Realising that as a 'meat and potatoes,' bland food adhering Englishman, the robust flavours and spices of India may represent a gastronomic challenge, I have commenced, a full 15 months prior, to the actual journey, to try and acclimatize (call it training) my stomach to the 'zesty' delicacies offered at my neighbourhood Indian food supermarket. So far, so good..... on Friday evening we grabbed an assortment of packaged snack foods. Both my 19 year old daughter and my 81 year old mother in law at home however, were less than enthusiastic. Surprise, I actually enjoyed the full flavours and discovered that the items were especially tasty when consumed along with a glass of milk.The idea of the milk, being oil based, is to act as a detergent on the surface of the tongue and remove excessive hot, spicy oils. Last week, my wife Jian and I enjoyed an excellent meal at an up-scale local Indian restaurant, and really enjoyed the experience. Over the years I have had moderate acid indigestion, however, agreeably & to my pleasant surprise, I have found that the spice levels recently consumed have not created any unpleasant after-effects.Aways one to immerse myself in a good travel book, I have just completed a couple of good reads that were both most well worth the time. 'Calcutta', by Simon Winchester and 'Delhi, adventures in a megacity', by Sam Miller (ex BBC correspondent in India and married to an Indian lady). 'Calcutta', was rather more of an historical review of that city, from the splendours of the Raj, to the more modern 'hell hole' where 6-8000 people actually call the main railway station 'home'.
