Weather, Cooking and Waiters
Today is a wet and drippy day here in Chandigarh. Its been raining and there are puddles. Not so cold though.
A few days ago it was cold but sunny! In Toronto I have felt the sun on me but never the scorching presence of the sun, the way u feel if you stand too close to a bonfire. Unpredictable days..
I used to be nuts about a grey and silver color palette in clothes. Tweeds and plaids. Dark grey and black overcoats with elegant cuts. But on visiting Toronto I realized that these colors really belong to cold countries. You can actually wear black pants and a silver sequined top in Toronto and it would just add sparkle in the coldness, like a christmas ornament. In india, in the hot climate, it would be an eyesore.. like something too flashy..like a bonfire in heat.
So its less cold today. And I feel citrusy. I so want to cook with Renzo. And no cream or cheese or mayo. Nothing thick. Something very vegetable with wateriness and flavour. I just watched Kylie Kwong cook on TV on a show called Simply Magic and she made a sexy stir fry thing in nutty oil and flavoured it with Chinese cooking wine. Garlic flavour, piping hot stuff served in cabbage rolls that were crispy cold. Seemed good to me. I could experiment and cook pure indulgence!
Time to enjoy cotton coolness and citrus in India. It rained and immediately there was clove tea and pakoras being fried in the house. The aroma all over. I was so happy.. I never really got excited about hot chocolate moments.
I remember the night I went to a Chinese restaurant in Toronto that had an eager and earnest but non-English speaking waiter who couldnt make suggestions. Could hardly communicate. Somebody`s nephew who needed a job. We could only point out items on the menu that we wanted. Then I think of the waiter at Sneaky Dees who bent low over our table and pushed his chin forward to offer suggestions and ideas as we ordered. “Too much” he said .. “Naah..that would be a small dish..” The guys at the Peruvian restaurant seemed more home-like.
When I got back to india, and went to a restaurant to have Pav Bhaji, the waiter scrawled the order on a little paper pad he held, didnt look at me as i ordered, didnt indicate that he had heard me, and moved away without a glance. Almost looked bored and was very indifferent. I noticed it and I disliked it and i wouldnt return to the place; but its ordinary manners in local restaurants with no extra words spoken, nothing to mind, an understood code between waiters and customers. And if you ask the waiter to reheat the cold food he got, he is almost pissed off. I am such a demanding customer.. but all this seems like basic stuff to expect doesn’t it?