There are only a handful of people I know who have this awesome multi-talented gift - they can sing beautifully, dance like they own the dancefloor, play various musical instruments like a pro, give great motivational speeches and excel in many sporting activities. My friend Jacqueline, is not one of those people.
But one need not have skills to be an awesome person. There are those who care deeply for their friends, becoming their pillar of support especially in times of need, somebody who will move mountains just to make sure you are ok. She will feel every pain you feel and absorb as much pain as possible so that it hurts less for you... Such friends are precious and hard to find. My dear friend Jacqueline, is again not one of those people.
:D
What she is though, is an outstanding writer, who even got one of her fictions published recently!
You can order the above book from Amazon here. Her work of fiction along with Mona Zote's poem and a few other prominent writers and artists from the North East are in this book and it is definitely worth purchasing. I am so honored to have her as a close friend, and the times we spent on Facebook or at our Mizo Bloggers WhatsApp group are always filled with laughter and glee.
Apart from being an accomplished writer, she is also my favorite punching bag. Get it? Pun-ching bag. We attack each other with puns so much to an extent that her friend Zothankimi once got pissed with me because of my "Huda" comment. Huda hell pisses off other people rite? And so we decided to sign a peace treaty over some peace-za. Jaqueline's pizza to be precise.
And so off I drove from my Heavenly Chaltlang abode down to the bottom of Ramhlun Venglai. Down and down and down I kept driving, until my speedometer started cracking due to the low atmospheric pressure. She lives so way down at the bottom of the valley that Sanga Says once said in order to get a cellphone reception from her house, she had to fling her phone high up in the air and then catch it again to see which messages her phone managed to capture.
By the time I reached her house, all the guests were already there. There wasn't any parking space left near her house because of the other guests, so I had to park in front of her neighbour's gate. But since it's Mizoram, I had to inform them about it. I rang the bell and a nice old lady opened the door. "Ka pi, in kawmchhak ah khian ka leng lawk dawn a, in gate hma ah hian ka lo park thei em?" And she replied, "Sap thianpa nei te in ah khian maw? Aw park rawh park rawh, a pawilo reng reng." Awww so sweet :D
The first pizza was already in the oven as I stepped inside Jacqueline's kitchen.
First pizza of the night – Shredded Chicken with capsicum and onion. Yummmm.
Zothankimi was busy taking pics of the pizzas.
Now she was something else. While I talked about the beauty of a perfectly baked pizza, she talked about the beauty of a perfectly trimmed eyebrow. I said, "microwave that pizza sauce", and she replied, "microblade that Josie's brows".
Just kidding. Zothankimi is known as browsbykimkimi on Instagram and she specializes in eyebrows and occasionally freelances too. So next time you need to hire somebody for a birthday or wedding photoshoot or even an Aadhaar card renewal photo touch-up, just hit her up. Her brows are to die for. And when she colors them, they're to dye for.
With The gracious hostess Jacqueline and her good friend Ivan.
Ivan is from France and since he's her close friend, I guess it is safe to say he is her boyfrench. *badum tsss* :P
Ivan bought the good stuff like Chorizo and Mozzarella cheese all the way from France, so the pizzas made that night were truly special.
I was also glad to meet another very close friend of mine, Lalsangliani Chased, writer of "This Mizo Girl Says".
Sporty as always.
All three of us are in the same quirky Mizo Bloggers group where we endlessly pull each other's legs. Like for example, she's a hardcore Manchester United fan, and since her team is always trailing behind Arsenal, chasing us forever, she gave herself the moniker "Chased". :D
Peace out :D
Second pizza of the night – Chicken ham with mozzarella cheese, chillies and tomatoes.
Pizza model Sangliani :)
We ate, we drank, we laughed, we made merry that night. L-R: Sangliani Chased, Browsbykimkimi, Rinie Zodin, the elusive Josie Zote, My big head, Ivan and Jacqueline.
Two other guests, Jonathan Zama and his wife Nupui too stayed for a short while but they had to leave early, so I didn't get a chance to take any of their pics.
My FB friend RK Dinpuia too turned up later in the night with his friend Ramengmawia, and they dove right into the awesome pizzas. It was truly great to meet a local celebrity like RK Dinpuia.
Finally, my favorite part of the night, the moment I was fervently waiting for arrived - It was time for the grand finale, the Chorizo pizza!
Yum yum yum. So much drool. Like I mentioned earlier, this was no ordinary Chorizo. It was an imported one straight from the bellies of France.
It was sooo awesomeeeee! :)
We had a great time cracking jokes and sharing stories after that. Zothankimi was especially brilliant in imitating a "high class socialite" and the kinda stuff such people say over the phone. I had never laughed out that much in a long time.
Meanwhile, Sangliani was busy charging her phone, and the only available plug point was above a dustbin…
Her phone fell inside the dustbin a couple of times, lolz.
Soon it was time to go home. Ivan presented each of us with sweets and chocolates from France. Some people were such drama-queens, hahaa.
Really awesome sweets indeed!
Rinie Zodin also bought a copy of "Centrepiece" from Jacqueline before leaving…
Lucky girl, she got a personal autograph from Jacqueline.
As we all left her house, I made sure the ladies got back on the road safely.
I drove behind them until we had to go to our respective directions. Sangliani Chased though, zoomed way ahead of me as it was quite late and she was past her deadline.
All in all, I had a great time and my stomach truly enjoyed the awesome pizzas. Jacqueline now works as an editor for Attrock, Sacramento, but I really hope she continues cooking in her free time. Good pizzas are rare to find in Mizoram, and I see a potential in her's.
Speaking of rare, her toilet was also very rare. This was probably the only loo I had ever been to that had glass frames on the door, lolz.
You kinda play a game of peekaboo the whole day I guess. At least something to keep Josie occupied :D
So that was one of the many awesome experiences I had during my recent short vacation at home. I'll be updating with a few more posts in the coming days. Until then, cheers everyone. Play safe.
Ciao.
