Closed for Demolition

For more than a decade, I have been patronizing the Indian Spices and Appliances emporium in Arlington's Ballston area. "Spices and Applances" - the store sold jewelry (jewellery - in the English spelling as well). You could walk into the store, be served by the Bengali woman and her husband who owned it, and feel for a moment, that you had been transported to India or Sri Lanka.

But the high rises were clearly encroaching on this small enclave. Sometime between my last visit and yesterday, the engulfed it. The building still remained when my car pulled up in the late afternoon snow. But there would be no garlic pickle, large dustly jars of chutny, and fresh samosas. "Indian Spices and Appliances" was surrounded by a chain link fence garlanded with menacing signs to ward of intruders and former customers. When I dialed the store's number the message was "this number has been disconnected - no additional information was available."

Sad.... and I have a dinner party to cook for on Saturday night. Curried lamb, brinjol and fresh vegetables in coconut milk. I need to find a new South Asian Grocery in a hurry !