Rains have come & gone.
Neon red shape-shifts
across the puddles,
and sparkles on glistening
roadways.
People converge
on those rain slick streets,
expecting to be fed.
Vendors work crinkling tarps,
trying to remove them without
sloshing standing water --
working with controlled haste.
Fires are lit and dialed in.
Soon plumes of aroma
from street food delicacies
will stretch down the street:
Silently calling & bewitching.
What a moment!
When you realize
that your lips had been more numb
than from Szechwan peppercorns,
and that numbness
has slid into paralysis.
You are dying:
death by Fugu --
poison blowfish.
Your heart will stop.
You will keel over,
falling from your stool
at the sushi counter.
A booth-dweller,
seeing you bounce off
an adjacent patron,
wonders why you don't
bring your arms up to catch yourself,
but - of course - they're dangling
uselessly,
and so you land face first.
The booth-dweller cringes.
There's nothing to be done for you.
You had the nerve
to try the Fugu!
But, while Fugu life is exhilarating;
Fugu death is inglorious.
What are your family’s top 3 favorite meals?
Thai curry, Vegetable Soup, and Eggs
I’d say Thai curry. I used to make a mean Pad Thai, but it’s been a long time since I’ve cooked that.
What are your favorite types of foods?
Vegetables & fruits, also nuts.
What’s your go-to comfort food?
Completely depends on where I am at the moment. Here, in South India, it’s a paper masala dosa.
But [for example] in Budapest it’s túrós csusza, in Bangkok it’s pad thai, in Bombay it’s vada pav, and in Vajrayana Buddhist areas it’s momo.
summer berries: to pick or let ripen? what will birds do?
I couldn’t possibly say, I’ve had so many great foods from all over the world, and my palate is not so refined as to tell great from “the best in the world.” (And I kind of doubt anyone else’s is either.) That said NIC’s “Madagascar Chocolate” ice cream is far-and-away the best chocolate ice cream I’ve ever had, and I would further say possibly the best ice cream and one of the best desserts I’ve ever had.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 