What's In A Name?

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Many of you have asked me why I called this blog what I did. The Boy gleefully warned me that it would be misconstrued for a website advertising erotic services.

Not too long ago when I was a graduate student in the American heartland, my friends and I would do a bi-weekly pub and grub trawl whenever we got paid our pittance. We were a motley crew of various nationalities, yours truly being one of two individuals representing the Indian sub-continent.

The first time we did this we happened upon a Chinese restaurant, where the hapless waiter, after refusing to split a Kung Pao chicken six ways, singled me out and said, “youlikeitspicy”?

All eyes were on me.

“Yes”, I remember squeaking, feeling special.

My entrée came hand in hand with a small bowl of fresh red chillies. Go figure.

Over the next several months we visited several other eateries. And whether I ordered the Pad Thai or the pasta, I would be singled out and asked variants of “likeitspicy?”. I was handed bottles of Tabasco, chopped jalapenos, bowls of Sriracha hot sauce, green finger chillies, crushed chilli flakes...you get the drift.

My initial euphoria morphed to doubt. Was this treatment meted out to every student of Indian origin? Sometimes I would wonder if I smelled of curry. Maybe I had a spot of dal on my shirt…

But as time went by this became a little inside joke. I would pre-empt the question (and sometimes still do) by placing my order, smirking and saying yesilikeitspicythankyouverymuch while my friends stifled their giggles.

Fast forward, and I decided to start a blog when I found I was spending way too much time reading (and drooling over) blogs written by others.

It wasn’t going to be collection of grandmum’s recipes. Or a repository of restaurant reviews. Or my musings about life as a busy working mother in The Hub. Or the magic bullet that would teach readers how to create the perfect dried leaf place card for their dinner guests.

I simply wanted find a way to combine my love for eating, laughing and writing. And give it a name that captured my sentiment.

For what’s life without a little spice?