sartoric

That's funny. I saw many of those wine lookalikes. Initially I thought this is good, closer inspection revealed the truth. The only places you can buy alcohol in Kerala are the state run stores, or at a gritty local bar (if it's not a banned day), or as a guest at a five star resort. We didn't stay at any five stars, but did go to one for lunch and dinner ! Agree, India is worth it, got to love those lime salt sodas.

Here's a photo of one of the state run liquor stores. From the backwaters near Alleppey five of us took a boat across the river, then crammed into one auto rickshaw for a 10 minute ride. The booze is in a cage, no credit card accepted (weird when the country is trying to become cashless).

Since you asked, yes, getting alcohol was difficult everywhere we went (except Pondicherry). This bottle was bought the day before in one of the state run liquor stores (an experience in itself). In Kerala every public holiday is dry, the first of the month also dry. In Tamil Nadu we had a three day ban due to protests/strikes, and then again in the lead up to Republic Day. Interesting about eating beef. We did see it on a menu in a five star hotel in Cochin, it was imported. We were told the communist party currently runs Kerala...

I couldn't tell you how many species are grown on this 25 acre property. Rubber is the main crop, there's also many different fruit trees, myriad spices, a vegetable garden, coffee, a small herd, and teak for furniture. We had an interesting walk in the misty early morning with Ann's husband, Alex. Up hill, down dale, along back roads, about 90 minutes and a good workout. Tapping the rubber trees. The production area, with fresh sheets drying. This pineapple was cut for us to take away. The cows.

I helped cook dinner, well, okay I stirred the egg and potato curry, while taking photos with my phone. First heat coconut oil, fry black mustard seeds, lots of red onions, ginger, garlic, whole green chillies, then coriander powder, turmeric powder, garam masala and chilli powder and a huge handful of curry leaves. Next we add coconut milk from freshly grated coconut mixed with warm water, blended and squeezed through a sieve and some tomato sauce. Salt water is added to taste, then boiled peeled potatoes, stir stir, then halved hard boiled eggs. Virtually everything comes from the property. Check out the knife... Dinner is served. We bought a bottle of the local indian wine to celebrate both Republic Day in India and Australia Day, January 26. This is a Sauvignon Blanc, quite drinkable if pricey.

I agree, I posted that just to show that the middle class Indians are no different to us. We did chat to them, they're from Pondicherry and were very cosmopolitan.

No, @rotuts they don't eat them. The bulls will be put to work in fields or pulling carts, the cows are milked. The dairy products are prolific here.

As we descend, the tea plantations give way to rubber. We spend the night at a homestay in the middle of one, and learn all about the production. First though, we must eat lunch. From 12.00 clockwise, pappads, fish fry, rice, veg cutlets, Russian salad, chicken fry, lemon pickle, fruit from the property. Then, time for afternoon coffee. Our hostess Ann was very open about allowing me into her kitchen. She has two, a large demonstration kitchen where she runs cooking classes, and a two square meter everyday kitchen behind. She makes the coffee by boiling water in a vase shaped vessel, adds powdered coffee (grown on the property) a few cardamom pods (also grown here) crushed with the heal of a knife, and boils again. It was delicious served with appom (a snack made with semolina wrapped in leaves) and fruitcake made yesterday.

Pork steaks marinated in the satay style, cooked on the barbie with fresh pineapple. Served on a bed of salad leaves, with a cool cucumber salad and a fresh lime salt soda.

We drive down the western side of the mountain range passing mile after mile of tea plantations. Tours, tastings and tea to purchase are all available. If Tamil Nadu is the land of temples, Kerala is the land of churches...thousands of them. There's a church at the top of these steps. Coffee at the Hillview restaurant where the owner pointed out some of the 400 houses, 5 churches, and 3 bus routes on the mountain across the valley. I snuck into the kitchen. The weekly cattle market, where big wads of cash were changing hands.

Dinner was at Grandmas Kitchen in Thekkady. A homely warm place with an open kitchen. Chicken curry, veg masala, garlic paratha and rice, nice. Smart phones, they're everywhere.

You could be right @cdh, the guy did mention datura. I remember thinking at the time, "ah, old hippy drug. I wonder what they use it for, because there's nothing unproductive here". There definitely was allspice some where, we had never seen it growing before. I'm not sure of its relatives.

The top of the mountains is where we cross the state border into Kerala. There's more rain in Kerala, its very lush and green, with more crops and many spice plantations. We walk through one with a man who explains the growing cycle and harvesting methods for many different spices, fruit and vegetables. Here's a few.... Cardamom Cloves Nutmeg Allspice Coffee Pepper Taro Coconut palms

On the drive to Kerala with the Western Ghats looming ahead, we came across a family of goat herders. Two teenage sisters explained the methods used, while mum and dad watched. They have two different breeds, the local breed much taller. The woven huts are to shelter baby goats from winter weather. Goat (mutton) is the most popular red meat in India. It was a bit disturbing earlier in the trip to see a nose to tail enterprise on the side of the road. From trimmed whole legs hanging on a steel hook, right through to a live goat tied to the fence, with a few steps in between ... I'm such a hypocrite, I love goat, very tasty.

Umm, my guess would be a ready mix for a particular dish...maybe someone else can answer.

Go @kayb, it's fascinating. This is our second visit, hopefully there will be a third !

Our last meal in the state of Tamil Nadu, breakfast dosa with a poori and the usual accompaniments. We head towards the state of Kerala, stopping at a local market in the town of Usilampatty.

When am I ever going to be able to use the kitchen again...sigh. It's only day one of a forecast three day heatwave. Peach and turkey salad with baby gem lettuce, rocket, nasturtium leaves, spring onions and walnuts. The dressing is a preserved lemon vinaigrette, some dark German rye bread to mop. The salad was followed by a perfectly ripe Calypso mango, and because I seem to have grown a sweet tooth, a piece of Greek baklava.

Good question @Shelby, my guess would be they become cow food (maybe after a few uses).

Street food part 4. Almost exploding, we're coerced into trying some halva, sweet delicious and the final straw. Walking slowly and carefully (it's dark, it's India) back towards the car, we pass through snack street. All sorts of savoury treats packaged and ready to go. Many kinds of pappads ready to fry. Some of those sacks at the rear hold pasta, that surprised me. A jaggery stall, how I wish I could have brought some home. Shopping is a daliy event for most people. Thousands of small shops selling the same kind of stuff. Incredible. More chillies and spices, we make it to the car, home, bed.

Part 3. A short waddle to another hole in the wall which sells only parathas. The fire puts out some serious heat, the man chopping egg paratha is sweating profusely. A masala paratha, first stretch the dough a bit, spread on sauce, fold and flip. The dining hall seats eight only at two tables and is across the alley from the kitchen. The guy with the backpack is our guide, I'm in front of him and hwmbf took the photo. There are three Indian guys at the front table, we sit behind them, nearly a full house. It was very dark, the flash might have blinded this guy. Notice the ceiling with a large manhole, there's storage space up there. Plain paratha served with mutton gravy, egg paratha, and a mix of all three. Eaten with fingers of course. Not photogenic, very tasty and filling though. Somewhere along the way there was an iced coffee from another popular long term place, delicious but no shots...getting photo weary maybe. Next we hit the sweets.

Madurai street food (part 2). Another short walk takes us to Adya Ananda Bharvan, the same venue where we had our fabulous breakfast. It's a very local place, and safe for us we're told. Here we enjoyed yet another dosa, this a really good crispy one, served with sambar, masala dal, fresh chutneys. We get a lesson in eating with fingers. It's not as easy as it looks, you only get to use three fingers of your right hand. Someone famous once said "Eating with utensils is like making love wearing armour". Dough balls possibly sweet, possibly savoury. The clientele. If if you're ever in Madurai.....

Madurai city street food tour. At 6pm we are driven to meet our guide, a smart young guy who was also one of our guides this morning. There's just the three of us. Firstly we had paniyaram of two kinds in the aircon part of a huge food business. The smaller darker ones in the middle are sweet, all are served with fresh tomato, coconut and coriander chutney. These are the snacks, sweets and cake counters. A long shot of the counter below. Around the corner to a string hoppers hole in the wall. It's said to be run by the same family for more than 100 years. These are steamed snacks made with a rice flour (or millet) batter forced through something like a potato ricer in a circular motion. Once steamed, they're served on a banana leaf with coconut milk and a little sambol. Eaten with fingers.

Here's a couple...

@helenjp, you are correct, the traditional method uses rice flour diluted with water, and the women use their fingers to draw the design. I plan to replicate some at home and will use chalk. I plead tiredness for my lapse, and will sharpen up going forward. I hadn't noticed a difference in men/women out and about. It's different at night, mostly men around. Maybe it's just the photos posted so far. I did notice that most hotel/resorts/B & B's where we stayed had all male staff apart from the grass sweepers. Kerala and Tamil Nadu were vastly different in many ways, not noticeably about gender. @liuzhou, now I'm thinking about it, a rural market we visited had more women vendors.