Hiking up Kilimanjaro, garden peaches, trip to Italy, all capped off with a delicious wholesome meal with good friends and fun conversations – this sums up a lovely intimate evening at my friend Basanthi’s place last weekend.

Hiking up Kilimanjaro the topic of the evening 🏔

A hearty congratulations to Vivek for reaching the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania – a monumental feat by any standards!

It took 8 days to hike up the mountain and come back. Vivek shared his journey with a photo diary, it was so cool to listen!

Pics of Vivek’s epic hike

Some info I thought were so interesting about Kilimanjaro

The water they carry up on this 8 day trek are from local streams

The water is collected each day from a stream nearby, boiled and filtered and then filled up in canteens.

They identify the nearby stream by this massive cactus plants that only grows on the mountain at Kilimanjaro. When the guides see these giant cactus they know there is a stream nearby.

Guess what? If the stream is dry all the guide has to do is cut the cactus and water gushes out, enough for them to fill up canteens for all the hikers!

These white necked ravens are only found at this elevation of 12,000 feet and above

Identified by their white spot on the feathers and on the beak, these ravens survive on insects and mice and guess what else? They hover around the hiking teams so they can grab any scraps dropped or left behind.

The terrain up the mountain is like a moonscape

Just rocks and gravel all the way up.

The closer you get to the summit the colder and more snow you see. You have to wear at least 4 layers of clothing, thermals, and really really good boots to weather the negative 20F degree temps at the top. It’s windy and ice cold.

Congratulation again to Vivek for reaching the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro!

Garden Peaches 🍑 to take home 💕

After those amazing pics of Mount Kilimanjaro, maybe pics of home grown peaches may seem humble 😀😀. But as a home gardener we are always proud of any fruit we can grow at home ❤️. Basanthi’s garden was bursting with fruits on this September evening.

Her peach tree was the star, dripping with peaches. We got to pick a basket full to take home 🧺🍑🍑.

Scrumptious wholesome dinner on the menu

Basanthi had prepared a healthy and delicious South Indian vegetarian feast this evening. On the menu were a variety of veggie dishes, lentil soup, rava idlis and chapati. All perfectly seasoned and delicious 😋.

Basanthi’s September Dinner Menu

Mezcal based cocktail
Sprouted moong bean salad with apples and peaches
Green beans and carrot poriyal (stir fry)
Stuffed eggplant and potato with coconut
Sambhar (spiced lentil and vegetable soup)
Green pea Rava idlis
Coconut chutney
Dessert: Vermicelli Paysam (vermicelli milk pudding)
Madras coffee

Folks, the meal was so good! It felt great eating it all, knowing that it was all good for me and delicious too. Truly the best meals are the ones that we make at home with love .

A special thank you to Basanthi for cooking our delicious dinner ❤️, and Vivek for sharing his epic Kilimanjaro journey 💙.

Happy new week everyone!
Wishing you a healthy week ahead!