Pressure cookers are not for soup

Despite lacking many useful items, I braved my way into the kitchen to cook my first dish: Eastern European Lentil Soup (I know, I know, not an Indian dish, but the only dish I had all of the ingredients for). One of the 'useful items' I don't have is a stockpot, which comes in handy for soup. The kitchen did come stocked with a pressure cooker; the only item large enough to hold the amount of soup I was cooking. It was all pretty uneventful until the last 10 minutes of simmering. I checked the pot, stirred it, and decided it needed an additional 5 minutes. I put the lid back on (*ahem, the pressure cooker lid) and unknowingly latched the lid. For those who have used a pressure cooker, you know that latching the lid is what guarantees the "pressure" part...

I'm sitting in the living room, checking email, when I hear a hissing sound. I stop, concerned it is the soup, but then resume my emailing when I decide it isn't. I keep hearing it. I stop again, this time deciding to glance into the kitchen. The closer I got to the soup, the louder the hissing got...I realized it was the soup. I quickly unlatched the lid and a subsequent "BANG!" was heard. My soup had been effectively pressurized.

This all came after Neil and I spent some time on our rooftop enjoying the stars and thinking thoughts that only come when one is under the stars. The kind of thoughts you don't have time to think about during the rest of the busy day. Ironically, one of those thoughts for me tonight was, "What happens if I burn the house down while cooking? We have no insurance here....hmm, I hope that doesn't happen."

Thankfully, I was spared tonight.

-c

What is it?

We will give a year's subscription to our blog + a postcard to the person who can first correctly guess what this useful item is.

Is that motor oil?

So much of our transition to India has gone extremely well. Our flights were good, we got all of our luggage, we had great friends who showed us around town, we found a place to live very quickly... it couldn't have been better.

So I guess it was only fair that we had something go wrong - terribly, stickily wrong.

On Neil's birthday in the afternoon, we were getting ready to lay down for a nap when Courtney noticed a strange dark liquid by the side of one of our suitcases. In our brilliant packing, we had one suitcase that we had packed with stuff that we wouldn't need until we moved into our permanent place. Decorations, books, pictures, etc. So, once we saw it come off the baggage claim, we didn't even bother to look in it.

Then, Courtney said, "What is that?" We were both perplexed at first and then the horrible truth started to come into focus. One of the items we packed away was a jar of molasses which is unavailable in India, but useful for all sorts of things. It was the one thing too that we did not put into a plastic bag, thinking it would be safe. It was not. There was molasses everywhere and on everything in the suitcase. All of the few items we had decided to take with us to remind us of home had this dark sugary syrup all over them. Sad and gross.

Gratefully, we were able to wash off most of the items in the bathroom as the molasses comes off pretty easily. But there were some casualties including some decorative pictures, Courtney's business class notebook, and some books that will probably always have that nasty brown look to them. We tried to save the suitcase itself, but it too was beyond saving, and will enter the world of the Indian recycling program known as "throwing it away".

So, a sad story, but we've come through it. And after many showers, we can laugh about it, at least a little bit.

Guest House

We moved into our new guest house yesterday. It is amazing to be again on our own after more than a month of living with other people. While it is not our permanent housing here in Chennai, it will provide a great place for us to call home for now. There are a lot of good places within walking distance and the area is really nice. Here is a tour of our new place.

-N

Happy Birthday to Me

My birthday has usually been the mark of a significant change in our lives. In 2007, we moved into our very first apartment in Lincoln. In 2008, we moved into a new place and began our lives in Sellersburg, IN. In 2009, we kicked off a support-raising tour after deciding to move to India. Now, in 2010, we are just barely a week into our new lives here in Chennai.

One of the best parts about having a birthday on the other side of the world is that it lasts so long. I got birthday wishes from the time I got up on the 7th until around noon on the 8th. Here in Chennai, we celebrated with Karyn and Ben by going to the Fruit Shop on Greams Road. This was an excellent decision, as I usually can't get enough fruit. They had about 40 different kinds of fruit juices and smoothies and fruit salads. It was incredibly delicious. Afterwards we went to a store that carries a lot of import items from the States, where we were able to find the one item that airport security would not let us take to India on our carryon...cherry pie filling.

We had an amazing lunch at our new favorite vegetarian cafe and then came back to the Fry's flat. In a later post, we'll share what we did in the afternoon...it is a story that deserves it's own space.

Karyn made some fajitas for dinner (Mexican food is very rare around here) and then we had a chocolate cherry cake made by my lovely wife who brought over most of the ingredients as a surprise.

It was a great birthday! Thanks to Courtney, the Frys, and to all of you who sent your greetings to me. Here are some pictures.

Birthday Boy

Today, one of the biggest blessings in my life turns 25.

Happy Birthday, love.

I like him so much. :)

First Days...

Well, we've been in India for 3 days now. It's still so hard to believe! We're staying with Jason & Karyn while we wait to move into our temporary apartment (which we found today! Pictures to come when we move in on Friday). Jason & Karyn have been incredible tour guides and gracious hosts. We have crammed a TON into our first days, so I'll just give a snapshot below..

We've eaten a lot of wonderful food. Our first meal enjoyed at the only logical choice: an Indian restaurant! Our sampling is found below. We've also enjoyed homemade Minestrone compliments of Karyn, yummy pasta @ an Italian restaurant in town, & lots more Indian food. oh, and Neil & I ate our first veggieburger today.....and it was good! We couldn't believe it either. Plus, it only cost $3 for our whole meal. Even better. :)


We also enjoyed a beautiful dance performance at a local theatre. We moved to Chennai at the start of "Music Season" in the city, which hopefully means a lot more free concerts like the one below...

as you can see, the costumes were absolutely stunning.

We couldn't publish this post without a nod to our entertainment when we aren't out on the town: Ben. Jason & Karyn's little boy is a pretty funny kid and as you can see, seriously cute.


We've also ridden our fair share of auto rickshaws. Which, by the way, might be my favorite part of the city so far. The driving is absolutely crazy. And by crazy, I mean awesome. The video below doesn't do it justice, but it will suffice for now.



that's all for tonight. There's lots more, but my body is tired and needs to be put to bed.

-C