Frickin' Faboo Friday

Gentle Reader, are you having a frickin' faboo Friday? Well, I'm overjoyed to report that the human residents--hell, even the feline residents--of Chez Boeckman-Walker are all having a frickin' faboo Friday.

Lunch? Why Not!
After a great run at the gym and a nice shower, I was just sitting down to work on this story I've been wanting to wrap up all week when I made the mistake of checking my e-mail. Arriving in my inbox was a message from the husband asking if I wanted to join him for lunch. Hey, I though, why the hell not? Spontaneity is nice! A phone call to discuss options, a few minutes to dry my hair and slap on some makeup (yes, I actually put on some makeup, but just the usual Brow Zing and some eyeshadow to hopefully detract from the pitiful state of my skin) and a quick road trip later, the husband and I were at a new-to-us Indian lunch buffet.

I'd learned about Bombay Bistro while wasting a good chunk of time recently on Chowhound.com, and the comments and reviews were enough to make me want to check the place out for myself. It's location is convenient for me at home and the husband at work. While the exterior isn't much to write home about--it's in a tan brick strip mall a few shops down from an HEB, so, uh, woop-de-woo--the smells coming out each time someone entered and exited while I waited for the husband to arrive were quite enticing.

The interior is all right, but let's face it: Who goes to lunch buffet places for their interior design? The wall decor wasn't appalling, but the tables and chairs had seen better days; in fact, of the four chairs at our table, both the husband and I chose seats that wobble. And the chairs seems too short for the table, but maybe that's just me. I like my eating setup to be at least ergonomically correct, but again, that's just me.

The buffet was, I'll admit, a bit lean. Two soups were available, but neither struck me as Indian or nouveau Indian or fusion Indian. For goodness' sake, one of them was a chicken noodle soup! Spinach pakora were available, and I've never seen spinach pakora in nearly perfectly round pieces. Usually they're shaped much like a snowflake as viewed under a microscope--three-dimensional with lots of spears and outthrusts coming from the center. Could the shape indicate they're quick-fry jobbers from a bag? I dunno. The flavor was good and the besan flour coating crisp, so if they are previously frozen, the maker's worked some wonders with preservatives.

The main course options included Dal bukhara (assorted lentils and beans slow-cooked in onions, tomatoes and cream--quite tasty and heart, plus the lentils weren't smashed into mush), aloo baigan (eggplant sauteed with potatoes and a touch of curry sauce--also quite tasty), saug paneer (commonly spelled saag paneer, which I won't touch with the proverbial ten-foot pole because of all the cheese in it) vegetable masala (think chicken tikka masala without the chicken--very tasty and very hearty), a curry-like dish of mushrooms, green peas, onions, cream (or maybe yogurt) and carrots, I think (yummy!) the near-requisite chicken tikka masala (yummy!) and tandoori chicken (which the husband partook of and pronounced it quite good because he particularly enjoyed being able to taste the smoke from the tandoor without the meat having dried up to chewy, stringy ick) and a beef meatball dish (might have been in a masala sauce, but I didn't look too close, although the husband seemed to enjoy it).

A basmati rice pilaf and large pieces of naan completed the main feast. On a second table was a big bowl of torn iceberg lettuce leaves and an array of Kraft bulk salad dressings for those diners wanting a salad (why ever for?), and a big bowl of mango custard--actual custard, not just cheap pudding--was available for dessert. Unfortunately, this table was the only place to score spoons, for the table settings lacked them. Kinda inconvenient, but maybe I'm the only person who likes to scoop up lingering sauce with a piece of naan in one hand and a spoon in the other.

For the price of $8.95, I didn't think Bombay Bistro was too bad. The service wasn't bad, and the a la carte menu seems intriguing enough for a possible night out sans boy sometime. I doubt we could take the boy there because of the limited buffet offerings. Then again, he usually just stuffs himself on rice, chicken tikka masala and naan when we go to a non-vegetarian Indian buffet, so really he'd be fine.

Speaking of the Boy....
After taking my leave of the husband and Bombay Bistro and after a stop at Specs, where I got a great and fast education on tequila and scored the ginger preserves and key lime juice I need for recipes, I hauled arse to HEB for the weekly grocery run before I needed to run home and get myself to the school to retrieve the boy. I didn't have much to pick up for the week, and the store fortunately isn't too busy in the early afternoons on Friday.

Imagine my surprise to hear my cell phone that, miracle of miracles, I actually had on me for once, start jingling its happy little Batman theme (think campy '60s show, not Danny Elfman). Twasn't the husband nor Mum, so I figured the caller might be a YoYo teacher seeking a sub and was gearing up to disappoint her or him that no, I wasn't available.

Lo and behold, the caller was from Harmony School of Austin with frickin' fabulous news: The boy won a place in next year's first-grade class! I damn near shouted for joy right there by the canned fruits I was so thrilled. Since we'd been told some 800 applications had been submitted--and that was a few weeks before the deadline--and that no openings were available for next year's first-grade class, I'd sort of written off any chance of the boy getting in. But, wonder of wonders, the universe once again aligned for us and smiled on us.

Now please don't think, Gentle Reader, that I'm sure that Harmony will solve all of the boy's problems. Switching schools will not get him to suddenly keep his mouth shut. That's just...that's the way he is, for better or worse--for now (hopefully). But I do hope that by putting him in a school that strongly encourages achievement and challenges all its students, the boy might be more engaged in his learning environment and won't be as easily distracted (bored) and thus prone to running off at the mouth. And if Harmony and the boy aren't a good fit, we're not stuck--he's not stuck there for the whole school year. We can always remove him and put him back in the public school down the street from us that he's currently attending.

Optimistic but realistic--that's me right now.