My Experiments with Cooking and Flights ;)

We were back to Nijmegen by Wednesday morning. We were supposed to leave for Venice on Friday. So I had two full days of leisure.  We went for a little shopping on Wednesday. Then we visited Vamsi’s Netherlands office and met all of his colleagues. They were very friendly and I found their working environment a little different from ours. All of his team was sitting in a big room on an elliptical table with their machines on it. There were no cubicles. You may talk to your colleague any time you want to. But there is draw back with this setup – everybody will know what you are up to ;).

Thursday was the day when I was supposed to cook for Vamsi’s Dutch colleagues. So that was a big day. I was not prepared for this but was little excited as I had to cook for 9 people – Me, my husband, 2 of his roommates and 5 of his colleagues. That was a moderate figure for a beginner like me. We have decided to make tamarind rice, brinjal (eggplant) curry and dal. By the time Vamsi came back from office, I made the tamarind pulp ready and had cut the vegetables. Ravinder – Vamsi’s friend prepared dal while I made the tamarind rice and the brinjal curry with Vamsi’s help. This was in presence of his colleagues. That was the toughest part –preparing dinner under the strict supervision of your own guests. (Just kidding – they were actually very much keen on knowing what all ingredients I was adding to the dishes.) So, they were asking me each one of the ingredients I was using. I had trouble recollecting the names in English as it was a little while since I had experimented anything @ home too!! And when I was preparing the tadka, they were calling it fireworks :D. I had to explain them that it is an integral part of everything that is made in India.

They enjoyed the tamarind rice the most (though I made a mistake in its preparation. I added the tadka with ghee instead of oil as an experiment - I now know this in fact is a blunder ;). But good I did that, because the ghee reduced the spice which is generally caused by adding chilies and so they could actually enjoy it. I was glad I could prepare meals for 9 of us (my husband must actually have got surprised with this accomplishment!!). 

The next morning I made the two minute Maggie but yeah!! Certainly not in two minutes :) - I have my explanation though as I had to add the tomatoes and the onions but my husband and his roommates had the patience to wait till I finish preparing it even when they were getting late to work!  After they have left I had to finish the little packing that was left as we’ll directly go to India after our Venice, Florence & Paris visits. Then came the cooking part – I made the tamarind rice again with husbands’ orders and this time it came out really nice(but for the tadka part which I fail to manage till date – I somehow make sure that the ingredients turn black instead of brown. If it is brown I somehow get the feeling that its half done :D).  I had packed it in a huge box as we had no time left to eat it. I prepared a huge quantity of this (which actually helped us a lot – reasons will be disclosed soon!!) and left some of it for our roommates also – see I am so generous!!

The taxi driver was little grumpy which costed us really huge. The place we stayed is closer to an airport in Germany than going to Amsterdam or any other airport in The Netherlands. Here comes the twist, there are two airports in Dusseldorf itself – 1. International airport and 2. Weeze (The domestic airport). We were supposed to take a flight from Weeze to go to Venice and according to our calculation we should reach the airport much before the departure time. Sooooo, all of us were relaxing and soooooo my husband took a short nap. The rest of us were passing time looking at the beautiful view outside as it was drizzling a little, not knowing where we are heading to. My husband woke up after a while and BANGGGG!!!!!! – He realized that the cost to his nap is a whopping 440 Euros. We were heading to the WRONG airport… man!!! –there was some miscommunication and the driver was taking us to the Dusseldorf international airport. We knew we were to miss the flight for sure and none of us had any idea how to reach Venice on time (we actually didn’t know if we’ll be able to make it to Venice at all and if that doesn’t happen our entire plan will go for a toss – a holiday for fun was actually unfolding into a disaster or may be an action packed adventure soon). We headed back for the right airport after confirming with the driver that we were actually going to the wrong airport and after he confirmed with his colleague that he was taking us to the airport which was communicated to him but of what use?????? – we saw our flight leaving the airport even before we reached but were only hoping that it is some other flight and ours somehow would get delayed for some unknown reason. I should mention an important point here. In Europe, traveling by flight is cheaper than traveling by train or any other mode of transportation if planned properly. (And YES!!!! – Only if you don’t miss your flight :D:D:D ). The flight that we missed, the fare per head was just 9 Euros.

We reached the airport and for our own satisfaction, confirmed that the flight we were supposed to take has actually flew and then my husband and his colleague – started making calls and inquiring to know what is the best option left to reach Venice in this situation and finally came up with the only option left – take a flight from Weeze to Bergamo (nearest airport to the fashion capital of Italy - Milan) and then…..go there first and then think how to reach Venice(they actually confirmed that this place is only 267 kilometers  away from Venice and hence we can reach Venice somehow by road – this revealed another loss – the payment made at the Hotel in Venice for one full day is lost plus we had to spend the day and the night that followed at do not know where!!). This flight was after some 6 hours and so we had to spend the rest of our time in the airport. As they say in telugu – ‘batuku bus stand ayindi’ – we had to say ‘batuku airport ayindi’ – you know, there has to be some richness even while sharing your sorrows ;). After shredding (actually losing) so much money, one will surely think of saving money wherever possible (actually become greedy:)). So, now came the part where my pulihora (THE tamarind rice) was really helpful as there was not much choice in the domestic airport. Four of us survived on that for that whole day including the night and to my husband it tasted its best at the moment (because it saved a small hole to his pocket – I am not boasting you see!!).

 After a 6 hour wait at this airport, we were glad it was time for the flight. We took the flight and after some 1.5 hours we reached the destination and then realized that the bus to Milan will start only after 4.30 AM. We had to spend a few more hours at the airport again but a different one this time as there was no hotel or a place to stay near by.  More in the coming episode ;)…………..