Awesome sign, no?!  I took the picture while wandering through my friend’s neighborhood in Chennai.  What a clever tagline!   The name is also funny to me since Lord Shiva is the Hindu god of destruction.

This post is part of Delicious Baby’s Photo Friday series.  Have a great weekend!

Ok, right about now you’re wondering why this crazy blogger posted pictures of a pot for this week’s WanderFood Wednesday post.

Rest assured, my friends—that’s no ordinary pot.  It’s a pressure cooker.  My friends’ pressure cooker, to be exact.  They (a couple) had me and another volunteer over for a cooking lesson (vegetable biryani, yum!) and lunch.  Love that South Indian hospitality.

Pressure cookers are commonly used in Indian cuisine.  They cook food more quickly and with less fuel.  It’s also supposedly good for killing any lingering bacteria or viruses.

I’m a bit of a clutz and therefore scared to use one on my own.  But, I certainly enjoyed the demonstration.  My friends gave me fair warning that the ‘tweets’ can be quite loud.  So we anxiously sat around waiting for the 3 tweets that signalled lunch was ready.   And boy, was it delicious!

My first time in India and here for 5 months.  What’s a visit without a stop at the Taj Mahal?!

I took a short trip last week to Delhi and went to Agra for a day to see this Wonder of the World.  Some say it’s overrated and not worth the price (750 Rupees for foreigners, 20 Rupees for Indian citizens).  Yes it’s touristy, yes it’s incredibly hot, yes it’s very crowded, yes people try to make a buck off you left and right.  But, I have to admit it’s pretty amazing to see it in person…

You’ll often hear the Taj Mahal described as the “ultimate monument to love.”  While I’m a bit of a hopeless romantic myself, I didn’t really buy it.  What got me more was simply the stunning architecture and painstaking detail.  It’s beautiful.

I’m also intrigued by the mystery behind the place.  My friend told me about a conspiracy surrounding the Taj Mahal (for an interesting summary, read here).  It’s funny—the tour guides in Agra focus exclusively on the love story.  I definitely, for lack of a better term, pissed off my guide when I asked him about it.  He dismissed my questions pretty quickly…

Regardless of the true story, what’s certain is that it’s an intriguing, enchanting, and spectacular place.  For those who have visited, what was your experience like?