Taken in Bangkok in September of 2014.
This street vendor made crepes in the shape of various cartoon characters. The little drawings hanging from the front of the cart were the pictures you could select from. Or you could get a hot dog rolled in a crepe (pig in a blanket variation.)
Taken June 21, 2014 at Russell Market in Bangalore.
Taken in April of 2014 in Bangalore.
Taken March 29, 2014 in Coorg.
This is how it starts. Then you’re hooked and can’t function on less than three cups a day.
Taken on April 12, 2014 in VVpuram, Bangalore.
Made another trip to Bangalore’s Food Street in VVpuram (near Sajjan Rao Circle) for Rumali Roti and Mysore Masala Paneer Dosa. Both were excellent, and the street was packed with humans, bovines, canines, and felines all living harmoniously.
Taken on March 29, 2014 near Madikeri
This was taken at the Golden Mist coffee and tea plantation near Madikeri in Coorg. There are two kinds of coffee, arabica and robusta. Arabica is the tastier variety, and the arabica tree requires more shade. Robusta is hardier, but is rarely consumed without being blended with arabica–unless one wants chest-hairs to grow on one’s chest hair. So wherein most agricultural pursuits eschew competing plants, coffee plantations need shade.
Taken March 22, 2014 in Bangalore.
V.B. Bakery is a 60-year-old Bangalore institution located on Food Street (proper name: Old Market Road) in Visveswarapuram (a.k.a. VVpuram.) As you can see from the middle shot, it was thronged on Saturday night.
Taken on March 16, 2014 in Bangalore.
Taken on March 16, 2014 in Bangalore.
You may be curious about whether one can get a steak or a burger in the land in which McDonald’s restaurants substitutes [chicken] Maharaja Macs for the iconic beef Big Mac. Indeed one can, and it’s not that hard to find, nor that expensive–though it does often involve going a little out of one’s way. A typical supermarket–if they sell meat–sells only chicken and mutton (the two globally non-offending meats–except among the vegetarian/vegan crowd.)
As one might expect, the beef trade is dominated by Muslim merchants.
I couldn’t recommend this particular place. (I have a robust digestive system by Western standards, but eating a steak acquired here would probably kill me instantly.) While you could probably get an animal butchered right there–insuring the ultimate freshness–I suspect these are mostly the garbage-eating cows seen around the city. The fact that there is a pet store attached to the beef market and that carrion eaters are constantly circling overhead is enough for me to shop elsewhere.
The Beef Market is located quite near the Russell Martket, near Commercial Street.
Taken in December of 2013 in Kuala Lumpur.
The other night, I ate banana flower for the first time–that I know of / remember–in two separate dishes. My wife and I were eating at the Oh! Calcutta on St. Mark’s Road in Bangalore, and we sampled banana flower croquettes as part of an assorted starter platter, and then I tasted some of my wife’s entrée, which was “dry cooked banana flower with coconut slivers.” The former was tasty, but so spicy that my undiscerning palate was incapable of learning anything about the flavor of this flower. The latter, much milder, dish tasted like a tasty take on mashed potatoes (again, to my unrefined palate.)
The picture above was taken in Malaysia, but banana flowers are present everywhere bananas grow (throughout much of tropics.)
Deceptively, the flower looks like it could be a deadly weapon–with its pointy, conical bloom.
Taken in December of 2013 in Kuala Lumpur
I took this on Jalan Alor, Kuala Lumpur’s famous food street. It was early, well before dark when the street gets thronged with hungry travelers. The fruit stands were just getting erected and the frog porridge was simmering.
