When in doubt, don’t plan too much
A friend of son #1 stayed overnight, which drove the poor dog into a frenzy but didn’t change too much else in our routine. Came time for him to head east, we gave him directions to the city transit stop. Of course he wasn’t there on time, so when we headed out to forage for supper, we picked him up. Of course, he didn’t even have the bus fare to get into the city core, because he’d stopped to buy a pop (hence missing the bus, but circular logic is everything).
Now, the original destination for us was a shopping mall on the “other side of town”, but with the van already into the Haute Ville, why not try something different? Back some years ago, a co-worker who shared the same birthday had offered lunch at a new Indian buffet. We’d gone, during our too short lunch period, but I was also running a fever. The odour of curry had stopped me in my tracks; thanks but no thanks. My chance to eat Indian had passed me by.
Why not try again? I know, it’s not my birthday, and the co-worker has since returned to Halifax, but the restaurant is still in business. In a city where the usual lifetime of any given restaurant is roughly equivalent to the lifespan of a laboratory mouse, that is a sign of possible quality (or deep pockets).
We found a parking spot on the main street in the city, only five minutes away from the restaurant. We arrived and were immediately shown to a table, without reservations, on a Friday evening. Gotta love this small town environment.
Although the lighting was a touch too subtle for my troubled eyes, we chose from the menu which went to great lengths to explain what a tandoori might be, and how some spices are indigenous to the cooking style. Our choice of a variety made, the nice young gentleman in a white shirt (and an accent that even I didn’t clearly understand) suggested a better alternative. We would, eventually, have a table of Garam Massala with something else.
I’m curious about what we ate. It was ALL good, but if I ever choose to look up recipes, I will be forced into googling chicken that is yellow, or white, or brown, or some other colour, that is spicy, goes well with non-sticky rice and vegetables that may have included spinach and potatoes. You grasp my difficulty. I have no idea what we had for supper, but I’ll do it again. Soon. And my efforts at using curry have been rank amateur.
So, the moral of the story is that even the most unplanned meals can be good ones.
