Ayurveda and amazing meal. I had the privilege of attending a lecture by Dr. Arya Bhardwaj, visiting from India, who is a peace activist and founder of Gandhi-in-Action as well as being an Ayurvedic doctor. A group of us also enjoyed a marvelous dinner at Gaylord in Sausalito with him. (The above photo is taken from just outside Gaylord). I reviewed Gaylord Restaurant first almost a year ago.

Dr. Arya explained Ayurveda's meaning as "life + knowledge" and shook up our simple understandings of it by explaining the principles and showing the depth and complexity of traditional Indian medicine.

Those who went to dinner with Dr. Arya voted in favor of having him choose the dishes, and what a good idea that was! Gaylord's staff were quite flexible in taking Dr. Arya's special spicing suggestions, and we had quite an extraordinary vegetarian meal, starting with the appetizer selection above.

The bread selection was delicious.

And I'd never seen a raw plate like this served at an Indian restaurant before.

And numerous delicious dishes like this channa masala were served. Such as a daal the likes of which I've never had before, due to a special herb request (wish I knew which one!).

Adding a sweet note to the evening was a lone airplane pulling along a marriage proposal, back and forth in front of the restaurant. It was a lovely evening, and the staff at Gaylord were so cordial and unobtrusively made sure all the details were handled well in the background.