Happy Purchase

I wandered through the Farmers' Market in Union Square today with my friend, L, and this is what I came home with:

And there was enough for a second arrangement on my bedroom dresser:

Flowers in the house make me so happy.

Proustian Moment

A long time ago, in my last year of high school in Singapore, I discovered the Raffles Hotel.  This was before their massive renovation, which turned the place into the luxury hotel it is today.  So the hotel was old and a little down-at-heel, but it reeked of atmosphere.  I really could feel the colonial past and the ghosts of the writers who had passed through the corridors over the years.  It was deeply exotic.

I loved to go have lunch at the Tiffin Room.  They served a British Colonial Chicken Curry.  It was unlike any other curry dish around.  The thick curry was mild, but extremely flavourful, quite in contrast with the other very spicy curries served in the country, and indeed, the region.

At the time, the restaurant did not have air conditioning.  It certainly made for some sultry lunches, the slow hypnotic whirling of the fans a constant accompaniment.  One treasured memory is a rainy Friday afternoon in the Tiffin Room when I had my first real Singapore Sling.  The drink was quite delicious, but what remains is the grey, almost silvery look of the room in the tropical monsoon light.  I was far, far away from 1980s Singapore.  The drink had nothing to do with it.  It was the atmosphere.

After the renovation, I had lunch at the Raffles Hotel once.  The food was quite good, but it was really not the same.  The magic was gone, lost amid the pristine white walls and the air conditioning.  And now they have a lunch buffet, not exactly the same experience as having a Colonial lunch tray presented to you at the table.

For some inexplicable reason, I have managed to find a way to relive the moment.  In New York.  In Nolita.  I go to Rice on Elizabeth Street and have their Indian Chicken Curry.  Sometimes, on grey and gloomy days, I just crave the mild, rich flavours of the golden brown curry dish.  The raisins, chopped banana and mango chutney add just the right amount of chewy, sweet counterpoint to the savoury tastes of the velvety curry sauce and tender chicken pieces.  I used to order the dish with the delicate green rice, but have lately been seduced by the nutty texture of the Bhutanese red rice.  The wood panels and dark interior of the little restaurant can feel quite cosy on quiet afternoons, but I have the same warm, comforting, nostalgic feeling when I eat the dish as a takeout at home.  There are other delicious dishes on the menu at Rice - the Mexican Chicken Soup or the Warm Lentil Stew - but in the many years the restaurant has been in existence, I almost always order the very special Indian Chicken Curry.

Old restaurant sign next to the menu board at the takeout counter

Rice

292 Elizabeth Street

New York, NY 10012

(212) 226 5775

www.riceny.com