What Chef Rustled Up

To my complete surprise it wasn't just one chef that turned up...but 4!!

My kitchen descended into what looked like chaos but was probably well organised as they set to work on our 'trial run' . From the shopping list and a few other things raided from my fridge and store cupboard they came up with the following...




For the kids - fish fingers, vegetable rissoles and sandwiches(Do I look THAT hopeless!)

For us - a large quantity of the most delicious Dahl, yummy chicken curry, a ton of rice pilaf, pan fried fillet of beef with spinach and mushroom salad, herb breaded lamb chops with mashed potato and Chicken Tikka....err also there is a container of cashew nut paste that I'm not sure what I should do with! The only dish that we're not quite sure of was their version of Chicken Strogonoff....it's very green, like pea green which I think is lots of spinach, thick ,and well, it doesn't have any cream or yoghurt, mushrooms or the merest hint of nutmeg in it. We will reserve judgement and try it again!

DS and his Very Best Friend 'Mr Fixit' watching everyone hard at work

Only one problem, chefs being chefs wherever in the world they may be... don't do washing up. I was left with every single pan, baking sheet, roasting tin, saucepan, frying pan I own...and oh yes (how could I forget!)after they left and the floor had been mopped for the upteenth time we realised that the drain had got blocked up by all the remnants of their chopping and preparations and water started pouring out of the cupboard under the sink! My Mr Fix-it, Kumar...fixed it with the help of the guards, thank goodness and eventually normality was restored. The kids had fish fingers and rissoles for dinner and we had curry, dahl and rice. The freezer is stocked. Now we have to talk terms.

Indian Cooking in my Kitchen

not by me, not yet anyway.

While here we decided that we really want to sample South Indian cuisine, lack of babysitters prevents us from getting out to sample as much as we'd like and the kids would not thank us for taking them anywhere unless they could just eat plain rice and chappati.

So Mr Fixit, Kumar, has arranged for his very best friend, who happens to be a chef at one of the big posh hotels to come to our house to do a trial, if it goes OK he may come here each week to prepare dishes that we can store or freeze. He will also make European dishes for us if we want - that could free up some of my time spent in the kitchen, where the endless washing, sterilising and preparation of anything fresh is a bit of a chore and bores DS to bits!

So, tomorrow he comes. The only critera I have specificed is low fat, low salt. I have spent this morning criss-crossing the city in search of all the ingredients on his shopping list and am really intrigued as to what he is going to rustle up, here's the list...
2kg chicken, 1kg of Sear fish fillet, 1kg lamb chops, 15 eggs , 100g green chillis , 2kg onions, 500g beans, 20 lemons, 2kg potatoes, 5 leeks, assorted peppers, coriander, alot of garlic, ginger & garlic paste, 1kg spinach, 1 litre of cream, 1kg basmati rice, 5 loafs of bread, cashew nuts, 1kg moong dahl, 2 kg maitha flour...and a whole raft of spices and herbs.

Will let you know what he magic's up!

Auto Rickshaw Rage

The weather has been wet again this week and one afternoon both the kids and I were climbing the walls. On the spur of the moment I decided to bundle us all into the car and sample a children's play centre for the first time which is located nearby.

Kumar said he would return to the house to finish some jobs and I told him we'd only be about an hour, 'OK Madam phone me'.

As he drove off splashing through the puddles it dawned on me that in my rush to get out I had actually left my phone at the house. Oh well, I thought he'll probably return in good time...only he didn't. The play centre was OK as these places go in India but DS needed watching like a hawk - doesn't he always!

After 50minutes, one of the staff came up to me and told me that we had to leave as we'd only paid for the hour, OK but the hour's not quite up yet! 10 minutes later I take the kids upstairs to wait by the door and look out for Kumar, only it was a little hard keeping them out of the play area now that they knew it was there and much frowning from the staff followed. I tried to explain that I had left my phone and was waiting for our driver to return but they weren't impressed. Half an hour later after DS has gone into meltdown, dinner is spoiling in the oven at home and even more stony stares from the jobsworth staff I decided my only option was to try and get an Auto-Rickshaw to take us back. Knowing I was about to get ripped off big time for the fare I enlisted the help of the only soft faced and helpful member of staff to get one, and bless her, she dashed off into the rain to hail one and agreed a price of 30rps. One of the other jobsworths tries to get me to pay another 300rps! What? For standing by the front door?! Perhaps she'd rather we had stood out in the rain.

Just as we bundle outside, Kumar arrives looking worried. 'Madam you left your phone?' Yeah, yeah, I know! I explain my brave attempt to get home and give him 20rps to give the Rickshaw driver for the HUGE inconvenience of pulling over his vehicle, who by this time has caught sight of us and obviously sees a meal ticket disappearing before his eyes....And. He. Goes. Ballistic! Kumar literally throws me and the kids into the car locking the doors, meanwhile the Mad Rickshaw driver has now turned on the kindly girl who'd helped me. I felt so bad, even the 20rps wasn't going to appease him.

Moral of the story...NEVER leave home without a phone. Put a list of emergency numbers in purse and don't try and have bright ideas!

Sounds From Home

Along came our broadband internet and so did the wonder and JOY of internet radio.

How fantastic it was to tune into Smooth FM again and listen to some great tunes that evoke great memories and music that lifts your spirit. News and weather, even traffic reports that mean almost nothing now, but I do feel your pain! I suppose they are hardly going to tell you all about the Auto-Rickshaw that has broken down on Anna Salai or the HUGE puddle in Kotturpuram that is making everyone late for school and is causing the whole city of Chennai to gridlock, but just listening makes you all feel not so far away! Granted in the UK I listened to the West Mids station ...but the London version is not bad either and over the years I've listened to all the Smooth FM DJ's in one guise or one station or another.

So over happy was I, that I did something that I've always wanted to do but never had the courage to do....don't know why, it was so easy....I sent in an email and within minutes Lynn Parsons gave us a mention, to you guys, from us. All the way from Chennai.....Ah the wonders of the Tinternet oojamflip thing! Hope you heard it?! Feeling happy happy this evening, with lifted spirit!

Still listening....

"Ooooh , let me tell you now, when I had you to myself I didn't want you around....oh baby give me one more chance...I want you back...ooh ooh baby....all I need...all I want...baby, baby etc etc
(they can sing alot faster than I can type, OK? So a Prize to the first person who can tell me what song that was!)

2nd prize for this one...
"Life is a mystery, everyone must stand alone, I hear you call my name and it feels like home, when you call my name it's like a little... it's like a dream to me, oh yeah...

Still listening *sigh* but cut the Xmas adverts, because it's too warm for Xmas, Xmas feels like a year away and sorry to you people stuck on Holland Park Avenue due to a burst water main, you'll get home eventually.

Night Time Fun & Frolicks

The State of Tamil Nadu needs 12000 mega watts of electricity per day but only 9500 mega watts are actually available, therefore there are alot of 'enforced' power cuts. These are more frequent and last longer the further you are from the city, in some rural areas they have cuts for up to 8 hours per day. So far, we have been relatively unaffected but this week the government announced that the City would now have power cuts for 2 hours per day. Many properties have back-up generators as do we, which sense a power cut and cut in after a minute after loss of power. Well, they do if they're full of diesel and the battery hasn't gone flat.

The power went out one night last week at 11pm, just as we'd gone to bed, we waited but the generator didn't do its stuff. DH went out to check it and as he stepped outside he was greeted by the Guards, 'big problem Sir, generator not started', DH thinks 'No sh** Sherlock', and goes to investigate. He finds the battery flat and thinks it best to leave it until the morning...until I remind him we have a freezer with a meat delivery in it, so he goes back outside to try and start the generator with the battery from the car, he removes it and installs it on the generator, with the help of the three guards, DH describes their help as like having three toddlers around him trying to help but making the job 10x harder.

The generator would now crank over but it would not start so DH then suggests to the guards that the generator has run out of fuel, 'No Sir Plenty of Fuel'. He was having none of it so eventually the guards show him the fuel gauge, 'Ahhhh (lightbulb moment) big problem. Empty Sir'.

So, then began the great fuel hunt, unfortunately the car which was suitable for the job was the car he had removed the battery from, so he went through the painful exercise of reinstalling the battery and he then got into the car to go and fetch the fuel. To his amazement all three guards clambered into the car, two of them trying their level best to squeeze themselves into the kids car seats. Getting ever more exasperated DH asked, 'Do I really need three guards to fetch fuel? Who is going to stay behind and guard the house which is in complete darkness with Madam and the children inside?' Blank faces. He resorts to a more direct approach, 'OI, YOU TWO OUT'.

After trailing around Chennai for fuel, as it turns out that most fuel stations shut at 11.30pm, he finally returns with some diesel (are you bored yet?) Then had to do some technical thing to the engine 'bleed the air out of the fuel injection system', means nothing to me, but it was apparently another painful exercise with the hindrance of the guards. Once again he removed the battery from the car and installed it on the generator, and hey presto we had power, not that I knew about it as I'd fallen asleep ages ago, (as you may have also done by now) he then reinstalled the battery on the car for the morning so that we could get to school, and he finally came inside at 1am and unfortunately for him he was back up at 5.30am for work. Our food stayed frozen and the power didn't return until 8am, so I guess that marrying a person who grew up repairing tractors on a farm has BIG advantages!

Maid In India

Excuse the naff title, I'm feeling a little 'naff' myself!

I have mentioned that I had a bad week, well Jayanthi (aka Mary) contributed big time to my woes.

She asked for her salary last Friday, I thought DH must have forgotten pay day, so I shelled out without checking. Big mistake, as it turns out we have actually been paying her in advance, this was so that we could secure her to work for us from another family who were leaving before we arrived in Chennai.

On Monday morning, Pushpa, our second maid was due to start work and I was looking forward to finally getting the house straight this week with 2 staff to help, and she dutifully arrived in good time. I returned from the school run to find Pushpa alone and no Jayanthi. No phonecall, no nothing, so I wait until 10.30am and then try to contact her. No joy. I ask Kumar to call the number we have and he has some sort of luck and gabbles away in Tamil to someone and then informs me that 'Jayanthi, she is sick madam'. Oh OK then fair enough, a phonecall would have been nice though.

Tuesday morning, still no sign, still no phonecall so I ask Kumar to call again 'Still sick madam, going to hospital for blood test', OK fair enough, but please ask her to keep us informed.

Wednesday, still no sign and I'm told that a woman turns up at the gate asking for a job because, 'Jayanthi not coming back'...???? Panic. OMG why not? Are we horrible? Have we treated her badly in some way...she kept telling me how happy she was to work here and how she enjoyed the children - very confused.

Kumar calls again and is told there is a 'big family problem' he immediately places his bet on a new job and doesn't beleive a word of it.

Wednesday evening, DH decides to pay her a visit to see if there has been a misunderstanding or something and the story we get is that she lost her house when the Tsunami hit and the government gave her a house that is 16km away, so she decided to stay with her family in Chennai where the work is, now the government are threatening to repossess the house, which she can't afford to let them do and has to go away to live in the house.

Kumar still doesn't beleive a word of it, 'Madam, she is a widow, 2 children, she has to work, she needs money. She has another job and I will find out where.' OK Kumar, and when you do, let us know becasue she owes us a months salary!

Anyway, that's the jist of it, there were other factors in this including her sister who was not actually able to 'swear on the bible' when asked to confirm that she didn't have another job. Woman at the Gate returning again to chance her luck with more hearsay.

Pushpa has stayed the week. She is very good with the children and loves playing with them, more so than doing the housework, but everything has been so much at sixes and sevens this week I haven't complained - yet.

Postscript - A few hours later, we have it confirmed that she does indeed have a new job. What a palava and a sack full of untruths!

Finally,,,

WE HAVE WIRELESS BROADBAND AND A TELEPHONE!! WOO HOO

Such very good news after a challenging week. Just when you think things are settling down and you're finding your feet, the rug gets pulled from under your feet.

As things go in India I am certain that my week was actually nothing in the grand scheme of things, but it just felt like it as the problems encountered were all new situations to me and I don't think I handled things very well. Live and learn.

I have also been unwell the last 3 weeks which I put down to climate/food/water adjustment but it turns out it was a rather nasty dose of food poisoning. On the brightside...it was good for the waistline!