SOME VENDORS IN GOA..****

I love people and I love to see the way they dress, the way they talk and hence whenever I get an opportunity to visit a place a market is the first place I visit it’s the window to that place, you can know and see the local people there, you can know what they eat, and also know how they talk and communicate with you

  

I have clicked some pictures in Goa of the vegetable vendors and the flower vendors over a large period of time and here are a few of them for your perusal 

 

some of  these ladies were so happy to be clicked that they actually posed for the pictures...

 In the picture above you see a grandmother , working at this age for her livelihood when she should have been at home and resting . The efforts of such people usually go unappreciated because of the situation that they fall in and earning becomes a compulsion.
I feel I could do a little bit for her by buying my plate of flowers from her and got her a chilled bottle of coke to quench her thrist in the hot afternoon that she was sitting  and doing her job,  My little act  lit up her face and that's what made my day,and I remember her shy smile till today.
They are very self respecting people and that's all that I could do for her....

 

Don’t you feel they are so real , no pretense , no makeup just doing their day to day hard work and earning their livelihood , so nice to look and interact with such people…I feel its these people that builds up the character of the place and makes it a place worth visiting... DO YOU AGREE??

KHAJE A FAMOUS GOAN SWEET*****

As everyone knows that Goa is known for its various Temples and there are a great no of them all beautiful and worth a visit... They have become tourists’ attraction in a course of time and at any time of the day you will witness buses full of tourists thronging these places of worship.
you can read about the temples and see pictures which I had posted in 2006 click here to see some of the famous temples in Goa which I regularly visit 

           ROAD LEADING TOWARD THE SHANTA-DURGA TEMPLE

 

VIEW OUTSIDE THE TEMPLE

The best part of these temples is that in spite of being so popular they have not become commercial and you can get time to stand in front of the idols and pray for as long as you want and not be pushed and jostled. They still retain their old world charm and you find the temples although well maintained retaining there old interiors and beauty which makes you feel like visiting them again and again , you can find the peace and quiet which is so difficult to find in a city..

     SHOP OUTSIDE NAGESHI TEMPLE SELLING KHAJE (that's what the board says)

Once in a year or probably once more there will be UTSAVS or celebrations, where there is lot  fun and religious ceremonies going on and the people from villages come here to spend some time in their  family’s place of worship…

You can find simple stalls being put up where they sell sweets, some trinkets are for sale, and some food items like kokum, Coconuts,Alsande (type of bean specially found in Goa ) , tamarind (dried) which are basic for Goan Saraswat cuisine…You can also find some stall selling traditional Goan ware…

 Here above you can see packets of khaje are being made and also you can see those orange ladoos which I find a bit hideous and did not try them out.(They are very good for taking pictures though don't they look great in these photos...

Here you will find the orange variety of khaje which just has food colour added to it , I normally purchase the one that you see in the picture below as thats the nature jaggery colour and no additional colour is added.

After all this talk I am coming to the point what this post is intended for KHAJE , this is  very famous sweet which is made Goa which you can find almost  at all  the stalls in these fairs  and they are my favorite I just love sweets that use Jaggery (read about it here)

I have never seen this sweet being made at home, nor have I actually seen it being made. I am giving you the ingredients which I am guessing by the taste. 

I feel that they are made with besan or chick pea flour which is kneaded with a little hot oil and salt then small sticks are made of it which are deep fried and when hot they are allowed to dip in hot jaggery solution which is heated before the dipping to make a thick jaggery solution by concentrating it to a one thread consistency and either ginger or cardamom powder is added to it..

This is sold once they are cold and solid they are never eaten hot...

I would love to know the exact recipe for this dish. If any of you friend blogger who are from Goa know the recipe please please write it to me so that I can share it with others

THANKS IN ADVANCE.

RANDOM PICTURES TAKEN IN GOA****

                                       
 TREES FULL OF SCRUMPTIOUS MANGOES

       PICTURE TAKEN OUTSIDE A VILLAGE HOUSE

This is a visual tour or Goa so no words will be used , I am just posting some of the Random snaps that I clicked while in Goa....

                               SUNSET IN GOA

                FLOWERS IN ONES OWN BACKYARD

                                             
                     LAKE-SIDE VIEW

                     TOP OF A FORT