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November 22 Saturday nightHad dinner with friends at an Afghanistani restaurant, Bamiyaan, here in the city last Saturday. Being a veggie, I had a wee bit of worry at the back of my head that all I was gonna see on the menu would be biriyani, kebabs etc. I needn't have bothered though as the restaurant had a big collection of spicy, veg stuff and we had a wonderful time. Much of Afghani cuisine resemble Indian ( I couldn't pronounce most of the names on the menu though!), with appetizers resembling samosas and the main course tasting like biriyani. The similarities were especially striking in the desserts, the 'Phirni' tasting very much like one of those badam sweets... After three hours of non-stop gossip, we were done with the dinner but the fun wasn't over yet. Sara and Sam departed for a party and Masa, Beza, Patricia and I started walking towards Madison Ave to board our bus. Well, perhaps I should mention here that Beza and I have a serious laughing problem. We really need no reason to laugh and that night, being one of those carefree, jobless times and especially after such a wonderful dinner, turned out into a one in which the laughing-bug bit us real bad..... It all began when Beza started walking away from Madison, when we were supposed to board the bus near Madison Square Park. What began then went on for nearly 45 mins all the way up Madison. I mistook a rod sticking out of a building for stars (Now, don't ask me how I did that!) and Beza thought I really was seeing stars! Now, we had over 30 mins to kill before the next bus, so we decided to pop into one of those coffee shops along Madison. Two of the three shops were locked (which triggered another laughing wave!) and the only one that remained open didn't have any coffee! Now Masa feels guilty for sitting there without buying anything and buys a bottle of water and we were laughing over every funny moment that happened during the last two semesters (interspersed with thoughts of renting an apartment in Madison ave!). When we finally decided to leave the place before the guy kicked us out, we had tears of laughter running down our eyes............One hell of a giggly night that was!!! July 08 Disaster pasta..What does someone who has been trying to pack (but didn't get anywhere close to finishing!) all day do after a nice three-hour nap on a Saturday night? Just this! Extremely enthusiastic about cooking, I decided to please my palate with some homemade pasta.... Well, I wouldn't say it was all my fault entirely... After all I followed the instructions to the letter. Here are some of the 'minor' imperfections: 1) The sauce was too thin.....So, I really had to fish out the pasta and vegetables with my fork! Can call it 'pasta-soup' too! 2) Didn't I add three whole teaspoons of garlic and herb sauce? There was absolutely no evidence of it in the concoction that resulted. 3) Added too many broccoli florets! 4) Forgot to add salt! "She did not so much cook as assassinate food." Storm Jameson (1891-1986) I realize that Jameson had me in mind when he said this but I'll give you reasons why my 'pasta-soup' is better off than most others.... Hunting for pasta into the sauce is fun too...(You never know what you might get!) In fact, its an art which I've now mastered!  Broccoli is such a good source of fiber.. My Eatsmart book says that broccoli is also a good source of sulforaphane, indoles and carotenoids - all of which help prevent cancer. And we all know that lesser the salt, stronger the heart! Who wants to end up with a bad heart? So, fiasco or no, my 'pasta-soup' rocks! |
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