Order up

It is a very internal thing, watching fresh off the boat desis order at the restaurants in the US. Using complicated hand gestures to point to condiments at Subway to asking for noodles at McD's, a handful of instances that insight into our collective assured ordering skills.

A few years ago, when we still liked Denny's, we were sitting around a table and at the end of the table was seated a bugger from the heartland of tamilnadu. A monolingual for most of his life, he was a simple man of few words (in English). While placing an order, he was offered a choice of breads: White, wheat or rye. Confronted with this staggering set of choices, he stuttered, "Yeah, yeah, that only!", leaving the waitress bemused.

A few weeks ago, we were seated in Chilli's, and my friend was suffering from an upset stomach. He tried to order a salad, and we all know how good desis are with salads. I will refrain from naming the person, but lets call him Shiva prasad. So, shiva took the bold step to order salad, a hitherto unknown territory for desi guys. And, like all dogs exiting their territories, he was facing the daunting task of choosing between several unknown dressings. It appeared he would soon drown in the frothing lake of shame, embarrassment and dirty sniggers, he spluttered Olive oil.

A few days ago, i was at a local cafe trying to order something apart from tea and a cookie. I tentatively pointed towards a stack of bagels. The barista asked me what kind? And with my years of accumulated experience, i said i don't mind any kind. Apparently, that wasn't still good. Surprise me, i continued. That seemed to do the trick, she said, i will give you my favorite. I topped it off, with a that's my favorite kind too!. Phew! I now understand why several NRI's are heading back home to a more assured and in-control ordering experience

Salad eaters

Last evening, in a passing discussion phase, Vikhayat (too difficult to spell man!) said that desis do not eat salads. You would agree immediately. I had a post on similar lines a little while ago. You don't find any chinese eating salads. Except for Pandas. Panda bears are the only chinese who would love a salad

Funny

that how at IIT, we used to have problems with the mess when we had good food available three times a day! Why does the past taste so yummy?

P.I.T.L.A

Today morning, i woke up to see the depressing flurries again. I slunk back into the covers and slept a couple of more hours. I remember not too long ago, i was walking up beaver street. It looked like Spring had finally arrived. For once, the backpack felt light and my steps even lighter. I stopped near the traffic signal listening to the lovely bird sounds. Only to realize that the sounds were from some machine on the traffic light. A few frames later, i heard similar sounds and looked up. To my dismay, it was from a couple of birds. And then the machine again. I was totally confused and finally realization dawned on me. The birds thought the machine was some kind of bird because it was emitting similar sounds.

Anyway, i haven't seen a single desi character eating salad for a lunch here at penn state. The emphasis is on I have not. I believe that chinese are similar to us in their extraordinary love for their cuisine. So, i was kind of surprised to see a chinese student having salad for lunch. Probably that will be the closest, i would ever come to see a desi thulping salad. I used to have salad at Intel, but thats a different thing. A good discussion point is how food relates to the culture of your place. I have a vague inkling but nothing concrete to bring out a nuanced discussion :). Four years at penn state, i have tried making the dish which is the title of this post. And, i have cupped miserably and spectacularly. Finally, i was able to conjure this very simple dish after elaborate discussions with the head chef(my mom). This post is getting too big. I had one last point. We were grading an exam the other day and after a few hours, one of the profs remarks, "This is a blood bath. It makes Passion look like a tea party. Mel Gibson should be filming this". :D