Kurma

Last night's dinner party/cookery class at the gorgeous Buddina home of the vivacious Stephanie (pictured below) was spectacular. 12 very enthusiastic students of hers (she teaches astanga yoga) were hanging on every word of the class, pottering around in Steph's fabulous kitchen and helping me prepare a great dinner.

Many of those attending brought their entire collections of Kurma Cookbooks for me to sign. These were some serious Kurma Groupies!

We started with Cashew-studded Steamed South Indian Semolina Breads (rawa idli) served with Hot, Sweet and Sour Toor-dal Soup (Sambar) and fresh coconut chutney. We smashed open the fresh coconut in the driveway, narrowly missing someone's Bentley.

The Fresh Panir Cheese with Creamed Spinach (palak panir) was (quoting a guest writhing with pleasure on first-bite) 'to die for'.

This was accompanied by some awesome Koftas, aromatic saffron-scented Basmati Rice, freshly baked spelt flour chapatis and a tasty salad made by Stephanie.

Here Rainee poses with a lady-sized selection of the feast.

After overdosing on some of the best, most plump, succulent gulab jamuns I had made in years (scented with rosewater, star anise, cinnamon and cardamom) Brihaspati and I took the 2 1/2 hour drive home from Point Cartwright to Tweed Heads.

On the way back, eyes glazed over with ghee and sugar and thoroughly exhausted, singing silly songs to keep each other awake, we got lost in the maze of streets that led to the Sunshine Motorway.

We drove on, through raging tropical storms with torrential rain thundering on the windscreen, finally staggering to bed at 2.00 am. Bliss!

I fell asleep thinking of a quote by John Steinbeck:

"A man, after he has brushed off the dust and chips of his life, will have left only the hard, clean question: Was it good or was it evil? Have I done well - or ill?"

I'll have to wait and see about the bigger picture, but I can say that last night, I did well.

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