Thursday in Delhi

Late yesterday afternoon we went to the Spicy Restaurant, where we've been before. Neither of us had much lunch, so we were ready to eat something around 5:30. We had a vegetable biriani and some dum aloo (potato curry). I've had their biriani before and it is delicious.

Today Dan had another appointment with his dentist, to put in the temporary bridge. He was worried because last evening he couldn't find his Indian cell phone, which he had had earlier in the day. When he got to the auto rickshaw stand at the end of the Metro, the men waiting there recognized him and called one of the other drivers. It seems the phone had slipped out of his pants pocket into the back seat of the rickshaw and he hadn't noticed it. The driver found it and ran to catch him, but he was already gone. So he took it to his home for safekeeping and told the other drivers to watch for Dan. Sure enough, he went home and brought it back safe and sound. We hear far too few of these stories about good people, but they are out there! Dan was thrilled, of course, and gave him a nice reward.

I headed out to have a bit of lunch, but it was extremely hot. So I only went a short way and bought two samosas, some digestive biscuits (kind of like graham crackers), and some water. I spent the day in the hotel room, watching movies and knitting (at least until my arm got tired; sitting on a bed is not the best posture for knitting, as I learned last winter when I spent a lot of time in bed).

We went out to dinner to our favorite restaurant, Suruchi, a Gujarati vegetarian thali place. Since we were there last, they redecorated and redid the menu a bit. They don't have a bar, but they have a full menu of cocktails, smoothies, juices, etc. Very fancy!

The thali consists of a variety of vegetable curries plus snacks and breads. Starting on the left, you can see channa (chickpea curry), yellow thin gravy with some squash, potatoes and tomatoes, some weird squash-like vegetable I've never seen before, warm yogurt with spices, and a sweet yellow dal (a type of lentils). Condiments include tamarind sauce, mint sauce, onions, lemon wedge, and a couple of hot sauces (you don't see them on my plate!). Papars and chapatis are in the middle. For dessert you can choose gulab jamuns or fruit custard. I usually have the fruit custard, as it seems more fitting after so much food, and not nearly so sweet. (I prefer to have my gulab jamuns with dahi [yogurt] when possible.)

We head up to Mussoorie tomorrow morning early. We are eager to get settled in our small apartment and get out the things we store here.