Dinner with Jerry Lewis, a favorite recipe and more

Not long after we arrived in India, we met a brother named Jerry Lewis. Oh, he actually spells it Jerry Louis. He is somewhat of a comedian, perhaps a little like the American Comedian who passed away a couple of years ago. I pulled up a couple of funny Jerry Lewis movie clips on my phone to show him and he said he had seen them. We had talked about getting together and finally did a few weeks ago. It happened to also be his wife's birthday.

We went to a restaurant called "Barbecue Nation". It reminded me of some of the BBQ restaurants back home except everyone gets their own kebab skewers. It was a fun outing. Their seventeen year old son said he was planning to serve a full time mission.

India families have an interesting custom/tradition. The mother feeds the children by hand through much of their life, even when they are old enough to feed themselves and into adulthood. We noticed she tried to feed her son, even though he is 17.  In India mother's feeding their children by hand is a sign of love and respect. It is a bonding relationship. It's not a matter of  being dependent and independent. 

Sister Martin went to a Relief Society Birthday Party Activity. They played a variety of party games. During some of the water games and water balloon fight she was the "Designated picture taker" since she was wearing a dress.

A few weeks ago we had a dinner that reminded me of Curry we had in Salt Lake City, Utah at a place called Curry in a Hurry. It wasn't exactly the same but it was Soooh Good! Twice a week we have a cook prepare dinner for us. Below is the recipe.

Butter Chicken

Ingredients: 

• 6 medium tomatoes (Boil until skin can peel off easily. Remove skin and puree in blender.)
• 1 small red onion (Diced)
• 3 big tbsp. vegetable oil
• 18 – 20 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breasts (Cut into bite size pieces.)
• 2 big tbsp. garlic ginger paste
• 2 heaping tsp. coriander powder
• 3 big tbsp. water
• 1/3 heaping tsp turmeric powder
• ½ heaping tsp Indian chili powder (a little less if you like it less spicy)
• 3 heaping tsp chicken masala (Aachi brand if can find it, but any brand will do.)
• ½ tsp salt (I usually ask her to use less salt)
• ¾ cup unsalted cashews (Puree with ¼ cup water.)
• ½ bunch fresh coriander (Chopped small-Cilantro)
• 2 heaping tsp butter
• ½ cup fresh cream

Directions:

1. Heat oil in pot over medium heat.
2. Add onion and cook until browned.Add ginger garlic paste and stir.
3. Add chicken to mixture and stir.
4. Add coriander powder, ¼ cup water, turmeric powder, chili powder, chicken masala, and salt. Continue cooking.
5. Add tomatoes and cook until tomato smell goes away.
6. Add cashew puree. Wash out cashew container with ¼ cup water and add to mixture.
7. Cook about 4 - 5 minutes.
8. Add cream and coriander. Stir well.  Simmer 1 minute.
9. Done 

Serve with Basmati or Jasmine Rice, Nan or Roti.

Below are the measuring spoons she uses for her recipes. The "big round spoon" mentioned in some of the recipes is actually a soup spoon. 

Oh No. The clothes dryer outlet/converter/plug melted. Probably a big power surge. Hope the dryer still works. The electrician we use doesn't speak much English, but we manage to communicate enough to get the job done. During the last few days we've had at least 10 power outages.

Everything is 220 Volts in India. Luckily, most of our things like laptop computers and curling irons work on either voltage.  

Do I smell a RAT?

Sending packages from the US to India is a bad idea in our experience. A few days ago Sister Martin received a Happy Birthday box of See's Candy Chocolates. As she opened up the outer envelope, that looked like it had been tampered with and re-taped closed, she found a mess inside. Yes, they have a lot of rats in India, so definitely a possibility.

One of the younger missionaries looked at it and said, "It could be someone who opened it up, ate some of the chocolates, and then ripped up the box to make it look like a rat". 

Now on the bright side. If you've been following our blog, you know Sister Martin has been getting used to baking in these small little ovens. The one on the top is a toaster type oven and the one on the bottom is a combination microwave and convection oven. She decided to use the convection oven and bake her famous wheat bread.

SUCCESS! This loaf of bread turned out GREAT!

SUCCESS!

Also for her B-day she went dress shopping. We went to a dress shop near us called Pantaloons. It literally had almost a thousand dresses to choose from. It seemed like most were quite modest and in a myriad of colors and styles.

Sister Martin picked out two sleeveless dresses to try on. Yes, sleeveless. 

Before trying some on, she asked a lady about the various dresses and styles and if they stocked her size with sleeves. The attendant said yes, pointing to a sleeveless dress. Sister Martin, thinking that she didn't understand due to a language barrier, which happens many times, asked her again for a particular dress with sleeves. The lady then opened up the dress inside-out and pointed to some material. Sister Martin responded, commenting to her that the dress had pockets. Again, she showed her the material and assured that it was a sleeve that you could have attached after you buy the dress.  

In fact, nearly all of the sleeveless dresses in the store had the option to add the sleeves, attached inside the dress. Wow! 

Sister Martin ended up buying four dresses, two of which we waited about an hour for them to sew on the sleeves.

A few missionaries, including these Sister Missionaries, decorated Sister Martin's desk for her birthday as well.

We enjoyed a spiritual high with Elder Homer of the Quorum of Seventy. He came to do a mission tour to see the missionaries, the mission, the strengths and challenges or reality of the work out here.

Zone conference

Mission Leadership Council - The Mortensens, left, the Homers, right

Mission Leadership Council - Enjoying an excellent curry chicken lunch with extra vegetables

Elder Homer talked about understanding the importance of Primary vs. Secondary Questions. Primary questions would include:

• Is there a God who is our Father?
• Is Jesus Christ the Son of God, the Savior of the world?
• Was Joseph Smith a prophet?
• Is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints the kingdom of God on the earth?

 There is a talk that gives the details...Answering-primary-questions-about-the-church-closes-gap-between-belief-and-truth?

He also talked about the importance of following the commandments and rules. He said that some people say that certain rules don't apply to them. To emphasize the point, he told a story of a couple who decided to drive over a frozen lake in Canada for some fun. There was a sign that they passed that said the ice was too thin and warned not to drive on the lake. They ignored the sign. After a few minutes their vehicle started to sink into the lake. The girl escaped, just as it sunk into the freezing water. She slowly made it off the frozen lake but died just a few feet before arriving at a nearby house.

I wondered if people really drove that much on frozen lakes and was amazed to find a lot of videos of vehicles sinking on YouTube. Here's one compilation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rewtrZwy-8k

These examples may lead us to ponder the question, "Where do I stand on obedience to God's commandments?"

Journey to Mysore - The Maharajah's Palace

Early on a Friday morning we joined our new friends for a three + hour drive to Mysore, also called Mysuru.

Sunil, the Service Center manager, planned our excursion with his family. We loved our trip with them. It was very enjoyable.

Our first stop was Breakfast at Kamat Lokaruchi – Ramanagara – 52 kms from Bangalore. They offered quaint, open air seating, some with grass roofs. I, Elder Martin, picked the classic Masala Dosa while Sister Martin ventured out and tried the Maddur Vada. They served some of the best Dosas I've had. A Masala Dosa is a Southern India pancake, stuffed with mildly spicy masala, served with a variety of chutney sauces. 

Elder and Sister Martin, Aryan,  Sunil and Rachna

My Masala Dosa meal at this rather nice restaurant cost a whopping 60 Ruppees, about 87 cents.

Next was a brief stop at Channapatna – 68 kms from Bangalore – Famous for toys made out of

wood.

Share the road, look out bus he's coming through...

Next was a visit to a famous Hindu Sri Ranganathaswamy temple in Srirangapatna – 127 kms from Bangalore. In all Hindu temples, we removed our shoes even to walk around the grounds. Inside this temple was the "sleeping goddess". People paid money to put flowers and various items on the statue.

Next stop was Tippu Sultan's fort & Gumbaz Burial Chamber – Srirangapatna

All of these places were detailed and beautiful.

Each of these places required that we remove our shoes out of respect. It was a bright sunny day and our feet became quite hot on the concrete, not to mention a little dirty.

We then ventured to find Venugopala Swamy Temple. The bridge to directly access the site was closed. Sunil persisted and after a few turns and a long dirt road we made it. 

Then to finish the day we visited Brindavan Garden.

The pictures speak for themselves.

In the waterfall behind us, is a map of India with Mahatma Ghandi pictured in the middle. Can you see it?

Mike has been looking for a snake charmer, I think he found one. Aryan...Now that's a big Cobra

So many pretty saris the women wear in India. 

We didn't stay for the evening musical light show. Time to check in to the hotel for dinner and stay the night. 

Tomorrow morning we visit the famous Maharajah's Palace.

Looks like business as usual on the streets, as we approached the palace.

The grand entrance. A very hot, bright sunny day.

MYSORE MAHARAJAH'S PALACE

The Wadiyar dynasty ruled for over 5 centuries in Mysore, ending in 1947. During this time there were actually 25 different kings.

These elephants live at the palace and are only brought out for an occasional festival. 

One of the interesting stories our guide told us was that one of the Maharajas that lived here was very close to one of the elephants. The day he died the elephant was so sad he went into a depression and died a few days later. 

Sometimes, these Asian elephants of Mysore live longer than wild elephants (wild Asian Elephants typically live in to their 40's). Arjuna, one of the Mysore elephants is now 59.

We visited a nearby hotel for lunch. Sunil seemed intrigued about my (Elder Martin) appetite and love of spicy Indian food. Over the years he said that most of the church leaders he had eaten with did not like southern India cuisine, especially if it was spicy hot. 

Just as we were finishing our lunch, a member of the royal family walked in and had lunch with some of his guests. We also saw him with these people at the palace. (Our guide mentioned that he was the grandson of one of the people in a portrait he was explaining to us) Sunil asked if his family could take a picture with him and he accommodated. 

On the itinerary, Sunil included a stop to St. Philomena's Church in Mysore.

This statue of St. Joseph was the model for a statue that was commissioned by the parents of Sister Martin's late husband, Farrell Sparti. After he died they had a statue custom made in Italy with twins, since he had a twin brother. The statue was placed in a Mausoleum near his resting place--below.

A family picture in front of the statue following the passing of Cheryl Sparti

    

Taking a carriage ride

Bought a Punghi instrument from a street vendor. This is what the snake charmers use to lure the Cobra snakes out of their baskets and try to coax them to almost dance with the music. A fun novelty.

Following the palace we decided on a stop to Mysore Zoo

We saw a lot of free-loaders scavenging a morsel to eat. (this included many birds and wild monkeys)

Last stop before heading back - Mysore Sand Sculpture Museum

The museum was created by young artist, MN Gowri, who holds a Masters of Fine Arts. A Mechanical Engineering drop-out, she made these sculptures in about 5 months, using approximately 115 truckloads of sand.

Grabbed another bite to eat a couple of hours later at a restaurant called A2B.

During the long drive, we shared stories with our new friends and they shared stories with us.

Wow, what a great little trip.