Steak Tartare and Crepe Flambe

I was coming out of my therapy session.  Realizing it was only 7pm and the sun was still out I decided to call my dentist friend Germainne and agreed to stop by her clinic so we can have dinner.  “Helloooo!” with her usual high pitch greeting on the phone.  I told her about stopping by her clinic to invite her out for dinner.  “Of course” she replied.  She said she will be waiting for me so I hurried up and walk to the nearest train station.  I took a downtown 6 train from 51st Street station and got off at Grand Central to walk a few blocks to Germainne’s clinic. While I was walking on 3rd Avenue along 39th Street, I happened to notice a familiar face.  It was one of the clinic assistants but she looked worried as she walked past me.  Oh well, she is probably in a hurry to get home so I did not bother to approach her to say hello.  As soon as I got in the clinic Germainne and I said our “hi’s” and gave our cheek-to-cheek kisses.  I told her to start working on her paper works so we can leave for dinner in no time.  While she was scanning insurance claims I told her I bought a new music from iTunes.  It is an old song from Anne Murray titled ” I Just Fall In Love Again”, which is the theme music of the Filipino movie I just watched two weekends ago with Jenny, Roxy and my mother entitled “Finally Found Someone” starring Sarah Geronimo and John Lloyd Cruz, two of the famous movie stars in the Philippines.  By the time the song ended she was ready to go so we walked out and decided to just walk to Koreatown for dinner at a food court.

We ended up going to the Food Gallery 32 by Koreatown after a  long time discussing where to eat while we were walking.  I could not decide what I wanted to eat so I roamed around the area which was already my second time as I went there previously after watching the Filipino movie.  Germainne decided to get a bowl of noodle soup while I get back and forth from one barbecue stall to another until I finally decided I will just get a crepe with some chinese sausage and will pair it with a cold glass of taro bubble tea.  As I was taking a bite of the crepe I got reminded of our glory days in Burundi and a couple of funny stories about food came into my mind.  “Oh, how funny they were: steak and crepe” I said to myself as I continued devouring my meal.  Burundi is a country in East Africa where I started my career in humanitarian work.  Its capital is Bujumbura where our main office and communal housing is located although we have operations in three of its provinces: Rutana, Muyinga and Muramvya.

Flashback number one, we were coming from work and decided to just go out and have some dinner instead of cooking in the house.  It was 7:30pm and me and my friend Violet were so hungry so we decided to drive by the restaurant called Chez Andre.  I ordered for grilled fish and vegetable minus the Piri Piri (a hot sauce famous in Burundi) while Violet wanted to be adventurous that night and ordered a dish which we were not familiar with.  And Burundi being a French colony she opted for something unfamiliar called Steak Tartare.  I said to myself “I am excited for her”.  My dish came out first and it looked good while we waited for Violet’s food which came few minutes after.  To our surprise it was big plate of raw ground beef in a round shape with fresh egg yolk on top with a side of capers, pickled veggies and slices of french bread.  Violet whispered to me “Mega, how can I eat it? It is raw”.  I said we can ask the waiter who apologetically explained that it is really served raw.  Not being able to eat raw meat, we said to the server to just put the dish in a takeaway box and we ordered a burger instead for Violet.  That night, we agreed that the morning after we will cook the ground beef with vegetables and soy sauce and eat it with rice, of course.  Violet promised not to be adventurous anymore with her food and vowed we will ask the waiter first for any french dish that we will order in the future.

Flashback number two, one night after eating dinner of steamed rice and Pork Adobo (pork cooked in marinate of soy sauce, vinegar, bay leaves, pepper, garlic and onions) we were sitting at the verandah of our 8-bedroom mansion in Bujumbura overlooking Uvira in Congo.  It was about 7:30 pm Friday night and we thought it was still early for a dessert in a nearby restaurant.  There was me, Violet and Paloma, an American nurse who serves as the program officer of the mission in Burundi.  I took the car out of the garage and drove the three of us to Cercle Nautique du Bujumbura, a restaurant known for its nice view because it is situated next to Lake Tangayika where during early morning or late afternoon you can be blessed with sights of the hippos swimming and playing in the lake.  It was evening and we were sure that even if the hippos are playing in the lake we will not see anything because it is so dark outside of the restaurant; we were only after the desserts anyway.  I parked the car by the side and we headed directly to the dining area.  As we browse through the menu, I thought I will just order something light so I decided for a slice of Creme Caramel (Custard Plan in Caramel Sauce) for me and two scoops of banana split for Paloma.  Having been oblivious of the incident in Chez Andre few months before, Violet chose Crepe Flambe and this time she asked Paloma about the dish which she obliged to explain as a very thin layer of dessert pancake folded in quarters and heated in a sauce of orange-flavored liqueur served in flame.  This got Violet very excited as we talked about the day’s events in the office which we always make fun of since there are so many things going on that when you stand back and think about it you will always burst into laughter and you will forget the stress that goes with it.  Soon right before the dessert was served Paloma excused herself to go to the ladies’ room while me and Violet were so looking forward to the arrival of the sweets.  Another second and Presto! the desserts are being served on the table: ice cream for Paloma, creme caramel for me and finally Violet’s crepe flambe.  Soon, I was slitting the center of my creme caramel as Violet’s crepe was still in flames.  Few more seconds and the waiter was back at our side asking if everything is okay but Violet kept on whispering to me in our native Filipino dialect about how the flames are not dying out of her dessert.  The poor waiter feeling guilty about the fire on the crepe took it upon himself to lean from behind Violet’s shoulder and blow the fire and smile as if telling Violet “you can now eat your dessert.”  Yippee! the fire was gone, but Violet was not happy and I was so shocked.  I could not contain my amusement and I laughed so hard I could not stop it prompting Paloma to ask about the object of my unending laughters.  When I told the story to Paloma, she could not stop laughing as well while Violet expressed dissatisfaction and did not know what to do if she will start eating her dessert or not.  Paloma then stated that “the simplest disease you can get out of it is tuberculosis” and that was enough to give Violet the creeps.  Paloma continued on “then there is meningitis, flu, herpes and the list goes on and on”.  As stressful as it felt, Violet decided she is not eating her dessert but will have it in a takeaway box for home as I offered to share my creme caramel and Paloma offered her ice cream to her.  On the way out, we took the bag of dessert and thanked the waiter who gave us his best smile as he held the door for us.  We all burst in laughters when Violet screamingly asked me to stop the car by the nearest garbage can as she can no longer resist the temptation of tossing out the crepe flambe that ruined her evening.  Paloma and I are in unison saying “No more fancy desserts for you from now on!”  Then more laughters erupted inside the car.

Oh, how time flies! Years after, we are all in different parts of the world now working in various fields.  I wonder if Violet still fancy for Steak Tartare or Crepe Flambe where she is now?  Or if she even remember them?  I hope she learned from these experiences in Burundi because Paloma and I will never be able to get over them.