The Runny Nose Factor

WITH ALL THE chatter created by my post about French food (not just the comments, but emails!) it's worth mentioning that last night I found a fantastic Indian restaurant just 10 minutes or so from our house. This is noteworthy because I was under the impression that we had to go to Cannes or Antibes to get Indian food. No longer!

Since I'm still on my own until Kerri and the kids arrive later this week I decided to head to Grasse for dinner last night. Now I'll be the first to admit that Grasse is not my favorite village in the area, but it's close to our house and it does have a nice vieux village so I decided to head that direction. I walked around for a few mintues until I saw a tiny little stree with three or four restaurants -- one of them Vietnameese (can't wait to try that one) and one of them Indian -- Le New Punjab. My wife swears she knew the restaurant was there, but I sure didn't.

The food was terrific and I judge Indian food partly on a 'runny nose' factor. If my sinuses begin to loosen up because of the heat, I know I'm eating pretty good Indian food. Some others at the restaurnt didn't seem to share my enthusiasm for heat. At a table right next to me -- a table with two English couples and two French couples -- I heard the English couples ask for their food to be spicey. When the waiter asked the French couples how hot they wanted their food, they responded pas piquante. No runny nose for them.

('e' or no 'e' at the end of piquant?)

By the way, my opinion of Grasse has just go up by a factor of at least 3. If I find a good Thai restaurant there it may become my favorite village on the Cote d'Azur.
CJS