“A vacation is what you take when you can no longer take what you’ve been taking.”
Earl Wilson
Hello again! It’s been a while since I blogged. Just got back from a short vacation in Goa. It’s a beautiful city, even though it was off season, a visit some folk may call no-brainer, but we LOVED it! The laid back lifestyle, the quaintness, the gentle mild folk, the lilting beaches and the Portuguese flavour all leave a song in your heart! For starters, I bring to you a bit quite a bit of colourful, vibrant Goa … then in my next post a Black Forest Cake that I made just before leaving Delhi.Reaching there from the mad hustle bustle of North India put us in the slow lane immediately. It’s a city of pubs, bars, sea, sand, sea-food, beaches, tattoos, more beaches, barges, beer, two wheelers, cashew nuts, coconuts, ceramic tiles, churches, tiled roofs, wonderful warm folk … and COLOUR! My visit couldn’t have ‘happened‘ so beautifully without Aparna who I finally got to meet after years of virtual blog talk! She’s been in Goa for years, got me the best cab driver ever, and helped me find my way around the city!The ‘now beginning to be quite terrible‘ pre-teen and me hit Miramar beach early in the morning, while the ‘not quite so terrible anymore’ teen snoozed! It was just me and the kids in Goa as Mr PAB was busy at work, so I tried to work around their interests which were quite limited actually. Sleep, beach, food, TV, sleep, beach, food, TV, sleep, beach, food, TV … and a little shopping. Go to Goa folks. It’s got something for everyone!!I haven’t seen them smile so much in a while, loving the sea, enjoying the sand {and each others company} … almost like when they were toddlers! Goa did it to them … {they are back to being grumpy again as the temperature here in North India hits 45C and rising}.Oh and I also very bravely took the kids in a rickety old boat to the mouth of the Arabian Sea to see dolphins, but chickened out halfway through as the sea was really CHOPPY … and we had no life jackets!! We sailed past Mumbai millionaire Jimmy Guzder’s beautifully landscaped bungalow, which stood in stark contrast to the the Aguada Jail a few heartbeats away! Then the others on the boat panicked big time as the rickety old boat hit the waters alarmingly. Much to the horror of the kids, we turned the boat around even as they were ready to swim the choppy seas! No dolphin sighting for us!!En route to a south Goa beach, Majorda, I stole a devious detour and off we went to the Sahakari Spice Farm. We were welcomed with flower garlands and a warm lemon-grass ginger tea {very refreshing indeed}. Then led for an eye opening tour of the farm by the very affable guide Sachin. I thought I knew all a lot of spices, and was proved absolutely wrong!To end the spicy tour we were all served some fermented cashew drink before it became traditional Goan cashew feni... In the few days we were there, we did a short drive through of Old Goa, and managed a Mandovi river cruise as well ….… and ended the trip with a second early morning visit to Miramarbeach which was a brisk walk from the Vivanta Taj where we stayed!It’s been ages since I made a Black Forest Cake. Cherries, plump, black, juicy and delicious ones have flooded the market of late and this quintessential cherry dessert cake called my name! Typically, the day I decided to bake the cake every silly thing went wrong, leaving me in a race against time … and I had to turn to a jar of canned cherries! The Black Forest Cake is a cake lovers delight … and that’s up next!!
