There's a early November, belated, housewarming in the works at my flat, thanks to the suggestion of a good friend. I set off with a list of ten items I'd not seen yet while shopping after pondering the food I might serve, mixing American fall flavors in Indian-like preparations - dips with breads & food that could be eaten easily without silverware:
Canned pumpkin, fresh sage & tahini for a pumpkin spice hummus
Tortellini or similar pasta for a chickpea & pasta salad
Caramel, melting chocolate & pretzels for sweet & salty caramel apples
Cheddar cheese, brie & cranberries for a cheese dip with a cranberry sauce
The grocery store nearest my flat is a branch of a much larger one at the South City Mall I've written about, so I headed that direction. Surprisingly, there wasn't an auto rickshaw at the stand. Odd...but...oh, well...it's only 5 km - I started walking. A taxi slowed down @ about the 2.5 km mark & I took him up on the fare...it's cooler now than when I moved, but wow...it does get warm when you're trying to get somewhere instead of an evening stroll! (I learned later, as the rickshaw stand nearest the mall was deserted, too, that the drivers from just this one stretch of Prince Anwar Shah Road were striking due to some unfair government action.)
It was really fun to take my time shopping in such a large store; the clerks at my neighborhood branch are positioned in each aisle, promoting a certain type of product for the day....they are helpful, but it keeps me moving to find the items on my list instead of perusing the shelves. The larger Spencers was so busy the clerks were all stocking, allowing me to really examine new products. There's also a huge "gourmet" section, i.e. imported foods, so I headed there once I determined my list wasn't going to be filled with traditionally available items in an Indian market.
I'd seen a very handsome, salt & pepper haired non-Indian shopping at the meat counter the last time I was there & he was there again today, with his wife, so I stepped up & asked if they had time for one quick question...he said, sure...we kind of stick out, don't we? We all laughed & then I asked them if they'd ever seen pretzels in Kolkata. His eyes lit up & he said he'd seen them for the first time today...& offered to take me to the right place. Well, they ended up being sweet crackers that looked like pretzels, so I thanked him & we split up. Five seconds later he tapped me on the shoulder & said, "You can always bake your own pretzels, you know....it's kind of hard to find bread yeast, but if you go the Hogg Market (one of the oldest markets in town...most call it New Market though, because it was new in 1867), and look at one of the stalls by the clock tower you can buy it in a tiny rectangular box for about 10 rup". I thanked him & continued shopping...
The final verdicts?
I can cook my own pumpkin which they sell very cheaply here fresh
Sage is not grown here
My salt & pepper baker gave me the idea of making homemade tahini & the internet had an easy recipe, so that I can do!
There were about a dozen fancy shaped pasta that will work in a pinch
Caramel & baking chocolate need to be located at a sweet shop I was told
Brie & cranberries don't exist here
Cheddar cheese - and about ten other varieties - are imported from the UK. A 300 gram hunk was 500 INR! That's 2/3 of a pound, so a pound of cheddar cheese would cost $15.11 US! We won't be having cheese dip!
My flat doesn't have an oven...many Indian kitchens don't. I good toaster oven is about $45.00 US...gonna have to think if that's worth pretzels once in awhile...I'm thinking not! Pizza, maybe, but not just for pretzels!
(Just for the record...Ragu spaghetti sauce is $5.15 US & Old El Paso standard size jar of medium heat salsa is $4.97 US. I think I'll stick to Indian, thank you!)
I got home later than expected & my housekeeper had friends visiting. The eldest granddaughter just kept staring at me...
She finally smiled when her baby sister got into the action...
Didn't accomplish much towards the party today, but did learn much. I thought about the couple as I started to walk home, looking for taxis due to the rickshaw strike. Was pretty sad for a few minutes, wishing I had someone here with me like they did, for each other, to share the experience. That lasted for about three blocks until I decided there wasn't much sense in going down that line of thinking! I'll never know what the past six weeks would've been like with someone else here with me. Only know I'm here, in a place where finding yeast is a culinary challenge, but mangoes grow outside your bedroom window, their flesh the color of the sky at sunset.
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