The Adventures of Brian & Julia

How is it that no one has invented smell-o vision by now?!

You start by roasting the spices.

Cumin, cardamom, black pepper and cloves. Corriander, nutmeg, ginger and saffron. Each takes its turn being chopped, peeled, toasted, and pulverized, then painstakingly combined in precise proportions. When you’re all done, you have what looks like a little pile of dust, but don’t be discouraged, because it’s so much more.

Called garam masala, this blend is one of the pillars of Indian cooking. I made it this week as part of a samosa recipe I was testing out for our going away party, and it was wonderful. Sure, I could have bought some ready made, or even skipped the whole project and ordered takeout, but I chose to do everything the (really) long way in the hope that it would teach me something about India. Here’s what I came up with.

Even as a professional chef, Indian food has always intimidated me. It is not uncommon for a recipe to have 30 or 40 ingredients, many of which are spices you’ve probably heard of but couldn’t identify if you saw them. Fenugreek, asafoetida, mango powder and kokum dance gracefully around one another, their layers of flavor coaxed out by roasting, toasting, grinding and soaking. Flavors this complex don’t just happen, and as I took my first wobbly steps into the culinary tradition of the subcontinent, I found myself dazzled by its intricacies.

This is a tradition where subtlety reigns. The same spice can taste a dozen different ways depending on how it is prepared and what it is combined with. Spices are ground with mortar and pestle because they TASTE better that way. Convenience is not a priority. This is food that takes all day to prepare, and doesn’t apologize for it. It audaciously suggests that there is nothing more important, really, than feeding the people you love, and feeding them well.

If this is any indication, I think I’m going to like India very much.

Posting two days in a row? What’s next?

Let me explain.  The illustrious Mr. Markham (that’s Brian) just showed me how to post my own ramblings, which I think is terrific, so now there will be more of them.

Today, for example, I wanted to tell you about the exciting rain jacket I found at army surplus yesterday.  It’s perfect because it’s girl shaped, and the sleeves are long.  I sort of have a pet peeve about jackets with sleeves that end halfway down your forearm.  I feel like I’m wearing a New Jersey style track suit when that happens.  Possibly my arms are too long? Anyway.

Also yesterday I finally got our documents organized so that the lovely people who are handling our lives while we’re gone won’t have to deal with any more than absolutely necessary.  Immunization records, visa paperwork, living wills, it’s all in there and now it has tabs.  Who says we’re not ready to conquer the world?

Menacing, yet atheletic!

Tuesday morning, and 35 days to go!

Last night I stayed up terrifically late watching this show about a couple buying their first house. The wife was horrid, and every few minutes, a graphic would pop up on the screen detailing her preferences and “must haves” in neat little rows. Her dopey husband did everything short of pounding his chest to show what a good provider he was, and their 1 year old daughter just had to have a bay window in her room.

Why am I telling you this? Because it got me thinking about how few of the things we “must have” are actually necessary at all. I thought about families around the world living in tiny apartments, overcrowded tenements, or nowhere at all, and wished that a few dollars from every bay-windowed nursery sale got kicked their way.

When they started talking about square footage and how “there’s no such thing as too much space”, I looked across the room at my backpack and found myself grateful for its small size. Compactness has definite appeal when you’re carrying your life on your back, and maybe other times too. The more I think about packing up my house, the less of my stuff I actually want!

(not actually my pack, but close enough)

As I drifted off to sleep, I congratulated myself on my lack of materialism and dismissed HGTV altogether.

And then today I changed my mind. It occurred to me that those people were spending their money on a house because they wanted to have the experience of living in it, and maybe that’s not all that different from us paying for the experience of traveling through Asia. Maybe it’s false to believe that if someone else gets what they want, it hurts everybody else’s chances.

I hope this trip changes me forever. I hope that little girl got her bay window with the sun streaming in. Most of all, though, I hope the world grows into a place where everyone gets their real “must haves”.

Hi! This is Julia, and thanks for reading my inaugural “trip blog” post!

Just over a month to go, and our preparations are in full swing. There’s so much to do, but every step just gets us closer to boarding the plane, and that makes it all worthwhile.

Last week we got our second round of shots, this time for rabies and Japanese Encephalitis. I’ll admit, I’m not entirely aware of what JE (that’s what us cool kids call it) does or how it differs from, say, the Portuguese variety, but I’m glad to be protected in any case. We got the Rabies vaccine so we can do some work here while we’re in Thailand, and also for monkey bites. Seriously though, SCAD is a great organization that works to save and improve the lives of stray animals in Bangkok. Brian has worked with them before, and since we’re both serious animal lovers, we decided to make it part of this trip too.

Meanwhile, the scope of the trip is definitely starting to hit home. One look at either of our houses, and you can tell something big is happening. Brian’s basement is absolutely exploding with furniture we’re storing there until we get back, and my house has a large stack of boxes in the middle of the living room that’s getting bigger by the day. I’ll miss my sweet little house, but it’s wonderful to have such an incentive to move out, and I love that every empty shelf brings me a little closer to the places I’ve wanted to see for so long.

One last note, I found a great pack at the army surplus store last weekend, and swapped it out for the larger, fancier North Face one I had initially picked out. It’s a 55 liter model with cushy straps and lots of well designed pockets. It’s bright blue and doesn’t have any zippers that stick in my hair. I think we’re going to be very good friends.

Til next time