MMMM Indian Food

Chicken tika masala.
Saag Paneer
Garlic Naan
Tandoori chicken

mmmmm

I love Indian food.

Since it was my bday last night,
we went out to dinner at
Mirch Masala, a "BEST OF" restaurant
here in the Springs.
It's a quiet little place,
non-descript from the outside,
but once inside,
totally different world,
I'm telling you.

The smells of curry and spices,
the exotic music and art all come together
so lovely,
that it makes going there
"an experience".

It was a quiet night there,
we were the only family,
and another table of two was there--
it was a really cold, snowy windy night,
so that probably kept people in.
But not us. Not me.
It's my birthday!

We ordered two dishes of chicken tika masala,
one mildly spicy
for the youngest yahoos,
the other medium,
for those of us with tougher palates
and stomach linings.
It was so dang good...
Nana loves the plum sauce...
starts out sweet with a little spicy kick at the end.
She managed to dip the thin crackers (the name escapes me right now),
in the sauce,
and anything else she could mix with it,
she did.
 The Caboose wanted only the garlic naan bread,
the mild tika masala and rice,
and she briefly tried the saag paneer (creamed spinach)
before declaring it was "gross".

Boofus is an emotional eater--
one day he loves something,
the next he doesn't.
So he kept his plate simple--
just the bread and tika masala,
altho he did try the something-galoo
because there was potatoes and cauliflower in it,
but it was too spicy (even for me)
and he mostly drank his rootbeer.

Daisie tried a little bit of everything,
but went back for seconds on the tika masala.
Just like me.

Mr W. chowed down on the tandoori chicken.
He loves spicy food--
when he lived in England, he'd make a take-out order
from this family-owned Indian restaurant there
that would be enough to feed us a couple of meals
as well as feed the missionaries.
And truthfully,
it was the best Indian food I've ever had.
My mouth is watering just thinking about it.
so so good.

During the meal,
the family went around the table
taking turns saying what they love about "Mom".
The Caboose started with,
"I love Momza because she brings us to fun restaurants.
My mouth is burning but it's good!"
Then the Boofus:
"I love you Mom because you take me to the store
and buy me everything I want."  --that got a laugh,
because right next to the restaurant is a Sporting Goods Store,
and he had major designs to go there after dinner.
Daisie, every bit 15, offered up:
"I love Mom because she's crazy. Like, in a good way. Like,
getting us to try new things like food that burns your lips off,
and like, she doesn't even care if she's crazy. And like, she's just crazy."
Thank you, Dara.
Nana, who is now my 20-year old mushball,
says she loves me "because [I]  do my best to take care of the family,
even if it means working at a place I'm not happy to work at,
and that I want my kids to have exciting lives, and that I'm human and me being human,
lets them know that it's okay to be human too, and be happy with themselves."--
and some other sweet things that makes me grateful I didn't sell her to
the circus when she was a teenager.

And I'll keep what Mr W said to myself.

Just that I rock.

So we left,
and yeah, we went over to the Big 5 sporting goods store,
then we walked around Big Lots,
had some laughs --
"Mom! Did you know they sell furniture here?"
Yeah, I'd like to think I'm doing well to show my kids
all kinds of "life",
but when my 11 year old gets excited that a leather-like sofa
can be found on the same aisle as Tastee O's and mango juice concentrate,
I know I've got more work to do, apparently.


We love food in our house.
Love it.
And that love of food is a good thing!
I'm sure there are as many books cautioning the wrongs of making
food part of our familial rituals
as there are books extoling the virtues of family mealtimes.
For us,
it makes memories.
Birthdays, holidays, Sunday dinners...
finds us all around a table--either at our sacred dining table,
or in a spice-filled little Indian restaurant on a snowy November night--
it doesn't matter...
the food calls to us to gather in
and enjoy the moment.

What the attitude about food in your house?