September 26, 2015 Indian Curry at Globalquerque

September 26, 2015  Indian Curry at Globalquerque

Suzette made BLT sandwiches for brunch today.  

I rested and Suzette went shopping for more stuff for the new kitchen.

Then we dressed and at 5:3 went to Globalquerque.  We went to the commercial area set up within the fence of the NHCC and immediately saw the three or four food vendors.  We chose The Indian food vendor and stood in the rather long line for. About fifteen minutes to buy a bowl of Northern India Lamb curry and a Southern 

India Chicken Curry. My he chicken was a Madras style.  The lamb was a little more complex with allspice seeds, cardamom and cloves.  While we were standing in the curry line we went to the vendor next door and bought a bowl of albondigas garnished with a tomato and onion sauce, which we ate while we waited on line for the Indian food as an appetizer.  The meat balls were quite large and delicious with the thick sauce.  We also bought a mango Cole slaw that was creamy with mayonnaise that overpowered the delicate mango flavor, but was cool and very creamy, so helped balance the spicy curry flavors.  

    The view of the stage in the Plaza Mayor from our seats at dinner 

    The gourd harp player 

We drank glasses of an iced bottle of Gris de Gris rose from the Carmauge in Southern France that was a little light in character for the strong curry flavors but quite delightful and refreshing, until the end when it warmed and a slightly acidic finish appeared.

While we ate, the East River group from China played Chinese music on traditional instruments, which made us recall lovely concerts we had heard on our trip to China a few years ago.  Suzette mentioned one particular musical interlude in the temple grounds of theTemple of Heaven or the Moon in Peking.

The music Saturday night was first rate.  We saw five or six groups.  Our favorite of the evening was Emel, a very strong singer from Tunisia, who sang with a keyboardist and drummer, all of whom employed electronic augmentation to enhance their music with loops and syncopation.  I also loved Alejando Escobar, who appears to have been an old time rocker and singer/song writer from South Texas, whose musical credits included opening for the Sex Pistols in 1976 at Winterland, when he was in a grung band called the Nones?

He played with a very virtuoso guitarist named Bill Nelson from New York, who he introduced after every other song.  Escobar said he had lived in Austin for the last 40 years, so it was fun for me to feel that old Austin connection, when he sang songs he had written with Townes Van Zandt and Willy Nelson.

During the last act starting at 10:30 we danced with Ricardo and Cynthia and then left during the act and  saw and talked with Sarah and Rahim.

We were home by 11:15.

Bon Appetit