“Have you ever bitten a red hot ice cube? That’s curry.”
Today was supposed to be balmy, but the wind is strong so the morning is chilly. Rain is predicted.
My mother could sew. She made my senior prom dress, and it was beautiful. I can still see the pattern spread out on the living floor and my mother kneeling beside it to cut and pin the cloth to the pattern. She was nervous about it. She had never sewed anything as big as a dress. I remember that prom. During the late morning I went to the hairdresser. Most of the girls did back then. I got one of those tall dos with bit of a flip. My long time friend came down on the bus to be my date. During the afternoon it started to rain and the rain continued. We went with another couple. The prom was at the Chatham Bars Inn, a beautiful spot right across the street from the ocean. I carried a coat over my head in the rain to protect my hair and dress. The closest entrance from the car to the Inn was through the kitchen so we walked through it to the prom room which was beautiful. We had our pictures taken, we ate and we danced. It was the perfect evening. After the prom, we changed our clothes then headed to a friend’s house for an after party. We had a scavenger hunt. I remember some of it. One clue was in a cemetery. Another was we had to stop at the school principal’s house to find out his middle name. I still remember it was Adolph. That prom was 59 years ago.
I can’t sew so I tend to staple. I can cook. When I have company, I try new dishes, but I have favorite old dishes. Chicken curry is one of them. The first time I ate it was in Ghana at the house of a Moroccan doctor and his wife. It was so delicious with all the toppings that it quickly became a favorite. I remember the first time I cooked it myself. I invited friends, skeptical friends. I had toppings to soften the curry heat, toppings likes apples, pineapple, cashews and raisins. One of my guests took only a tiny amount of everything. After he tasted it, he went back and piled the chicken and covered it will all the toppings. He was my barometer of success.
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February 26, 2024 at 12:24 pm
Hi Kat,
Today the sky is partly cloudy and the predicted high temperature will be a warm 93°. Today could exceed the current record of 91°.
I skipped my senior prom. I didn’t have a date and I didn’t want to ride on the chartered bus from the high school to the venue which was at a beach club on Long Island. Back then I was too shy to ask a girl on a date. I was a late bloomer.
Both my wife and I both detest any kind of Indian, or south Asian food. The aroma will make me nauseous. Once while teaching in our training center in Toronto, some of the students wanted to go out to an Indian restaurant for lunch. One of the south Asian instructors told me that butter chicken was not too spicy. I tried it and didn’t like the flavor at all. It wasn’t too spicy. Once flying on British Airways to Dallas, the flight attendant ran out of the beef dish economy meal. The Chicken dish was Tikka Masala. I couldn’t eat it. Fortunately, they had a basket full of Kit Kat bars on the galley counter. I ate several to stave off my hunger until arriving home. Only the British would serve an Indian dish on a nine hour trans Atlantic flight. 😦
Once I flew on Cathay Pacific Airlines from San Francisco to Hong Kong. The airplane was full of people from India going home. For people living on the west coast, it’s about an hour closer to change airplanes in Hong Kong rather than changing planes in London. They all ordered special Indian meals. I ate the Chinese dishes. The flight attendants handed out the special meals first. When all those special meals were opened the aroma made me sick to my stomach. My son loves Indian food. Especially since he became a vegan.
February 26, 2024 at 10:18 pm
Hi Bob,
We did hit 46° by the early afternoon. Tomorrow should be in the 50’s, but it will be rainy. They are about the right temperatures for here this time of year.
We didn’t ever have chartered busses. Many kids hired limos. A couple of times kids got together and hired a trolley. It was neat. My date was one of my best friends. We had a great time together during and after.
I really like Indian food. In my old hometown there is an Indian restaurant now, not bad for a town where Chinese was considered exotic when I was a kid. The cape is, of course, heavy on seafood, but there is a good Indian restaurant in Hyannis. Vindaloo is heavy on the hot spice but other Indian food isn’t all that hot. The only time I ever didn’t like the airplane meal was on a British air flight, first class from London to Vienna. They served salmon, the only fish I don’t like. They didn’t have Kit Kats.
It is amazing to me that only an hour is the difference between changing flights in Hong Kong and England from the West Coast. What is the route? I always thought the east coast was closer to Europe than the west coast. I haven’t ever been served such ethnic food on a plane.
February 26, 2024 at 11:27 pm
The hour shorter came from an Indian fellow on the flight. I asked him where he was going and he said Mumbai. I said, arran’t you going the wrong way? He corrected me.
I don’t know what flavor is in Indian food that I don’t like. I say it’s curry, but it’s a flavor in every dish I tried, including the butter chicken.
BTW we set a record today of 94°.
February 27, 2024 at 12:42 am
Three are plenty of Indian dishes without curry. In fact, I seldom order curry as I can easily make a dish at home.
Your Indian fellow was right. I got curious so I decided to check it out. From New York to Delhi is 17 hours 10 minutes. From San Francisco to Delhi is 15 hours and 50 minutes That’s about an hour’s difference.
February 27, 2024 at 8:21 am
Thank you, I never checked it out.
February 27, 2024 at 3:39 pm
I just got curious. It seemed a bit strange.