We were in Goa for two days so food, besides the jobs we had come for, were uppermost in our minds. We had carried little bottles of tea, sugar and milk powder in our back packs to tide over our beverage needs. And also an Amul cheese spread. We love the pepper mix one. But food?

The choice is mind boggling in Goa for food, but we stick to the known spots. However the shacks and street food can also be a joy.

On the first day bright and early we bought fresh and warm pao ( local bread) and eggs. Bringing it home I quickly made some scrambled eggs on the little gas burner we have kept in the house, on the teflon frying pan which is over 15 years old, bought by Dad, but as good as new. Oops! We had forgotten the salt, but that was fine, as we were sitting down at the old table in the house and enjoying the simple meal. The ancestors would have been pleased.

For lunch, after we were done with fixing our new digital electric meter, we drove down to Verem where the best fish market is. “Go early, go early,” said our friend Chef Peter. Early means the prawns are fresh and buy the river ones which are white, which have less cholestorol. Take your container to buy the fish as Goa has banned plastic.But we need not have worried as they put the massive, luscious looking prawns onto tendu leaves, which made it easy to slip into the box.

A quick clean of the 20 large prawns, I salted & deveined them and put them in the fridge to be cooked later and the shells and waste were put down by the family in the garden, for the fruit trees! Dad’s chickoo which has taken decades to take off has suddenly began to shoot now and I like to think its cause we feed it fish and prawn remains, when we visit!

The little hired self drive car was noisy, but we needed to get to Candolim to enjoy lunch there at Fisherman’s Cove as it was Steve’s birthday. It was a wonderful lunch where I got to satiate my continental tongue, while they indulged in fried seer and prawn curry, rice. We love Fisherman’s Cove as it has live music at all time of the day or night.

It was time for a lazy siesta before we had to get up for the next job. The cool homestead is such a relief with its large open windows. The birds twittered lazily in the trees, rocked to somnolence by the afternoon sun. Waking up after an hour refreshed, we were all raring to go to complete the next job. A couple of things needed to be repaired in the house and so we were off to Porvorim to buy the parts.

Later that night we decided to have dinner at Chef Peter’s Kitchen as it was still Steve’s Bday. So after a mandatory dip in the sea, we drove down to Chef Peter who was happy to have us back in his lovely little cafe, in his home in Pilerne.Our chat was desultory, about this and that, but I wanted to know how he was doing well, as the place did look really good. Infact he had two waiters this time added to the place which were not there last time.

“ The big hotels all order my masalas,” said chef Peter. “All the authentic goan masalas which no one else can make like a true Goan can. Infact I do get a lot of clients coming in for a meal, but my masalas are what sells and helps bring in the funds to keep my dream going.”

Beef croquettes, Prawn Risoles along with a Sausage Pulao, washed down with a fresh lime soda completed our meal, and we all quickly ordered his masalas to take back with us to Bangalore. I could carry them too when visiting the boys, as they longed for some Sorpotel like my Mum made, Vindaloo and Rechardo fried prawns. “It’s the goa vinegar and the special Goa chillies that give the flavour,” explained Peter.

Carrying our stash of masalas home, we shut down for the night after chilled showers in the bathroom. Water is not a problem as it rushes down the Porvorim hill to us. What is a huge problem, the meter starts flying with air before the water hits us. That’s when we receive massive water bills which we have to fight each time. So we shut down the inlet tap every time we leave the house.

Goa is a tourist paradise, but for those who are not Goan, to taste the true Goan susegad lifestyle, you need to find an Air B & B in any little village and stay for your holiday in a true blue, old fashioned Goan home. There are plenty coming up across Goa, thankfully.