Monday, February 18, 2008

The name's Tempic. Peter Tempic.

Benjamin recently suggested that I should get one of those Peter Tempic mattresses. That was a couple weeks ago, and it still cracks me up.

That boy rocks, it must be said. He's funny (intentionally—not just with malapropisms), he's sweet, he always praises my (all too rare) cooking. And he's a pretty damned good eater for a 7-year-old. We went out for dinner tonight, to an Indian restaurant. (Free street parking right in front! What are the odds, right?) He loved dipping his paneer pakora (batter-fried cheese) in both the tomatoey sauce from my alu matar (potatoes and peas in a tomato-onion sauce) and some mango chutney. He had some chicken pakora too, which looked to have tandoori seasoning inside the batter coating. Maybe it was too ordinary for him—he didn't eat that much of it. And for dessert, we all shared gulab jamun, those doughnutty balls in a sweet syrup. Neither Ben nor I liked the dessert, but hey, we both tried it.

I was too afraid to try Indian food until I was nearly 30. The kid, he is a good eater, adventurous and open to trying new things. Mr. Tangerine waited out Ben's infancy with great trepidation, wondering if my picky-eater genes would win out. Nope, it appears not. Ben seems to have inherited his dad's fondness for flavor, variety, and food explorations.

3 comments:

thrice said...

So jealous, that I am spitting!

Anonymous said...

Paneer pakora???? I have never seen such a luscious thing on an Indian menu before. I must seek it out! The city I live in has terrible Indian food (we had a great Indian place that was purchased by a bad Indian place, and I am still mourning its loss). I've had to learn to make my own paneer makhani.

DoctorMama said...

HellBoy calls mattar paneer "kangaroo food," I can't remember why. I'm also relieved that he hasn't taken up my pickiness. The other day he was eating shrimp and asked what the tail was. "A tail," I said. "Like on animal?" "Yep," I said, and showed him some shrimp videos on YouTube. "Cool!" he said, and devoured the shrimp with gusto. So, I don't think he'll be a vegan, either.