Show me the curd rice!

Unlike most kids, Abhay isn’t all that crazy about eating out, be it burgers, fries, fried rice or noodles! Until recently, he did not exhibit even an iota of interest in pizza, a regular feature in most birthday parties and a life savior during travels. My four year old son finds outside food revolting just like my ninety four year old grandma in India! This means when we vacation, whether or not our suitcase has clothes, it will most definitely have a rice cooker! So wherever we travel, whatever exotic food we feast on, Abhay is always content with his on-the- go rice bowl. I will never forget the day when we were amongst a formally dressed crowd waiting in queue at the New York Winter Theatre for a Broadway show, and all eyes were on my darling son who was happily chomping on his curd rice out of his yellow lunch box! I will never forget to remind my son when he’s all grown up, that many of the must-see spots in the US, like the NYC Wall Street, Las Vegas Bellagio, Disneyland’s Toon-town or Grand Canyon’s South Kaibab Trailhead have all been his lunch (curd rice) stopovers! :-)

Speaking of finding another’s food revolting, today I read “The Sandwich Swap” by Her Majesty Queen Rania Alabdulla with Kelly Dipucchio and illustrated by Tricia Tusa. This is a story of two best friends named Lily and Salma who love everything about each other except each others’ lunch box. Lily thinks Salma’s Hummus and Pita sandwich is weird and Salma in turn feels Lily’s Peanut butter sandwich looked gross. One day when Salma finds Lily thinking aloud, she feels hurt and snaps back with her opinion of Lily’s peanut butter sandwich. The next day, the best friends sit tables apart at the school cafeteria. Soon, the word spreads, a simple spat ensues into a food fight with everyone taking sides! They feel ashamed when the principal summons them for an explanation. To set right the damage, the next day, Lily decides to taste Salma’s Hummus Sandwich and offers her Peanut butter sandwich to Salma and they soon discover how delicious each others' lunch is. So what started with a peanut butter sandwich ended with a hummus sandwich! So I’m waiting for the rice cooker’s curd rice to progress into restaurant fried rice! :-)