Ten Questions for Crystal Lal

You've seen Market Manager Crystal Lal at every Market rallying vendors and volunteers, lending a hand here and there, meeting new people and greeting familiar faces... She is the driving force behind the Market and a great inspiration to many of us who want to make Cheverly an even better place by volunteering in the community and being brave enough to create new things. This year, Crystal received the Jack Wheat Award (given to a Cheverly resident whose accomplishments unite the community) in recognition of her efforts to make the Cheverly Community Market a reality.

I thought it would be interesting to ask Crystal a few questions that she doesn't get every day. I was in luck -- her husband, Arvind, and son, Nick, are off scouting and her daughter, Abby, is at a meeting so she had a few extra moments for me and my questions...

Ten Questions for Crystal

1. What is your favorite food memory? Oh there are so many. Growing up, making rye bread and homemade noodles with my Grandma Massengale and having my Grandma Hamann’s homemade peach ice cream and carrot cake on summer nights. As an adult, eating “real” pizza" in Florence was an epiphany. Also I’ll never forget meeting my husband Arvind’s Grandmother Shanti for the first time. She didn’t speak much English but she knew how to communicate with food. She made the most amazing chai and aloo parathas, which is an Indian potato-filled flat bread. As soon as you finished one, she would have another hot one waiting. I lost track of how many I ate. 2. What is your favorite food smell? Vanilla and fried onions -- That's separate, not together. 3. Do you have a favorite "foodie" movie? For the longest time it was Babette’s Feast, but then, of course, what sane woman wouldn’t put Chocolat at the top of her list? As for favorite “foodie” moment in a movie, hands down it has to be Tom Hanks in Big when he eats baby corn and caviar. 4. What are five ingredients you always have in your kitchen? I am the queen of condiments. I have this giant jar of capers that’s a permanent fixture in my fridge. I can’t go a day without King Arthur unbleached flour on hand. I use fresh garlic every chance I get. My kids still drink lots of milk (the pediatrician is always impressed when he grabs their ankles during checkups. And for Arvind, there is always a box of Bocca Burgers or veggie dogs. 5. What five cooking utensils/gadgets do you rely on the most? A wok, food processor, pizza stone, whisk, and a little wooden Indian-style rolling pin. 6. When did you start cooking? I think I was about 10 when I made my first whole meal by myself. 7. What's the most challenging recipe you've ever made? Why? Sometimes the most simple is the hardest. It is incredibly difficult to make a perfect poori – which is a crispy, puffy, fried Indian bread. All it has is flour, water and salt. Then oil for frying. There are no exact measurements. Everything has to be just right for the poori to puff -- the ratio of water to flour, how well it’s kneaded. Each poori has to be round and uniformly thick. Then the oil needs to be just the right temperature and you have to flip and press the bread in a certain manner to coax it to puff. But they are divine and worth the effort. 8. What do you typically have/make for weekend breakfasts? Buttermilk pancakes with maple syrup – or homemade waffles. 9. What is your family's favorite dish that you cook? I am notorious for hardly making the same thing twice. I have a lot of cookbooks and I like to try new recipes on a daily basis. Though now that I think of it, I make homemade pizza every Friday night. I’ve been doing that for at least 10 years, so I have a lot of practice. 10. Does anyone else in your family cook? Arvind makes great omelets, but he won’t eat them. Nick is in smoothie mode right now. I have a freezer full of fruit and frozen yogurt for him to experiment. Abby knows how to make perfect scones. My mother is a wonderful cook. Her lemon meringue pie is ethereal. My sister makes Nachos every night for supper.

Make sure you say hello -- and thanks -- to Crystal when you see her this Saturday at the Market. We're so fortunate to have her in Cheverly!