Goan Duck Vindaloo

There are two kinds of people in this world: those dreadlocked hippies who Zen out when life throws them stress, and those who scream “Screw you, Airbnb, and the Indian call center you rode in on” before deciding the only cure is cooking some Goan Duck Vindaloo spicy enough to cauterize their rage. Guess which camp I fall in to?

That’s right. It’s me. The Airbnb Survivor.

Hello, my name is Amber Woods. It’s the autumn of 2025. I survived a global pandemic and also the indoctrination into Airbnb society. And I’m out.” Cue mic drop.

This autumn day was supposed to be one of those Instagrammable leaf-peeping hikes—you know, crunchy trails, thundercloud drama, maybe a Pumpkin Toffee Spice Latte moment in nature. But no. The tropical storm Southern California wasn’t supposed to get actually arrived. Since 6:00 a.m., it’s been pouring rain, which meant I had to cancel my guided hike clients. Normally, I love a good rainy-day problem—Hot latte, blanket, snuggly Norwegian Forest Cat on my lap, smug superiority over people stuck in traffic. But instead, I spent three soul-sucking hours trapped in Airbnb’s Kafkaesque support loop, slowly morphing into Rashida Tlaib screaming on the Senate floor.

Here’s the deal: I’ve bent over backwards for Airbnb since they rolled out their shiny “updates” in May. I entertained their so-called “professional photographer,” who somehow made my magical forest look like a condemned strip mall in San Bernardino. I rewrote all eleven of my Airbnb experiences per their instructions, multiple times, only to watch them let ChatGPT “fix” them into oblivion. My best-selling Snowplay Experience—Big Bear’s winter darling for a decade—was reduced to a single limp sentence:

“Join me for a snowy day in Big Bear with Baileys in your coffee and fun for everyone.”

Excuse me? That’s it? No mention of sledding, snowball makers, dogs frolicking off-leash in freshly fallen snow, or me capturing your family’s Hallmark-card moment? Apparently, Airbnb thinks tourists are booking sledding trips based on a Craigslist ad from 2004.

Each AI update was worse than the last! AI has no idea what tourists are looking for when they want to book an experience. Now I’m a worldwide traveler and I wouldn’t book any of these experiences as Airbnb has them looking now. See why I have to drown my sorrows in Goan Duck Vindaloo?

So yeah—done. Finished. Go ahead, cancel me, Airbnb overlords. I’ll take my business to literally any other platform: Tripadvisor, GetYourGuide, my own damn website. At least they don’t gaslight me into thinking “customer service” is a perk. So if you are looking to book the best snowplay in Big Bear Lake in 2026, you can find me on Tripadvisor!

And when the power went out today? Honestly, thank God. No Wi-Fi, no customer service chatbots, no rage-scrolling Reddit threads about Airbnb’s ridiculous cleaning fees. Just me, my pressure cooker, and the ultimate stress therapy: Constructing a fragrant, fiery Goan Duck Vindaloo while rain lashes against the windows.

Let me tell you something: nothing drowns out corporate nonsense like the smell of garlic, vinegar, Kashmiri chilis, and duck slowly transforming into spicy, fall-apocalypse comfort food. Airbnb may have tried to steal my soul but they will never take my appetite! (I feel so Braveheart right now, but waving a giant jar of freshly ground garam masala over my head instead of a sword)

So grab yourself a duck, pour yourself an espresso pumpkin spice latte (or three—caffeine rage pairs beautifully with Goan Duck Vindaloo), and cook your way back to sanity. Because if Airbnb can serve us lukewarm nonsense, we can serve ourselves something infinitely better: a steaming bowl of Goan Duck Vindaloo.

So here I am. Stirring up a delightful Duck Vindaloo on a rainy afternoon, sipping on brewed espresso pumpkin spice lattes and getting more and more overly caffeinated, worked up and opinionated in my views about how much I can’t stand Airbnb.

Duck, duck… Goan Duck Vindaloo!

Here in Big Bear Lake, California, we refer to AI as Adrian Intelligence, because my boyfriend is way more intelligent than any chatbot! And thanks to AI (That would be Adrian Intelligence), we will be reforming my website to be a booking platform in the coming weeks. I can’t wait to see these new changes rolling out in the near future!

So here’s my final piece of unsolicited but entirely correct advice: when you buy the duck, don’t cheap out. Get a larger bird. The breast meat will be infinitely more succulent, and no one wants sad, skinny duck in their vindaloo. (That sentence sounded dirtier than I intended, but you get the point.)

Now, some Anglo-Indian mothers-in-law insist vindaloo should be a dry, spicy curry with no potatoes. And bless their judgmental little souls, but I personally prefer mine drowning in gravy. Give me ladles of it. Serve it with rice. Serve it with naan. Hell, serve it with a spoon straight into my face while I’m rage-texting Airbnb support. Vindaloo with extra gravy is how I do life.

Ready to create an epic Goan Duck Vindaloo now? So let’s talk vinegar. White vinegar? Sharp, acidic, functional. The Airbnb chatbot of vinegars. Gets the job done but no one’s excited about it. Balsamic vinegar? Dark, moody and complex. A few Indian home cooks will tell you white vinegar is “just fine” in a vindaloo, but I prefer balsamic for that deep, caramel tang.

And before you come at me with “vindaloo isn’t even Indian,” yes, Karen, I know. Vindaloo is a Portuguese-inspired dish that Goa took, spiced up, and made infinitely better. My boyfriend and I actually spent New Year’s Eve in Goa right before the pandemic hit, back when the only thing you worried about catching was a hangover. Three months later the world shut down, but I’ll forever be grateful we got that trip in with his family.

Did we eat vindaloo there? Nope. And you know what? I don’t regret it. His homemade version is so ridiculously good, I don’t need to sample some random beachside curry shack’s rendition. Why risk disappointment when you already have culinary perfection simmering in your pressure cooker?

So forget Airbnb, forget bad weather, forget vinegar debates—this rainy day is all about unapologetically ladling up Goan Duck Vindaloo, burning your tongue, and realizing that spite cooking might just be the best therapy there is.

Goan Duck Vindaloo

1 cup balsamic vinegar

3 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon black peppercorns

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1 whole duck, washed and roughly chopped into large pieces

3 teaspoons ghee

1 white onion, sliced

1 serrano chili, sliced in half

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

1 teaspoon grated fresh garlic

1 teaspoon garam masala

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

2 large russet potatoes, cut into chunks

To create the Goan Duck Vindaloo

In a big bowl mix your balsamic vinegar, chili powder, paprika, mustard seeds and black peppercorns. Marinate your whole duck in this for at least two hours. A few hours before you are ready to eat, in a pressure cooker, fry your serrano chili in the ghee. Remove the chili and set it aside. Fry your onions in the ghee until well browned. This should take at least fifteen minutes to get them dark brown. Let this mixture cool, then grind it up in a NutriBullet.

Return this masala paste to the pressure cooker. Add the garlic, ginger and the garam masala and keep mixing it, adding a bit of water at a time until the masala is well-cooked and the spices are not raw. At least ten minutes. Mix in the salt and your duck.

Add enough water to cover the duck (Close to 2 cups of water; I do like my vindaloo with lots of gravy, so I do use lots of water). Cover the pressure cooker with the lid and steam until the ball rises. At that point, turn the heat down a bit and cook for twelve minutes. From here, you can prep this part of the meal ahead of time and set it aside until thirty minutes before you are ready to serve. One way or another, set the pressure cooker aside for at least twenty minutes as it cools down off the heat.

When ready to finish this dish, add the potatoes to the pressure cooker. Cook with the lid off the pressure cooker for 20 minutes until the potatoes are cooked. Garnish your Goan Duck Vindaloo with the chopped cilantro.