「小姐，您要葷還是要素？」印度航空空中小姐親切地問。
「素吧，謝謝。」
有Cee的家人同行，還是跟隨大眾，多吃一餐素菜的又何妨呢？
這程由新德里往孟買的印航倒令我刮目相看，服務員樣子標緻，態度誠懇，設獨立電視屏幕，食物異常美味，為什麼跟我同事說的相差那麼遠，難道我之前都冤枉了印航？
方下機，就感覺到一股濕氣，就似香港夏天悶熱的感覺。德里跟孟買的天氣竟可差那麼多。
我們一行四人，甫出機場就乘坐計程車往Cee那住在孟買市外的小姨家。他們說大概半小時便會到。好吧。
天已黑，往車外看，車多得水洩不通，人也多的是，一個個黑黑的人頭在路旁，有走著的，有站著等車的，有坐在路邊的，也有躺在路上的，很明顯這就是他們的家。看來陌生，也看來眼熟，香港的某處也有些露宿者，只不過沒有一家大小而已。
我們的計程車在燈前停下，居然有一個女的手抱嬰孩在車與車之間穿插，她走近我們了，敲了敲我們的車窗，眼睛像是一頭鷹似的眼睛向我們掃瞄式打量，我們都裝作看見空氣似的，她就往下一輛車走了。天下間哪有母親這樣的討錢！她最多也只有我那麼大，年青力壯，何必行乞，況且帶著嬰孩這樣在路上走，太危險了。再回想她的表情，亳無半點裝可憐或羞愧，反而是理所當然的肯定眼神。問了Cee，他說那寶寶可能不是她的，只不過從別處借來作生錢工具。可惡！孟買生活真的那麼迫人嗎？
車又停了，這次是一個油站。我們都下了車，原來計程車司機要加油。我問為什麼他不先加油才後載客，Cee答得妙﹕「他們怎知道有客人呢？油要成本嘛，肯定有了收入才花成本。」噢，引了玉才拋磚。
又上路了，車上山，經過很多住宅區，還未到。
他們說計程車有區域性，我們要下車，轉搭電動人力車(Auto Rickshaw)，只要走過高速公路，很快便到。但願如此，因為我開始急了。
可是一上高速公路，我們就堵下來。這是我平生從未見識過的堵車景象﹕無數條即席自我設計的行車線，寸步難移。我們的電動人力車司機也不是好脾氣的，不用懂Hindi都知道他在不停咒罵。車只要一停，他就開車門下車，站出路邊伸頭探看前面情況。只要一可以行車，他就像發了瘋的加速，但可行的路其實不長，所以又一下子與前面的車超近距離的殺停，Cee的父母說了幾句也不見效。有一次，他真的踫了前面的電動人力車！雙方竟然可以當沒事發生似的。
小姨打電話來，告訴我們往返孟買市中心的火車發生了嚴重事故，架空輸水管倒塌，壓住一輛列車。火車全面停駛，上班一族正要下班，所以都改用高速公路回市郊，整條公路處於膠著狀態。
三天內見證了兩宗嚴重火車意外，可能性有多高？在汗流浹背的氣溫下，也不寒而慄。
結果我們足足用了差不多三小時才到小姨家。我一路上當忍者，所以即使見了Cee那可愛的雙生兒表妹也擠不出笑容，只是一直衝往洗手間，現在回想起都覺得有些虧欠。
後記﹕同事A先生翻查了紀錄，說去年印度秋天也只有兩宗火車事故，都通通給我碰上，我的運氣太好了。
(http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/thane/Pipeline-falls-on-train-2-killed/articleshow/5152235.cms)
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
My Tribute to Chicago Downtown Living
After living downtown for more than two years, I have to put a comma to my downtown life. It’s about time to stop torturing myself with the commute that ages me faster. Honestly, a little piece of me is still mourning about it…… all the awesome food… It’s a bit late to start yelp-ing so I have to write something here!!
Breakfast or Brunch
Okay, let’s start with the best breakfast or brunch places… The number one must be Meli’s Café close to where I lived. It’s so good that every weekend morning or early afternoon, there’s a long line waiting outside. Be it summer or winter… I feel that on average we waited more than 45mins just to get a table. Although sweet dishes are good, I recommend the savory dishes! Omelets and frittatas are extremely tasty especially the ones on chef’s specials menu which are different each time. They have good choices of fresh juice too.
My second favorite is Flo. It’s located a little further west. It’s more Mexican influenced. It serves Intelligentsia coffee (yay!). Flo opens for dinner with decent entrées as well.
Dine-out
Next, dine-out restaurants!!!
AVEC!!!! It’s been our all-time favorite!! All dishes are designed to share. It seems a little bizarre to have a setting like this in a western restaurant but actually it’s quite a lot of fun. On multiple occasions, strangers sitting next to us would start talking about the food, different restaurants they like, etc. On my first visit, the couple sitting next to us actually let us take a sip from their wine! As for food, awesome!! It wakes up my taste buds. Sometimes I feel that eating there is like listening to a symphony. You can taste the notes of different flavors/ aroma/texture so distinctly and yet they come together very well. The menu is changed every now and then. However, the dates, being a stable, on the appetizer menu is a must item. Of course, the wait can be quite long as they don’t take reservation over the phone. I don’t recommend going there with a very hungry stomach. Otherwise, you’ll just stuff yourself real fast instead of enjoying the notes of flavors. As a side note, Chef Koren Grieveson actually competed on “Iron Chef America” with Chef Cora on butter. Results? A TIE! That’s rare enough!
It’s pretty difficult to come up with a second best… there are too many good ones… Spiaggia Café, Blackbird, Sepia, One Sixty Blue… Publican! Well, I can’t really rank them but Publican is definitely special. It has a wide beer menu that makes my eyes dizzy. It serves oysters and pork…anything related to pork literally. Aged ham, pork rind, sausages, pork shoulders, etc… really anything about pork (pig)! One not so good thing is that it seems difficult to find any vegetables on the menu. Meat-lovers have to try!
Indian food… I can’t say we’ve tried a lot of Indian restaurants… we still haven’t tried those high-end fancy fusion ones like Arun’s or Vermillion … but this one called Jaipur is quite delicious. Just make sure you double check what you order with the waiter.
Take-out/Delivery
Last but not least, how can I miss a very important part of my downtown life – delivery! Imagine, getting home at 7-ish or 8-ish after a long day (I woke up before 6am), who still wants to cook? A call away is just too tempting. No cooking. No dishes. After trying so many different take-outs (mainly Asian), I’ve come up with the following:
Best Asian Take-out – Takie-outit
It’s purely luck that we drove by and tried this store. We kept ordering since then. It has the best Hot and Sour Soup and Singaporean Noodles. You may think it’s hard to screw up these two basic dishes, but trust me, they can go very wrong. Takie-outit has Asian-style fried chicken wings which are amazing too! The lady is extremely nice in person but sometimes can be a little cranky over the phone so I ordered online instead.
Runner-up – Joy Yee (UIC)
Joy Yee’s food tastes kinda okay unless you order it several times a week. The best thing is the variety of choices. Recently, I feel that they have shrunk the sizes of the containers. Still not a bad choice.
Second Runner-up – Chi’s Café
I didn’t know that they have delivery until a few days before I moved out! I wish I knew about this place earlier. Well, I think this place is more for local Cantonese or Chow Zhou style food. I like that it seems to taste healthier than Joy Yee’s. Less MSG? It could very well be an illusion. Fast and polite service.
Mexican – Chavas Tacos
Well, I love this place A LOT. This place’s name would slip into my mind maybe once or twice a week even after I moved. I don’t know how they make it. Chavas Special is the best Mexican food I’ve ever had so far. Skillet Steak with egg, some grilled scallions, Quesadillas, plus a side order of nopales. The rice is super awesome. It looks simple but is difficult to find such taste elsewhere. “How do they make it?” is the question that comes to my mind while I eat. Perez in the West Loop, which is not bad, can’t match it at all. Of course the calorie count is not low either…definitely it’s not something one should have every night…that’s probably one of the reasons why I miss it so much. As a warm reminder, Chavas Special is very spicy. It’s a good start to build up spicy tolerance. The restaurant is located close to Western Avenue Metra Station but don’t let the neighborhood scare you.
My mouth is drooling just by typing all these… I will come back downtown just for the good food!! There’re still so many good places I want to go. I’m so looking forward to the famous Alinea next month!!! In the meantime, I’ve started compiling a list of good places in the Northwest Suburbs… Let me know if you something to recommend!!
Websites:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/chavas-tacos-chicago
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