When Ankur and I first moved to Moreno Valley back in July, we tried out a few different Thai restaurants that had decent reviews on Yelp. And then when we tried Mahachai, we fell in love with it and now that’s our go-to Thai place.

On Ishu’s first birthday, the parents came and celebrated it at our apartment. And we ordered from Mahachai because I was convinced they’d love it too.

The Laksa noodle soup is what sold me. It’s so creamy and spicy and it’s the most amazing comfort food.

And, as I predicted, all the parents love love loved it. (Though, I think I overdid it on the spice level. We all had runny noses and sweat dripping down the sides of our face when we were through with dinner).

Anyway, Ankur had yesterday off. Kind of. He got home from an overnight shift at 7am and was off the rest of the day since he transitioned back to days today. So, I wanted to order an early dinner from Mahachai.

We had an Uber Eats gift card that I wanted to use so I logged onto the app and noticed that it said “no drivers nearby” so it wouldn’t allow me to add anything to the cart.

“Ugh,” I said, “It won’t let me order delivery. I have to go get it.”

“I can go get it,” Ankur offered.

“UGH NO. You should rest. I’ll get it,” I grunted, as I stood up to go put real clothes on.

(Side note: This place is an 8 minute drive from the apartment. But that #pandemiclife has me real up in arms about having to put pants on).

I drove the LONG, LENGTHY 8 minutes there and pulled into the strip mall parking lot.

It was a hole-in-the-wall restaurant. Not at all what I pictured. But the hole-in-the-wall restaurants really are the best, am I right?

I put my mask on, walked inside, and took note of the furniture all stacked up and shoved to the left. Looks like they had to transition into a “take-out and delivery only” joint.

I walked to the back where a nice lady welcomed me. She asked me for my name and order number. I pulled it up on my phone and told her. She looked it up on her computer and said, “Looks like they’re still working on it. I can bring it out to your car when it’s ready.”

I smiled and pointed to my car through the window. “OK! I’m that gray one right out front!” I said as I turned to leave.

But I quickly turned back to face her. Something in me felt compelled to tell her how I felt about the food. So I did.

I told her how much Ankur and I loved their restaurant. And how we intentionally invited our family to Moreno Valley for Ishaan’s birthday so they could try this place. And they, too, agreed it was some of the best Thai food they’ve ever had. Especially the soup.

The sweet lady clasped her hands together and brought them to her chest. And she did a little hop and was so appreciative. She pointed to the kitchen and said, “All compliments to them, of course. I will pass along that message!”

I turned to go and I could hear her speaking to the chefs in the kitchen. Though I couldn’t understand what she was saying, she sounded excited and it seemed as though she was sharing our experience with them.

I smiled.

And then continued smiling the whole way home.

It was such a small thing. And it seemed to make her so happy. It definitely made ME happy. And I never would have done it had there been a driver available to make the delivery.

All this to say, sometimes the small inconveniences are just the universe saying, “Nah. There’s a better way to do this!” Even if you have to make that l-o-n-g 8-minute drive. Ha.

Question of the Day:

What’s your go-to order at a Thai restaurant?