From Russian Soups to Chilly Paneer - Russian Wife in India

♨This will be interesting for me to look back and see how well I, a girl who spent 23 years of her life in her native country, realigned herself for new settings in just 4 years. It quite amazes me but time flew so fast I now perhaps won't be able to recollect those impressions as they were.
Every country has its unique "taste", so does India, one of the most savoury countries in the world. The food of Indian subcontinent is definitely something to pay attention to, to discuss, to love or to ... dislike. Take it or leave it. Nonetheless if you are a permanently living in India foreign wife, you will have hard time adjusting to Indian food if you cannot stand spices. I was lucky (as well as my D) to be one of those foreign wives to teach my taste buds to like spicy and oily table. The first meal I had here was an omelet we bought at the bus station cafe when we arrived from Delhi. It was yumm, but it had some little green rings of some vegetable in it - green chillies! I had to dig them out from the omelet following a timely advice by my D.

On my first day in the city I was settled in a paying guest (called PG here) facility with some Indian girls. That evening I was hungry and the girls helped to fetch some rice, it looked great, all vegetarian, and I digged into it and had two-three spoons at once... When after a while I realized that my tongue as well as ears were on fire! It was so spicy and felt like it burned all the insides.
The days later my D was taking me to the university canteen where I tried Indian paneer with gravy, which I enjoyed a lot however fighting with chillies in it too. But I started liking Indian food almost straight away and after a while couldn't imagine my meal without pickles or green chillies (I got ya!). See my old post.
The food transition for a Russian girl used to tasty but rather plain Russian soups, minimum salt  and pepper in her dishes, went smoothly. The only thing is that after some time I start missing my country's cuisine very much. In those cases I cook something rather Russian like soup or simply take a piece of bread and put butter on it and eat with tea or coffee. My tongue still craves for "simple" taste without any spices added.
A peculiar thing is that Indians like to eat fruits (grapes, watermelon, papaya, apples) with black salt and black pepper. After I tried it that way several times and my throat didn't thank me, I simply made a point that I prefer a pure taste of the fruits.
Another challenge for me at times (though I don't cook much) is to make a dish which meets my Indian husband's taste. He likes Russian food a lot especially the one prepared by my mom, but I know that he expects me to cook Indian style at least a little bit. As I am a rather independent person I asked Indian food cooking tips from my in-laws very rarely, choosing Internet as my teacher. I believe I managed to make something resembling Punjabi kidney beans and channa (chickpea) and even tried to make South Indian dosas and vadas! Otherwise almost whatever I cook turns out to be of a mixed Indo-Russian taste, I can't help it. Here is what Russian I tried to cook in India, not much but it made me happy:
Taste of Dacha - vegetables in a pan, my Mom's recipe.
Cooking the Crescents - Russian dish vareniki with potato.
Apple Pie - called Sharlotka in Russian.

Goa Vacations Part 1 - Just Arrived

I cannot tell you (and you must be knowing yourself) that it is such a special feeling when your dreams come true. After living in North India for 4 years, I finally reached another part of it - West India, state Goa with a capital Panjim or Panaji, washed by the waters of the Arabian Sea. Remember, in one of my posts I displayed a mug with "Goa" written on it as a projection of my dream? :) Now here it is materialized, and I am so happy to share my latest trip impressions with all  of you. 

There is something I haven't yet told you about, my friends, yet, and this something also played role in taking up that decision. A little more than 3 months ago we got to know that we would become parents! Unexpected, unplanned, somehow shocking, surprising were first feelings we had. Then we took it as a nature's gift, its blessing, and since then all our thoughts and deeds are towards this big for our lives event. 

So, we made this trip because we thought we deserved it and it would be good to have some break from routine and give rest to your bodies and minds before we get too busy :) ( And I am too big to fly far, lol).

Meanwhile... we arrived at Dabolim Airport, Goa, last to last Sunday. It was afternoon, around 4 pm and the first thing we had to do is to remove our jackets and change shoes to slippers! Vacations began! We went to Goa with our friends - a couple who are also expecting their first child almost same time as we.

We headed to the South Goa first, planning to spend half of our vacations, living on the Palolem beach there. On the way from the airport we witnessed various views, nature scenes altering with the urban. The first feature of Goa you notice is loads of palm trees everywhere!

Second - no busy roads and very simple surroundings.

Third - many churches, chapels, built during Portuguese influence times. Also many houses, big and small, fazenda type, built by same Portuguese, you don't feel you are in India at all as architecture overall is not Indian.

The crosses were towering above all the churches and stands just right on the side of the road - very strong Christian spirit.

And beautiful government buildings. This one is the South Goa District Headquarters.

My D captured some scenery  of local life - a woman selling utensils beside the road. Her daily deal and means of living. 

Loved our way - I will remember these views forever!

By the time the sun was setting and when we arrived to our beach huts, it was already twilight. 

However we dropped the baggage in the room and hurried to see the Arabian Sea for the first time in our life! Pictures are blurred but it is exactly how we saw Palolem beach in the twilight - people walking, some swimming, first evening lights and promise of a great time ahead! We could breath in the air of relaxation, love and joy.

The hut we stayed in (exterior pictures in next post) had a mosquito net. I always wanted to sleep under such.

Later, when we changed our clothes to more appropriate and beach-like, we made our way along the seashore, which had endless row of various cafes and restaurants to suit any taste.

The night market at Palolem which we visited few times afterwards.

We finally chose one restaurant called "Cafe Del Mar" and had delicious seafood dinner with a sea view in front of our table. 

That's all for now and soon I hope to find time to proceed and show what else we found in Goa last week :) Today I am still under impression of this beautiful state which has so much to offer. Today we went to office first time after we came back and I must say it was a tough day! We both were loaded with work straight away, but now we have that corner in our hearts where we will be coming back to again and again and recollecting those precious days we spent together, almost 24*7 :)
Hope you liked these selection of pictures and I will prepare more next time. Thanks for staying with me, dear friends! Have a wonderful day ahead wherever you are!