Tag Archives: Tami Nadu

Books in Chennai: Anna Centenary Library and Starmark

During our first week in Chennai we discovered the Renga Lending Library here in our own neighborhood (Click here to read that post: “Saved by the Neighborhood Library“). The following week we trekked a little farther afield to three other book sites: The Anna Centenary Library, built in 2010; The Phoenix Mall Starmark, one of the newest bookstores in Chennai; and Higginbotham’s, India’s oldest bookseller.

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Food, Glorious Food!

We have, of course, been doing a lot of things besides eating. But as a basic requirement of life and an important element of culture, not to mention an enjoyable social experience, food naturally commands a lot of our attention. So here are a few of our dining experiences thus far.

Every morning starts off with the phenomenal breakfast buffet provided by our hotel, the Radisson Blu GRT airport hotel:

  • At least a dozen cooked Indian dishes (more on those in a later post)
  • Waffles, omelets, dosas (see below) and pancakes made to order
  • Fresh papaya, pineapple, apples, bananas, dragon fruit, figs, oranges
  • Halvah (a sweet dish made from sugar, ghee, and pumpkin, carrot, beets, or other starches)
  • Tea, coffee, lattes made to order, “South Indian filter coffee” (see below), masala chai, fresh squeezed orange juice, fruit smoothies, a salted yogurt drink, a sweet yogurt drink that tastes like my mom’s eggnog (way better than the fake store bought stuff you get at Christmas time), watermelon juice, grape juice …
Assorted curries, idli (a South Indian cake made from rice and lentil flour and eaten with sauce and chutneys, like dosas--see below)

Assorted curries, adai (a sort of spicy pancake), idli (a fluffy white South Indian cake made from rice- and lentil-flour), parathas (fried flat bread), savory porridges, and noodle dishes

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