Doughy Balls

My friend Pat will understand the title of this entry; the rest of you will have to find it out in context. (yes, Pat, I know what doughy balls are now...keep reading!)

I am writing this from the Carriage Inn motel someplace in Sherman Oaks, California. We are in exactly the same room that we had last February. I know this because when I went to hook up the laptop, you're supposed to use your room number as the log-in and it was already entered in my computer.

It is our usual geek trek down here to see four shows of "Says You" taped, tomorrow at Pomona College in Claremont (about 50 miles from here) and Sunday back at the Skirball Cultural Center maybe a mile from here.

Our plane was scheduled to leave at 3:45, so we had the morning to do last minute stuff. For me it was taking pictures of the dogs.

(Note the title of the article on the cover of O Magazine!)

For Walt is was frantically cleaning, vacuuming, washing, putting things away. Walt is a good person. I am not.

Eventually we left for the airport. Anticipating a possible big tie-up at security, we left early. There was no tie-up, so we had lots of time to sit in the waiting room, which was fine. I've come to appreciate those long waits, now that I have the iPod loaded with books to read.

Finally we boarded Southwest's plane and were greeted by Valentine's greetings.

The flight was uneventful and we arrived at the airport, got our car (a Kia), and by 5:30 were headed to our motel. We checked in and within 5 minutes were back in the car to drive back to Burbank (just a few blocks from the airport!) to meet our friend Pat Peck, with whom we were going to have dinner.

We haven't seen Pat in several years and it was very nice spending time with her again. She and I met many years ago on CompuServe and she is part of that wonderful group of Netstock women.

We all decided we felt like Indian food, so she suggested the Bollywood Cafe, which turned out to be a fantastic choice.

(I was amused to learn that it shared a building with a place that teaches pole dancing. This is, after all, the LA area!)

We each had tika masala. Walt and I had lamb and Pat had chicken. It was absolutely fabulous and came with a mountain of naan bread, rice, and soup.

Then it was time for dessert. Pat recommended the pistachio ice cream and said that her son-in-law loved these "doughy balls" that were served with some sort of sweet sauce. While she and Walt had the ice cream, I ordered the "doughy balls" to see what I would get. The waiter repeated the name twice but it was so noisy in the full restaurant that we couldn't catch what he said.

Dessert arrived and my "doughy balls" were fantastic. They did indeed look like balls of fried dough topped with some sort of red coating that was a bit sweet, though not overly so.

Naturally, I had to come back to the motel and look up the menu for the Bollywood Cafe, so I can now report that "doughy balls" are really something called Gulab Jaman, which is described as "juicy, soft, round-shaped cheese made from cream, fried and served in sweet syrup." I didn't think I was eating cheese, for sure, but it was delicious. If you ever get a chance to try it, I recommend it.

We returned to the motel in time to see the United States team entering the Olympic arena, so I think we have seen most of the opening ceremonies. Such a terrible tragedy about the luge guy from the country of Georgia.

Tomorrow we join the other geeks and watch day 1 of "Says You" again. I can't wait!