This is the lovely place that we reached by the train adventures mentioned in the last post... worth it! I think it was my favorite day in India.
The resort where we stayed was absolutely breathtaking. 70 acres of coffee plantation with biking paths all around. The villas were lovely. It even had a park for the kids. Our nephew Elijah was a big hit in the kitchen. It's new, only a year old, so it's somewhat undiscovered. Props to my great husband for finding it!
Haven't managed to caption the photos, but in general:
- The lush, green mountain is Muliyangiri, the highest peak in our state, Karnataka (over 6,000ft). It was SO wonderful to hike and climb, to be out of the city and enjoy fresh air. Raju and Shae had a rock hurling contest atop one rise. You'd be surprised at who won. :) We were besieged by requests for our photos, as always. They were taken by someone who didn't know how to zoom out.
- The picture of Shae in a fetal position in an outdoor tub = killer hiding spot for hide-and-seek
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I don't know....the place looks a bit questionable. I'm not sure it would have made 6 stars.
The big question though is.....how was the coffee?
A belated response to you, Mark... the coffee was very good. Indian coffee is brewed like mud and then diluted with water. Different. But good.
More info: South Indian coffee is brewed with a metal device that resembles two cylindrical cups, one of which has a pierced bottom that nests into the top of the "tumbler" cup, leaving ample room underneath to receive the brewed coffee. The upper cup has two removable parts: a pierced pressing disc with a central stem handle, and a covering lid.
The upper cup is loaded with fresh ground coffee mixed with chicory (~2 tablespooons of mixture per serving). The grounds are gently compressed with the stemmed disc into a uniform layer across the cup's pierced bottom. With the press disc left in place, the upper cup is nested into the top of the tumbler and boiling water is poured inside. The lid is placed on top, and the device is left to slowly drip the brewed coffee into the bottom.
The resulting brew is very potent, and is traditionally consumed by adding 1-2 tablespoons to a cup of boiling milk with the preferred amount of sugar. The coffee is drunk from the tumbler (although a word of English origin, it seems to be the most commonly used name for this vessel), but is often cooled first with a dabarah - "daBbarah" (also pronounced in some regions as 'davarah'): a wide metal saucer with lipped walls.
Coffee is typically served after pouring back and forth between the dabarah and the tumbler in huge arc-like motions of the hand. This serves several purposes: mixing the ingredients (including sugar) thoroughly; cooling the hot coffee down to a sipping temperature; and most importantly, aerating the mix without introducing extra water (such as with a steam wand used for frothing cappucinos).
Post a Comment