Planes, Trains and Automobiles, but Not Necessarily in That Order Part 2

The City as seen from the, ahem, Jersey Shore.

Gaurav is not so sure about his "godfather"

What a good big brother! I swear he only held him so that I would take a picture of him, but so sweet, regardless!

Kelly and Aaryan, who is done holding Gaurav.

Sweet baby! This is the closest I got to capturing his smile on camera.

Bonit and his baby, Gaurav.

Suman gets a hug from his oldest "godson"

Here is Aaryan brushing his teeth, getting ready to go out with Jacquieghosh

(He just recently realized we're not always a package deal)

So we leave from Albuquerque at 6:30am and arrive in Houston at 1030am, then from there fly to NYC and arrive at 316 pm. Suman is the white cloud of traveling, I swear it. Whenever we travel together our flights are always on time, no issues whatsoever. So his mother and brother pick us up from the airport, his brother has a bus schedule in hand. He tells us next time to take the bus. Nice try. So we go to his parents house, have dinner, talk for a while and go to bed. Pretty uneventful.

The next morning I wake up and feel a little off. Something nasty is a brewing and would you believe it? My bladder infection has returned! NO!!! We were suppose to go to temple that morning! I really wanted to see the Ganesh Temple in Flushing (Singing the Nanny theme all the way there, of course). Side note- Ganesh is the Hindu god with an elephant head, among other things he is the remover of obstacles. However, traveling anywhere when you have to pee every 10 minutes is not a great plan. We also were planning on going into Manhattan in the afternoon and that wasn't looking so great, either. I was able to get some antibiotics and symptom-masking meds and a couple hours later all was good. Well, it was at least ok.

Suman's parents had friends staying with them that night, they were in town for a wedding. At lunch they all were talking about the weddings they'd been to recently, describing in detail the food that was served and the decorations. Oh man, I guess this stuff matters? Sigh. Anyway, they were a lively bunch and I enjoyed getting to know them. Plus, Suman's mom really is a great cook! Lunch was great, as was dinner the previous night.

After lunch we were off to New Jersey to meet up with Suman's friends Bonit and Kelly. The plan was that Suman, Bonit, Aaryan (the two year old) and I were going to head into the city (New York City, that is) for the night and leave Kelly with the baby.

We had a great time in Greenwich Village checking out different shops and people watching. We wandered into this awesome chocolate shop Vosges and picked up chocolate there. I bought some art from a street vendor then we went to get in line at Lombardi's (one of the many Famous pizzarias in the Village). Aaryan was a perfect angel while we waited for at least 45 minutes for a table. He started "dropping" his toy cars next to this group of British ladies standing next to us. He was trying to get their attention, then when they would talk to him he would suddenly be shy. Eventually he started talking to them, then we finally got our table.

Me, Suman and Aaryan waiting for a table.

There was this lady at the table next to us who lost her mind and started screaming at our waitress because there was a group of 20 people who evidently had reservations. I guess she wanted to make reservations and they had told her that Lombardi's doesn't take them. Not really sure, but she was cussing up a storm in a British accent (she was not with Aaryan's harem) which I found quite amusing. Especially because she had said they were there to celebrate her sisters wedding, gesturing towards her, yet there was no man at the table. It just occured to me that it could have been a lesbian couple, but then wouldn't they need to be in MA? Whatever, I was just glad Aaryan didn't learn any new words.

To Be Continued...

Trains, planes and automobiles, but not necessarily in that order... Part 1

I recently went on a vacation to visit Suman in Fort Defiance, AZ. We then flew out to New York to visit his family and see his newest "godson" Gaurav. We are playing fast and loose with the term godson here because for one Suman is not Christian, and for two he will not be raising Gaurav and his older brother Aaryan in the event that both their parents die. He just wants to be able to call himself a godfather, but I digress.

As usual, I had traveling issues. First, the train that I took out to Gallup, NM (about 30 minutes away from the Fort) was 3 hours late. The engine broke down and they had to get another one, a freight engine, to take over. As it turns out, freight engines are much slower, so not only were we 3 hours behind, but we were LOSING time the whole way! I was suppose to be there at 9am, and my train finally got there at about 2:30pm.

Train rides are always interesting, though. I went to the dining car for breakfast and they sit you with other people like on a cruise. I was sitting with a early 20s Pennsylvania Dutch boy (there were about 20 of like ones on the train). They were on their way back from what he said was a business convention in San Diego. He was telling me that the soil they farm with has been drained of a lot of it's nutrients, and the convention was telling them about how sea vegetables are much higher in nutrients, yada, yada, yada. So I'm thinking they're using this to fertilize the crops. Nope, it's a liquid vitamin supplement that you take once a day. -Wait a second, the Amish boy is part of a pyramid scheme! Quick, change the subject... Lady next to me was on the way to her 60 year high school reunion. I thought that was awesome.

So, we finally get to Gallup. And I swear to you, there was no rain the entire train ride until we pulled into Gallup, then it was POURING! It was raining so hard that the drops were hitting the ground and bouncing back up at least 5 inches. It was crazy. Suman was working so one of his coworkers husbands, Ben, picked me up. I'd never met this guy before, so I was a little worried that I wouldn't be able to find him, but I did. He had a sign for me, a dozen beautiful roses with a balloon and a teddy bear! So awesome!

Made it safely to Fort Defiance, stopped by the hospital to get a tour and Suman's house keys. Went to his place, met his new cat Maytag. He's quite the character, let me tell you! He's a playful little cuddle bug who talks at least as much as Phatness, maybe more! He is also a total ham, and looks right at the camera when you're taking his picture. Suman was a little late getting home that night (such is the life of a doctor). We had a great night just spending time together and went to Mexican food which was soo good! It was so great being with Suman. It had been 5 weeks since we'd seen each other, that's the longest we'd ever been apart. The next day was pretty uneventful. I went to Gallup, loaded up on baking supplies, bought some moccasins and baked chocolate cupcakes with buttercream frosting. Trust me, they were awesome!

On Thursday we drove to Albuquerque to have dinner, stay the night and fly to NYC the next day. We went to old town for dinner. We went to this amazing French restaurant. Seriously some of the best French food I've ever had! Who would have thought, in the middle of New Mexico that you could find such great food! It was a welcome surprise! The New York/New Jersey portion will be continued...

Indian Food? I think I can!

OK, for those of you who don't know, my boyfriend is Indian. Well, he's American-Indian, but not like Native American. East Indian, the original. This is further confused by the fact that he is currently working for United Indian Health Services on a Navajo Reservation. I swear it really isn't confusing at all, just hard to explain. So, he's American born, first generation Indian. Does that clear it up?

At any rate, in Indian culture, cooking is a very important part of being excepted by the family, if you are a girl, of course. I suppose this is true in all cultures. Suman's mom is a great cook, he's always raving about how good her food is. I've told him that my mom made a mean salad and flavored rice, for some reason that's not appealing to him. At any rate, it is very important to Suman that he preserves the Indian side of his culture and that he passes it on, in the event that we have children. As a result of this, I am attempting to learn to cook Indian food. Not Navajo tacos either, although they are delicious. In an "I can literally feel my arteries clogging" kind of way. Nope, curries and such.

At first this task seemed so overwhelming, all these exotic spices and curries. Sauces with flavors I had never tasted until 2 years ago when we started dating. How am I suppose to learn to cook an authentic Indian meal when I barely know how to pronounce it, much less what it should taste like? What finally gave me the courage to try was Suman's boss's husband. Suman told me he made one of the best something-or-rather (a curry of sorts) that he had ever had. I figured if this white boy, who lives in the middle of nowhere can do this, I should be able to. Especially since I have all the resources I need within a mile of where I live. I ordered his cookbook off Amazon.com and loaded up on the necessary spices.

First, Aloo Gobi (cauliflower and potatoes). Now this I have actually made before and the first time it turned out great. I decided to use the same recipe and try it again. It's very flavorful and loaded with veggies, so it's on the diet plan. It turned out pretty good, except that I didn't cook the onions long enough and they were still crunchy, which I'm not a big fan of. So I ended up mostly picking them out. Now I know for next time.
















Next, a chicken curry with coconut milk, tomatoes and cilantro. This I was nervous about, but the recipe was really simple. It turned out great! I ate all of it within 3 days, which is pretty good because it was a lot of chicken. This is maybe not the best picture, but trust me, it was TASTY! So, in conclusion it IS possible for me to make good, healthy Indian food. I have 658 more curries to try. I'll keep you posted on how that goes.

Things I ought not to have seen...

People I have observed in the last week include...

-a 40 something year old lady (without the greatest body) at the grocery store wearing sweat shorts and a bikini top and nothing else. Your youth? I think you can look for that in aisle 5, while you're there, try picking up a full length mirror.

-an 80 something year old lady (same store, same day) parked her car right behind another car, but not in a spot, in the driving lane. Got out, looked down as though she was looking for the lines indicating she was in a spot, got back in the car and moved it to the other side of the parking lot. I saw her in the store later. She's tiny, I mean I TOWER over this woman. Anyway, she was trying to get something from the top shelf of the freezer so she just climbed inside it. Granny's spry.

-at the bank, a lady who had to have been in her late 60s, early 70s with a braid in her hair. I don't mean that it was a french braid, or even that all her hair was braided, there was a random ponytail in the right, center of her head and it was braided. WAY too much makeup, think clown like, and exposing more cleavage than I have, let alone would be displaying in public at any age.

-at the salon, a lady just a bit older than me with a short pixie cut and sandals wearing black leg warmers (my hairdresser thought they were gladiator sandals at first) she also had on a tie-dye shirt and had obviously had more than her share of Starbucks for the day. The 80s are dead, dude.

Good times in SoCal

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