A Night Out with the Girls

I have great friends in Fresno. Amongst the many people I care about here, there are three women to whom I feel especially close: Samina, Toni, and Bo. Here we are last year when we celebrated Toni's birthday.

I love that we're all independent but that we try to be there for each other when it matters. I don't talk on the phone with any of them very often, but I know that they care about me in all the best ways. I think originally I was the one who brought us all together--but over the last year or so, their friendships with each other have also grown richer.

Wednesday night, we all went to dinner together. Bo will be leaving for China soon, Toni's going to Corsica and France for a couple of weeks, Samina will be going to Boston. We wanted to get together before we all take off in different directions even though we'll all be in Fresno during July. We hope to have a writing group this summer, and I know there will be other evenings out. Still, it was really nice to celebrate the end of the school year and the onset of summer.

We went to my favorite Indian restaurant in Fresno, Brahma Bull (at 3050 W Shaw Ave # 108). We started our meal with papadam, served with two different kinds of chutneys mixed together, one spicy, the other quite mild. I love food that allows me to eat with my hands--I broke the papadam into smaller pieces (didn't want to double dip) and got a nice dollop of the chutney mixture on it.

We also tried the vadas, deep fried lentil cakes that were more crunchy than I expected.

Next, we were served a savory bowl of sambar, a vegetable soup that was absolutely perfect with its hearty broth and satisfying bits of vegetable. Finally, the rest of our dishes arrived: malai kofta (vegetable balls in a creamy tomato sauce), naan, dal, a vegetable curry dosa, chicken curry and raita.

Here's my plate.

I think the kofta was better at India's Oven and the chicken curry was just okay (I'm eating a lot of vegetarian food lately), but I really loved everything else. The dosa was quite tasty with its subtle mix of curry and wrapper. The lentils were hearty and thick. And the raita just makes everything taste better, especially the spicy dishes. I used the naan to eat the more runny items, dipping and sopping to my heart's content.

We lingered over the meal, staying until we thought the restaurant was ready to close down and chatting about everything under the sun. These women are such good friends. I will really miss them next year--although I'm encouraging them to get Skype and to email me frequently. Their friendship enriches my life, helps me to feel grounded, comforts me when life is hard.