A newsflash! Plus, a recipe and the inevitable.

**We are sorry to interrupt our regularly scheduled broadcast for this important newsflash.**

I just saw an ELEPHANT! A giant-- really, really giant-- elephant strolling down the main street of the village. There was a boy riding the elephant and a man walking alongside it. The elephant was at least twice as tall as the man. The elephant was carrying a bundle of palm fronds. They were headed toward the river, so we took off in hot pursuit, hoping to see the elephant get its bath. Once they were around the side of the temple (the elephant is a temple elephant), they stopped, the elephant set down its bundle and bent one front leg, so the boy could use its knee to step on as he climbed down. The elephant then picked the palm fronds back up, turned around, went to the front of the temple and CLIMBED UP THE STONE STEPS-- a full flight of stairs-- and went INTO the temple.

**We will now resume our regularly scheduled broadcast of "Cooking with Brianna goes to India."**

Banana Leaf Ada - a traditional sweet snack in Kerala, perfect for tea time
Ingredients
1 c. roasted rice four (or wheat flour)
a small amount of ghee (or coconut oil)
salt (to taste)
1/2 c. water
1 c. grated coconut
4 T. jaggery (palm sugar)
1 t. cardamom
4 squares of banana leaf (one big leaf, tear off sections)

- Make dough with first four ingredients (flour, ghee, salt, water)
- Grate coconut. Mix with jaggery and cardamom to make filling.
- Roast banana leaf (until soft and supple). (We just roasted it for a few seconds over a gas burner.)
- Spread thin layer of dough on leaf. Cover with filling. Fold in half (the same direction as the grooves of the leaf).
-Steam 10-15 minutes.

Remarkably easy! And tasty! I made these this afternoon in my cooking lesson, and then promptly took the tasty results to afternoon tea to share with my new friends here at the Vijnana Kala Vedi Cultural Centre (http://www.vijnanakalavedi.org/). A few notes about the recipe. I know you can buy rice flour in the US, and Nisha, my teacher, said you could roast it yourself (you can buy it already roasted here). She also said wheat flour would work. The dough is very soft and fine. It almost feels like it was made with confectioners sugar (I didn't feel the flour before it was wet, but I expect it is very fine). Actually, the best way I can describe the consistency is to say it is like the middle state of that cornstarch & water mix that stays firm when you play with it and goes all soft when it sits still. We grated the coconut ourselves (tomorrow I learn the proper way to shop one open) on a nifty device that clamps to the table. It is like a flat spoon with sharp little teeth all the way around that scrape the meat of the coconut. The jaggery looks like a stone, but it is soft enough to grate with the edge of a knife. I think you could replace this with any natural sweetener. We also peeled the cardamom seeds and crushed them ourselves. We steamed them in a pan made for making idlis (a breakfast food, more on that later). I really want to bring one of these pans home!

Today I also took a group yoga class and my first individual Kathakali class. Tomorrow I will also join the group Kalarippayatt (martial arts) class. More on these later (it's almost dinner time), but I must share....

The inevitable has happened. I puked yesterday. Repeatedly. Shortly after I got off the train and again after I arrived at the cultural centre. I don't think it was actual food poisoning or any of the other nasty things you can get from food or water here, as I recovered pretty quickly. I think it was just a combination of not sleeping that well on the overnight train (I took sleeper class-- no AC and three berths in the space of only two in the upper classes), getting overheated, not eating much on the train, etc, etc. I had my sleeper berth to myself during the night (thank goodness), but in the morning there were 13 people sitting in our little compartment that was meant to hold 6 (I have no idea, but no one seemed to check tickets for that portion on the trip-- everyone was very nice and well dressed, but I think they just pile on). The train was also too crowded to get to the bathroom (not that I really wanted to visit it with so many people using it....). Anyway, I felt nauseous on the train but survived the ride. I got off at the station in Chengannur and walked through town looking for a bank. I was waiting for them to restock the ATM with cash and felt really queasy, so I walked around the corner and found an overgrown grassy area..... feeling better, I went back to the ATM, got my money, took a rickshaw to the centre, got checked in, and then puked again, with poor Bala-- the director-- watching. I spent the afternoon resting (in my bed caged with a mosquito net). At one point, I went to get something out of my pack and sat on the floor. The tile felt so nice and cool, I ended up laying on the floor hugging my pack for a while. Between not feeling well (you know when you are so sick it seems like the world might just end?), some muggy overcast weather, and realizing that tomorrow is Thanksgiving (how did that happen? isn't it still early October?), I was feeling rather down last night and this morning. And this afternoon things are looking up: my classes were great, I am getting to know the other students (although three I really like are leaving this weekend!), I went for a nice walk to the river, and I saw an ELEPHANT!

I think there will be much more to tell, but for now I am off to eat dinner. Food here is served on a banana leaf (no plate!) and everything-- I mean everything-- is eaten with your fingers (right hand only!). There is silverware available if you really can't bear it.... and just in case I don't make it online tomorrow: HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!