Food

I have found a delicious and relatively nutritious dessert. It is basically ground almonds with sugar and a little milk cooked together. Here is a recipe. http://www.indobase.com/recipes/details/badam-katli.php

I would not bother with the step that reads “grind it finely” because “it” refers to 1 kg of almonds. Instead, opt for Trader Joe’s almond meal. It can also be made with cashews! This link has a great picture of the final product.

http://indianhotrecipes.blogspot.com/2010/07/kaju-katli.html

I have no idea how they get that shiny metallic look on top. I think a little coco powder or powdered sugar would be a great alternative. A kilogram of the cashew dessert runs 250 rupees ($5.50). That is 2.2 pounds! Some things are much more expensive here and many things are much cheaper.

We found imported Cheerios at an upscale store. They were $10 per box! I was prepared to buy them nonetheless because providing a familiar diet goes a long way to keeping children content. Aven said he would be fine with corn flakes – which are only about $3 per box because he thought $10 was crazy. I thought his concern was sweet.

We have also found a close proximity of American cheese. It comes in individually wrapped slices and passes the Aven test. The kicker is that it comes with a warning on the outside of the wrapper:   “Remove outer packaging before consumption.”

Leaving the wrapper on does not really change the taste, but removing it is easier on the digestion.

One last food story: The KFC was disappointing to Aven because it was not the same recipe as home; a little chili is added and perhaps a little sugar. May and I like it even better. However, we have now discovered a little food vendor in the food court of the local mall called “Arabian Hut” that has fried chicken and fries just like in the US of A. You can’t judge a book by its cover.