Deceiving Samosas

Once upon a time, in our suburban Philly area, there was only one Indian grocery store. But today within a driving distance of 5 miles, we can find at least 5 or 6 Indian stores.

These stores mostly keep Samosas next to the front counter. This is a difficult temptation for me to resist. If you give me the choice of a chocolate cake and a samosa, I will pick samosas any day. Spicy tangy items win over stupid sweet dishes. Except for cheesecake - the only non-desi dessert to which I cannot say No. I am digressing.

This fried item (fried in how many days old oil...hmm..we should not go that route) is more tempting when I am hungry and happened to enter the shop in such a state. Last week was one such occasion and a fresh tray of samosas arrived just then. I asked the shop keeper - "fresh hai kya" and he said "yes, madam". I said - "Pack 2 of those" considering the fact that B hates samosas and I have only been criticized for showing so much love buying extra ones for him.

After putting all purchased groceries in the trunk of the car, I carefully took out the samosa packet from the lot and put it on the passenger seat. I drove to the next stop which was an American grocery store , parked there and decided to eat one samosa. After all they should be savored when they are hot!

One bite and I almost broke the teeth. The samosa was super cold. It looked like the world's most beautiful samosa, but the outer coating was very hard. It was obviously taken out of a fridge just now. When I saw the tray of samosas being delivered in front of my eyes, I assumed they will be hot. I should have learnt my lesson from my previous such experiences.

How many ever shops they may open, the samosas are always cold. The filling is never great. When a mass order of samosas is catered, it is again disappointing to see the poor quality. This post is dedicated to Poor me who still forgets these lessons and keeps buying them with hope!

Pizza talk

Ordering pizza and getting what you expected is really a matter of luck. So says my experience over the years! And I am supposed to be in charge of ordering them always. And something always happens that, in the end, I feel responsible for the goof up!

Couple of years back, we used to have a Donatos Pizza which served a unique Pizza called 'Mariachi'. I was a great fan of that spicy pizza and when I was pregnant, I used to go there super hungry and order that!

Ordering a 'veggie Mariachi' pizza only made them put veggies on top of a Mariachi pizza loaded with meat. When I opened the pizza box, I was disappointed and I returned it and I explained the requirement. And here comes another goofed up pizza as a result. The requirements were not understood right once again! Finally the third try worked. The shop ended up giving as 3 pizza pies to take home! B benefitted from the meat pizzas that we got as a gift!

From then onwards, I learnt to specifically name all the veggies I want as toppings, mention 'No meat' and then say 'add Mariachi spice on top of it'. Lesson learnt!

Anytime, we ordered over the phone, the instructions were misunderstood and something was bound to surprise or shock us. Yesterday something similar happened.

I called Dominoes and had a conversation about what deals they have. The talk fluctuated from medium to large pizzas with and without toppings. I swear I ordered 2 mediums and I put the phone down. The total he mentioned flashed in my mind and I said - this cannot be right, I bet they have 3 large pizzas in the order after all the talks. I called them back to find out, yep, that was what they had put in. I patted my own back on catching this at the right time. I fixed the order back to what I wanted. Phew!

Any interesting experiences from your side?

Road trip and Mother's Day

The busy schedule continues this week too. I do catch a couple of posts of Laksh and UL occasionally. I have not spoken to my Appa in a week day lately. I have been wanting to write about the wonderful weekend we had at our friend's place in NJ. It was the break I was dreaming for and the road trip B and I were waiting for.

On Friday night, we started late to NJ. We were all set to chill out with the set of family/church friends. It seemed to take forever to reach D's place with the rain and the dark. We got there at 9.30 and thanks to our ladies who made chapatis and curries for all of us. After all the singing and talking, we slept at 2.30PM! That is a world record. In a way, inside an apartment, there is more closeness and we ended up spending time together instead of splitting in batches.

The next morning, after the chaya (by lady B) and breakfast prepared by my dear hubby B, everyone took their own time to take bath and get ready to go for lunch. The host took us to Anjappar restuarant. I was wondering what kind of name it is, but when I saw the name board said 'Chettinad' and 'South Indian', I was OK with whatever they call it and it already looked promising to me. The veg thali was homely. I was thrilled to see Nikhil finish up a dosa - like mom, like son! Nithin sat in the high chair and did well for his standards.

From there, we set out to 'Sandy Hook' beach. With two cars, it was hard to coordinate and find the desitnation. Finally, we all met at the beach. I was surprised by Nithin's reaction as he saw the sea. He said 'Amma, ocean?'. Never knew this word was in his vocabulary. Last year, when we went to the beach, he would not get down. He hated his foot touching the sand. This time, I was amazed how quickly he started playing with the sand. He was all excited. Of course, Nikhil and his friend were super thrilled too.

Back home, B promised to take me to Nan King restaurant which people told us is great for Indo Chinese food. We have been thinking of going there since a long time.Gobi Manchurian and Veg Hakka noodles were good. Came back to D's apartment and relaxed and slept well. Part of the gang had left before then. It was just us - we woke up in the AM and headed back home to PA.

Sunday evening was made colorful again by B's offer to take me to Hot Breads for a Mother's day snack in the evening.

A relaxing and eventful weekend. Ate out a lot. And not too well-prepared for the coming week. But we will cross the bridge when it comes!

Karaichu Vartha Dosai

Yesterday evening, when I had to make a quick decision of what to make for the rest of the family coming home after activities, I decided to put the remaining dosai maavu to use.

What is Karaichu Vartha Dosai?
It means - you mix different kinds of flours, dissolve them in water and make dough out of it to make dosai. I added wheat flour/atta, maida and rava to the left over dosai maavu (which was not enough to feed more than 1 person!) and made dosai with it! I then garnished each dosa with onions, green chillies and curry leaves sliced super-thin. When I turn the dosa with the garnishes upside down and turn it back up, it was gratifying to see all the onions roasted well!

This can be fixed quickly, provided you have people who love to eat it. My sons reject the dosa with any topping, so I did not put the toppings on for them. Surprisingly, they were so hungry and they did not crib about the different color and texture compared to the regular dosa.B was also hungry, so thankfully, he did eat the dosa with some approval symptoms!

Then I decided to blog about all the dosas it reminded me of. After all, dosa is one thing I can eat any number of times a day. And it is unfair that I have not blogged about it!!

1. My Ammamma's (grandma) karaichu vartha dosai. I cannot make the same kind of dosai she used to make. The maavu used to be so watery and she would just pour it over the tawa and not spread it. It was awesome.
2. Khali dosa of Kadambam, Bangalore. There were 2 dosas in one order - thin and tasty.
3. Dosa from Brindavan Hotel, Bangalore. Kind of homely. Different from Sukh Sagar ones.
4. Amma's in Virginia used to serve Onion Chilli Masala Dosa. When I was pregnant with the first one, we were in Virgina then. I used to go there on weekend evenings to have that. I used to abbreviate the name as OCMD. The ones I made today were close to be called OCMD missing the masala part. OCD! I am not referring to Obsessive Compulsive Disorder here.

Readers, would love to hear about the yummiest dosas you have had in your life!

A peaceful lunch in solitude

The most important thing I learned from my present work life is that one should learn to enjoy solitude. And also that one should relax and enjoy whenever you get free time bearing in mind that not all days will be so.

Facts for the day:
1. I did not bring lunch from home
2. It was so warm outside, I knew I could walk to the Thai restaurant.
3. Whether or not someone comes with me, I am going to eat there.

After some futile attempts to get company to go out, (Rule #1: When I am free, people I want to go out with will never be free), I ended up walking over the bridge sidewalk. It was so pleasant outside. It was not at all cold, and I was comfortable walking without any of the winter accessories on me. I tried calling some friends who work close by, hoping to get someone to join me. No luck. Well, what to do, I said to myself and walked.

I hate to be the single person in a table in any restaurant. The couple of occasions I had to do that, I felt very conscious of the surroundings and was not able to enjoy the food as I would, if I had company. The noise from the tables around and their conversations made me feel all the more lonely. I have cursed my fate for having sat there without any one to talk to.

Walking to the Thai restaurant, I somehow, was not afraid of the upcoming half an hour. The reason could be that I have been there many times and my mind was set to eat what I like, not caring what others might think. As I opened the door and walked in, I was surprised to see I was the only customer there. The place gets jam-packed around 12, so I made it a point to go early. But it looks like I was too early.

Never mind. I gave my usual order. I was offered the table that faced the glass window (wall). I sat there all alone with the view to the busy street facing me. I have never felt so relaxed and peaceful in a long time. I watched the people walking on sidewalk - old ladies waiting for their lunch mates, cars with huge dogs hanging their heads outside, restaurants on the opposite side of the road and so on. The soup came - spicy, hot and tasty loaded with basil flavor. The Thai music was in the air. The crispy roll and Drunken noodles followed. Since I was the only customer for the whole time, I got attended promptly on every step.

I did not feel conscious at all - for there was no one else. My cell phone died, so I could not call anyone and talk. I enjoyed the solitude completely. The walk back to work was also nice in the breeze. Walking on the bridge, over the Schuykill river, I clasped my purse tightly to fight the vertigo feeling. Back in my office, I told to myself, this is the first time I have enjoyed a solitary lunch so much!