Soup

Part of the adventure in visiting and working in a foreign land is testing and tasting the local cuisine. Our cooks are local Tamil women, who are trying very hard to feed and please us. They have tried frying potatoes, because someone asked for that. They have tried making pasta, because someone asked for that, as well. The potatoes were not bad, but the pasta was a solid, gooey mess. Our visiting Italian pharmacist spent a day with them teaching them to make pasta as best she could without the ingredients that she was used to. It tasted great, and was not a gooey mess. We told the cooks, cook what you know. Don't worry about what the ex-pats are asking for, but rather cook like you would for your own family. We would love to try your curries, and learn about your local food culture. Yesterday, gracing our otherwise meager table, was a big pot of squid soup. The squid, by the way, were whole. Not even cut up into smaller unrecognizable pieces, but big and tentacled. I think that we got what we asked for.