Life throws many curve balls at us, and there isn’t always a referee to shout ‘Foul’. Food has placed me in a fix very often, and also got me out of a fix. Yes, I may be a food blogger who creates pretty looking recipes, but believe me, I have my food fix moments – plenty of them!

In case you haven’t noticed after looking around here on my blog, I love food. I need plenty of it. I need it all the time, and I need variety in the food. Eating Daal-Chawal day in and day out is not my cup of tea. Oops! Even the examples I give are based on food.

Today, I want to take you through my food fix journey. Call it a comedy of errors, or a series of unfortunate events.

Moral of the story, even someone who loves to cook is not immune from a food fix!

That Golden Childhood Food Fix

Summers were special when I was a child. Not just because of the vacation. The temperatures were 45C most of the time, and we were confined to the house. To top it all, we were not allowed to cook or use the gas stove. But days were long and hunger visited too often.

After demolishing whatever lunch and snacks were kept for us, and guzzling down a few glasses of Rasna, we were still hungry. And what kid doesn’t like ice cream?

My favorite food fix at this time? Loads of Bournvita mixed with a few drops of milk, mixed together and frozen. This ‘ice cream’ was such a hit that the Bournvita bottle was hidden away from us or kept somewhere on a loft.

This frozen, sticky, ice cold, chocolate ice cream tasted so sweet, even Godiva and Haagen Dazs haven’t come close to it.

Freshman Fiasco Food Fix

Hostel life welcomed me with open arms and I had already been warned about the bad food. Well, bad takes on a new meaning after eating a few mess meals. I survived finding my first live organism in the daal, dusted off ants from the chapatti, moaned over the 2 Tbspn of ‘feast’ kheer, and learned to recognize the horrid food smells. So a sewage type odor meant cabbage, the watery broth was probably daal, and ‘mixed vegetable’ were dreaded leftovers.

Finally, we just learned to skip the mess on certain days and headed over to a tapri (street cart) for our food fix. And when all else failed, a midnight cup of coffee at the neighborhood coffee shop saved the day.

Faraway Land Food Fix

I have always loved cooking for a large group, whether it is friends or family. And I enjoyed it immensely when living away from home. Indian food takes on divine proportions when you are living in a foreign country. So making pooris and basundi for Dasra, making laddus for Diwali, Modak for Ganesh festival, Til Gul for Sankranti and so on kept me sane.

This food fix in a faraway land helped me build a tight circle of friends, the kind of friends you make for a lifetime.

Food Ordering Food Fix

Shopping for food and cooking is time consuming. But at least you can pick up the things you want and there is little room for error. Ordering food is inevitable unless you have taken a vow to be a homesteader or live somewhere in the boondocks where there is no restaurant.

Cultural differences and language can make for a lot of fun painful experiences.

If you have ever watched Russel Peters, you know how even Asians have different accents with English. Some people can barely speak the language, and no, they do not understand your accent.

In the US, vegetarian food frequently uses eggs or chicken stock. I had to remember to add ‘No Eggs’ to my order of Veg Fried Rice or Lo Mein, and no fish sauce for my Thai curry. In spite of that, the food very often came loaded with eggs.

Once, we had a big argument with a pizza store who kept saying they delivered our order. But we never got it. Finally, at 11 PM, the delivery guy ended his rounds and went back to the store. And everything became clear. It seems someone in my building picked up the order giving my apartment number. Well, after starving till 11 PM, the only option was to raid the fridge and make do with peanut butter sandwiches and ice cream from the freezer.

The language barrier is not just limited to living in a foreign country. No Sir! And I discovered that the hard way.

So New Year’s Eve – we order a ton of Chinese food. It is delivered after a wait of two hours, and turns out it contains chicken! On calling the restaurant, the owner says, please adjust!! Food fix, you think?

Birthday Dinner – we order from a nice expensive restaurant. First attempt delivered after 2.5 hours. The order is all wrong. The next order never comes! Food fix, you think?

Unfortunately or fortunately, there is always the option of the pressure cooker and a pot of khichdi. You can imagine how frustrating it is to make do with plain old khichdi when you dreamed of Biryani or pasta or Pad Thai.

Well, at such times, I just say the serenity prayer, close my eyes and thank the lord for what I do have on my plate. But being human, there is smoke coming out of my ears when I say this prayer.

Can TinyOwl be the Ultimate Food Fix?

Can TinyOwl be the panacea of food delivery?

When I read about TinyOwl, I saw a ray of hope. I could not explore the app since they do not have a Windows version. They only have iOS and Android!

Based on their website, here are the advantages of using TinyOwl –

• Tap, Tap, tap –just a few taps and your order is done. No room for miscommunication
• Location Based – the app shows you what is available around you. You just have to pick what you want.
• Ratings and Reviews – I am the kind of person who looks up Zomato before ordering from a restaurant. Ratings are built into the TinyOwl app, so you can see a comparison of the restaurants right there, and also read what people say.

No Foul with TinyOwl

TinyOwl is loaded with features to make your life easier when ordering food.

The whole food ordering process is easy and designed to avoid situations outlined above.

But an app can only do so much. Ultimately, one must use some discretion while ordering food. Here is what I have learned through experience, and through the many pots of khichdi consumed on birthdays and anniversaries –

• Order simple items for your first order from a restaurant
• Give only 50% importance to reviews – tastes and experiences differ
• If you are celebrating a special occasion or having a party, keep a fall back on hand.
• If you are ordering from a place where travel time is more than 30 minutes, expect some spillage or cold food.
• Expect shocks and surprises, and plan a food fix in advance.

Well, thanks for reading about my food fix story. Now let me know some of your food fix experiences.

I hope you enjoyed some Aunty Acid wit while reading my food fix stories. She is just priceless, isn’t she?