India
India has a regular stream of visitors to the blog site - which I find quite surprising.
India is a vast country - a place I have yet to visit and apart from its wonderful cuisine - India is a land I know little about.
Along with most other Scots I love Indian food - though the irony is that most 'Indian' restaurants in Scotland are actually owned and run by people who hail originally from Pakistan.
The cuisine of northern India is very different to people's diet in the south of the country - which is largely vegetarian - or in Kerala where fish and seafood recipes are 'king'.
But whether the cooking is vegetarian or involves meat or fish - there's nothing quite like a good curry - and so many Scots agree that it's become our other national dish.
I can cook good curries too - something I learned when I worked in London many years ago - and lived close to Southall which has an abundance of wonderful shops, cafes and restaurants.
London - in West Ealing to be precise - is where I started to cook daals and tasty curries of various kinds - because the spices were easy to pick up in the local shops and markets.
I also had some Sikh neighbours - one of whom was a NUPE steward at the time - who invited me to their daughter's wedding - a magnificent affair complete with a Bhangra Band and the biggest outdoor cookers I have ever seen - cooking up a storm.
The music, food and drinks were splendid - and that's where I discovered that Sikhs (the ones I know anyway) have a great love of Scotland's national drink - whisky - especially Johnnie Walker Black Label.
I have a friend over in India at the moment, a journalist - Dean Nelson - who comes from London originally though Scotland is his adopted home - when he's not in India.
Dean's better half - Pamela Timms - has a great passion for 'Indian' food and has built up a successful web site specialising in street food recipes - which I have sampled and very good they are too!
The only thing I know about India is that it is a largely Hindu nation - though people of all religions and none at all - are able to live in relative peace and harmony.
Personally speaking, I find all religions completely bonkers.
But if I were going to become a religious convert all of a sudden - I think I would choose something really colourful and exciting.
And Hinduism with its Elephant God - Ganesha - and a whole host of others - just seems so much more lively and interesting.
A big downside of India of course - is its ridiculous caste system which condemns some of its people to a lifetime of poverty and misery.
Which sits rather oddly with India's image - as a modern, secular and democratic country.
But I would love to visit India one day nonetheless.
So where's the invitation Deano - in the post?
India is a vast country - a place I have yet to visit and apart from its wonderful cuisine - India is a land I know little about.
Along with most other Scots I love Indian food - though the irony is that most 'Indian' restaurants in Scotland are actually owned and run by people who hail originally from Pakistan.
The cuisine of northern India is very different to people's diet in the south of the country - which is largely vegetarian - or in Kerala where fish and seafood recipes are 'king'.
But whether the cooking is vegetarian or involves meat or fish - there's nothing quite like a good curry - and so many Scots agree that it's become our other national dish.
I can cook good curries too - something I learned when I worked in London many years ago - and lived close to Southall which has an abundance of wonderful shops, cafes and restaurants.
London - in West Ealing to be precise - is where I started to cook daals and tasty curries of various kinds - because the spices were easy to pick up in the local shops and markets.
I also had some Sikh neighbours - one of whom was a NUPE steward at the time - who invited me to their daughter's wedding - a magnificent affair complete with a Bhangra Band and the biggest outdoor cookers I have ever seen - cooking up a storm.
The music, food and drinks were splendid - and that's where I discovered that Sikhs (the ones I know anyway) have a great love of Scotland's national drink - whisky - especially Johnnie Walker Black Label.
I have a friend over in India at the moment, a journalist - Dean Nelson - who comes from London originally though Scotland is his adopted home - when he's not in India.
Dean's better half - Pamela Timms - has a great passion for 'Indian' food and has built up a successful web site specialising in street food recipes - which I have sampled and very good they are too!
The only thing I know about India is that it is a largely Hindu nation - though people of all religions and none at all - are able to live in relative peace and harmony.
Personally speaking, I find all religions completely bonkers.
But if I were going to become a religious convert all of a sudden - I think I would choose something really colourful and exciting.
And Hinduism with its Elephant God - Ganesha - and a whole host of others - just seems so much more lively and interesting.
A big downside of India of course - is its ridiculous caste system which condemns some of its people to a lifetime of poverty and misery.
Which sits rather oddly with India's image - as a modern, secular and democratic country.
But I would love to visit India one day nonetheless.
So where's the invitation Deano - in the post?
