So, at first glance this might look like an unimportant, insignificant, nothing-to-talk-about kind of picture.
But, behind this ordinary-looking, common-day picture of rice in a pan, there is actually a lot to tell.
There's so much to say that I don't know how to begin.
Like, ought I to begin from where this meal was had?
Ought I to begin from the pan that's being used?
Or, ought I to begin, from the oil that we see at the bottom of the pan, and the little heap of rice that we see on top of it?
My mind is a little befuddled now- it's been one of those days- so let me just say that this meal of leftover basmati rice that we re-fried in a newly bought cast iron pan on the patio of the officetel will be a meal happily remembered to come.
I can't say it was the first meal that we had in the newly rented space.
(I'm not sure if it is)
But definitely it was our first cooked meal that we had on the upstairs open air patio, which, whilst making the renting decision, we had decided this space would be.
And the first meal that in this space we brought out the Little Black Grill (I didn't get the picture) and this cast iron pan to try.
The cooking was a bit of a test- we'd never cooked outdoors before- but, really, other than having to keep going up and down and up and down the stairs, I think overall our experience went rather well.
There was no need to worry about smoke from the stove filling up the kitchenette and the rest area.
There was no need to worry about the oil splattering on the stove, table, here, there, everywhere.
And there was also no need to worry about the scent of foie gras-infused basmati rice wafting through the air.
Cooking here under the open skies all we had to do was to let the smoke and the scent drift into the wind (and, umm, maybe into the neighbors' space next door.)
We had a great dinner.
I can't remember from where we got the leftover basmati rice from.
It might have come from a meal that we had at Sakunthala, where, with our usual order of mutton briyani, we got served a mountain of rice that we couldn't finish.
But, spiced as it already were, it went smoothly with the oils of the fatty goose liver that we stirred the grains in, and, eaten with defrosted chicken breast pieces boiled hotpot-style in green curry paste (bought from the Thai supermarket in Aperia Mall), made for a delicious, homecooked, heartwarming dinner.