Great Things Come in Small Packages...

What a great day it was yesterday when I came home to a nice little brown package sitting on my doorstep. It was about time it arrived. Nicely wrapped in brown paper, with the infamous green “Examined by US Customs” tape around it was my care package from home. More about their exploits later.

Inside was some good old Brahim’s spices, some Chinese herbs and some other pastes. The package came at a really good time as I was really running low on supplies. Also inside the package was a nice Christmas card from Mom, Dad and Gabe, which really warmed my heart. A tad early, but who cares!

Finally, there was a big batik cloth that my brother got for me. Hahha, and you thought I had enough in my apartment already. Cant get enough of that ethnic, island in the sun feel. Hey, I’m from Penang, so that makes sense doesn’t it? But seriously, my place looks like a holiday resort. More fish motifs. Yeah I know a few of you out there who are rolling your eyes right now.

Now, about the US Customs….they seem to have this fascination with Brahim’s All-In-One Beef and Potatoes. It’s basically the stuff in a vacuum sealed pack which is stored in a cardboard carton. The last time Dad sent quite a load of those. None of them made it. Incidentally it was the mad cow disease season. Totally understandable. This time round, both packets that Dad sent did get through, but only one was safe for consumption.

Those wonderful fellars slit one of the cardboard cartons with a really sharp knife without a care in the world, cutting the vacuum pack inside in the process. As a result, oil from the curry leaked out of the package. After doing God knows what scientific experiments on the stuff, they rather carelessly sealed it back with the good ol’ green “Examined by US Customs” tape and chucked it back together with the other contents. Fortunately, the leak didn’t get to the batik cloth or mess up the whole package. Without giving it a second thought, I threw the desecrated package of Brahims Beef and Potatoes into the can.

Got beef?