Goan crazy
Yeah, I'm in India.
This is on the stretch of beach between Calangute and Baga. Although this is Goa, where there are significant numbers of Christians (and hence, beef eaters), cows still enjoy a certain amount of deference. I saw another cow that was rumaging through some sunbeds where tourists are were laying out was simply shooed away.
This part of Goa is all about the beach and beach activities - jet skis, banana boats, parasailing, etc.
Not a very common sight, even here, but there are a few urban elephants.
Below, a fairly spicy dish called kingfish masala fry (dry). That's a masala (spice mix) crusted onto a couple of fish steaks. I had another dish with this called chicken xacuti (sha koo tee), which is also delicious, but not very photogenic. That one is boneless chicken breast pieces, cooked in a gravy with fresh coconut meat, green chili, spices and some herbs. The cook was doing double duty as the waiter (I ate during a lull around 3pm), so we got to chat a bit.
At a different place called the Stone House, this is a chicken dish which is cooked in a banana leaf, with lean bacon and a banana along with a nice tomato, garlic sweet/sour sauce with just a bit of spicing). It seemed like it had been refined a bit (the sauce was glossy, and probably had some ketchup in it), nor was therea local name for this dish, but I quite enjoyed it.
Also at the Stone House, their version of bebingca. It's a dense pudding that is set in layers and ligltly caramelized on each one to acheive that look.
Finally, on our last night in Goa, we staged a Flip Cup "tournament" at a cool bar called Club Cabana. For the club, it's a flat fee (about $7 for ladies, and $13 for gents) and once inside, it's all you can drink. It's on the top of a hill, with cabanas, beds, couches and so on - very trendy and plush. It's been designed with many zones, so that each area has a somewhat different feel - there's a pool area, a dance club, a small terrace, the large patio, etc.
Vijay is our International Ambassador and Instigator of Flip Cup, which is a drinking race set up on a long table. Equal numbers of players on each side each have a plastic cup with some beer in it. The first players drain their beer, put their empty cup face up just at the edge of the table, and use a finger to flip it so it lands upside down on the table. When they've done that, the next person can drink and flip their cup. The veterans can usually do it in one or two flip attempts, but sometimes it can take several tries, in which time the other team can make progress. It's very hotly contested. This particular round had 10 people on each side, some of which weren't part of the group and just joined in from the bar. Good times.
