“With practiced fingers, she throws an assortment of spices into the blender: coriander, cumin, cloves, black pepper, a few red chilies for vigor. No stale 40 bottled cuffy powder for her! At least the family’s eating well since I arrived, she writes in her mind, proper Indian food, rutis that puff up the way they should, fish curry in mustard sauce, and real pulao with raisins and cashews and ghee-the way you taught me, Roma-instead of Rice-a-roni. She would like to add, They love it, but thinking of Shyamoli she hesitates.”
The description of Mrs. Dutta ("With . .Rice-a-roni ") emphasizes her
(A) optimism
(B) self-assurance
© curiosity
(D) bravery
(E) compassion
The answer is B, but I don’t understsand why (I chose A).
I see nothing in the description that shows optimism. Indicators of self assurance include “the family’s eating well since I arrived”, “the way they should” and maybe “with practiced fingers”.
“At least” is definitely a big clue that she is trying to assure herself. Also, reading in context helps; without reading the passage I can already tell that this “Shyamoli” character worries Mrs. Dutta, thus the reason for her self-assurance (kind of like cause and effect).
@JuicyMango, I don’t think “self-assurance” means she is trying to assure herself. It means she is confident in her abilities. 
@Barfly: Lol thanks for the clarification, and there goes my whole explanation out the window :P.
Anyways Mrs. Dutta seems to be kind of bragging about her abilities so “self-assurance” still makes sense.
The answer is clearly/u self-assurance
The passage exudes the supreme confidence of this woman.
“Optimism” implies she HOPES her food will turn out OK. But in this case, Mrs. Dutta KNOWS WITHOUT A DOUBT her food is going to rock!
Key phrases:
“With practiced fingers, she throws an assortment of spices into the blender: coriander, cumin, cloves, black pepper, a few red chilies for vigor. No stale 40 bottled cuffy powder for her! At least the family’s eating well since I arrived, she writes in her mind, proper Indian food, rutis that puff up the way they should, fish curry in mustard sauce, and real pulao with raisins and cashews and ghee-the way you taught me, Roma-instead of Rice-a-roni. She would like to add, They love it, but thinking of Shyamoli she hesitates.”
Mrs. Dutta is so confident that she not only adds the spices in the bowl, she THROWS them.
I also thought it meant she was trying to assure herself. That makes more sense now. Thank you!
Thanks for highlighting the key phrases; that helps a lot! When it says, “At least the family’s eating well since I arrive,” she’s looking on the bright side, which I associate with optimism. That’s why I’m still a little confused. @CHD2013
Optimism is typically about the future. At least . . . is her evaluation of the past and present. She would be optimistic if she expected the family to eat well in the future.