day of rest

My best way to spend a Sunday is to sleep in, cook a nice lunch, eat, swim and rest. And today was no different.

At 10am Shannon and I booked ourselves into an Indian cooking school. We learnt how to make the most delicious butter paneer, traditional dahl, dry fried okra with mustard seeds and my favourite chapatis (kinda like a flat Indian pita bread).

The morning was spent cooking and learning about spices but the best part was when we got to eat all the food we'd made after the class was over. I can't wait to get back and cook a big Indian banquet for everyone.

In the afternoon we swam in the marble pool at the palace hotel.

Later that afternoon Lynne's friend Ambika invited us to a another wedding that evening. This one was a little different from the nights before. It was a Rajput wedding so it was very traditional in some ways. Even though the alcohol was flowing freely, on arrival the men were seperated from the women. I went my way with Ambika's husband who is brother with Mr Gujendra the manager of the Crystal Palace. The girls followed Ambika into the women's area or the Zenana section.

The wedding was very colourful (as most Indian weddings are) and very ceremonial. The groom arrived on this huge elephant. It didn't take long before he was whisked away by the women of the bride's family and into the Zenana where he spent the rest of the night. You'll have to read Lynne's account of the wedding to find out what went on in there as I only snuck in for 5 min to have sticky beak.

I was sitting at a table with all men of course. Mr Gujendra and his 5 brothers. I ate and drunk and chatted with Dr Bupendra who is the manager of the Palace Museum. So overall it was a good networking night in a relaxed atmosphere.

Tomorrow it's back to work with a full on week of script approvals, music searches and recordings.