The Quest!!

There has been a quest over the last year.... nothing major, really, just some good nachos!!

So, when you have good cheese....the stuff my mom brought from home - cheddar, Monterrey jack, Colby... by the big Costco brick sizes.... there are no good tortilla chips around.

When you have good salsa, one of my recent specialties is mango salsa.... again, there are no good chips around...

Are you sensing what the issue is... yes, it is Tortilla chips. We can not consistently get good tortilla chips in Bangalore. This is not an exaggeration. There have been times that I have sent the driver on a hunt for tortilla chips and sadly he has scoured all the grocery stores in town, and he came back with nothing!! Now keep in mind that there is only brand of tortilla chips in town and they are OK. Sometimes you will get finally find a bag and it is pretty much crushed...

So a few weeks ago we were out on a shopping adventure and we ended up on Brigade road because Milan wanted McDonalds. We ended up with the sweet parking spot (which does not happen often), so we decided to make the most of it and do a bit of shopping. We strolled and wandered and then we stumbled upon this mall that was tucked into the street. In we went, it seemed a little dated, but we decided to take the tour around. On the main level there was this little grocery store. No bigger than the size of our kitchen and dining area back at home. In there it was a foreigners paradise!!! Fruit snacks, pop tarts, tilex, honey bunches of oats, and then as I was admiring all the things that are familiar from back at home, I spotted it... it was there, right in front of me. The blue bag with big black letters, T-O-S-T-I-T-O-S!!! I almost shed a tear.... I found TOSTITOS!!! I held the bag close to my chest and was so happy!!! I looked a the price, and I knew that this would be painful... yes, the bag of tostitos was 300 rupees... $6 dollars. I had to suck it up and pay the 300rs, because I could not bear to leave the store without the tostitos... Once they were home, we had to wait for the perfect occasion to indulge in the tostitos.

So, it was Friday night and our friends from Syracuse NY came over for dinner, this was the last time we would see the family in Bangalore b/c they are leaving to go back to US on Jul 10, this was the 'Tostito-worthy' occasion!! I made some salsa, we had some good beer and enjoyed... The Patnodes appreciated the quest for the Tostitos!!

So next time you are in the grocery store and you see a whole aisle full of tortilla chips, don't take it for granted!! There are some that are deprived of such a luxury!!