Saturday, May 12, 2007

Take it Away

People have asked me what I miss most about Delhi. The people, obviously, are greatly missed. After all, we knew some wickedly cool people in India. And I miss our maid, M, who I’m quite sure was in charge of our home and was just being nice enough to let us live there. We don’t miss the oppressively evil heat that is probably suffocating Delhites right now. Nor do we really miss the dreadful “supermarkets” that turned us into take away dependants.

Which brings me to the one thing I miss most about Delhi: delivery food! As many of you know, back in India Hubby and I ate or had food delivered far more often than we actually bothered cooking for ourselves.

The sheer variety was one reason that our delivery guys knew us by name. We were able to choose from everything from Chinese and pizza to North Indian and South Indian (Yum!) food, all of which would arrive within thirty minutes (plus or minus, mainly plus, twenty minutes) of our call.

Of course, the other factor in our delivery addiction was the cost. We couldn’t cook dinner for two for as little as some of take away meals cost. For example, we discovered the sheer yumminess of South Indian food during the last few months of our stay in Delhi. Our usual order cost us 200 rupees and came with enough food for three (or more).

By the time we departed Delhi, we had a well-defined weekly routine that ensured we would never have to venture into our small, dank kitchen except to fetch proper dishes and cutlery with which to eat.

Nairobi, on the other hand, is a land where we have a kitchen that looks like it came straight out of MTV Cribs. We also have supermarkets and amazing fresh veggie shops with great selections that allow us to cook almost anything we would have created back in the Real World. And to complete the contrast, we enjoy a complete lack of any decent delivery places.

As Queen E can testify, even the most basic of necessities – delivery pizza – is completely devoid of yumminess here. The best we have been able to muster is to have Hubby pick up pizza or Lebanese food on his way home. Ergo, we eat at home more often than not. Which, while incredibly healthful and tasty, gets frustrating when all you really want to do is have your fingers do the walking and some other guy do the cooking.

I’m afraid to tell you that when you come and visit us, you are all going to have to either live with going out to dinner (!!) or worse, deal with our cooking. Sorry but without any decent delivery those are your choices. See you soon?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Going out to dinner isn't bad as long as you pay! Perhaps the very top of a building would be good--the view is good, the food is good and the company is good, however the bill is not :)
Take out is OK too although the Indian place isn't so good any more but you get plenty of that so...Swiss, Thai and Korean is good these days!
Now back to those aweful evals--why do I do this to myself?
merthymum