Indian Food

Friday night we went to dinner at another MBA Family's house.  They are from India and we were excited to try their authentic Indian food.  Swetha's mom was in town and helped her make the meal.  It was really good!  The rice had eggplant and some nuts and chickpeas in it.  The round ball reminds me of a hush puppy, but made of lentils and had a big kick to it! The red dish with peas and homemade (cottage) cheese cubes was my favorite!  It was delicious!  Most of the food was spicy, but they told us it was very bland to them.  Ha!  They boys didn't eat much, it was too spicy for them.  They did put yogurt on the table too, to help bring down the spiciness. 

Swetha loves ice cream, and told me at playgroup that she has been eating a ton of it here in the states because it's so accessible and cheap here.  In India a small Ben and Jerry's is about $30 and it's hard to find and they have very few flavors.  Since I knew how much they love ice cream I told them I would bring homemade ice cream for dessert.  They loved it and asked many questions on how to make it.  Swetha's mom made the comment that it's nice people still make their own ice cream.  She has a sister that lives in NJ and rarely makes it.

It was a really fun night!  I was worried it would be hard to understand them.  Swetha's mom spoke amazing English and made lots of conversation.  The boys had a hard time being good... we went to their house straight after Cullen's soccer practice, so we got there at 7:45pm- their bedtime.  Ohh well. 

One awkward moment... it came up that Swetha got married at 22.  I told her I did too... she said their 3rd anniversary was coming up on April 26th.  I said ours is too.... on the 26th of April but we've been married 11 years.  She said that her husband is from central India and she was from the coast.  I asked how they met and she said it was an arranged marriage.  Oh! I forgot some places still did that!