Rait the Spa at Suryagarh Jaisalmer | a completely rejuvenating wellness destination

I believe in making myself exhausted by the end of the day so the body prepares to sedate itself naturally. Working out and getting the muscles work is the best way to switch on the natural healing process of the body. When muscles are worked out and get exhausted the endocrine system releases Endorphins to relax the muscles and to put the mind to sleep and that is one of the most fascinating ways the body works to heal itself, relax and rejuvenate. The same happens when we walk long distances, trek or hike. We get tired and fall asleep easily.

In fact I could manage to kick away my own insomnia using this same quality of our own system. I believe our body can heal itself only if given a chance. Sometimes years of abuse or stress makes our body to resort to stress metabolism that eventually affects sleep patterns, body weight and even leads to depression if the cause of stress prolongs. Thankfully I could manage my health after a prolonged stressful time and that is why I believe our body gives us ample chance to fix our health issues if we listen to it. Incidentally the stress hormones also give tell tale signs and Endorphins the healing hormones also make their presence felt in more ways than one.

By the way we can ‘awaken’ the Endorphins and Serotonins by moving our body, working out the muscles. The joyous feeling after a nice workout or a nice long walk isn’t just a feeling of achievement; it is the effect of the Endorphins and Serotonins that release after a good workout. The same happens when the body gets a good massage too. A good masseur massages and kneads the muscles and deep connective tissues in such a way that it relaxes the muscles at multiple ways. A good massage for an hour or so helps release Endorphins too and makes the one feel completely at ease, more energetic.

I shall tell you how my last spa experience was. We visited Suryagarh Jaisalmer last month and while the beautiful property is a delight to stay the spa treatments really make you feel rejuvenated. The spa is named as Rait, keeping with the theme of the Thar Desert. Rait the spa is like a jewel in the huge fortress that this property is.

Incidentally I wrote a long account of our stay at Suryagargh 2 weeks ago but some accidental happening deleted the article that had many beautiful pictures of the property too. I was really upset with the loss of a heartfelt blogpost for a while but I am writing it again. You will get to see how beautiful this place is and how they indulge you every moment of your stay there. 

Let me recount the spa experience first. The spa facility is located conveniently to one side of the central courtyard and Mr. Mahesh, the Spa Manager greets you with a gentle smile before analyzing your constitution and allergies, any inflamed spots etc.

I had a splitting headache that day because we were on the Thar Desert the whole day and it was a scorching hot sunny day. We enjoyed the Thar trail organized and conducted really well by Nakul Hada, got to see and experience this unique topography and landscape, hear the stories of the past. I will share about the Thar trail too.

For the spa treatment I was skeptical because of my headache and was thinking of cancelling my appointment, but then Mr Mahesh advised me to get a massage with oil infused with Frankincense and Myrhh along with the thermal salt treatment. I trusted him and went ahead to have a luxurious experience that left me energized and fresh.

The therapists at Rait the Spa cleanse the aura by Reiki after using IMRS device for cellular re-balancing, something I have known very little about but it worked on me apparently. There was no trace of headache after the first 10 minutes of massage and I actually went into sleep. 

Warm poultice made of salt and dipped with infused oil was used to massage the deeper tissues.

After a nice and deep tissue massage I was made to lie down on a salt bed, more salt was sprinkled generously all over the body and multiple layers of warm towels were wrapped above that. This made me feel comfortably coccooned in warming salt layers. It was really very soothing and I fell asleep once again, surrounded with soft light of the salt crystal lamps around me.

Some 30 minutes into this thermal salt bed and a sauna and warm bath later I felt spring in my steps when I came out  to sip on my green tea. Endorphins awakened, blood circulation enhanced and all my senses relaxed with the essential oil treatment. I never knew Frankincense and Myrhh could do this magic though I use it in my vaporizer sometimes.

Of course the hot salt poultice dipped in the infused oil and being worked along my spinal ganglia did a wonderful trick. The deft hands of the masseur finds the 'knots' as they call the painful spots and ease them out. Easing our my 'knots' was so therapeutic at the thermal salt spa that I am already craving for it again.

The salt for this treatment comes from the Looni river that flows through the Desert. This salt is considered therapeutic and I could feel that really well. Mr Mahesh told me they keep adding new treatments every year and keep redoing their massage rooms too. I just hope they retain this thermal salt treatment forever so whenever I go next I can have it once again. I know for sure that Rait the Spa will be one of the reasons whenever I go back to Suryagargh. 

If you plan your holidays just for spa treatments, this is the place for you trust me. Far from city life this beautiful fortress provides the ultimate relaxation for mind, body and soul. And you get great food to enjoy as well.

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Eggs for breakfast : 12 ways to have eggs for breakfast and include vegetables too | spinach spring onion and feta cheese frittata recipe

Eggs are convenient, quick and cheap source of protein, we must take advantage of this. I do always. It helps that we can pack in loads of vegetables along with our eggs even for the breakfast.

I know many people who balk at the thought of having vegetables along with breakfast and even if they try they get bored with the vegetables. No one ever gets bored with the breads and the fruit preserves and the nut butters or bacon, vegetables feel too boring to be had everyday.

I love my vegetables and can have them any time of the day but even I get bored with the same ways to cook them. Variation is the key when you resolve to eat more vegetables or anything that is good for you every single day.

Eggs and vegetables to be combined for breakfast is the easiest way to ensure one gets the advantage of starting healthy early in the day, this kind of breakfast prevents from any binge eating before lunch time or even after that. Trust me.

The key is to shop for vegetables mindfully, get them cleaned and chopped in advance and be ready for a quick filling breakfast in the morning.

Here is the recipe of the day.
Spinach spring onion and feta cheese frittata.

ingredients 
(2 large servings)
 9" diameter pie dish or pan for baking the frittata (you can choose any deep dish that suits the purpose)
150 gm finely chopped spinach
200 gm finely chopped spring onion, with the bulbs
some sun dried tomatoes to taste
1 tsp minced garlic (optional)
chilli flakes to taste
salt and pepper to taste
fete cheese about 50 gm crumbled
5 eggs

procedure

Whisk the eggs with the minced garlic if using and salt and pepper. Keep aside.

Grease the deep dish, spread the spinach first, press down and then spread the spring onions and the chopped sun dried tomatoes.

Pour the whisked eggs over it and then top it with crumbled feta cheese. You can use any other cheese you like. Toss in some bits of bacon or ham or even boiled and shredded chicken if you like. At this time you would notice the eggs are not visible in the dish.

Bake at 180C in preheated oven, covered with aluminium foil to prevent burning the surface. The frittata should be done in about 20 minutes, check by poking a fork if the eggs are set. You can grate some cheese over it and broil again till it melts.

The eggs will cook and fluff up, you will be able to see the cooked eggs with a rich green mosaic of the vegetables.

 And feta cheese makes plain boiled eggs quite interesting too.

I use feta over some grilled eggplant sliced to make sandwich and supplement the breakfast with boiled eggs. 

Very this sliced of bread, fat slices of eggplants, loads of greens, some feta and boiled eggs. Not much cooking involved to make a filling delicious breakfast.

And then we have boiled eggs topped with loads of this Indian style coleslaw or kachumber.

Plain boiled eggs are halved and then topped with some grated carrot, chopped coriander greens, chopped green chillies or capsicum and some chopped onions. This is drizzled with some extra virgin olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. A simpler version of this Indian style egg salad is a common street food during north Indian winters, especially in the mountains.

Boiled egg salad with lettuce 

Another egg salad is the one that I make when we have some lettuce growing int he garden.
Some torn lettuce of choice, some thinly sliced onions, and some chopped boiled eggs. Everything is tossed with a light cream based dressing. Mix minced garlic, salt and pepper along with some mustard and whisk, add to the salad and mix lightly.

Serve immediately. This is one versatile egg salad and we keep changing the greens as per season. Some tomatoes and baby spinach also make this salad very nice.

And who doesn't like a nicely scrambled eggs?

This version is a bacon, chives and Parmesan scrambled eggs and is loaded with chopped onions and fat green chillies (mild hot).

1/2 cup minced onions sauteed with butter till brownish, some sliced fat green chillies of cubed capsicum thrown in along with chopped bacon and then some parsley and whisked eggs. Scramble, season and then grate some Parmesan over it and enjoy as it is.

Scrambled eggs with chives

The all season favourite is the chives scrambled egg.  Half a cup of chopped chives for 2-3 eggs and salt and pepper to season. I cook this scramble mostly with a tbsp of light cream or even some milk and not butter.

It turns out great every time. With a multi grain bread and ginger chai this makes a happy breakfast for us.

And talking about the egg scrambles, one of the most popular in my home is the drumstick leaves egg scramble.

We normally make it for a weekend brunch and have it with our multigrain roti. This kind of a brunch takes care of our weekends when we work in the garden or do spring cleaning of the house.

And Spanish omelets need not be too neat and nicely layered.

My Spanish omelets are mostly a mosaic of colours like this.

I saute quartered tomatoes, coloured bell peppers and some chucks of onion with some salt and pepper and then pour whisked eggs. Cover the pan and flip the omelet after a couple of minutes. This Spanish omelet is ready in about 3 minutes and serves one.

Fried eggs demand some bacon or sausages and of course some grilled vegetables. 

I grill the sausages and vegetables in a pan first, empty them all on the plate and then break the eggs in the same pan without adding any more butter to cook them. Wait till the yolk gets ready to your choice and flip them on to the plate. Eat/serve immediately.

Some mushrooms and a mix of peas, carrots and potatoes is a great change to the eggs and vegetable routine too.

This carrot and peas is mostly made pepper hot, the way I like it.

Masala omelet with stir fry vegetables 

The most common thing I do when I make a masala omelet is to throw somee chopped vegetables in the same pan and cover it for a couple of minutes, no extra fat required for this half done stir fry. My vegetables on the side of an omelet is ready to devour.

This way you get some onion, coriander leaves etc in the omelet and some more vegetables on the side.

Stir fry vegetables with soft boiled eggs

I stir fry some vegetables in a pan and boil the eggs on the other stove, quickly soft boiled eggs with warm stir fry with herbs and pepper is very comforting.

I am sure you got an idea how you can eat eggs regularly along with vegetables of your choice and still make it interesting and delicious every single day.

I will keep sharing more ideas because we eat eggs a lot. I keep sharing my meals and breakfasts on my Instagram page too, follow me there if you want more ideas.

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organic ways of living | experiencing farm to table meals at Tijara Organic Farm

Organic farming is the future. Many of us are now realizing organic ways of living is not an isolated effort to eat clean or just go find healthy foods and ingredients at the super market. Healthy living and well being is the culmination of what all we do everyday, what we eat and from where we bring our food.

It may seem to be an insignificant part of our lives till we keep scurrying for food only when we are hungry and eat whatever we find when hungry. The picture become more clear once we start looking deeper into food and how it comes to our table.

Once we understand how the food on our tables has changed in the last 50 years we will get the answers to all the abnormal health problems our generation is facing. The way food has become a market commodity, the way food needs to be shelf stable, good looking and the exact way food has to feel and smell when the packet opens, is a testimony to what we have done to our food habits and how far we have placed our tables from the real farms.

We often don't realise that we have corrupted our taste buds to recognize fake food as tasty and satisfying, the chemical flavoring agents of packaged food being directly responsible for it. Our insulin response gets confused because of abnormal sugars being bombarded into the system frequently and the entire scenario starts disturbing the hormone cascade.

Body function is holistic, one action leads to another and starts making a chain of events which is disruptive if our lifestyle is inflammatory, it all starts with food for the body, and that leads to the changes we are causing to the planet. We don't realise we are suffocating the planet too because of our food choices, not only our own health.

I often wonder how our own health is directly related to the health of the planet and yet we keep ignoring so many things we could do right.

Time to wake up.

Getting back to the organic ways of living is not as difficult as we think. We need not give up our petrol fueled vehicles and electricity powered homes, we just have to be careful about the wastage of these limited resources and be careful about not to overburden the Earth so much that it suffocates.
One of the most important things we need to be aware of is the usage of unnecessary chemicals in the form of pesticides and fertilizers. 

I feel fortunate when I come across people who are trying to make a difference at a larger scale, those who are growing organic food and making it possible for people like you and me to have access to organically grown food on our tables.

When I got to know about Sneh and Tara's organic farm at Tijara (Alwar, Rajasthan) I wanted to visit the farm to learn more about the working of a farm that has adopted Biodynamic principles. I have visited the Farm a few times since then and I truly admire the work Tara and Sneh have put in.

The places where I can harvest, can cook and eat with like minded people are the best places in my experience. Sneh and Tara's farm is one such place where I wouldn't mind going back again and again.

They bought the land 6-7 years ago and started working on it to develop it into a productive Biodynamic farm. They installed solar panels, built biogas plant and built underground water channels and storage wells to equip the farm to be energy and water efficient. Rajasthan climate and soil is mostly arid and the water channels have proved their worth and more in the good and bad weather.

Sneh tells me about the time when an unusually high overnight rainfall flooded the neighboring fields for a week and destroyed their crops, while the underground water channels and wells at her farm channeled and stored all the water efficiently and prevented any loss of crop. She informs the water requirement of her farm has reduced a lot in the past years as the water channels are enriching the soil strata from within. We spotted about a dozen Kingfishers who have made nests in the walls of these wells.

They have built green houses too and grow a lot of leafy greens, herbs and exotic salad greens in it. Sneh has built a solar dehydration unit to dehydrate herbs and chillies etc. The farm has a few cows, an adorable dog named Bijli and a number of birds. Many small birds keep hiding inside the carrot beds and Bougainvillea shrubs but the Hoopoe and Kingfishers have become used to humans working on the farm.

Why I connected more with the work Sneh and Tara are doing because this is one place where one can stay for a few days, learn about how food is grown, how it is harvested and how simple yet delicious meals are prepared using fresh produce without using any packaged ingredients. Trust me it will be a good initiation into 'healthy' eating, the way one is supposed to eat naturally.

The good thing is that the couple believes in farm to table meals and promoting local Rajasthani cuisine along with some healthy contemporary options. Tara is a passionate cook who loves to make traditional Indian meals with the help of the cook. This Rajasthani style saag cooked with some sour buttermilk was made by Tara and I kept asking for leftovers later, it was so good.

On the other hand Sneh loves to experiment and makes a variety of pesto, dips and even cheeses and kefir. They make fresh juices for breakfast, fresh fruits have started appearing from the nascent fruit trees and you get something or the other freshly plucked on the breakfast table. Oh and sometimes they bring fresh pakodas from the nearby Jain temple.

They have employed a sweet lady Anita who cooks hot millet rotis on wood fired chulhas and serves them hot with butter. She is the one who milks the cows and feeds them too. There is so much variety of food you never realise it is all vegetarian food, most of the food is traditional but it will feel like a new discovery because Rajasthani food was never known beyond laal maas, kair sangri and gatte ki subzi.

At the farm stay one is always treated with something fresh and unique. The uniqueness comes with the fresh harvest that is never the same, one combines the ingredients in new ways always. Even I made a salad with whatever was available and everyone polished off even the shreds.

The salad was made with freshly harvested carrots, fresh tender knol khol, radishes, green coriander leaves and a small half ripe papaya. I made the dressing with honey, tahini, calamondin juice, garlic, bird chillies and salt n pepper.

I also cooked my favourite wilted spinach with toasted sesame for lunch one day.

The first time I went there for a photo shoot of their property, I got to know it was Tara's birthday. I baked this Ragi cake with minimal jaggery in it and the cake was baked in a ceramic pot over gas flame. These are the things you do impromptu on a farm stay.

You walk around the farms, pluck something if you like, cook by yourself or ask the cook to make something that he suggests, make some tea and relax by the green lawns. Thee guest rooms are a delight to stay in, equipped with modern facilities and pleasant interiors you get to rest well after a tiring day if you decide to volunteer at the farm.

Such places help one connect not only with nature but with oneself too. In the most unpredictable ways trust me, but the realization that simpler food habits are a key to better health. Simple food doesn't mean lesser variety of food but fresh food that is minimally processed and cooked in the most healthy ways.

Once you get the taste of such fresh food you would start thinking more about the origin of food ingredients and how it is cooked in your kitchens. Sneh and Tara's farm achieves this motive for anyone who goes there to have an experience.

Sneh brings her seasonal fresh produce, sun dried herbs and some of her pesto and cheeses to Delhi Organic Farmers Market every Sunday (at Malcha Marg community center). You can connect with her to pre-order fresh produce and herbs etc or just drop in at the farmers market and get your stuff. Go early else her stuff flies off the shelf really fast. She does CSA boxes for select customers in Gurgaon too, I like the way she uses canvas bags to send out stuff for her customers.

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