October 19, 2003

• Fall Sailing

  Today I went sailing with one the interns I worked with last winter. Having just moved here from India last year, he finds the Midwest a little boring.

  I invited him hiking at the nearby state park, and he had a lot of fun. So, when I saw him in the library a few weeks ago, I invited him to go sailing after my rotation ended.

  He said, "Sure!"

  So, I packed up the dinghy in record time, scooted over to his apartment, and we headed out to the lake. Luckily it wasn't too windy, because I think that would have scared him.

  He got the hang of it pretty quick. I gave him a quick sailing lesson, and taught him a few knots.

  And then, sometime in the middle of lunch, he goes, "Is this proper?" I go, "Huh?" "In India this wouldn't be proper." I was still clueless at this point.

  And he says, "Does your husband mind that you are sailing with me?"

  And I said, "Well, as long as you're not making a pass at me, no, he doesn't mind. He works weekends. Otherwise he'd like to come sailing too. He doesn't mind that there's at least someone with me."

  And then he goes on to explain all the cultural problems he's had since coming to America. Poor thing.

  Well, all in all it was a fine day sailing, aside from the ladybugs-from-hell. The wind was pretty light, so we ended up rowing quite a bit, but at least he wasn't scared. He doesn't swim well, so he was happy to have a lifejacket.

  We both brought food. I made turkey and cheese sandwiches, and he brought something his mom made. Indian pancakes, basically, with potato and curry filling. Yummy!

  And lemon pickles. Lemon. Pickled. It was pretty good. It tasted like Chinese plum candy. Sweet, salty, and sour, with a huge kick.

  After sailing, he invited me up to meet his mom. And I got to try some really yummy "dal", or lentil soup.

  It looks pretty easy to make, and very yummy too. Boil lentils. Then pressure cook them with garlic, tamarind sauce (which makes it sweet and sour), chopped onions, fresh ground ginger, cumin, and tumeric. Spoon over rice. Dee-lish! 'Probably easily made in a crock pot as well.

  • 8:29 pm
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