Cooking When You Travel- Notes from Airbnb Holidays in 2016 for “Raja Betas”

A duster maybe required for this old post- but what the heck

We traveled to Spain this summer for 2 weeks and like most people we did a fair bit of online research. We did it prior to our travels to firm up the itinerary, do the bookings, plan the activities and in general learn about the country. When I said we, I actually mean me because my husband chose to offload all this “boring work” to me as usual. He just wishes to swoop in and relax – just enjoy the fruits of my labour every time.

For accommodation this time I searched more for apartments with kitchens instead of hotels/BNBs. Budget was a consideration, some of these apartments were cheaper than regular hotels, but there was another specific reason. I wanted to cook.

Why do we need to repeat lessons which nobody reads

A bit of a background to explain this problem. For those of you who have heard this a hundred times- here is the 101st time all over again. My husband and I are passionate foodies. Our whole life seems to revolve around food. I am not exaggerating as you will soon see but allow me to build up the plot gradually.

My husband Raj adopted a low-carb high protein diet popularly known as “paleolithic diet” and a lifestyle called “primal living” and I followed suit. Initially, it was just to find some common point of interest (dating phase). Later it was because I felt genuinely better and healthier. It advocates avoiding packaged and highly processed food and going back to how our ancestors in the paleolithic age. It’s a little bit about how they lived and ate prior to the advent of farming, especially mass cultivation of grains.

Because there are kids who want to flaunt their privilege

Actually, it’s not rocket science despite the fancy (and if you ask me- rather gimmicky) name. It’s just moving around and being active like our ancestors (don’t sit on your bum the whole day). Try to avoid grains, sugars and packaged junk foods. Eat plenty of veggies, proteins like meat/fish/eggs, some healthy fats and moderate quantities of low Glycemic Index fruits like berries. Some strict interpretations involve avoiding dairy as well. Read more about it here- www.marksdailyapple.com if you are interested. This post is not entirely about that.

Many diets these days (Mediterranean diet, Zone diet, South-Beach diet) talk about the same things in one form or the other with some variations. The concept is simple but adopting it as a lifestyle isn’t so simple at all times.

Because there are no men left in this town…

It actually means that you end up eating most meals at home and even when you eat out, you have to research the menu in advance. You have to find out the places which have good food and enough options for your dietary requirements. You have to give more detailed instructions to waiters to add/delete/modify the dishes ordered. Then somehow not give a damn about other people’s WTF expressions and snide remarks. It’s like you are a super bitch/brat for being that obnoxious “picky eater” or as some of my Bong friends have remarked “Naeka Shoshti”. Pure Vegetarian meals (besides salads) become infrequent since they are heavier on grains/carbs. Then some social occasions involving heavy doses of sweets/cakes become difficult.

Or if you are like me, you could be more relaxed about it all and look for every possible excuse to break the self-imposed rules! 😉 😛

So that in a nutshell is the story of our lives, it is the constant tango we dance. My husband’s passion for healthy living and my desire for indulgence (especially of the sweet variety)! It is the sauce and the spice added to our mundane dish of day-to-day living. Let’s call it a challenge for healthier living.

Only molly-coddled fools are looking for beautiful

This involves careful meal planning every day to ensure there is enough variety of food made from good ingredients to maximize on our dual requirements of health and taste. And we try to find ways to keep everything reasonably priced. This involves constant learning/ unlearning by trial and error. To complicate matters further, I am an amateur cook with a passion for experimental cooking. (Fair warning- I just need an excuse to put on my apron and I catch guinea pigs for tasting all the time.)

The Kiasu Way is the Best Way- so said Lady Iron Chef- once upon a time

So, we end up spending most of our Saturdays and sometimes Sundays grocery shopping from various places. At least 3-4 different shopping destinations. And this is for “normal weekends” when we don’t have guests coming over.

The regular veggies and fruits are from 1 place, what we call “local/chinese green veggies” from another and the Indian veggies & spices are from yet another destination. The mutton is from 1 shop, the freshwater fish from another, the seafood from 1, the frozen fish/seafood from another. There is a particular shop for nuts and another for gluten-free baking supplies and of course there is a separate shop for Australian beef.

FYI- these are all in different areas/neighborhoods (Thank God Singapore is a small island!) And then there are many specialty items and supplements which are ordered online.

Notes from the ghost of a trophy wife

Does it sound like a chore? Well, it can be sometimes, but most often it turns out to be our way of romancing over the weekend. I like the shopping trip for pumpkins, blue-berries, katla fish and grass-fed beef with frequent coffee or tender coconut-water breaks in between. That’s when we catch up on what’s happened during the busy week where we hardly see each other.

During our holiday in Spain, I naturally wanted to cook and we ended up grocery shopping in almost every city we visited! 😀 We shopped and I cooked -we ate so well! Loved it so much that I wonder why we haven’t done this earlier in any of our previous holidays!

MY TOP 10 REASONS FOR COOKING WHILE TRAVELLING

1. For Healthier breakfast options- Good luck finding low-carb, grain-free, sugar-free breakfast in many places like continental Europe! There are American breakfast options in some places- but if you are travelling on a budget, it can stretch you a bit to pay for those and then you end up wasting half the things on the plate! Which brings me to my next point…

• 2. It’s cheaper- For breakfast just buy a packet of greens and thrown in some ham (gorgeous ones in Spain), olives, cheese and eggs. You have a beautiful healthy and yummy meal for little under 5 euros. Or here’s the breakdown of this gorgeous breakfast which I made in Barcelona-

• Cost in Euros Minced meat patty (pkt of 4)- 3 , Asparagus bunch and mushrooms 1 , Eggs (12) – 1.5, Assorted Salad veggies- 3 Total 8.5 Euros*
• *We consumed this over more than 1 breakfast of course. In comparison the cost of 1 single person’s breakfast in any hotel would be at least 5-10 Euros.

• 3. It adds variety to breakfast options: if you are looking beyond croissants, juice and eggs or want something better than sandwiches, making your own breakfast is the best choice. Just varying the ingredients…sometimes adding a different protein or a fruit to salad can satisfy a foodie looking to break the monotony of Continental/American breakfast

As I ate, I remembered the Morning Salad that I made while travelling with my husband to Granada on a holiday in 2016. We gorged on the Serrano ham there with some quick olives, artichoke preserves thrown in with cherry tomatoes and salad leaves. Nothing very complicated. It’s just what you find in the local supermarket and what is your budget now…

• 4) For the chance to experiment with gorgeous fresh ingredients: I swear I was dying to cook the moment I saw the fresh zucchini, the tomatoes, the olives, artichokes and chorizos in La Boqueria.

• The joy of holding those ingredients, slicing/dicing them and then turning them into delicious meals are an experience and memory worth creating. Totally different from eating the same or similar dish in a restaurant there. I would wake up early each morning- just excited to start cooking. Sometimes this was more memorable than the rest of the sightseeing experience. Haha. Just check out the gorgeous Zucchini pasta (with ground meat patty). I tell you one of the best breakfasts I have had even though I say so myself! 😛

• 5) Because you need fiber for good motions: Trust a Bengali to bring this topic in every discussion! Yes Piku- the film was right on the mark there, we are obsessed with healthy bowel movements. And we are not embarrassed to talk about it anytime anywhere and anyplace! 😀 Eating out, travelling and irregular hours can be tough on the digestive system. And you are constantly on the move- catching a flight/train or maybe have an early morning tour to catch. Toilets are limited when you travel and you don’t have the luxury of spending too much time on your morning ablutions. So, there you have it. What better reason can you have for cooking and making healthy salads/spinach/stews and eat plenty of greens. 😉

• 6) To satisfy craving of home-cooked meal: especially when we are on long travels, we do tend to miss ghar ka khana and other comfort food with a sense of familiarity. For some it is dal chawal and for others it maybe a chicken stew with veggies or maachher jhol bhaat.

• 7) When kids or grown-ups are sick: A bit of pampering with home cooked meal, a hot soup or a hot drink may work wonders. Perhaps better than medicines. Do check out the recipe in the link here for a natural remedy to early sniffles.
  • Melting Lemon Drop Cough Remedy – Melting Lemon Drop

• 8) For a new way to experience a city and connect with its people: It does give you a different side of how the locals live in a city and some insights into their daily habits. This is difficult otherwise when you just visit monuments, restaurants, museums and parks. For example, in Seville we asked our Air BnB host and he told us about the best places to buy grocery, we learnt about his preference for free-range eggs. We learnt that the most expensive free-range ones in the supermarket came from Galicia.

• And while we shopped for the ingredients, we learnt about what was selling well in the local supermarket. Who knew decaf coffee was so popular in Spain. It was so bloody tough to get regular Nescafe sachets! And btw, gluten free is so common/prevalent everywhere, it took me by surprise. Because in Singapore we really have to hunt for gluten-free products. I don’t know why I find all this fascinating-I just do! 🙂 😛

• 9) For a chance to learn to use new equipment and cook in an unfamiliar environment: Hee hee. I had never cooked on an induction stove like this before. I spent some time anxiously reading up the instructions online and just tinkering with the switches to figure out before I realised how easy it is! 😀 And this simple act of learning and discovery made me feel like a child all over again. And isn’t that one of the points of travelling- to learn and unlearn?

• Or the experience of cooking in a 500 year old restored house and kitchen-frankly quite romantic and a bit surreal like play-acting in an alternate reality.

• 10) Because you are finally in a good mood, relaxed and you WANT to cook not because you HAVE to cook. For the simple love of cooking. Period.

• Of course, a few essentials to be able to do this easily. You must plan to stay in an apartment with a kitchen. While renting an apartment check with the host if the kitchen is well equipped with the necessary dishes and equipment for cooking. You can also check with the host if there are basic things like salt/oil which are difficult to buy in small packets. One of the best kitchens I cooked in was at our apartment in Barcelona. It was clean, very well equipped and had a well-stocked spice rack from which I borrowed liberally during our stay!

• If there is a fridge it is an added plus for stocking fresh veggies during your stay.

• Check for the location of good supermarkets and stores close by. We had excellent supermarkets and Spanish mercados near all the apartments and hotels.
• Oh yes- keep the dishes simple unless you want to spend the whole day in the kitchen! And buy everything in moderation. So plan carefully or you could end up making interesting “Clear up the fridge” stews and salads like me in different cities 😀

So, if you haven’t cooked in your holidays before, I hope this post makes you want to try it next time! Happy Travelling and Happy Cooking! It’s my recipe for a successful, fun and healthy holiday!

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This was written in 2016. I no longer follow or recommend the Paleo diet- but no judgement! I still believe that many of the notes are relevant and useful for those who are still willing to try- be my guest. 🙂