I would so love it if I had a fabulous little chai wallah to come around every morning bringing me tea. I got pretty spoiled on my honeymoon in India, especially when we were staying at Aman-i-Khás in Rajasthan, on the edge of the Ranthambore National Park. We went on safari every morning, setting out before dawn in open Land Rovers in the hope of glimpsing a tiger. In the frigid dark we would be handed hot water bottles and camel's hair blankets, and upon our return, in the stone patio now flooded with sunlight, we were greeted with steaming cups of masala chai. (For a more in-depth explanation of chai, visit an earlier post, here.) I'm writing about it again now because this is the time of year I really begin to crave it. It's full of such a wonderfully warming mix of spices and if you make your own, you can customize a blend that emphasizes what you love best. In India, masala chai is made with strong black tea and assertive spices like clove, fennel, ginger and pepper. The Kashmiri version is made with green tea and often includes more subtle flavors like almond, cardamom and saffron. I'm enjoying mine so much these days thanks to the raw cow's milk I brought back from Vermont, but it also tastes delicious with almond or hemp milk.
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As you can see, I'm not the only one wild about citrus. This was one of the many monkeys we encountered on our honeymoon in India two years ago. What a magical trip it was! I recommend that you get there in this lifetime. I've already written a bit about the trip and floating through the southern canals, but I wanted to share a few more of G's beautiful photos that document the color and charm of this amazing, multi-faceted place. We journeyed from Kerala to the mountains, to Mumbai, and then on to Rajasthan. We stayed on the beach, on a houseboat, in a fantastic tent on the edge of a tiger preserve, at the Taj in Mumbai (exactly one year before it was assaulted by terrorists) and in an 18th century palace in the hills outside Udaipur. It's hard to convey the experience of being in India: the weight of history, the sublime palette, the mass of humanity, the ornamentation and decay. As Mark Twain famously said, "India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great-grandmother of tradition. Our most valuable and most astrictive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only!" Once the jewel in the crown of Queen Victoria, India is still one of the planet's most rare and precious gems.
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