“how to” - 4 days in Paris

Everyone has a different philosophy of travelling. I’m the aggressive type: see everything, try everything, plan everything – especially during “first-time” trips. This way I know what to expect (more or less) and I’m hardly ever disappointed with our voyages. I have to say, our Parisian trip may just be a crown jewel of my plan making abilities!

How did I achieve such a touristic mastery? Well… I spent close to two weeks planning every second of our stay – researching locations, metro connections, places to stay, to visit, to eat in; tickets, entrance fees and what not. It may seem excessive, but boy was I happy I did that!

First, I made completely unrealistic list of ALL the places we should visit. Then, map in hand, I made painful cuts. Unfortunately, with any kind of trip, you have to prioritize. For example, will you pick visiting one specific place that will take the whole day of your precious time, or will you skip it to see three other, equally interesting places?

In our case, Anant really wanted to go to Versailles and I had my heart set on Monet’s garden in Giverny, but they are both outside of Paris so we decided to leave them for the next trip.

Since we had very good experience with AirBnb, we decided to book our room with them. It actually makes a lot of sense. Paying more or less “hostel” price, you have your privacy and comfort, plus you can choose a convenient location. We decided to stay in Montmartre - just a few minutes from Sacre Coeur and between two metro lines.

I prepared our private map of all the places we finally decided to see. I also divided them into color-coded categories: museums, historical places, interesting places, places to eat in. This way, I could easily figure out how to group the attractions and start planning our daily routes.

With that done, I compared the list and order of visiting places with opening hours and metro map and it finally started to resemble somewhat organized plan.

This is what I came up with (minus the metro details):

Day 1

·         Breakfast/ breakfast picnic under Sacre Coeur

·         Sacre Coeur

·         walk through Montmartre and lunch 

·         Champs Elysees

·         Arc de Triomphe

·         Eiffel Tower & Champ de Mars

·         Dinner

Day 2

·         Sante Chapelle

·         Crepes for breakfast

·         Notre Dame

·         Notre Dame Crypt

·         Shakespeare & Co

·         latin quarter + Pantheon and lunch

·         bvd. Saint Germain towards d’Orsay 

·         stop in Laduree or Café de Flor

·         Musee d’Orsay

·         Dinner

Day 3

·         Chocolate at Angelina

·         Musee de l’Orangerie

·         Tuileries gardens – picnic lunch

·         Louvre

·         dinner

Day 4

·         Cafe @ Lafayette

·         Chartier

·         Cluny

·         Centre Pompidou

·         dinner

Of course, we didn’t manage to do everything on our list, which was predictable. Our walk through Montmartre wasn’t at all what I planned.
You know, how some people say that you stumble upon best things when you just get lost in the city? Well, we did get lost and ended up next to the metro stop from which we were supposed to go towards Champs Elysees, just after half an hour walk. But, since we actually flew from India that very morning, I figured it was good enough.

We also didn’t see the inside of Notre Dame, because the queue was, quite frankly, horrifying.
Angelina, where we were planning to sip the famous chocolate, was closed by the time we actually felt like having chocolate, and we also skipped the trip to Galeries Lafayette.  I read that the view is amazing, and, since I didn’t anticipate climbing Arc de Triomphe, it was supposed to be my chance to see Paris from up high.

Now the handful of practical information, which made our trip so much easier.

If you are a museum freak, buy Museum Pass. It will save you some money and a lot of time. In most places, you get the priority access with the pass, not to mention, you don’t have to stand in the ticket queues. The only place, where we had to wait was Sante Chapelle, where you have to go through security check. Even if you are not planning on buying the pass, visit the website. They have all the basic information about the museums, exhibition, location etc. I found out that some museums stay open as late as 9.45 on some days.

You could also invest in Paris Pass. It is a bit pricey and offers and bunch of things we didn’t need so we decided to stick to Museum Pass.

Also, in most places, pregnant or disabled people and whoever they are with, get special access. For example, you can see Mona Lisa up close!

Public transportation in Paris can be a bit confusing. I found the metro the most convenient. Depending on how much you plan to travel, you can choose from few different tickets options. 

There are tourist passes, weekly passes, daily passes, ticket packets or single tickets. They are priced depending on how many zones they are valid for. Most of the touristic spots are located in zone one, apart from Versailles and airports. 

I planned our trip in such a way, that we didn’t need more than 2-3 tickets a day, so we just got two of those ticket packets (it’s 10 tickets each and comes out to be cheaper than buying single tickets) on the airport. You can find ticket machines on every metro station.

If you are taking the train from the airport (as far as I know, it’s the cheapest option) you will need 10 euro ticket, which is also valid on the Paris metro.

Oh, and contrary to popular belief, people are quite friendly and do speak English! Before we got our online maps sorted, we had to ask directions couple of times and I was pleasantly surprised with how helpful everyone tried to be!

And the final thing to know about Paris – it’s a city of stairs! You feel like you are constantly climbing sth, so be ready for that and get comfy shoes!

through continents in 15 days

I can’t believe we actually made it!
To sum it up, we’ve been on the road for more than two weeks, before we reached our final destination. 30 hours train ride from Goa to Jaipur, then Jaipur to Delhi, then Paris, then Warsaw and finally Cracow. 

 
After shopping in Pink City, we did some suitcase stuffing in Paharganj – my absolutely fav shopping spot in Delhi.
After you rummage through all the crap, you can find some truly great and unique things. To be quite honest, I’m dying to get my hands on some home décor after we’re back in India (and have the home situation figured out, of course).

We stayed in Hari Piorko – hotel and shop in the heart of main bazaar. Hotels in Paharganj charge close to nothing, so for their prices, I expected slightly better service and food (!), but rooms are nice and clean, bathrooms spacious and, in the end, we stayed there only for one night. 

The shop is great for souvenirs and gifts. They have fixed (and more then reasonable) prices and a good selection of, well everything you may want to bring from India. Spices and teas in cute boxes, incenses, cosmetics, figurines and other decorative items, jewelry, clothes and more. Of course, if you are looking for something truly special, you gonna have to venture out into the market, but if you are short on time or don’t enjoy bazaars and haggling, this place is quite convenient.

Of course, Paris was the main event. I spent days planning every minute of these four days, making sure we do and see as much as humanly possible. Of course, we still have plenty left for some future trips, but we did manage to do nearly everything from my list. 

After the French interlude, we spent some family time in Warsaw, to finally land in my beautiful hometown. I decided that we should recuperate and deal with all the pending work, before enjoying all the city has to offer. 

shopping in Pink City

…and so we left. We left the house, we left Goa and we are just about ready to leave India.

Our landlord proved to be so indecisive with the whole renovation issue that, in the end, we decided to move all our stuff to the storage space. To say that our last week at home was busy and hectic would be a major understatement, but, in the end, we managed to pack everything and finish all we planned.

Then, there was unforgettable 30-hour train ride with the cats – scared half to death and completely disorientated by the experience. They will be staying with family in Jaipur till our return.

Did I mention that Jaipur is kind of shopping paradise?

I’m not an expert in that matter. I know what I like design-wise, but when it comes to identifying stones, metals or value – I’m lost. All I can say is: go to few shops, compare prices and quality, check every piece carefully and don’t get overexcited! That’s important, because many people, faced with the number of lovely designs and comparatively low prices lose their heads. Buy only what you really like and don’t show your enthusiasm, it will make bargaining close to impossible.

Precious metals usually have set prices per gram, but there is always some space for negotiation, especially if you pick few things from one seller; if you are buying costume jewelry, you can try to go as low as 50% of the offered amount. In the end, I never know if I paid the right price (though I’m probably much closer than few years ago), but in the end that’s the charm of bazaar shopping – you pay as much as the item is worth to you.

We made a trip to the main bazaar – located around Hava Mahal. You can find everything there  – jewelry, clothes, home décor, shoes, bags, sweets…  I could spend the whole day (and probably a lot of money) and still not have enough, but having my husband’s mental well-being in mind, I just concentrated on the jewelry …this time.

After the main bazaar, we check out few concept stores, which are springing up all over Jaipur. Most of them are a bit pricey, but you can buy lovely, well –designed quality pieces.

We started with Anokhi specializing in block printed clothes and accessories. Apart from the shop itself, I definitely recommend their peaceful café with yummy (and quite healthy) food. Prints have a distinctively Rajasthani look, but clothes are quite simple and can be easily mixed with some western pieces. I loved the bedding – quilts, cushion covers and even cosmetic bags. Worth visiting if you are looking for more lasting quality than bazaar finds.

Second on our list was Jaipur Modern – shop curated by an Italian owner - with a choice of clothing, jewelry, luggage, quilts and even some cosmetics. I do love their jewelry - a modern spin on traditional designs and not as big of a splurge as I expected. Few dresses and shawls caught my eye while Anant was looking at some quilts and duffel bags.  Once again – bonus points for nice café. Didn’t try the food, but coffee and lemonade were excellent.

We went to Anantaya next. It’s one big mix of everything. Though the collection lacks a clear focus, you can find some lovely pieces there – mostly home accessories. Apparently everything, apart from mineral cosmetics, is designed in-house.

91 degree was a big disappointment. Italian design in India, furniture, and home accessories – sounds great right? Not really…

Don’t get me wrong, I saw a few pieces I liked, but they weren’t very different from what you can get from some chain stores in India. I have to admit that prices aren’t too bad, comparatively speaking.

Last on the list (ok, not on the list, but last stop we had the strength for) was a trio of shops located in Narain Niwas Palace.

Hot Pink offers clothing, home accessories and a small choice of jewelry – all colorful with funky prints but simple designs. The collection is very coherent and the place is worth visiting even if you are not planning to shop there. Fair warning – you won’t get anything even remotely close to usual “Indian prices” there. Prepare your wallet for more of high fashion street experience.

Neighboring Aashka carries a collection curated by Princess Bhargavi of Udaipur. Everything here is more traditional, classic, with distinctively equestrian feel. Though I didn’t find anything particularly my style, I have to admit that everything is of great quality and very tasteful. Lovely interiors too!

The last one, Idli, is an export line for Hot Pink. Though nothing caught my eye,  the whole collection is undoubtedly chic and fun.

Oh, and the best thing about ALL those shops? They are all located in the same area, not more than 5 minutes from each other!

Paris, the house and the cafe

Recently we came to a point in our life where nearly everything is as uncertain as it can be. Of course, we are slowly working through it, but with our tickets for Europe (yay!) already bought we have just over a month to figure everything out. The biggest of all, the house conundrum seems to cause us most problems. Our landlord suddenly expressed strong wish to renovate half of the building, which, in this case, means breaking it all and rebuilding it from the scratch. While I do like the idea of the kitchen without leaking roof, I have a nagging suspicion the work won’t be done before our return. Plus there is a question of what to do with all our stuff and the naughtiest of all: should we move? We did receive quite tempting offer, but paying 6 months’ worth of rent for a whole house, while no one (apart from our furniture) is here to enjoy it doesn’t seem like a smart move.

With that said, I’ve been destructing myself with planning our incredibly short visit to Paris. It is going to be our first stop in Europe, so I won’t have access to my collection of guidebooks (still sitting on the shelve in my parents’ house) so I decided to create our own: made to measure to fit all our needs. It’s a work in progress, but it kind of makes me feel like I’m already there, or at least a part of me is. We usually like to fit few less touristy bits into our travels, but with whooping 4 days on French soil, we will barely make it to all the more obvious places. I’ve been making lists, itineraries, plans, routes for a couple of days now and squeezing all the amazingness of this place into merely few days is not an easy task. Even so, I’m still having great fun… I’m nothing if not a gifted planner!

In the meantime, we’ve been toying with the idea of opening a small café, maybe in a year or so. Partly for fun and partly to try our strengths, we decided to start order based delivery cake shop and sort of see how it goes – till the time comes to pack our bags. I’m happy to say, it feels like the sort of thing I could be happy doing. While I’ve never envisaged myself as a baker, it’s such a comforting, not to mention delicious thing to do. Plus it’s a great outlet to all my pastry experiments. I finally get to bake as much as I could possibly wish to without going even half size up!

Cornucopia

It’s kind of funny, that after so many years in India, there are still fruits I haven’t tried - lots of them! I just had my first bite of jackfruit and the very first encounter with fresh dates.

For me, dates were a big part of all the “African adventure” type books – crossing the dessert on camel’s back, eating nothing but dry dates, drinking nothing but water from the leather pouch – that sort of thing. But the fresh dates… well, that’s the whole other story. To make yet another literary/childhood reference, in Chronicles of Narnia, there was one particular story that came back to me after eating them. A boy, visiting Narnia of the day of its creation, planted a toffee that grew into a toffee tree, full of juicy toffee fruits – that’s how fresh dates taste like.

Juicy toffies aside, our local market is a true cornucopia these days. All the colors, textures, and smells are simply mouthwatering! And, it just so happens, it gives me a perfect excuse for baking all the delicious fruity cakes!

Apricot yogurt cake

300 g flour

1 ½ tsp baking soda

1 egg

½- ¾ cup sugar (set 2-3 spoons aside)

100 ml oil

2 tsp lemon juice

300 g thick yogurt (like Greek yogurt or dahi)

10-12 apricots – halved

Mix flour and baking soda and set aside.

Beat egg with sugar until light and fluffy. Add oil and lemon juice and whisk together.
Add yogurt and mix. Add flour and mix. Place halved apricots (cut side up) and sprinkle remaining sugar over the fruits. Bake in 160 degrees till golden brown (45-55 min). Sprinkle with powdered sugar.
It's simply to die for!

and..

...the monsoon is here!

And with every monsoon comes this unbelievably lush, well, everything. In just a couple short days, from dry and nearly dead, all the trees, bushes and flowers turn into the essence of life. 

Another thing that comes with the monsoon is mango season. And jackfruit season. And, in general, fruit season.

With four mango trees in our garden, I can’t look at this fruit anymore, but it doesn’t mean I didn’t learn a very valuable lesson in the process. Like the fact that I don’t know squat about fruit trees. Once upon a time, in Europe, things were much easier. Fruits grew on the trees until they were ripe and ready to be eaten, in India, however, it’s a different story. They still grow on trees, but apparently they need a change of scenery to ripen. Chikoos, for example, need good 7-10 days of lying around to change from stone-hard to melt in your mouth. Same with mangoes, they will only turn yellow or red (depending on the kind) after some solid home time. Left on the tree they will only blush unless they are eaten by some impatient animals.

This morning I was confronted by the whole bunch on tiny little green bananas, just sitting next to the kitchen stairs and I suddenly got very nostalgic about all the boring and uncomplicated European fruits.

With that said, I also found out that monsoon is the season for plums and peaches, apricots and cherries, and even pears, but they only grow in some very well hidden location, and definitively not in Goa.
With that said, I need some time to figure out what to do with my new fruity houseguests!

..and P.S. I decided to dig up my poor, halfdead basil and put it in pots and it worked like a magic trick!

the break, the PIO and the OCI

While pinterest is flooding with “how to go viral” tips for bloggers, I always took comfort in the fact that nobody knows my blog exist. This way, I can take a couple of months break from writing, without thinking of all the potential readers waiting for the new post. I actually didn’t mean to take a break at all, but so much happened in past few weeks, that writing just flew right out of my mind.

Apart from some life-changing events, we made yet another trip to Mumbai, to, attention ladies and gentleman, pick my PIO card up. In all honesty, it’s been ready for quite a while, but I was really dreading these few days in the city while the weather in Goa was so perfect. Of course, in the meantime, the rules concerning PIO cards changed a couple of times, resulting, as always, in one big mess.

First, PIO cards were given lifelong validity, and the obligation of registration with FRRO after every arrival in India was lifted.

Then someone decided that merging PIO and OCI card would be a good idea. And that’s where the fun begun. Till today, every FRRO office in India (and Indian Embassies around the world) gives different information. Goa office still stamps PIO cards with a “Lifelong validity” stamp, while Mumbai insists on exchanging PIO to OCI card immediately since PIO cards have been canceled. This means yet another tedious application process, multiple copies of exactly the same documents as during PIO application. I guess, providing people with OCI cards, based solely on their PIO cards would be no fun whatsoever… Not to mention that now, from a “Person of Indian Origin”, I’ll be changing my status to “Overseas Citizen of India”- go figure!

Anyway, I just filled the online application and sent all the papers* to Mumbai, so the only thing left to do is to wait and see. On the plus side, this time I will be able to track the progress of my application online. Also, I should count myself lucky, as, according to the new rules, one has to apply for OCI card in the same office where their PIO card was issued. For me, it means a trip to Mumbai, but there are people out there living in different countries, sometimes across the globe.
While I can appreciate, that having an OCI card will, eventually, make a lot of things easier for us, the whole exchange process doesn’t seem to be very well thought out. No surprise there…

*The documents I submitted along with my application:
-copy of my passport

-copy of my first visa

-copy of my last visa + the conversion/ extension of the visa

-copy of my PIO card

-address proof (rent agreement)

-copy of my marriage certificate

-copy of my husband’s passport

-indemnity bond on 100rs paper – notarized 

Say (farmer's) cheese

When it comes to food, Goa is a magical place. After years of deprivation (aka my time in Delhi) it feels like grocery shopping paradise. Thanks to the large number of expats living in the area, I can get just about anything in the local store. Plus, there is something so wonderfully quaint about hand labeled pesto or homemade yogurts…

But, even with this treasure trove around the corner, I still like to have homemade food made… well, at home. Like farmer's cheese, for example.

It is extremely easy, not to mention you only need one ingredient: milk!

Fresh farmer’s cheese:

1 ½ + ½ liter of raw milk

Pour 1 ½ liter of milk into a glass jar or bowl, cover with a cloth and leave on the counter until it starts to separate. It should have curd – like consistency. You can also wait for the whey to separate completely.
It will take 1-2 days depending on the temperature of the room and freshness of the milk.

Boil remaining ½liter and pour it into curdled milk immediately. Set aside for 10-15 minutes. 

Line a sieve with a cheesecloth (I sometimes use fine mesh sieve, without the cloth) and place on top of a large pot. Pour the milk into the sieve and allow to drain. Gather the corners of the cloth and twist it to squeeze extra whey. The more you drain, the firmer the cheese gets, you can decide when it’s “done”.

 If you like more cottage cheese – like consistency, remove cheese from the cheesecloth when it’s still quite loose, add a spoon of cream and mix well.

If you want a proper farmer’s cheese, wait until it holds its shape, remove from the cloth and store in the fridge.

quilting discovery

Once upon a time, I decided to make a quilt. What’s more, I thought it’s a great idea. I mean, how difficult can it be? I had a huge box of scraps I collected during my fashion course, I had free time on my hands and a big need for some light cover. It seemed like a perfect thing to do. Plus, since all my scraps are roughly rectangle – ish, I figured I would just stitch them together without following any pattern. I honestly thought it would be done in few days.

Well... it wasn’t. To be fair, I had all the pieces stitched fairly quickly, I even pieced together the back part of the quilt, what I didn’t have was the batting. I looked and looked and then I just packed my unfinished quilt and forgot about the whole thing. 

About a month ago, I decided to clear out the linen trunk and get rid of all the old bedsheets. And then I thought to myself: what if, instead of looking for batting, I would use old bedsheet?

Surprise, surprise, that’s exactly what I did, and I can proudly say: my first quilt is done! Sure, it’s not fluffy and warm like other quilts are, but it’s perfect for Goan weather. It has enough body to stay in place and not crumple like a simple bedsheet, but it's light enough to use even during the hottest night.

Technically speaking, it’s far from perfection, but I’m kind of in love with it. Plus it looks great in the guest room. And so, with my newly discovered passion, I decided to put the rest of my scraps to good use! I only hope this one will take me less time to complete. 

Cracow's obwarzanki - best "pretzels" in the world

It was morning like any other: with eyes half open, a cup of coffee in hand, I was browsing Pinterest and suddenly…  I found a picture that kept me running from the oven to my laptop and back for past few weeks. It was a recipe for, what someone claimed to be, the best pretzels ever. 

First of all, being born and raised in Cracow – the city where, to my knowledge, pretzels were invented, I have to register a complaint. English language is missing a word describing the kind of pretzel I was obsessing about recently. Sure, there is pretzel (polish: precel) and bagel (pl.: bajgiel) but we also have obwarzanek, which is sort of a culinary symbol of the city.
Traditionally, pretzel is supposed to be much lighter and crispier than obwarzanek, and instead of being round, it’s 8-shaped. Bagel and obwarzanek are both round, with the hole in the center, but while obwarzanek is braided, bagel is formed from one piece of dough. Plus, bagels are soft and chewy and obwarzanki are crispy from the outside.

Apparently, the first written documents mentioning them are dated as far as XIII century. Somewhere around XVI-XVII century, bagel was created in Cracow’s Jewish district, as a competitor to obwarzanek. Later on, the recipe traveled as far as USA, to become New York’s staple while obwarzanek was recognized by EU as a regional food specialty.
Skipping over the history lesson, I jumped at the chance to try the recipe. To say that I failed dismally would be and understatement. I produced an endless supply too chewy, too heavy and hard rings, not even close to the original fluffy obwarzanek with crispy skin.

I was just about to give up when, finally, I found this beautiful recipe and excellent video tutorial (in polish; around 8:20 min – different ways of braiding obwarzanek):

Cracow’s obwarzanki

3 tbsp dried yeast
30g sugar
250ml milk mixed with water in equal proportions
500g flour
1 egg
5g salt
30g melted butter

Poppy seeds, sesame seeds or salt for decoration
 plus wide pot, boiling water, 2 tbsp sugar and 1 tbsp baking soda

Mix sugar, yeast, milk, water and 3 tbsp of flour – leave for 15 minutes until foamy

Add remaining flour, egg, salt and butter and mix until a smooth dough is formed (about 5 minutes). The dough should be light and fluffy but not sticking to the hands – add flour or water if needed.

Leave to rise for about 45 minutes.
Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces and form into long rolls (about 30 cm). Form obwarzanki: take a roll and fold it in half, twist it together until the whole roll forms a braid, join the ends forming a circle (or refer to the video). Let them rest for few minutes.

In wide pot, boil water with sugar and/or baking soda. Dip obwarzanki in boiling water for about 45 seconds on each side – place on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with seeds or salt and bake in 200 degrees for about 15 min – until golden brown. Best eaten the same day, still warm, but can be kept overnight.