Since Su. told me that you don’t get Chicken Tikka Masala outside of England, I’ve had my eyes peeled and lo and behold, I find a recipe at allrecipes.com. Of course I used tofu instead of chicken.*

The ingredient list looks dauntingly long but with my fanatical pursuit of recreating Indian curry from scratch, in part because Patak is exorbitantly expensive and not necessarily tasty, I have accumulated a little collection of spices lined up on my stovetop….

But I hit a snag in the midst of preparing the ingredients and marinating tofu. I’ve cooked with jalapeno, cumin, paprika, cinnamon, and all those spices before without a hitch so I must have touched my nose and my eye with something because my nose and one eye started to burn and increase with such intensity that I was doubled over and crying, wondering if it was an allergic reaction and when anaphylaxis would start and I would pass out with a pot being dry-boiled on the range….**

It made me go through a mental checklist of who I could call. Mum? Too far away and don’t want to worry her over non-anaphylaxis. A couple of people live too far or don’t answer their phone. A girl I would call is away on vacation so I wonder who was the second local non-relative to call….? I ended up messaging Mona because she’s super-reliable and she talked to me while I nursed the painful spots with a cold tomato….

Then, in due course (after about twenty minutes), I was fine again and the body doesn’t quite remember the affliction. I’m going to have dinner with Vancouver relatives next weekend and tell my aunt that she will be my local ICE (In Case of Emergency) contact.

*I plated it with some woo see/苧絲 that I blanched in some salt water.
**It wasn’t afterall an allergy but just coming into contact with an irritant. Annoying in any case.

On this day..

• Microlending update - 2019
• There is a theme to all this - 2009