Friday, June 15, 2007

I like pain

well, certain types of pain. the feeling right after you burn yourself on cast iron while making breakfast - that adrenaline jolt from half-awake to very much so and not stopping anytime soon, thank you very much - that's nice. I also like hot food.

The best Indian in College Park is down University, more into Langley Park, definitely a little sketchier territory than CP (two women who were joining us for dinner didn't come after averting what appears to have been an attempted carjacking) but Tiffin, oh my fuckin g-d Tiffin is worth it.

i'm a heat freak. i ordered extra spicy. then i clarified. "Try to kill me," I told the waiter. "A Korean waitress once told me I take heat well for a white boy."

He laughed. I knew I was in trouble when it came out and everyone was stealing looks at me, waiting for the first bite.

The hilarious part is that i went ot the bathroom and then the food came, so my spicy chicken was in the middle of the table, and i was eating wiht a tableful of people who ordered as mild as possible. (wusses!) but two of the three ended up with some on their plates.

they didn't realize which was mine. one had to create a barrier on his plate wiht his knife to avoid his food touching the oil from mine (jesus, what are we, six?) and one ate a small piece and felt warm from the neck up the rest of the meal (which i have no complaint about, yay trying).

Korean heat is bad,yes. Sichuan heat is bad, too, especially with the right peppercorns and the numbing sensations they bring, but the numbing makes it hurt less.

Indian food doesn' thave numbing, and this sauce didn't have any fat. Breaking my wrist hurt less than dinner tonight, but it was managable pain because I could stop it whenever I wanted. We had traditional super-mild creamy pile-o-ghee dishes on the table too. I let it flame for about five minutes, drank six glasses of water in rapid succession and then hit up the mata paneer.

i'm eating the leftovers now. g-d it burns...burns so good. I should note that the flavor is still there, it's just a little outweighed. i'd order this regular spicy next time because the flavor depth is a little overwhelmed by the heat.