an auntie anecdote

so should it be organic extra virgin olive oil or just plain good EVOO? or wait, there's this local brand, new moon, whose 1 litre bottle of EVOO is quite cheap. but good or not? shouldn't EVOO come from italy?

so there i was, browsing, browsing, taking and putting back bottles at the oil section at the local supermarket. am not surprised if i was mumbling to myself at the same time.

then this voice from the right:

this one can deep fry or not?

i looked up. she was a middle-aged malay lady, holding a bottle of olive oil in her hand. 

i said she could but food doesn't stay crispy for long. gave her my two cents worth about the lower smoke point of olive oil. and shared with her my experience of frying shallots in olive oil which turned limp within the hour.

not gareng anymore. 

seizing on my use of that one malay word, she then lapsed into malay. i switched to what was my first language in school, oh so long long ago and we got into talking about healthy versus tasty oil.

and maybe because i was holding two different bottles of oil, or maybe because i had a sales pitch in my voice or maybe, just because.

this indian lady suddenly appeared before us and waved a bottle of oil in front of me and uttered in thick accented english : sunfloweroil?

for a moment, i was nonplussed. she repeated: sunfloweroil? with a slight undulation of her head.

ahh, i understood. she wanted to know if it was sunfloweroil, i mean, sunflower oil.

i took a look at the label and said yes, nodding at the same time. she nodded too.

and just as suddenly as she appeared, she disappeared.

the malay lady and i were silent for two seconds, looked at each other and smiled.

i joked: i macam jual minyak masak. 

(it's like i am selling cooking oil)

and our malay friend burst into delightful chuckles. the corners of her eyes crinkled up and she covered her mouth with one hand as her chuckles became louder.

i could hear her laughter reverberating in my head as i left the supermarket later with a wide grin on my face.

and a bottle of EVOO, from italy, on offer.