Coco (my Lab) has a boyfriend! His name is Brownie, he lives in the grounds of our building and he's taken a real shine to Coco. So much so, that this dog now accompanies us on our walks, even though it's way outside of his territory and he's clearly quite terrified. He hides behind me if he feels threatened, which is a bit strange, as if he sees me without Coco he growls at me and runs away. In this mad dog's head I'm clearly two different people!
India is a place of bugs... the insect variety and the stomach variety. Why is this part of my blog today? Well I've currently got the second type of bug and I've been scared to death by the first type from time to time.
About a year ago, on the way back from an outing in Malshej Ghat, my friends and I stopped for food in a roadside dhaba. We didn't really have a choice, as we were in the middle of nowhere. The place had the lights turned down low, so you really didn't notice the immense number of bugs in the place until your eyes got used to the low lights. If the place had been empty, then I'd have run away screaming, but it was doing good business.
The food was fresh and good, and we were half way through when we saw two rats running though the place quite freely. Everyone ignored them, except us. As we watched them for a minute, we realised that these weren't rats after all. They were gigantic cockroaches - as big as my hand! Supersized bugs freak me more than rats - rats are meant to be that big!
So that brings me to the last bit... I've already mentioned that this weekend I'm suffering from a stomach bug. These are common place in a country with such a large number of stray dogs, bugs and rats running around the place. And monsoon time is the time when you need to be most careful about eating 'outside food'.
And I have been careful about outside food. Instead, I've managed to poison myself with my own leftovers! This did confuse me a little, as I made sure I'd heated everything properly and it was less than 24 hours old and had been carefully stored in the fridge.
Then last night after I dragged myself out to take Coco on her last walk of the day, with her boyfriend in tow, I got home and popped into my kitchen. That's when I see a rat run out of my window! I live on the 5th Floor of my apartment block. Now I think I know how I got this stomach bug and I swear I'm never opening that window ever again!
So I'm miserable. I've got a bad stomach, a rat and a stray doggie lusting after Coco. And all I'm allowed to eat is Plain Rice and Curd. All I can say, is it's a good job I learned to make fluffy rice a few months back. Up until that point, the rice I made was always sticky and starchy. Now I know why - I was dumping rice into cold water and bringing it to the boil - wrong!
Perfect, fluffy rice:
1 measure of rice4 measures of water for cooking
Salt to taste
1. Wash the rice really well, until the water runs clear.
2. Soak the rice for half an hour.
3. Bring the water to the boil then add the rice and salt.
4. Bring it back to the boil then simmer, uncovered, for about 10 minutes.
5. Drain off any excess water.
Some types of rice will take less time and others will take longer to cook. I use Basmati and it takes about 10 mins.
When you're ill with a tummy bug, eat this perfect, fluffy rice with curd (yoghurt) - preferably a probiotic variety to help the good bacteria in your tummy kick the bad bacteria to the kerb!
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