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South Indian Home Cooking
The best South Indian food is prepared in home kitchens. No restaurant or hotel can match the love and care that goes in to feeding the family. Family recipes, passed down through the generations are as numerous as the households of India, and each cook has individual specialties. Here, puffy white idlis are prepared from a fermented batter of ground rice and and black lentils. Steamed in special trays, idlis are eaten with coconut chutney and and a thick lentil and shallot soup called sambar as a light and healthy breakfast. Our February 2012 tour of Tamil Nadu will delve deeply into the foods and techniques of these masters of South Indian cooking.
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Chidambaram’s Siva Nataraja Temple
Sacred to Saivite Hindus the world over, this majestic temple complex in Chidambaram sprawls over 40 acres and is dedicated to the Hindu god Siva. Here Siva manifests as Lord Nataraja, the Lord of Dance. Although there are many temples in South India dedicated to Siva, five among them are particu...
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Our next Spiritual Adventure
South India and Malaysia, Jan-Feb 2012 A spiritual adventure of festivals and ancient temples. This spiritual adventure is for those who are serious about making progress on the spiritual path. The journey is very much focused on visiting temples, exploring deeply the mysticism of Hinduism, meeti...
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South Indian Vegetables
In Erratupetta, Kerala, the vegetable merchants take particular pride in extravagant displays of local produce. Cabbages, pumpkins and squash make up the lower half of this particularly lavish arrangement, while carrots, bitter gourd and beautiful red banana flowers peer through a dangling canopy...
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Diwali – Festival of Lights
Diwali the Festival of Lights is fast approaching. Probably the most celebrated festival amongst Hindus and Sikhs the night of lights is given a whole new meaning in the holy town of Amritsar, India. During our upcoming “Gems in the Desert” spiritual adventure in northwestern India we...
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Traditional South Indian Lunch
One of the things that I love about a traditional South Indian lunch is the array of items served. The most environmentally friendly plate, the banana leaf, forms the perfect backdrop for the plethora of colorful dishes that are laid upon it. Once done the with the meal the banana leaf along with...
Read MoreA Spiritual Adventure in Photographs
This is a pictorial chronicle, a souvenir photography book, of our 16 day odyssey to the Himalayas of Nepal and North India in 2010. Available for preview and purchase at Blurb below. More information about our Himalayan retreat. The Himalayas 2010 by Dandapani | Make Your Own Book
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