"That’s not fair! Yours is bigger!" my wife shouted
"No it’s not…" I replied
"Yes it is! Look at that big juicy piece of meat that you have! *Gasp* And look at that, it’s dripping all over!" She said
*Sigh* "Fine, here, I’ll give you my meat, with all my love…" I said.
"Ooooh…Thank you babe, I love you too…" She said with a smile on her face.
STOP!
Before your hyperactive imagination points you to a place where you don’t even want to consider visiting, I assure you right at this moment that the conversation above has nothing to do with what I do with my wife in the privacy of our bedroom.
It all started back in 1998, my wife who was my girlfriend back then came to visit me from California. Although we were “together” for about two years we had never seen each other in person. Yes, we were one of the pioneers of the internet relationship. Some of you may remember the good ol’ time.
Anyways, being a host to my girlfriend whom I had never met personally before, I wanted to show her that I was a great catch. Thus, like any proud male species who’s trying to impress a female of his choice, I did the ancient primitive ritual by performing my best mating dance, plus I did something that’s probably more of a 21st century mating ritual, I cooked for her, almost every single day of the two months that she stayed with me. She wasn’t impressed with my mating dance but I think I scored a few brownie points from my cooking.
One evening I asked her what was she in the mood to eat for dinner. She replied that she didn’t know. I was not in the mood to cook that night so I thought for once I could escape from my 21st century mating ritual and I could offer a take out dinner instead. She asked what I had in mind. I told her that I could get a couple of kebabs from a nearby kebab shop, and she agreed.
So I went on my merry way to the kebab shop. When I returned with the kebabs, I arranged them the best I can on two separate plates. When I was done I carried the kebabs to our dining/living room shouting my mating call, “Dinner’s ready!”
“Great” my girlfriend said, I’m starving.
I entered the dining/living room and placed a plate in front of my girlfriend. I could see from her expression that she wanted to say something but kept it to herself.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Nothing” she replied, this looks delicious, as she poke her kebab a little bit with her fork.
I looked at her and said “Babe, you know you can tell me anything, so tell me…what’s wrong?”
“Like I said, it’s nothing” she said, it’s just that…it’s a sandwich, where are the skewers?
This time I looked at her with a puzzled look on my face. Then it hit me, she thought we were going to have Shish kebabs, stupid me. I apologized to her and explained that when I mentioned kebabs I was talking about the Döner kebab, which was what she had in front of her.
“So, what is it?” she asked.
“It’s a sandwich” I replied.
“Duh, I know that, I said it was a sandwich, but what’s in it?” she asked
“It’s some sort of a Turkish sandwich made out of pita bread stuffed with mixed ground beef and lamb, salad, onions, tomatoes and drizzled with some sort of white sauce made out of yoghurt and a little bit of chili sauce.” I explained to her.
“Oh…” was her only reply.
As I saw my brownie points disappear one by one I said to her, “Try it, it’s good…” And I started praying, hoping that she would like it.
She picked a piece of meat covered with some white sauce with her fork and took her first bite of the Döner kebab. “Mmm, it’s not bad…” she said “So do I eat it like a sandwich?” she asked, it’s quite big.
“You can” I replied. But eat it however you want.
Two days after that my girlfriend asked me if she could have another one of that Turkish sandwich. Since then my wife and I always have the same mock argument that I mentioned at the begining of this blog whenever I come home late at night from work with a couple of Döner kebab for a late night snack. For those of you who don’t know what a Döner kebab is all about just click on the link.
Here in Geneva Döner kebab is probably the most lucrative fast food business that you can have. Now, Geneva is a city where it will take you about 20 minutes drive across from one extremity of the city to the other, so it’s not a very big city. Yet the latest number that I saw shows the existence of no less than 150 kebab shops in Geneva alone! Döner kebab was advertised to be a healthy fast food as it combines all elements which constitute a healthy meal with a minimum of bad factory processed, preservative clogged elements. And, in my humble opinion a nice size Döner kebab beats a full large menu of any American fast food in taste, in quantity and in quality.
A Döner kebab shop that I recommend in Geneva is situated right in the center of town in the Paquis area between the train station and the lake side. The name of the shop is the Star Restaurant 1. For my wife and I this kebab shop is our favorite, heck, actually my whole family love this kebab shop. Even my brother's girlfriend and her brother were hooked when we introduced her to the kebab from this shop. It has become a tradition that whenever my parents come to visit me from Indonesia, or my brother, his girlfriend and her brother come to visit from Dubai, we always have a meal in this restaurant before they leave. We like it because they put spices in the lamb meat that are different it's more tasty than any kebab shop that I've tried in Geneva.
Star Restaurant 1
6, Place de la Navigation
1201 Geneva, Switzerland
Phone: + 41 22 731 03 44
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