Nadi ..........You don't pronounce it the way it looks. For some reason there's an "n" right in the middle of "Nandi". Anyway, it's where you land when you come to Fiji from an international destination. I was supposed to leave Nadi for Nauru, but one of the worst travel days in my life landed me an extra three days in Fiji. That generates no sympathy from anyone, I know.

As I left the airport by taxi instead of airplane, the driver who took me to my hotel was Sahim.  Sam. 

I always talk to taxi drivers about food. I mean, why not tap into a local resource? When Sam told me that the best way to sample local food was not at a restaurant but rather at someone’s home, I knew what the next words were that I wanted to hear.  Would you like to come to my house for a meal? 

Fortunately for his wife, I wasn’t the first guest that Sam brought home to sample her cooking.  Reshma was simply delightful.  She was at her best when she had several dishes going, all at the same time, with the smell of curry, ginger, garlic, turmeric, masala, onion and smoke filling the kitchen.

Reshma had a variety of ways to cook in her newly refinished kitchen after cyclone Winston came for a visit.  She had a gas plate, an electric hot plate and an open flame cooking area attached to the kitchen.  The beef curry cooked over an open flame, so the first step in this recipe is to gather up firewood from trees downed by the cyclone.  Winston knocked down a lot of trees but nothing was wasted in this home.  A large pile of firewood was neatly stacked in the yard.