"Le NoNo"

Most people who know me really well, know that I am foodie. Not only do I love cooking but I enjoy eating foods of all kinds, countries, flavors etc. So whenever I am bored and have nothing better to do I either cook or splurge my precious money on some undiscovered place in my little town.

Being a foodie is good thing, you will soon find like minded foodies and then you can have a gala time sharing your experiences, guilt trips, and in general food.

One such friend of mine was really bored this weekend and suggested we go out to eat, so after eliminating all the chain restaurants and the ones we have already tried several times we decided to visit this high profile place (by which I mean so called authentic and hence essentially expensive) place called "Le Nonne"- An Italian Delight.

The first problem was we did not have a reservation so we had a wait of about twenty minutes during which we were quite busy discussing some boring philosophy just to get our minds off the aroma around us. Anyway eventually we got to a table and then we poured over the menu because in high profile places they have elaborate menus which you ought read carefully because mostly after a lot of decorative writing the food may just be pasta in some sauce.

The place was quite cozy and nicely done, light cream walls with soft lighting, decorated with a few selected paintings and a ceiling fan probably brought from Italy during migration ( looked that old), all adding to the ambiance and the appetite. Anyway so I was in a good mood and asked my friend if he was in the mood to splurge and with his affirmative nod I proceeded to order us starters. Now one of the most interesting starters is the "Bruschetta" , the item that you see above. There was a paragraph describing this item reading which I lost patience half way through and just ordered. Now she said that it would take some time because they will have to melt the cheese and we said fine we can wait.

Now the reader should observe the picture carefully, this yummy dish basically is made from a small piece of bread, smeared with olive oil and then baked with cheese and then a few tomatoes are added and then baked again for a few minutes. Perfectly simple and yet wonderful to thy taste buds, so there we are waiting for this charming dish to arrive, meanwhile they gave us some free bread to while away our time. The wait was indeed long and we poor hungry people just kept waiting.

Now being experienced foodies we had already built up an image in our mind of our arriving dish, so when I see our dear waiter walking towards us I get excited and whisper to my friends "Psssttt here it comes" ,and both of us eagerly turn our heads towards the plate in her hands.

Now a "shock" is really a spoiler , a "jolt" maybe just maybe a good word. Coming towards us on a large plate is a red colored mountain, I mean its about a thousand pieces of diced tomatoes. She keeps it on the table and gives us a dazzling smile and walks away. We are too stung by the color to say anything, finally my friend takes a fork and pokes into the mountain "Ahhh there is some bread at the bottom" he claims. I am just wondering if that thing on the table is even called "bruschetta" but a "tometta" . Anyway we hunted for the bread under that red pile and finally I tried put a piece on my plate and it was so soggy with tomato juice that it just broke off like a broken limb. Well after that it got worse , the bread was burnt, the cheese not melted, only the tomatoes were done well. We got hysterical just looking at it. I was so hungry that I just kept eating the tomatoes.

After some time we realized that this was really bad and we should get it replaced. Well replace it we did with something equally useless. It was funny we had been eating from almost one hour and we were only through with our starters. The main course (had some very tongue twisty names) arrived but thankfully with no big shocks positively or negatively. We quickly ate a little and left with "To Go" boxes.

We took a long walk back home laughing heartily at our experience. The good thing about the evening was I was with a good friend and we shared an unforgettable moment, a memory added to our foodie adventures and to be remembered long after we have left this little town.

....and etched in memory will be the little high profile "Le NONO"....

The Coffee Shop

The story below is my first attempt at fiction, written at a website named Asia Grace : Kevin Kelly. Its a very interesting website, Kevin Kelly is traveler, a photographer, writer , collector and what not. This particular book Asia Grace is a feat of photography, the writer here has put up all the pictures online and the reader can write a story related to the particular picture. The story below was written after looking at the picture, I was just mesmerized by the whole idea.... enjoy.

The Coffee Shop

I look out of my window and see to my surprise and pleasure rain. Softly and gently cleansing the dusty trees and roads and faded creepred walls.

Time for some coffee and chit chat. I called another friend of mine and asked her to meet me at Raghu Cheta's shop.

Now not everyone went there, strictly restricted to the fans of his hot cup of frothing coffee. Raghu Cheta was this thin about thirty something with a huge toothy smile. Watching him make coffee made you feel warm and when you had a sip of that yummy coffee it was heaven.

We reached there to find a huge crowd under his small unnamed shelter. Some places dont need names they are just recognized, just felt. He saw us, gave a toothy smile and shouted "Randa Kapi" (Two coffee), we got them and some buns as treat and just sat and chatted for a while.

I never really had spoken to him as thats not a very nice things for young girls to do, but sometimes we heard rumours. He was very poor once, his father died and then he started this shop. Or there was this another one in which his wife left him and to forget the pain he started this shop.

I always wonder how such small coffee shops start and become a part of about a hundred people passing by everyday. I have never really seen any blooming in from of my eyes , but that would be great to observe. What makes them do this everyday from morning till next day morning. Do they every want to drop everything and take off. I will never know .....

I left for making a career somewhere and when I returned after five years he was gone, there was someone else now making tea and pakodas. I wonder what happened to him as no one there really knew ....or cared.

I hope he is somewhere out there happy and content the way he made us any time of day we went to his small unnamed shelter.