Sweet, sour, strip mall

Like many things of unassuming appearance and surprising worth, I first found tamarind in a strip mall.I was nineteen, a newly minted college freshman and a recent arrival to California, when a friend proposed dinner at Amber India, a well-regarded restaurant in nearby Mountain View. My palate was then untested by tandoors, chutneys, vindaloos, and the slow rumble of Indian spices, and needless