Ruminative Ponderings - Hang on .... Did we order a waterfall with this apartment?

Written in India 2010...

The offending AC unit in place above the doors.

When the temperature outside is 49c, the need for air conditioning becomes rather pressing. We had an AC unit in each room - along with a US$600/month power bill.  Said units were in varying states of (dis)repair and some of them were downright creative in their 'workings' in that they were insanity inducing due to noise and vibration.

The unit in the lounge was one of the newer AC specimens in our apartment and seemed to be fairly reliable ... or so I thought until one morning upon rising, I was greeted by the addition to our household of a wonderful new feature.Yes, the AC unit had; over night, transformed itself from simple cooling unit to a one of a kind, designer Indoor Waterfall which was cascading merrily down the wall to fall with delicious cool splashes onto the marble floor.

Onto the phone to Chris I got, and 'Sid'; our apartment manager, was duly contacted. He assured us that the 'fixit' brigade were on their way. So after installing enough buckets to stop the lounge becoming a lake, Geri and I settled down to await our salvation ... and wait ... and wait ... and empty buckets ... and wait, until at last two workers arrived to sort the problem out.

From past experience I knew what to expect and so I settled in to watch what I was sure was going to be an 'interesting' show.  As it transpired, I wasn't disappointed. Now, if only I had thought to sell tickets ...

AC Fixit Man (ACFM) and his Unfortunate Assistant (UA) came into the apartment, serious faces in place and tool box in tow. I showed them which unit was broken, miming that it was making a waterfall. They looked at each other and then looked at me as if I was stark raving mad. I mean after all, there was no water falling down, just some water sitting in buckets and who knows what these crazy foreign women got up to when ACBM and AS weren't looking. Maybe Mam was going to use the buckets of water for something ...

After standing in the lounge for 20 mins or so deliberating and discussing what was to be done about fixing imaginary indoor waterfalls, ACBM and AS came to the conclusion that there was nothing to be done inside and they went outside to regoup on the balcony. More serious discussions took place, accompanied by much waving of hands, scratching of chins and knowledgeable head nodding. Finally a solution was agreed upon, the tool box was opened and a screw driver was extracted. Said screw driver was deftly inserted into the end of the AC unit's outlet pipe, jabbed about a bit with serious intent then firmly put back into the tool box. After closing the tool box the lads came back inside with beatific grins on their faces and assured me that it was "All better Mam!!!"

Hmmmmm, Okaaaaay....... Yeah. I knew that this was simply a case of "We have no idea what the problem is (because you imagined the waterfall Mam) so we did something and now we can go and have a cup of tea." So, off they went! I even got a call from Chris telling me Sid had called to assure him the problem had been sorted. Such good news!! I of course knew that the fault hadn't been fixed, but in India you just have to allow the process to unfold and follow along as it takes its natural course. Later that day the water feature once again graced us with its presence and we resignedly redeployed our buckets.

I decided that a new plan was needed and instead of contacting Sid again I decided to simply leave the buckets in place; with the AC unit running flat out to ensure a nice constant supply of water for the water feature, for the cleaners to find the next morning when they came in to work.

Dust Storm - one of the reasons cleaning was a daily affair.

A small aside here. The reason the cleaners came in every day - apart from the fact that they 'came with' the apartment was that within 24 hours of being cleaned, all of the surfaces in the apartment were black and gritty. The source of this dirt was air borne ollution and the massive dust storms that hit most days. The fact that none of the windows or doors sealed shut properly meant that anything air borne could simply blow in on the wind and settle inside.

My laundry - on a 'clear' day, just after the cleaners have been.

The following morning  the cleaners duly arrived and I quietly stood back so that I could observe their reaction to discovering the joys of our new indoor water feature. Alas, I was to be disappointed as their discovery was greeted with much consternation accompanied by vigorous head wobbling and hand waving.

Out came the cell phone and a rapid conversation punctuated by concise hand gestures ensued. A few minutes later my phone rang. It was Chris calling to let me know that Sid had called him to let us know that ACFM and UA would once again be gracing us with their presence later that day. Oh GOODY - the anticipation was excruciating to say the least.

The expected knock on the door was answered by me with a great flourish  and grandiose welcome. The poor bemused workmen entered and once again went over to the AC unit to ponder life in general and the foibles of modern technology. At least this time the waterfall was evident and indeed, a beautiful thing to behold it was. After a minute or two, ACFM issued an order to UA. UA came over to me and with many 'Mams' he started miming...

First holding his hand down .... then holding his hand up .... 'Mam!'

Hand down, hand up .... 'Mam!'

Hand down, hand up ...... 'Mam!'

Hand down, hand up ....'Mam!'

Hand down, hand up ....

You get the picture, I'm sure.

It finally dawned on Mam that he wanted a ladder and solemnly shaking my head to indicate I didn't have a ladder, I indicated that they could pull the dining table over to climb on. This suggestion was greeted with absolute horror and a storm of head shaking erupted from UA who whipped out the ubiquitous cell phone once again. Through (I assume) the Sid communication channel, there was shortly a knock on the door and one of the cleaners delivered a ladder to UA who delivered it with great aplomb to ACFM.  The next hour or so consisted of ACFM barking orders at poor UA who had to try to convey to me what ACFM wanted. This comedy of errors and misunderstood mimes reached its culmination when UA embarked on the mime to end all mimes.

Holding his hand aloft he imitated stepping, once, twice, then lowered his hand with a 'Mam!' of course.

So here we go ...

Hand up, step, step, hand down ... 'Mam!'...

Hand up, step, step, hand down ... 'Mam!'...

Hand up, step, step, hand down ... 'Mam!'...

Hand up, step, step, hand down ... 'Mam!'...

Hand up, step, step, hand down ... 'Mam!'...


Well, Mam just didn't get it I'm afraid. My son tells me I failed at Indian Charades because UA was miming in Hindi .... Yeah Ok, thanks Son!

Anyway, as I looked blankly at UA he became more and more agitated, miming faster and faster  and louder and louder as this would make me understand. All the while, ACFM was yelling at UA to get what he was asking for. Finally, I held up my hand and got out my phone. This triggered a startling increase in both the volume and speed of UA's miming and a frantic shaking of heads and flapping of hands. It was my turn to mime as I tried to get him to stop and just wait a minute as rang Chris and asked for Sid's number. Once I had Sid on the phone I explained the situation and asked him to ask ACFM just what it was that he wanted. A very animated conversation ensued whilst I waited with baited breath for an asnwer. I was dying to know just what it was that had caused so much passion and grief. Finally, the phone came back to me and Sid quietly told me ...

"Mam, they are simply needful of a cup with which to scoop water...."

OH. MY. GOD!!!!!!!!!

I couldn't help myself, burst out laughing and stumbled off to the kitchen to find the precious cup. Both ACFM and UA gazed upon me with pity and consternation when I returned chortling, blubbering and cackling with glee, holding aloft the prize of the day - a cup! I guess I can see why they looked at me like that.  I mean, not only did I suck at playing charades, but I was also obviously certifiably crazy as this was a very serious business and not funny at all!

By the time I had returned from the kitchen, UA; whom I am sure thought I had just gone off to babble and drool quietly in the mad corner and didn't plan on coming back, had frantically emptied out a pot of screws and was trying to convince ACFM that this would do the job - which was simply to empty some water from the bottom of the AC unit. ACFM accepted the pot, rejecting my precious cup; which sat forlornly on the dining table feeling unwanted, and got on with fixing the AC unit - or not ....

Soon after this I had to evacuate Geri from India so I never got to see how effective the repair on the unit was. But Chris did, as he stayed on a bit longer. He was able to report that the indoor water feature made a spectacular return not long after we left. I'm so glad that he got to witness and enjoy the wonder of it!

The Hog Diaries - Caleb, Conrad ..... and other... ... ... Critters ... ... ...

Caleb arrives sporting his big belly

Rach from Paws4Life contacted me one Tuesday night. Since setting humane cat traps near the
shelter in an effort to capture an injured stray tom that had been spotted hanging around. To date the tom has eluded capture, but she has been doing a roaring trade in catching hedgehogs! For the most part said hoggies have been healthy and after having a jolly good feed in the trap are set free to go on their merry way.

However, the first night yielded a very mangey little boy and Rach contacted me to see if I could help him. Upon arrival and inspection I determined that the hog was male, had awful mange and a very full tummy. After I had given him his first Ivomec jab I popped him into his hospital box with a bowl full of electrolytes along with a little food and left him to it.

Caleb, expressing his appeciation for his heat pad by demonstrating the 'splat hog'

The next morning's weigh in revealed that Caleb had lost just under 80gms which I was expecting as his tummy had been very full the night before. It was so full in fact that I think it was actually helping to prevent him curling up LOL. He'd been exceedingly busy over night and had completely trashed his bedroom. After I'd done his housekeeping and he had been back in bed warming up for a while - he really enjoys his heat pad, I got him up to give him his first oil treatment, start his Panacur and generally have a closer look at him. Apart from his mange which had caused a lot of cracking on his back, he seemed to be in pretty good condition which was great. He very shy and nervous which is to be expected but seemed to be coping with his new situation ok for the most part.

Ouchy ...

 These cases with 'dry mange' as I call it, are much easier; in my opinion, to manage. They don't tend to smell as much - and if they do smell it only lasts a few days at the most, the crust comes off quickly - generally within four days, and in my experience to date they are less likely to be fly blown. So far, Caleb has been one of the easiest cases I've had .. long may it last.

A quick word about his name - when Rachael's partner dropped this hoggie off to me I told him to let their daughter Indi chose a name for him. Rach warned me that said name could well be very random but I knew this from previous experience with Miss Indi and awaited the naming day with baited breath.

Rach informed me the next day that the naming decree had been announced by Queen Indi and that if the hoggie was a girl it was 'Kora-Nina' and is it was a boy it was 'Caleb' so Caleb it was ... I did let Rach know I was very disappointed to have such a mainstream name for him but the Queen had spoken hehe.

Oil treatment on board and it's back to bed to warm up

Caleb coped with his first oiling like a champ and even managed to curl up a bit more since his tummy had 'deflated' overnight. He had another light oiling yesterday and a good 80% of his crust has gone. He's mighty resistant to being medicated but we'll get there with that one via patience and perseverance.

After his big drop in weight the first night Caleb has been steadily gaining and has nearly gotten back to his admission weight. He is eating well - he just loves his Hills A/D and has figured out how to make a nest bed in his blankets so is more settled and content which will reduce his stress levels a lot.

In this photo you can see just how emaciated he is - his head here is about 2/3 the size of his body when it should be about 1/4 the size of his body when rolled up.



and so to Conrad ....

Jacqui from Hedgehog Rescue New Zealand rang me about another hog on Wednesday. This one had been picked up by some children and was full of maggots. Now, maggots and me aren't a good combination so I got them to take the hog to Luanne at Pet Doctors for de maggoting. Luanne then gave me a call later in the day to say the maggots had been dealt to and I went in to collect the hog.

Oh my! The smell was indescribable ... probably the worst I've encountered so far.

I had a new fosterer lined up to come and see me on Sat so I warned her that she would most likely be leaving with a hog in tow. I asked her to name this hoggie and she called him Conrad.

This wee man was VERY stressed so I settled him in his hospital box, gave him some electrolytes with a little food and left him to it overnight. I didn't like the look of him and the following morning he hadn't improved. He didn't eat or drink at all over night and his breathing was still rapid. I couldn't monitor him closely for most of the day as we had to go to Auckland hospital for a medical appointment but upon getting home later that day the first thing I did was check on Conrad.

Oh lordy, he was simply ALIVE with hundreds of maggots. I had to get over myself and my maggot aversion (instant vomit!!!) which I did pretty quickly once I had lost my lunch and hit the panic button spending the next 2 hours getting the maggots off him. It is imperative with maggots that they be removed ASAP as once they have hatched they instantly begin to eat the hog alive. By the time I had finished, Conrad was obviously in a very bad way. He was unresponsive and I assume, in deep shock.

I tucked him away in his warm bed and waited but I knew in my heart what the outcome was going to be. Checking him 1/2 hourly confirmed he was still totally unresponsive and throughout the evening his breathing got slower and slower until by 11.30pm I was certain he had passed over the Rainbow Bridge.  I waited until the morning to confirm it and my suspicions were correct.

RIP Conrad - may your time over the Rainbow Bridge be free forever from torture and pain.

Ruminative Ponderings - The Mad Cow Meets Some Wild Yeast .... did somebody say bread????

Written in India - 2010 .... For many years, I have entertained the idea of trying my hand at making sourdough bread. However, back home in New Zealand there isn't a lot of incentive as there is a ready supply of fantastic genuine sourdough from my foody happy zone; Moore Wilsons.

Moore Wilson = Foody Heaven!

The best thing about real sourdough is that Geri can eat it without it setting off her GI symptoms. I can eat a bit of it too with fewer problems than I have with commercial bread, but I still have to be a bit careful. After we found ourselves in Melbourne, I never managed to find a decent source for sourdough, although I have to admit I didn't look very hard. I'm sure there is some there somewhere but without a car and with a sick Geri in tow it proved to be too difficult and was relegated to the 'too hard basket'.

I have - in the past, dabbled in the sourdough pond a little using a recipe that employed dried yeast to get the bug going. The results, both in taste and GI reactions were far from desired - especially when compared to the wonders available at Moore Wilsons! There was simply no contest - or rather, the competition was way too steep.

On arriving in Gurgaon I found that the local bread did indeed live up to my expectations - or lack thereof. Hmm, how can I describe the bread made in many Asian countries? Ok, picture this - hang on, quick note here - I am not talking about traditional Indian breads here. I adore these and skoff them often. Here, I'm talking about Western style bread made in Asian countries. So, to continue... the slices are dry and stale tasting; even when fresh, with a texture is akin to a thick kitchen paper towel. A loaf weighs about as much as one of those paper towels and the taste? Well dry is the only way I can think of to describe it... It is a very far cry from the aromatic, chewy, dense (but not heavy and doughy) offerings from Moore Wilson. With my thoughts once again turning to sourdough due to lack of acceptable alternatives, I started researching - yay for the internet, and found a lot of informative and useful websites. Top of my list to date would be these -

Soudough Companion

Catching Wild Yeast and Making Sourdough

Wild Yeast Blog

Now there was just one little hurdle standing in my way before I could embark on this adventure ... I needed something to actually bake my bread in. For the low down on that little saga, see my 'Appliance Adventures'  post. Long story short, after a month of frustration my oven duly arrived - and it is indeed a thing of rare beauty and wonderful baking ability! With the oven duly installed on the bench and daring me to make good use of it, I no longer had any excuse not to get on with it so I decided to stop procrastinating and started my sourdough bug.

Which brings us to the subject of flour. Most of the instructions for sourdough starters are pretty specific about the sort of flour and flour combinations that should be used. Now, that's all well and good when you live in a country where you have choice and selection. This simply isn't the case here in India. As far as wheat flour goes, one gets to choose from two that are on offer - that I've found so far that is.

The first is called Maida. This is an extremely finely milled white flour and would be classed as a pastry flour I think. It is very light and seems to substitute well for the white flour I am familiar with using at home.

The other flour; and the one that is most commonly used here, is called Atta. This 100% wholemeal flour differs quite considerably to the wholemeal flours I am accustomed to. It is most similar to the finely ground stoneground flours available back home and is employed in the making of many of the traditional Indian breads which are made in the homes all over India. I am surprisingly impressed with this flour and am looking forward to experimenting with it further.

 So, the morning that my sourdough bug was conceived dawned dusty and hot. I had decided to go with 100% Atta and having found a mostly suitable pyrex container for the bug to grow in (yes, this had been another of those 'almost mission impossibles' that I am getting used to going on here in Gurgaon) I mixed the flour into some filtered water, put the lid on and left it to it.

The following morning I scuttled into the sweatbox and lifted the lid off the pot. To be honest, I hadn't expected anything to have happened but was amazed to find the bug was bubbling away most gratifyingly. WOOT WOOT! Maybe this was going to work! I continued to feed my bug over the next few days, following the  instructions I'd printed off from the net. I have to make a confession at this point ... I also fretted away like a mother with a new baby about feeding times,  'meal' quantities, discard rates and temperature. With all of this burbling away in the back of my mind; just as my bug was burbling away quite happily on the bench, I watched it with baited breath for any signs of imminent death.

On days 3-4 things started to look a bit grim. The bug went very quiet and I panicked. Had I committed bug-a-cide??? I consulted a few more blogs and web sites and decided to just keep going, although I couldn't resist fiddling a bit with the type of flour; I changed over to Maida, and the discard rate; which i reduced. Keeping my fingers crossed I hoped for the best. Over the next few days my bug-baby slowly seemed to come back to life and also started to smell pretty good too - it had a slightly sweet/sour/yeasty smell; which while it was unusual, wasn't unpleasant in any way.


I may have had a hand in the day 3-4 crisis ... but I'm not sure as some websites report that this slow down does sometimes happen. I had been concerned that the kitchen would be too hot for the bug as the temperature sits between 30c and 45c most days, so on the night of the second I put the bug in one of the rooms that the A/C would be running in overnight. Now, it's not cold in these rooms by any stretch of the imagination as they sit at around 24-25c. However, the big slow happened the next day so who knows...

The whole issue of temperature is interesting. People have been making sourdough for a very long time, and very often in quite cold climates. It seems that the process will still happen, but that it simply takes longer. According to one blog, around 30c is the optimal temperature for sourdough development - if that is the case then my kitchen should be the perfect sourdough hot housing environment. Perhaps my bug-baby decided to punish me for putting it out in the 'cold' by having a big sulk. I have since left it in the kitchen full time and dared it to do a repeat performance.

Finally on day 9 it happened! My bug-baby reached a major developmental milestone - it doubled its volume in 12 hours. This was apparently an indication that my nurturing; and fretting, had paid off and that my bug-baby was ready to start the weaning process - having matured enough to be ready to go to work for me. I elected to give it another few days of growth just to be on the safe side and began a search of the net for loaf recipes that looked like they'd fit the bill. Remembering an episode of River Cottage- where they'd made a simple sourdough loaf, I went in search of the recipe.

River Cottage Sourdough

D-Day - or evening, arrived and I took the first step which was to make the sponge. This simply involved mixing water, flour; I used Maida, and some of my bug-baby together and leaving it to it overnight.

Another quick trot to the sweatbox ensued the following morning and the sight that awaited me was wonderous to behold ... my little bug-baby had done a stupendous job during the night and the sponge was a mass of lovely yeasty bubbles all of the way through.

All that remained to do was to mix in the rest of the flour; Atta this time, some salt and a little Olive oil. The mixture was fairly wet and gooey but improved upon kneading. Then I put the ball of dough aside to have a think about rising, which it proceeded to in a stately but steady manner. My bug-baby hadn't let me down so far and I hoped it would continue to produce the 'goods' as the day went on.

The first rising took around 5 hours, after which time I punched the dough down and tipped it out onto the bench to shape into its form for baking. As I don't have any proper proving baskets (or any other western bakeware for that matter) here I improvised with an Indian dish which is sort of like a small shallow wok. I lined the bowl with a clean tea towel which I floured then popped the dough into its nest to prove  before putting the whole lot into a plastic bag.

Bug-baby's rising rate during proving was a bit faster than the first rising and within 1 1/2 hours it was looking pretty darn good. The aroma of it when I took it out of its plastic bag to check it was amazing - it was yeasty but also smelt distinctly of yoghurt. I couldn't wait to see if the finished bread tasted the same as the smell. Erring on the side of caution I decided to leave it for another hour as I felt it had more rising to do before it was ready for baking.As it transpired, I got busy with dinner so the loaf proved for a total of 4 1/2 hours before I got back to it.

 And so, look at this!! Just like a real one! I am still a bit surprised that it worked so well ... what shall I make tomorrow???? Grisini anyone?

Oh, and yes... it tastes amazing. Very tangy with heaps of flavour. YUM!

A final thought ....

The sourdough process is certainly one that can't be rushed. I think this is a big part of its charm. It is a true member of the slow food movement.