yes I know own a tea tray - they are actually quite handy.

And this is just a picture of my new mate who every week, without fail, appears at my side ready to carry my groceries when I rock up to Sarojini to do my fruit and vege shopping.

C x

Viceroys XI

On a hot Delhi afternoon S and I went out to Guru Gobind Singh College in Pitampura to watch T play in the launch match for their new club. This club sees players from Australia, England and the USA join forces to defeat other amateur cricket clubs around Delhi.

After quite a long and dusty drive we arrived a nice oval which already had a number of enthusiastic young Indian kids testing out their skills in the nets. Our old boys were limbering up or just resting up in the beautifully adorned tent.

The other team won the toss and elected to bowl. This was a very curious decision given the extreme heat but good on them they got out there and fielded in the heat.

Our team, the Viceroys, sent their first two batsmen out to overwhelming applause from the tent and they took their positions in the middle. Poor blokes - so hot!!! Unfortunately the first injury was early in the game and one of the team will soon be losing his toenail - ouch. So he retired and the next batsmen went in. Viceroys have a very strong batting line up and got a grand total of 231 off 20 overs.

The other team were no match for our supreme cricketers and were all out for 210.

First round victory to the Viceroys XI. Well done boys!

#Firstworldproblems

So the last two weeks have seen a number of issues thrown my way and it is time to get them off my chest. I don't care if no one reads this, this post is for my own sanity.

Here is a list of my 'first world problems' in a third world land. Yes.... I do also realise there are so many people ALOT worse off than me so I am keeping all of these gripes in perspective. They aren't serious, this I know.

1. Washing machine stuff up. T and I went to Big Bazaar (a bit like Big W) and bought a you beaut front loading washing machine, as our old one is eating holes in my t-shirts. We took our receipt and awaited delivery on Sunday (as had been promised). Sunday, of course, came and went no washing machine so I called the store.... 35 times.... nothing, no resolution then finally (as language barrier was the main issue) an Indian friend of ours called them and - washing machine arrives. Then washing machine is too big for the frigging space. OK everyone always measure the space you have for your washing machine/dishwasher/dryer etc.... as it is a real nightmare to swap them over.

As the phone calls had not worked previously I decided to head out to BB to sort out the problem first hand. Possibly the most frustrating experience I have ever ever had. Two hours in the store, listening to the same song on loop (2010 World Cup theme song) discussing the in and outs of exchange, refunds, vouchers, no I won't be spending the difference today, yes I want that one, no this one is too big, talk to my husband..... two hours...... finally I threw my toys and asked for all my receipts back and went to leave the store and then a resolution - woo hoo. The new machine would be delivered on Sunday with a refund. Thank you that is all I wanted.

Sunday came and went ... no washing machine

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday and so on.......

The next Saturday - YES - delivery! We had our new machine.

So on Sunday T went to install it, done this before shouldn't be an issue and there wouldn't have been if the taps that provide water to the washing machine were capable of turning off. They aren't, so water went everywhere - all over the roof, the floor, T, everywhere. We couldn't find the mains either so then the issue was getting the hose back into the old washing machine and getting a 'professional' in on Monday.

Ahhh Monday it was sorted and the drama concluded. Washing machine works.

2. Computer dies
Our laptop has carked it, apparently can not be recovered and therefore all photos, music etc... are history, gone, kaboosh. *tears*. Our childs first year has vanished, thank god for Facebook.

3. Regular market shopping trip done and come home and drop a shopping bag that contains 6 eggs and a jar of honey. All of these items are splattered on the kitchen floor and I attempt to mop it up before my one year old rolls in a pile of honey and raw eggs. She thinks it's hilarious!

4. I smash 2 new drinking glasses

5. My poor ayah's father passed away so she has gone home for one month - I miss her and her excellent babysitting ability. I think S misses her too as she watches her Mum unravel.

6. I bought lamps whose wires need to be twisted together in order to make them work. The cord the runs from the light globe to the power socket has been fair cut in half. It's ridiculous and dangerous.

7. Our brand new treadmill broke down and the engine disappeared last week with the promise of it coming back the next day..... it isn't back yet. I have been promised it will be here tomorrow.

8. Our childs nappy appears to currently be an optional extra for her, our new Indian carpets are suffering the consequences.

9. Our yoga teacher has left so no more yoga :( Currently on the search for a new teacher.

To balance things up a little bit here are some good things that happened.

• I joined the Italian Cultural Centre and they have delicious wood fired pizzas, pastas and good coffee.
• the weekend was beautiful and cool in Delhi and it was a lovely change from recent hot hot hot days.
• we have a really lovely driver and a beautiful cook helping us out at home - so grateful for these lovely people.
• today I found real milk - TRUmilk - it is cold and has been pasteurised and is delicious. No more UHT for us!
• I made some friends at the fruit and vege section of Sarojini market and they tried to teach me Hindi. I provided alot of amusement for alot of people, it was pretty funny.
• I didn't go to paid work :)
• I played tennis against T and only lost 7-6

So all in all life is obviously not a complete disaster .... xxx

PS I just spilt pasta sauce on my white skirt....... breathe......

The last couple of weeks in my world.

It's been a little while since I posted  so I thought I'd put together a bit of a summary. The days are getting very hot, I think today was a 'beautiful' 44 degrees. But it's fine, we're lucky we have AC pretty much everywhere we go and not subjected to the elements for too long.

So the last couple of weeks.....  We got a car and a driver - excitement plus!!!! We also have S in a safe car seat which is a bit of a relief. She loves it too and feels quite grown up and gets a good view of the people that come and tap on her window at the traffic lights.

I have been out and about a bit, had lunch at Amici in Khan Market with a few girlfriends. Amici is a nice little Italian place and had a lovely pasta with chorizo. Weirdly half of the table got their lime sodas in plastic glasses while the other half got glass. Probably a good idea I got plastic as I am quite clumsy but others found it odd. The poor waiter was at a loss as to explain why this had happened.

S and I have had a couple of playgroups which is great fun, there are so many little kids here for S to play with, although at the moment S just sits and watches. Today we hosted a little girls birthday party which was full of tears, cake and too much sugar. It was fun! S has taken to dancing.... unfortunately she has really found her rhythm to the Pope Song by Tim Minchin which I probably shouldn't be playing to young ears (warning about the language in this clip)

Saturday we spent most of the day in the pool after I'd played tennis - soooooo nice. Our friend has a coffee machine and we have discovered you can get real milk in Delhi - thank you Tru Milk (YEHAR!!!!!).

That night T and I headed off to a party at Olive Bar in Mehrauli. It was a brilliant night, good tunes, bottomless cosmos and great wood fired pizzas. Obviously got a bit messy but it was so nice to be up on the rooftop on a hot summers night drinking cocktails with our new buddies. Sunday (Mother's Day) was a day of eating pancakes, swimming and recovery..... it was a very long day and we loved every few hours when S needed her day sleeps! As a special mothers day treat I slept in until 9.30am, I can't remember the last time I did that.

Unfortunately while all this was going on my ayahs dad wasn't well so she had to go back to Nepal for a few days. It's amazing how used you get to having someone around to help with the baby and how much you miss them when they aren't there. So without an ayah S has been my wingman on all our outings. Shopping with a baby in a market with no trolley, lots of stairs and trying to carry a basket is quite tricky.

Monday S and I battled Sarojini for fruit and vege, it was hot, very hot. Flies were about to carry away the vege stand and I was a little bit flustered. S was obviously attracting attention and I turned around from asking for a kilo of potatoes I saw a man's arm around S's shoulder talking to her. It was a bit strange.... then he scooted off into the crowd when I made eye contact. After ordering my fruit and vege a boy of say 6 years offered to carry my things to the car for Rs20 - done! So there I was following a 6 year old boy with all my goods through the crowds to my car for the equivalent of about 50c.

On getting back to the car we saw a whole shop sitting on the back of a truck and about 60 men following down the road. My driver explained they didn't have a permit for the shop and it was getting taken away - sign, tables, goods everything! Some things are done very efficiently.

Other things that are happening - our yoga teacher leaves Indian shores this week so we have to find a new one, I've taken up tennis (great sport on a 40 degree day) and I have been going to a few 'pot luck lunches' which have been lovely.

On the down side our AC has started leaking water everywhere and causing a fair bit of damage to the skirting boards. I called the guy to repair it and he came to the house had a look and said 'Ok no problem tomorrow I will bring you a bucket'. Brilliant.

Smokehouse grill

Last Saturday night six of us headed to the Smokehouse Grill in GKII for drinks and dinner. I had been tempted to try the Smokehouse as I'd heard about the in-house smoker, the delicious cocktails and fine DJ. We booked a table in the lounge at 8pm and in true Delhi style we were the only ones there at this ridiculously early hour, well at least four of us were there to enjoy the watermelon martini (yum!) while our other two guests got a little lost in the world of Greater Kailash (there's GKI and GKII). We were the only diners in the lounge, but we were happy, at this hour most of the guests were heading up to the dining room to eat. Next time we might do that but to be honest we were very happy in the lounge and had a good seat for later on in the evening.




Watermelon martini....yes please



So when we had our full compliment of diners we ordered a very average 2005 sav blanc..... and some delicious entrees - fried artichokes and beetroot ravioli. Both of these were really lovely, the beetroot ravioli was tiny but full of flavour and surprisingly good. The artichoke were fantastic.



Artichokes



As I thought we might, we recovered from the bad white and moved onto a nice Sangiovese and some really beautiful mains. Most of us decided the steak looked too good to miss. I haven't had a steak for a very long time and this steak was superb! Cooked to medium rare perfection and covered in two generous slices of Camembert. The serving was super generous and I couldn't finish my meal even though it was so good, not to worry T happily polished it off. The sides were also very generous - I remember that much - what they were I couldn't tell you.... to much sangiovese perhaps.  I know there was a potato dish ......I suppose this really means we didn't really need the sides, the mains were plenty.



My deliciously delicious steak



Once we had finished our mains we sat back for awhile watched the crowd and enjoyed the wine and then had desserts, I ordered a tiramisu. It was a modern take on the classic and looked beautiful and tasted just as good. Freshly prepared it had individual sponge fingers stacked like a jenga game held together by delicious coffee cream.  Then more red wine......

By this time the bar area was full of the young sexy things of Delhi (about 11pm). It was packed, the DJ was cranking up for a big night and it was a really fun place to be. Unfortunately not being part of the 'young' set anymore we took ourselves home around 12.30pm but the party was only just getting started.



Party set



Visit Smokehouse Grill



Crazy driving with a bit of night market

Saturday night in North Goa is all about the Arpora night market, so we thought we would get S a babysitter and head down to see what all the fuss was about.

First we had to get there ..... and we nearly didn't. Our taxi driver was a crazy man and had terrible/amusing taste in music. As soon as we got in the car James Blunt's 'Your beautiful' was blaring out of the stereo system. This hideousness was nearly over but we had to pull into a servo to fill up with fuel. Once we'd done that and the engine was turned back on... yes we started back at the beginning again of 'You're beautiful'. I thought this was bad until the follow up song was by none other than teen heart throb Justin Beiber - I don't even know how I knew this. We then moved onto Punjabi techno and trance.... it was painful!!! It was so loud and pretty intense as we ducked and weaved through traffic and came head to head with massive trucks.

He then proceeded to yell that drugs were becoming a problem in Goa..... isn't that interesting he said as trance music filled the background. I can't help feeling he was gauging our interest level. We continued ....high beams from other cars burned my retinas and we attempted to smash the land speed record until we reached the inevitable speed bump where we came to a screeching halt.

Anyway we did get there. This market could have been anywhere in the world - tourists from all over the world. We had a wander around and tried to find some things to buy but didn't have a lot of luck - there was heaps to buy and everyone else was having more success than us. One of my searches was for shoes but unfortunately I had no luck.

Given the reasonably close proximity to their homeland their were lots of Europeans enjoying themselves in Goa and someone, somewhere was selling them Ed Hardy t-shirts cheap, nearly every man had one on....and all of them had seen a bit too much sun and if they wanted a little slice of home they could drink beer and watch the football with their fellow countrymen.

As expected Goa paid tribute to hippie land... lots of people dancing in spirals with their face looking to the sky for inspiration or paying Rs 50 to have their glimpse of outer space.

This market was massive, there were rows and rows and rows of different things for sale - sarongs, shoes, Om t-shirts, Bob Marley t-shirts, bangles, bags and bracelets....... 

Then there was the food. You could have eaten Russian, Polish, Mexican, Indian, Italian... there was plenty on offer. T had the tandoori chicken which he thoroughly enjoyed.

and I had one of the best wood fired fungi pizzas I have had in a long time. It was delicious!

So in the end it was a market...... Goa would be loving it though and doing pretty well out of all these people coming down and spending up big and good on them - everyone was having a really good time.

But my highlight was probably getting back in our taxi and the brilliant music and death defying acts of the journey home. I have never heard the particular Man U song that was on in the car but it was hilarious and certainly helped distract our attention from his driving.