chicken tikka masala & $5 tuesdays

went to the movies last nite with my friend d at a theater that in my college days was known as the super saver, but in its current iteration, has become the naz8 cinema, showing asian movies (mostly bollywood/hindi-language flicks with random non-indian-but-still-asian movies showing once in a blue moon).

it's been ages since i've been to that theater, although i do go to the bookstore just around the corner from it all the time. i had absolutely no idea that if i had walked just a few stores down, i would have seen that a good chunk of the shopping center has been transformed into a little piece of india.

the old soccer shop has turned into an indian beauty salon/sari store/bollywood video shop. the old pizza place is now known as the masala grill (which serves some damn good chicken tikka masala...damn good). and the old super saver, of course, is now bollywood central.

extremely cool.

loved the movie, btw. after much debate over the past week about which movie to see, we ended up seeing bluffmaster, starring (my guy) abhishek bachchan and (d's guy) riteish deshmukh. i'm ashamed to admit that i now understand enough hindi that i can sit through a movie without depending upon subtitles. i'm like the immigrant who learns english by watching tv. or like tom hanks when he played that guy in the terminal who taught himself english by comparing a tourist guide in his language to the same one in english.

just like that. but in hindi. hai na?

ok - so the only downside was that we went on $5 tuesdays and the movie was only in its 2nd week, so it was totally packed. nobody would choose a freakin' seat. people would get up & other people would snag their seats. much confusion and arguing (in hindi) ensued. d said the crowds of people in the aisles made it look like a mumbai marketplace. then we scanned the crowd for guys wearing turbans (sardars). she said pinching someone in the arm upon sighting one was supposed to give you good luck. i think she made that up, but i can use some good luck for a change, so what the hell. i got in three pinches. she only got two. she would have had three, but two were for the same guy.

anyway, even if you're not into bollywood, you gotta check out the bluffmaster soundtrack. the music is totally cool. it'll make you want to get up and shift your shoulders to & fro in an alternating fashion. i do it all the time, and i don't even need to be listening to music. it's great fun. try it sometime.

oh, and if you have a recipe for a good chicken tikka masala, let me know.