We have a new approach to life in our house since after the influence of Indian living. Learning to cope with life in the searing heat we began to slow down. You had to otherwise you ended up in a pool of perspiration before you even left the flat. My inability to work due to visa restrictions (oh what a shame) meant that life took on a very different pace compared to the busy, busy, busy and intense London life we left behind. In an attempt to bring as much of our insanely happy time back with us to England, we compiled a list to help us understand what made us so content, with a view to implementing the principles on our return. One of those things was time, particularly in the mornings. Previously, our week days began with us both dashing off to catch a train before 7am, eating on the hoof or a “desk-fast” at the office. Not a great start to the day for the ol’ metabolism or indeed for the soul.
Fast forward a couple of months to dawns of 35degrees, street sellers hawking their wares from 6am and our daily early morning yoga class. Following this was a feast of fresh sliced mango, papaya and other seasonal fruits, a banana lassi and plunger smooth south Indian coffee - you see why we wanted to bring as much of that back as possible. So, whilst the imported mangos and lychees will never be anything like the local Indian ones, what we did bring home was the principle - time together before starting the day, plus a healthy meal.
Translating this to London without the mangos, I have embraced the best of Britain’s seasonal fruits on offer, roasting Agen plums, stewing Bramley apples with Indian cinnamon and raisins and serving them with thick sour Greek yoghurt, toasted almonds and a drizzle of Greek honey (Greek honey with its essence of pine works perfectly with the yoghurt). Jack meanwhile has his regular toast and peanut butter, just as he did in India... but we have it together every morning slurping our divine Indian tea – a little bit of our Indian life in London.
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Image with thanks to teamaster.wordpress.com
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