Showing posts with label mango. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mango. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

The Adventures of Flat Emily

An old friend and colleague of mine from Gale asked if his daughter, Sage, could send her friend Emily to visit us in India. Of course, Paul and I were very excited to have a guest for the weekend. We made sure to take her to our most exciting and favorite locations around the city. Here are some photos of Emily on her whirlwind trip to Pune, India. (Emily left for the US earlier this morning from Yerawada Airport. )


Here is Emily on our balcony waving to the camera.

Emily took the dogs out for a walk on our back alley and ran into the local cow.

Emily wanted to see the "Real Pune," so we decided to take her to Laxmi Road. Here she is buying some local spices at Mandai Market. (Mandai translates to Monday.)

Emily got hungry, so she decided to try an Alfonso mango for an afternoon snack. They are in season right now, and she found them to be delicious. She also told us they are nothing like the ones at home. A very unique Indian treat!

Emily loved all the colors of the produce at Mandai Market, so she wanted to stroll through the vegetables and fruits. Here she found pumpkins, snap beans, carrots, and dudhi.

Emily also wanted to try the guava. Here she is buying one from a local vendor.

Emily wanted to bring a gift back to her friend Sage, so she went to the bangle galli, or lane, to look for some traditional Indian bangles.

We then took Emily to Tulsibaug. Tulsibaug is a bazaar known for kitchen wares, clothing, cosmetics, toys, and pretty much anything you can think of . . .

Here Emily is among the crowded lane looking at kitchen items . . .

Ganesh proudly sits within Tulsibaug. Emily quickly posed to take a photo with him. Ganesh is the favorite Maharastrian god in the Hindu faith.

We then took Emily on her first rickshaw ride back home.

Before we got back home, Emily also wanted to have a quick look at dupattas, or scarves. Of course, we could not stop her from buying a few.

We spot some cows in a field enjoying some hay en route home.
On Monday, I took Emily to the Disha Institute to play with the children. We watched Sleeping Beauty together, then . . .
The children decided to draw Flat Laxmi to travel with Emily to the US. They were worried that Emily might get lonely on the long journey home.
Tata (Bye-Bye) Emily! We enjoyed your visit to India with us!

Monday, June 2, 2008

Veggies and Fruit

What would a blog about India be without an entry on Alphonso mangoes? These little guys are the best and you can only get them this fresh in India. We have literally had a steady diet of them for the past month--they only grow when its hot, so in April and May they are plentiful. We have about one week more before the monsoon and then we will only have ordinary mangoes to choose from...Sigh.

My new favorite vegetable is called dudhi, otherwise known as a bottle gourd. Similar to a zucchini or pumpkin, we have been using this in omelets, pasta, a simple side dish, you name it! It's easier to find than zucchini or summer squash. I do not know how to cook it as the Indians do, but it's really good sauteed with sea salt, Herbes de Provence, onions and mushrooms.

I really need to take a photo of Shivaji Market where I find all these interesting fruits and vegetables. It's literally a rainbow of black currants, apples, pears, carrots, dudhi, mangoes, coriander, I-can-go on-and-on. I have been a little apprehensive to take my camera to this place, but perhaps I will soon . . .