Food

I'm amazed at myself. I basically eat sloshy crap everyday. But I don't complain much. Complaining is a social bonding thing in our PG. Funny, I just realised I never wrote about PG before.

Anyway, as I was writing, Food. I don't touch much of the veggie stuff prepared back home. Though, when I was back for a (oh.too.)short while I ate palongshaak-sheem-koraishutir-r torakari with gusto. At least on the first night home. Then there was that eternal hankering after restaurants. And thanks to Romila I discovered one more reason to run to Mocambo whenever possible: the asparagus risotto.

In PG we get crappy food: one sabzi/daal with rice/roti for dinner. In the mornings it's oily paranthas, which I often skip for delicious lunch at office. Weekends, I try to eat out.

Yesterday we had besan ka sabzi with rice for dinner. It's is basically lumps of half-cooked besan in a curry. Yesterday for lunch there was awesome kaali daal with hing, oily but very tasty cauliflower and peas sabzi, rice and roti with the jhola gur I got from back home.
For breakfast today I had crappy oily aloo parantha with stone cold phulgobi and peas sabzi.
People back home expressed surprise that I hadn't lost weight away from barir khabar. In fact, when I complained about PG food, a professor said "Mithye kotha bolo na. Khabar ta je tomake khub-i suit korechhe she to dekhtei pachhi".

Possibly most of you are crinkling up your nose at my description of a 'delicious' lunch. Yes, there was a time when I couldn't do without meat/fish. But I have learnt to live without them. At first by consuming upto 6 eggs a day. But where I live now, even eggs aren't cooked. And I have no regrets re. not being able to eat meat/fish. And I love vegetables, fruits, carbs, pulses:

I love rajma, kaali daal, chana, chhola, roasted soyabean, multigrain bread, soy nuggets, pasta, mushrooms, bell pepper, broccoli, cherry tomatoes, pita pockets with falafal, fruit juice mocktails, feta cheese, delicious salads made with rajma/chana/veggies/fruits, fried eggs, pineapple and orange marmalade (Fabindia organics), muesli, baingan bharta, lassi, muri, roasted peanuts, cashews and pitachios, roasted bajra and jowar, roasted chhola with hing, roasted soy snacks, vodka with nimbu paani, Kingfisher Premium, Tom Collins, Pineapple Blossom, frozen yogurt with toppings, brownies, chocolate muffins, lemon tarts, unusual flavours of ice cream, champagne....

I have gained weight since I turned vegetarian. Partly because of overindulgence with cream-cheese-ghee-butter. Partly due to a regular diet of beer and peanuts. Partly due to overeating. Yes, I'm the quintessential lobhi.

The best place to eat in Dilli till now is Cafe Turtle. It's also very very very expensive. But they have fresh salads and fruit juice mocktails and hummus and nachos and falafal and soups and brownies and carrot cakes and lemon cakes and muffins and sandwiches. Also 'tis completely veggie with an open air, roof top space and a (bad) library. But you can always take your own book and sit and read for hours :)

I head there after book shopping at Darya Ganj and stuff my face with delicious non fried food stuff and my heart like a soaring balloon of happiness after the haul of new old books :)

No wonder I can't save up 'nuf for the camera :(