Indian Meals on the Houseboat (Saturday 8/19 & Sunday 8/20)

Shaji took us to a very local Indian restaurant on our drive from Kovalam to Alleppey.  You would not believe the stares we received when we walked into the restaurant.  It was the first time Shaji was able to see other people's reactions to us. 


Shaji ordered for us.  We had poori masala (my favorite).  We had vada and idly with two different chutneys. 

The boys ate completely with their hands and I even ate mostly with my hands but used my napkin a million times.  Marshall tried to tell me you don't clean your hands until the meal is done.  I can't quite do that!!


I have my first Chai, which is tea.  It was delicious!  It has milk and sugar in it, I think.  I wish I had found this sooner!

Marshall and Shaji both had coffee.  John just drank water.




We were served a welcome drink as we boarded the houseboat in Alleppey.  I think it was a mint lime drink.  This is fairly common and we really like it.


Here is our lunch spread on the houseboat.  We had cucumbers, tomatoes and carrots as a salad.  We had Kerala rice and many different curries.  It was an impressive spread and was about 3x what we could eat. This was a traditional Kerala meal.







This was our dessert after lunch.  It was sweet but had noodles in it.  It was also warm.  We don't know exactly what it is called but it was delicious.  


John and I both had trouble staying awake after lunch.  The boat ride was smooth, relaxing and lulling us to sleep.  


Our afternoon tea break included fried bananas. I had been smelling coconut oil while I was out on the front of the boat and didn't know what was cooking.  When I saw our fried bananas, I knew that was what I was smelling. They are delicious!

We also had butter cookies and two coffees.



We stopped in the afternoon and bought fresh pawns from a local place on the river.  Our chef cooked the prawns for us for dinner.  We had fried chicken, although we aren't sure what parts of the chicken he fried.  It is not what we typically have in the States.  We had lady fingers (okra), vegetable curry, rice, paroda bread, and a few other goodies. Again, 3x what we could eat.  Totally stuffed.



For breakfast, we had toast with butter and jam.

We had poori masala, which is fried flour and a potato, vegetable mixture.



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