A little while ago, Taz mentioned Alpana Singh in a post on influential desi women under 30. I recently discovered that Alpana, in addition to being the youngest person ever to pass the Master Sommelier exam, hosts a show called Check, Please! on Chicago Public Television. AND she has a book out: Alpana Pours: About Being a Woman, Loving Wine, and Having Great Relationships. The general vibe she’s going for in the book might be described as “Shiraz and the City”; the idea for it came from watching couples order wines at upscale restaurants:
Singh cringes when she thinks about the drop-dead gorgeous woman who dined at Everest with an equally great-looking date. The guy proceeded to order a $490 bottle of Champagne — and the unsure woman asked for a Diet Coke. That’s when she knew it was time to birth Alpana Pours.
“I may not be a relationship expert, but I saw five years of relationships” by advising couples on wine. “It was like [having] ringside seats,” says the Monterey, Calif., native.(link)
To sum up (ladies, are you listening?), Alpana declares: “Looking super hot in a really expensive dress can be immediately undermined if you order a diet cola.” (The book also has chapters with titles like, “Pairings: Wine, Hooking Up, and Dating” and “What Wines Go With Bingeing?”) While I’m definitely not the demographic Alpana is, um, catering to, I guess I’m fine with it as long as no one is serving Tunatinis anywhere, ever.There is also a detailed profile of Alpana Singh at Chicago Reader. Along with some other choice quotes from the book, there’s some stuff about her background:
Her father and mother, born in Fiji, emigrated to the U.S. in the mid-70s just before she was born. As it turned out, her mother’s papers weren’t valid, so she returned with her baby to Fiji for three years before the family finally settled in northern California. Singh’s parents, who worked as a waitress and a cook and never drank wine, were very traditional. “When I read Jhumpa Lahiri’s books, I almost cried,” says Singh. “Trying to explain to your parents things that happened to you in the Western world—you really do live a double life. You go to school and you’re talking about New Kids on the Block—‘Oh my god, Jordan is so cute!’—and then you come home and sit down for Indian prayer and learn how to cook and clean, how to be a proper bride. I think that’s where a lot of my push back comes from: I’m not going to do what you guys think I’m going to do. This is not me; this is crap.”(link)
Two thoughts: 1) Fijian desis are a force to be reckoned with. And 2) Jhumpa Lahiri shows up in the strangest places, doesn’t she?
There are more wine tips from Alpana Singh in this little Chicago Sun-Times piece. Two in particular caught my eye:
Older isn’t always better: Singh compares aging wine to a relationship: If it’s good from the start, it only gets better; if it’s rocky at the beginning, time makes it worse. Many good wines are meant to be drunk young. “Otherwise, while you’re patiently waiting for ‘Mr. Right,’ you may inadvertently be letting ‘Mr. Right Now’ get away.”
Get over the “Pretty Boy” phase: Nothing’s wrong with Chardonnay, but don’t you want to move beyond? Singh calls wines like Chardonnay “pretty boys” that “don’t ask you to think…Ask yourself, ‘Is the thrill still there?'” Later, you’ll likely develop an appetite for sophisticates like Cabernet Sauvignon, Riesling and Sangiovese.
(link)
Wine as a metaphor for dating, or dating as a metaphor for wine? (Admittedly, neither are particularly relevant to me these days: the only bottles I’m scrutinizing are Dr. Brown’s!)
I resisted sushi for years even though my sister and my uncle were big fans of it for ages…the thought of raw fish just grossed me out. Finally a girlfriend convinced me to give it a try. The first few times I just had cooked stuff (shrimp, eel, etc). When I finally tried raw salmon/tuna, etc, I drowned it out in soy sauce, ginger, and wasabi. Eventually I grew to love it and now I have sushi at least 2 or 3 times a month, sometimes skipping the ginger and soy sauce completely (never the wasabi of course). I forget that it’s raw fish…but the funny thing is, as JOAT sort of alluded to…when I have too much of it, it starts tasting just like raw fish again (yuck). It’s a fine line, people! Manju, is it true that most wasabi in America is fake, and the real stuff is only in the best, most expensive places?
Can you explain exactly what you mean by that?
ThumsUp – finely blended THUNDER!
I’ve stared at more boobies than BidiSmoker and Mr Kobayashi combined.
Yup it’s made from a powder mixture of regular horseradish & mustard seeds. However it’s not just the US. Majority of the world including Japan serves fake horseradish. It’s only upscale restaurants that serve the real deal which can only be mostly made fresh and cannot be dried like the imitation stuff. And honestly I’ve had both and with that level of hotness I promise you that you can’t really tell the difference in taste. You will know the difference in the texture and color however.
And why is that? Wait I’m assuming you is a girl!! No??
Yes m’am. Cisgendered and heterosexual at that 🙂 The difference is I don’t look at women the way men do. I could explain, but I’ve threadjacked enough.
dude manju – that might sound like a backhanded compliment – but tht’s the closest a desi gal will come to making the move. how about you ask her out for some moongphali* by the beach in true desi ishtyle.
*salted boiled peanuts in a newspaper cone.
Hmm…so there’s a niche out there for wasabi snobs? Right now I’m still a wasabi snob wanna be (how’s that for alliteration?)
But you aren’t alone. Women don’t look at eachother the same way men look at us. And I work in a all girls (and gays) environment and the checking out that goes on all day on a daily basis would make a man look like a nun.
This whole wine-snobbery thing reminds me of some of the stories on Frasier. Amusing stuff.
Only if you eat the “dhal-bath” using just your fingers 😉
Aparna Singh looks a lot like Sunny Leone, the naughty girl. Or so Amitabh and Manju tell me anyway. I wouldn’t know.
gujudude: kudos to you 😉
They do look alike, though I’d much prefer to have Sunny Leone pouring me a glass of wine…
(Not that I know what she looks like, ‘cuz I, uh, don’t. I’ve only heard from…um…Pardesi Gori? Yea, from her.)
isn’t that the only way to eat it? is it just me, or does daal bath just taste better while eating with your fingers (i only do it while at the ‘rents house)… and while in india, the rasam and rice taste much better while served on banana leaves and eating with fingers…
diet coke drinking, red bull craving, daal bath finger eating, uncouth (and you guys i have seen a TON more boobies than anyone on this board… (job related of course).. the bean…and on that booby note, october is breast cancer awareness month… (okay enough threadjacking==sorry!)
My husband always orders the burger and a sprite during lawfirm lunches when he’s interviewing 😉
Is he the interviewer or the interviewee? Ordering burgers when you are getting interviewed in a lawfirm is an absolute no no. They are messy to eat and you end up looking silly. Also stay away from Pizzas! I guess it all depends on what kind of a law firm are you interviewing at. I remember as a 2L interviewing with this out of town law firm which took me to a trendy sports bar and I followed the interviewer’s lead in ordering some kind of a sub. I dont think that happens too often though.
I guess it depends on whether you’re deliberately trying to be lascivious while eating it…..
I think I’ve got a good idea of what happens at SM Meetups now. Lots of shifty-looking people gathering in dingy basements, snorting lines of wasabi and doing unspeakably perverted things with karelas (like eating them)…..
yo manju,
can you recommend a few NYC sushi spots that meet the bulk of your criteria without prices going through the roof? (up to the ceiling i expect. through the roof i try to avoid.)
And manju (and the other sushi aficionados), what do you think of Sandobe (on 1st between 10th and 11th)? It’s cheap and (to my taste) delicious, but I always wodered how it ranked in the NYC sushi world.
Jai:
Sunny Leone, who’s that? (Yeah, right). I had hesitated to go there, but Alpana IS good-looking! I’ve met a few Fiji desis and they’re an interesting bunch…until recently they had kept alive a form of Hindi which was a mixture of various regional 19th century dialects…and it became the lingua franca of the Indian community there (i.e. even the South Indians, Gujjus, Sikhs, etc. and more impressively even some native FIJIANS learned to speak it).
The reason dialects of Hindi became the lingua franca is because the majority of the Indian emigrants were from eastern Uttar Pradesh/western Bihar. This was true for Trinidad, Guyana, Suriname, and Mauritius as well, and to a lesser extent South Africa. Most of that emigration took place in the 19th century as indentured labor. Some people in those countries are 5th or even 6th generation now, and it’s remarkable how much desi culture they hold on to.
I realize this message was for Manju but I’ll answer anyway 🙂
Moderate, not expensive like Nobu but not cheapÂ…. Yama on Irving place. Nagomi in Soho Yaponica on University Place Haru (my favorite) which is really a chain but very good and has a bunch of locations all over the city)
WonÂ’t leave you brokeÂ… Yama (vegetarian) on Houston (yeah different Yama) Coco Sushi on 26th which is a ALL you can Eat joint and might sound cheesy but itÂ’s not because the turnover is quick and they continually make it fresh.
Oh do tell, I am bery bery curious.
Ofcourse. No wonder she looked familiar. I dont mind admitting I’ve seen her videos, though I must admit it was a tad awkward because my nickname is Sunny also. I wouldnt have minded sharing a name with a porn star, but I would have preferred if it were a guy 🙂
Bad Indian Girl, where are you? I brought some chips to go with the Fat Tire – Flaming Hot Cheetos.
have to admit i don’t know much about wines, and any wine that i’ve tasted, cheap to expensive, tastes like spoiled fruit juice to me. alcohol on the whole just tastes spoiled – but a rum and coke and beer (or beer mixed with limonade) are pretty good. but if it’s “trashy” to order a diet coke in a fine dining establishment, why would that establishment even have it on the menu in the first place? and maybe the woman just ordered the diet coke because after her date had just ordered a whole bottle of expensive wine – presumably for the both of them to enjoy and not just himself – why would she need to order more expensive wine or a different wine or another fancy drink at that point?
I dont think Alpana gets to define hotness for all women. In any case, many women may want to be defined by categories other than hot/not hot ….
Her skills are noteworthy and definitely merit mention and even praise. However, it maybe a little dictatorial to define whether others must drink or not?
what say?
More on Fiji Hindi:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiji_Hindi
ive never drank alcohol in my life. I guess that almost makes me a barbarian in her eyes….
Whatever became of the The Sepia Mutiny Dining Task Force? This was a great idea that seems to have disappeared. As we all know, food is all that really matters in the life of a brown person, so I say we get on this train and make it move!
I think outside of Mallus, (and Punjabis?) it’s usually women who get the (nick)name Sunny. Is that right?
I think outside of Mallus, (and Punjabis?) it’s usually women who get the (nick)name Sunny. Is that right?
One of the Greatest Cricketers from India, Sunil Gavaskar had the nickname Sunny. One of his autobiographies (he wrote several) was called “Sunny days”. And he is a Maharashtrian ( neither Panju or Mallu)
OH I had no idea it existed. I wish there was a whole “post” about it and the comment just got drowned in there. I’d love to get involved and do my part whatever is required. I’m a big foodie and love trying new things and Queenz in the house so not all about Manhattan!
Queenz rox!!! I’ve tried so many interesting cuisines there. Haven’t tried sushi in NY though. Thanks for the recommendations, JOAT. Will try to get to NYC ASAP…hopefully only a few months away 😀
Re: post #162
I misquoted her name; that should of course be Alpana Singh.
Apologies, I was…..er…..distracted by the foxy Ms Singh’s photo.
Beige Siege – I’m right here and now I’m in love… Flaming Hot Cheetos, how did you know that was my very guilty pleasure, yummy!
BandIndianGirl & Beige Siege get with eachother STAT!! 🙂
sadly, the curse of sushi is that price correlates with quality. so the places i recomend are expensive but you can thread carefully. also don’t bother with the places i recommend unless you’re already acclimated to good sushi and want to step up to great. no one learns to drive in a ferrari.
one last point b/f the list. i only sit at the bar and order by piece or “omokase.” just say that to the chef and he’ll give you the best fish of the day. you can name you’re price (it’s customery) but $50 would be the low end. if you must, order the platters (sushi special, etc) and that will keep prices down in the $25-35 range, but as i mentioned, sushi is best served one by one, the longer it is left sitting on a plate the worse it gets. there’s a discernable differnce.
also, i’m a traditionalist, so these places are not trendy (like nobu) and do not cater to american tastes (like yama) where the pieces are much larger and they serve rolls with mayo and such–sorry JOAT, i’m a snob, i know. so if your a cultural connoiseur, they may interest you.
Sushi Yasuda. hands down best in NYC, some say the world. mr yasuda is always behind the bar, unlike some top restaurants where the chef is never in the house. you can even specify to sit in front of him. he’s an eel specialist and is the only chef that i know in NYC that cooks it right there. he has 3 different kinds. the variety is dizzying and you’ll taste some stuff you never knew existed. you can experience it realistically for $75 on the low end (or much cheaper if you don’t order by piece or omakase). he laughs at Nobu and serves no rolls but tekka maki. he’s an artist…and very traditional. it’s quiet, austere, almost a meditative experience. Beautiful Japanese understated sleek interior. yasuda likes to teach/instruct his customers on how to eat properly, if you’re open to it. very dictatorial, he adds the soy sauce and wasabi on every piece for you. (its midtown, 30’s around the UN)
restaurant ichimura. gets no press. kind of a secret. but as soon as you walk in you know he means business. smaller and may be easier to get a rez. everyone is japanese. nice interior too. Spectacular. (midtown, in high 50’s i think, east side)
jewel bako. the trendiest of the bunch but still traditional. very small place. very slow service so go there when you have some time. it’s owned by a charming couple (jack and grace)who (jack usually) will instruct you on the way to go. jack even does some wine pairings with sushi. (east village, downtown)
*4. Aburiya Kinnosuke: this is NOT a sushi place but i thought i’d throw it in. they serve some sashimi though. they serve these very traditional tiny japaense dishes that are really inexpensive (like 8-12 a dish). only japanese go there and it is kind of a secret. no rez’s. only a small sign out front. very serious non sushi japaense fare, very adventuresome, and very cheap. and what a sake list. (213 E. 45th St., New York, NY 10017 between Second and Third Aves.)
sorry BB, never been there.
ahem. you’re not talking to a novice here. at the bar and piece/omokase are obvious. (well, to me they are.) i ask for your recommendations because i’m still new in town and you’re the first hi-level sushi playa i’ve encountered here.
and i thank you for the suggestions. i’ve every intention of trying all four…
yeah, i suspected you were. i was playing to the rest of the crowd. i’m still a man of the people.
I smell a group dinner as well as a meetup in NYC.
Fret not, quality-food-deprived Beltway resident — the NYC task force has been a-mobilizing. Sometimes, our efforts “may include dramatic strikes, visible on [Sepia],” while in other instances, we may rely upon “covert operations, secret even in success.”
So far, it’s been mostly the latter, but don’t doubt our triumphs over the Axis of Blandness just because you don’t read about it in the blogosphere.
Reminds me of this hilarious evening I had in Toronto. I was craving sushi and walked into an extremely upscale restaurant in downtown Toronto dressed in pretty much a tracksuit. Got some serious glares from the waiters and people around. But at least they did not kick me out when they realized I was a visitor and not some homeless dude.
I was a pretty much a novice to expensive good-quality sushi, but I had just read up the previous evening on several websites about sushi-eating protocol. So I did all the right things without knowing anything about what they meant (asked to watch the chef in action before ordering anything, for instance), used all the right words and stuff, ordered the right drinks, took a long time to slowly savor each morsel and so on. By the end of the evening, when I left, each of the chefs had come and talked to me individually about their history/qualifications, and the head chef himself showed me out of the place. They probably thought I was a food critic or something. The bill came to about $100 CAN.
That was my first experience with quality sushi. I entered the restaurant pretty much to see if I could get away with the act, but emerged a total convert to the sushi taste and experience. Unfortunately, being a grad student, finances are what prevents me from enjoying it more often.
Hey now, be nice. 😉 Just because I’m down DC ways, it does NOT mean I’m deprived of anything…except maybe a good Mexican joint. Just wanted to know what happened to a very good idea.
I smell a group dinner as well as a meetup in NYC.
Yeah yeah all talk!!! Put your money where your mouth is or your might might make away like it did last time 🙂
i have to agree w/ manju … the sushi @ yasuda is orgasmic
haven’t heard of the other three but will defintely check it out
technophobicgeek, #191, awesome story!
But ofcourse, just imagine us: cuddled up, eating Flaming Hot Cheetos while sipping illegally home made wine. Eating hamburgers in saris(her) while chugging FatTire.
And I thought internet dating was silly 😉 Crooning … I can feeel the Love, acrooooss the Internets…
Re #15 Technophobicgeek:
Right on! I say props to the woman for ordering what she wants and being herself. I’d be far more impressed by this down-to-earth behaviour than someone getting carried away by a date ordering some crazily expensive wine. I totally agree with what some others have said — that would hardly impress me terribly :).
As I said before, Alpana’s book works and we weren’t even drinking wine!
Maybe after work today I’ll go down to the bookstore pick it up and then go over to the liquor store and get a six-pack of Fat Tire. Then Beige Siege and I can chat (discussing the finer points of the book), chug beer, dirty the keyboard with our Flaming Hot stained fingers and trade recipes on how to home brew bad Indian wine.
Whatever gets me sozzled quickest is what I like these days — a pint of strong lager chased by a triple malt whisky (the cheaper the better) — that’s just for starters, and then every kind of wine tastes good to me. Although I’d like to go for a meal with her and order a diet coke just for fun.
All this talk about Alpana Singh being a snob ….. The bottle she is pouring on the cover of her book is in fact TWO BUCK CHUCK!!!
It doesn’t have to be expensive to be good.
I like Mangrove Jack Shiraz at a desi dinner party— yum yum and about $10/bottle
Not to mention that some of the sushi – uni, toro, awabi and hotategai come to mind – just tastes downright disgusting when not super-fresh, which of course translates to super-expensive.