Coffee flowers and Lemon cake

Now that the rain has finished the coffee plants have erupted into these delicate white blossoms. The bloom will be for only two or three days and this only happens once a year. The wet weather triggered the flowering and if the dry weather can last until the blossoms fall from the bush then it will ensure a good harvest. I have been informed that I am very lucky to witness such a bountiful explosion of these flowers and having experienced it I don’t doubt this to be true.

Today we went out in the jeep to an area centre on the Kerala border and the smell of the coffee plantations was powerful. If you are like me and have never smelt coffee flowers before imagine the smell of the Jasmine flower but more intense. The fragrance is beautiful but certainly not subtle and as predicted by one of the local doctors who was driving us it very soon gave me a fuzzy floral headache. The outpatients clinic was busy but not jam packed and I am managing to see patients in a more independent fashion now, although I still frequently need to call for help with some of the Tamil vocabulary. I am always relieved to see patients who are attending for routine pregnancy related check-ups because I have a set selection of question which I can ask in a confident tone of voice, followed by a BP check, abdominal palpation and a prescription for iron tablets and calcium, it is basic but it just makes me feel happy to be able to finish a whole consultation without needing help.

Last night we were invited to the home of the two senior doctors who are in charge of the whole operation here. They are a very lovely married couple of approximately the same generation as my parents and it is always an absolute pleasure to be invited for dinner at their house. The party was a good one with all of the women folk invited and told to bring a dish. My brief was to provide something savoury and preferably that would go well with the rice dish and stuffed paratha that was already planned. I wanted to try and bring a European dish, mainly because the concept of trying to feed my Indian cooking to a room full of Indian women who could in all likelihood cook much better than me seemed daunting to say the least. After a stroll through town looking at the veg on offer I decided to make Ratatouille. I was ably assisted by a friend who is also a volunteer from the UK and some serious chopping of vegetables ensued! Thankfully despite me being unable to find basil or oregano in small town India, it turned out rather tasty (if I say so myself). It seemed to be a hit among the Indian party goers, although I was asked a number of times if it was a dish named after that animated film with a rat in it.

The very nice midwifery teacher from Scarborough made lemon drizzle cake and I have never been so happy to see a homemade cake in my life. 24 hours later and I am still in a cake induced good mood. Because an oven is not considered to be a vital piece of kitchen equipment here home baking is not usually an option. Luckily our hosts have a small oven and a cake was created! This I must admit has helped to soothe at least one aspect of my home sickness, for now…

I am of course missing you all greatly and looking forward to seeing you when I get back to England or even sooner for those of you who are visiting me out here.

As always lots of love,

A x

P.S. here are some pictures I took today of the coffee flower and the view from the area centre.