I was researching a recipe for Banana Bread when I came across some line drawings of the bread mice I used to make when I was working in Neal’s Yard Bakery. Every baker had a signature, whether it was the way they sliced the bread or stacked it or the specials they made, mine was […]
This old man appeared out of the mist last night with over two hundred sheep and goats. He had just walked all the way from Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh, and is going to spend the next six weeks camping on the meadows below Basunti, where he can be seen from the yoga shala. […]
Our spring yoga season (March, April, May, 2016) is nearly upon us and feeding the guests is an enormous responsibility mixed with much pleasure.
This seasons carrot chutney is ready to be cooked; 20kg carrots, 6 kg onions, 6kg tomato, half kilo fresh green chillies, 400 grams garlic, 400 grams ginger, one kilo raisins […]
I decided to explore a remote location on the other side of the lake, as the day was overcast and cool, perfect for slashing your way through the undergrowth and climbing steep ravines. The cooler weather also means that the snakes and numerous creepy crawlies are less likely to be around, having gone deep underground […]
Finally got around to doing the proposed trip to the well. Decided to go by the land route, as the weather has been really unpredictable and it was not safe to take a canoe out.
My truck driver friend Rajinder, heard that I was going to his neck of the woods and insisted that I […]
The Rangpurs, known locally as Ghumerees, are all beginning to ripen. It is a cross between an orange and a lemon. Looks like an orange, peels like an orange, segments like an orange, but tastes more like a slightly less tangy lemon.
The way the locals eat it is to make a paste of sugar, […]
Every morning at 5am, I take my cup of tea to the deck and watch the Peacock strut his stuff. His display area is amongst the Basunti flowers, on the meadow below the observation deck. At 8:30am he leaves, looking slightly dejected, all that effort posturing and calling and no results.
This morning he […]
For two days, all the staff helped me with the preparation of nearly thirty kilos of carrot chutney, for the coming season. Just the peeling and chopping of all the ingredients took seven of us nearly four hours. Twenty kilos of carrots, six kilos of tomatoes, six kilos of onions, a kilo of garlic, […]
