Oh no... I'll watch this tonight after dinner when I'm likely having some of my good whiskey to wash the taste of what is sure to be an utterly disappointing dinner out of my mouth. Thanks for the...
Oh no...
I'll watch this tonight after dinner when I'm likely having some of my good whiskey to wash the taste of what is sure to be an utterly disappointing dinner out of my mouth.
Oh no, indeed.. this one has some particularly egregious abominations in it. Enjoy! :P p.s. If you don't mind my prying; Why the disappointing dinner? I made a recipe from HelloFresh tonight:...
Oh no, indeed.. this one has some particularly egregious abominations in it. Enjoy! :P
p.s. If you don't mind my prying; Why the disappointing dinner? I made a recipe from HelloFresh tonight: Smoky Barramundi with horseradish remoulade, roasted green beans, and carrot/apple/cranberry slaw. It was the opposite of disappointing. :)
Oh no... I wait with bated breath out of sheer morbid curiosity. Noice. Sounds absolutely delectable. So my previous job involved me working with a solid team of almost exclusively Indians. All...
Oh no, indeed.. this one has some particularly egregious abominations in it. Enjoy! :P
Oh no... I wait with bated breath out of sheer morbid curiosity.
I made a recipe from HelloFresh tonight: Smoky Barramundi with horseradish remoulade, roasted green beans, and carrot/apple/cranberry slaw. It was the opposite of disappointing. :)
Noice. Sounds absolutely delectable.
p.s. If you don't mind my prying; Why the disappointing dinner?
So my previous job involved me working with a solid team of almost exclusively Indians. All wonderful men and women that had immigrated here and we frequently bonded over food as when I started there was a pretty obvious division in the company of Indians who, naturally, like Indian food and the largely non-Indian side that didn't/wouldn't even try it (attitudes changed over time as I led by example/hunger). So a technical, non-Indian, that didn't ask "What is it?" before trying anything brought to the office was a welcome addition to their crew. Company pot lucks were great, homecooked Indian food is mind-blowingly good! Over the years we've been to dozens of Indian restaurants together, had each other over for dinners, parties, weddings (if you have the opportunity to go to an Indian wedding, take it!). Food with layers of flavor that would make a man weep. Spice levels that would make you sweat while perched on an iceberg. I've literally been sitting in the waiting room at a hospital while Rama's wife was in labor with their first child and was handed a small bowl of homemade paneer curry by his mother-in-law as she had been preparing it for dinner when her daughter went into labor and wanted to make sure everyone was still fed (yes, it was amazing). I'm trying to say we have a food history.
The axe came down at the company, but we've all kept in touch. Made loose "We need to hang out" commitments a couple of times over the past year, but last week we actually made hard plans to do so. Got a call from one of them asking if I was available the next Tuesday for dinner (tonight), I confirmed, and told them to just tell me when and where. Yesterday afternoon I received the text with details and my heart sinks.
I, a non-Indian man, and ten Indian men and women (perhaps more if spouses are attending) with a long history of flavorful dining are all meeting for dinner tonight at, of all places, Cheddar's. Not sure if you're familiar with Cheddar's, but it's everything people stereotype "American" food to be. It's the kind of place that was parodied in the Moe's Family Feedbag episode of The Simpsons. I spent a week in anticipation of an amazing meal with some great people, but I'll have to settle for just the people portion. I don't know who chose this particular establishment, but I'm trying to figure out if I've somehow managed to grossly offend (joking) them in some way for them to choose this nearly-everything-is-deep-fried-or-covered-in-cheese chain restaurant.
I plan to order a caesar salad, pick at it all night, catch up with everyone, and hope I get out in time to grab a to-go order of a good curry on the way home since I'll already be in an area that's Indian restaurant heavy.
In case it isn't obvious, I'm being a bit dramatic. I'm sure Cheddar's is perfectly edible, but historically speaking this sort of place is single dimensioned, corporate recipe, over-salted, uninspired, and unoffending fare with the main competitors being places like Cracker Barrel and Applebee's. It just doesn't make any sense why were all meeting there.
Oof, yeah, as another non-Indian who absolutely loves Indian food and has also been to a fair amount of similar "American" style, fast-casual restaurant chains over the years (TGIF, Applebee's,...
Oof, yeah, as another non-Indian who absolutely loves Indian food and has also been to a fair amount of similar "American" style, fast-casual restaurant chains over the years (TGIF, Applebee's, Chili's, etc.) I can see how that would be super disappointing. Indian food is one of the major things I miss most about living the UK, now that I'm back in Canada. Over there, curry spots were almost as common as Starbucks, but here in Canada it's a lot harder to find good Indian restaurants, especially outside the major cities. And where I currently live has none. :(
To compensate, I actually learned to cook my own, and can now make pretty decent Saag Paneer, Rogan Josh, and Butter Chicken which I make at least once a month. It's not as good as the stuff served at most decent curry spots in the UK, and definitely not as good as my Kashmiri neighbors in London would occasionally cook for us, but it still hits roughly the same spot and so helps reduce my cravings for it. ;)
Ended up being out too late to grab Indian on the way home (or watch this video), so I'll likely get my fix this weekend. We've made a few different Indian dishes at home, but there's some things...
Ended up being out too late to grab Indian on the way home (or watch this video), so I'll likely get my fix this weekend. We've made a few different Indian dishes at home, but there's some things (like samosas and good biryani) that just take a level of effort and/or time that we're willing to go out to get them instead.
Overall it was a good night, lots of catching up, and piecing together the other stories from people that were also part of the (unknown-to-us at the time) money laundering scheme side job we had for a bit last year. Also found out my previous job, of which 4 others in the group still work for, has continued to spiral downward to the point that it's been purchased by a smaller (at the time I left) competitor as they've languished even further and will be folded into the new company. Those that weren't axed aren't holding out much hope for a severance package this time around.
Did find out why Cheddar's was selected though. If there's one thing that the vast majority of Indian restaurants is lacking around here it's alcohol and the group had decided they wanted food and drinks. So have that knowledge stored away for the next meetup to suggest places with good food and drinks. I had a soccer mom special, caesar salad and two margaritas.
cc: @AugustusFerdinand, since you enjoyed the last one, and whiskey/bourbon is your spirit of choice.
Oh no...
I'll watch this tonight after dinner when I'm likely having some of my good whiskey to wash the taste of what is sure to be an utterly disappointing dinner out of my mouth.
Thanks for the tag!
Oh no, indeed.. this one has some particularly egregious abominations in it. Enjoy! :P
p.s. If you don't mind my prying; Why the disappointing dinner? I made a recipe from HelloFresh tonight: Smoky Barramundi with horseradish remoulade, roasted green beans, and carrot/apple/cranberry slaw. It was the opposite of disappointing. :)
Oh no... I wait with bated breath out of sheer morbid curiosity.
Noice. Sounds absolutely delectable.
So my previous job involved me working with a solid team of almost exclusively Indians. All wonderful men and women that had immigrated here and we frequently bonded over food as when I started there was a pretty obvious division in the company of Indians who, naturally, like Indian food and the largely non-Indian side that didn't/wouldn't even try it (attitudes changed over time as I led by example/hunger). So a technical, non-Indian, that didn't ask "What is it?" before trying anything brought to the office was a welcome addition to their crew. Company pot lucks were great, homecooked Indian food is mind-blowingly good! Over the years we've been to dozens of Indian restaurants together, had each other over for dinners, parties, weddings (if you have the opportunity to go to an Indian wedding, take it!). Food with layers of flavor that would make a man weep. Spice levels that would make you sweat while perched on an iceberg. I've literally been sitting in the waiting room at a hospital while Rama's wife was in labor with their first child and was handed a small bowl of homemade paneer curry by his mother-in-law as she had been preparing it for dinner when her daughter went into labor and wanted to make sure everyone was still fed (yes, it was amazing). I'm trying to say we have a food history.
The axe came down at the company, but we've all kept in touch. Made loose "We need to hang out" commitments a couple of times over the past year, but last week we actually made hard plans to do so. Got a call from one of them asking if I was available the next Tuesday for dinner (tonight), I confirmed, and told them to just tell me when and where. Yesterday afternoon I received the text with details and my heart sinks.
I, a non-Indian man, and ten Indian men and women (perhaps more if spouses are attending) with a long history of flavorful dining are all meeting for dinner tonight at, of all places, Cheddar's. Not sure if you're familiar with Cheddar's, but it's everything people stereotype "American" food to be. It's the kind of place that was parodied in the Moe's Family Feedbag episode of The Simpsons. I spent a week in anticipation of an amazing meal with some great people, but I'll have to settle for just the people portion. I don't know who chose this particular establishment, but I'm trying to figure out if I've somehow managed to grossly offend (joking) them in some way for them to choose this nearly-everything-is-deep-fried-or-covered-in-cheese chain restaurant.
I plan to order a caesar salad, pick at it all night, catch up with everyone, and hope I get out in time to grab a to-go order of a good curry on the way home since I'll already be in an area that's Indian restaurant heavy.
In case it isn't obvious, I'm being a bit dramatic. I'm sure Cheddar's is perfectly edible, but historically speaking this sort of place is single dimensioned, corporate recipe, over-salted, uninspired, and unoffending fare with the main competitors being places like Cracker Barrel and Applebee's. It just doesn't make any sense why were all meeting there.
Oof, yeah, as another non-Indian who absolutely loves Indian food and has also been to a fair amount of similar "American" style, fast-casual restaurant chains over the years (TGIF, Applebee's, Chili's, etc.) I can see how that would be super disappointing. Indian food is one of the major things I miss most about living the UK, now that I'm back in Canada. Over there, curry spots were almost as common as Starbucks, but here in Canada it's a lot harder to find good Indian restaurants, especially outside the major cities. And where I currently live has none. :(
To compensate, I actually learned to cook my own, and can now make pretty decent Saag Paneer, Rogan Josh, and Butter Chicken which I make at least once a month. It's not as good as the stuff served at most decent curry spots in the UK, and definitely not as good as my Kashmiri neighbors in London would occasionally cook for us, but it still hits roughly the same spot and so helps reduce my cravings for it. ;)
Ended up being out too late to grab Indian on the way home (or watch this video), so I'll likely get my fix this weekend. We've made a few different Indian dishes at home, but there's some things (like samosas and good biryani) that just take a level of effort and/or time that we're willing to go out to get them instead.
Overall it was a good night, lots of catching up, and piecing together the other stories from people that were also part of the (unknown-to-us at the time) money laundering scheme side job we had for a bit last year. Also found out my previous job, of which 4 others in the group still work for, has continued to spiral downward to the point that it's been purchased by a smaller (at the time I left) competitor as they've languished even further and will be folded into the new company. Those that weren't axed aren't holding out much hope for a severance package this time around.
Did find out why Cheddar's was selected though. If there's one thing that the vast majority of Indian restaurants is lacking around here it's alcohol and the group had decided they wanted food and drinks. So have that knowledge stored away for the next meetup to suggest places with good food and drinks. I had a soccer mom special, caesar salad and two margaritas.