a bread by any other name would smell as sweet

I must say that despite my disdain for Indian food in general (and lentils in particular, regardless of the cuisine that attempts to use them), Indian naan is pretty awesome. For those of you who don't know or who share my disdain for Indian food, naan is a sort of flatbread, and I believe that it's grilled on the sidewall of a tandoor oven. In some respects it replaces the fork (or rather, the hand was never replaced by the fork, instead merely covered with bread), since most foods can be scooped up with it and eaten.

Anyway, naan makes just about anything better, and is delicious by itself as well. I mentioned the giant naan last night, and I have to correct myself; the giant naan has a diameter approximately the length of my entire arm, not just my forearm. That's maybe 2 feet or a little less, but obviously rather sizable for a circular piece of naan. They also had garlic naan last night, which was great, and I had naan at lunch at the hotel this morning. I may never love most Indian foods (again, I must mention lentils), but naan will always hold a special place in my heart. In fact, just about any form of bread I have ever had has been great--naan, cornbread, wheat bread, the sweet breads they made in Uzine, Ukraine, the homemade bread my mother made when we were in Ukraine (we'd eat a whole loaf of it straight from the oven, and save the other loaf for peanut butter sandwiches), even the Safeway bread that stays 'fresh' for three weeks and so is perfect for junk-calorie bologna sandwiches. The only bread product I ever recall hating was made with...lentils. Ugh. Thanks for nothing, Vidya, the lentil bread at the Ethiopian place you took me to a couple of months ago was gross.

After having worked in yet another mention of lentils, and a gratuitous shout-out to Vidya (who has shamelessly asked for as many of them as possible), I'll move on. As I said, I had lunch at the hotel, then went over to the apartments and hung out with some coworkers. Some of us went shopping; the girls I was with were in search of silver, and it was rather fruitless because the first shop we went to didn't have silver, the second one we tried was closed, and the third specialized in gold and pearls and so had a low selection. I did pick up a pair of earrings, however, so all was not in vain for me. My first attempt at bargaining (in the first shop, over a photo album) ended in failure, but I did get the earrings for less than the original price--the guy said Rs1650 (about $38), but I told him I didn't have that much cash and so got them for Rs1400. I undoubtedly still got ripped off, but I'd had my confidence shaken by the first experience and so didn't start lower but instead offered him all the cash I had, which he took immediately. Ah well, live and learn...but I don't feel too cheated, since I saved $6, they're nice, and they cost me about as much as the tank of gas I would have put in my car this week if I were driving. Yippee!

After shopping, we went back to the apartments, and the chef had made pasta w/eggplant, some chicken, and some tuna salad. Interesting combination, no? The pasta was really good, though, and the apartments look amazing; I didn't see mine, but the apartment below mine (where the chef cooks) has this cool swing-loveseat hanging from the ceiling. Then we watched 'Goonies', which I had unfortunately never seen before; I did not have the violently angry reaction to it that I had when I first saw 'The Princess Bride', so I think that I'm getting better at handling movies that I should have seen during my childhood.

I'm really looking forward to going bedding shopping sometime soon, probably next weekend; I'd try to go tomorrow, but I feel like I should at least wait until I move into my apartment. After all, one less weekend of bedding shopping is probably one less box that I'll have to ship home at the end of this. I'm thinking that I'll go for magenta and pink in my room here, or maybe even magenta and orange (which can work if they're the right hues, although pretty risky), but we'll see what strikes my fancy.

Okay, this was really long on boring detail, but if you're reading this I assume you knew what you were getting into. Happy May Day, everyone!