My First Taste

Despite my heart and my belly being FULL of Pav Bhaji love, I felt like jumping for joy. I remember eating Pav Bhaji with my siblings years ago as teens thinking that starting a Pav Bhaji stand here in the states would be the most amazing business idea. Years later, the project developed into a way of helping students across boarders and its exciting to see it all coming together. Ms. Edwards and her AVID class at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School, myself and my sister Neha (who tagged along and in the spirit of togetherness) cooked for the first time as a team. We divided ourselves up into 3 groups and took over the Home Ec classroom. We started a marathon of chopping ingredients and then moved to the stoves. High points included Josh’s professional like chopping skills with the garlic, the girls so lovingly de-shelling the peas, the insane amounts of ghee (clarified butter) that was used, and James telling me his name was Jamal! I could have most definitely done without the stinky cauliflower smell once it got chopped up and wished I could have saved Mia from all of the onion tears.

All in all, my sister and I, were was blown away by how gracious everyone was. Not only were the students (and lets not forget Ms. Edwards) a blast to hang out with, but they were also polite and charming. Everyone got right to cleaning, doing the dishes, and putting all the cookware away. The students even took all of my boxes of supplies out to my car after we were done. I felt spoiled, lucky, and happy! WAH WAH!