Cuisines here are aplenty. There is everything ranging from Turkish to Indian to Spanish. Some of them are a bit obscure to find while some are really popular. Like Mexican restaurants. They are present on every street and every block and so far I think I have been to at least five to six different Mexican places alone. Of course most of them are rehashed to suit the sensitive American palate, as they are filled with sour cream and cheese. I know for sure that Mexican food is spicy or as they say here “hot.” The only one that came close to that was the lunch in Gatlinburg.
On Sunday I tried Ethiopian food at a place called Ras Dashen. Many people actually cannot equate Ethiopia with food since it’s commonly used as an example in conversations revolving around poverty. I too was curious. To begin with you are given a huge plate from, which everybody shares. It’s something similar to China, where communal eating is followed. There the sides come in common bowls and only the rice is given in individual ones. The menu here had a lot of vegetarian options so it was easy for me. A lot of their food is made from chickpeas and okra. We selected three side dishes, which is a set option, and then chose one main dish each. These are all ultimately put all together into the one plate and everyone shares from that. Then the waitress brought a basket of “injera,” which I found very similar to ragi dosa. She too was very interested in us because we were Indians and she said that “Kuchi Kuchi tohai” is her favorite Hindi movie among all the ones that she has watched. Go figure!
To complete the picture, its very similar to having dosa with a few different curries. But the food was simply delicious. Very different flavors and looks and very, very tasty. Ethiopian food is a bit on the expensive side. We paid around $15 each for the meal but it was worth it for a try.
And just last week I tried out some Korean food too. Thankfully they had vegetarian options so I had a bowl of potato noodles with veggies sprinkled all over. It was really delicious.
Culinary adventures apart, I went to one of the biggest malls here in the US, called the Woodfield Mall located in Schaumberg. It had a lot of brands but nothing was priced according to my liking even though they had sales going on. The structure of the mall was like a maze too, a bit confusing. The only good thing was I got to try out icecream from The Cold Stone Creamery. Their uniqueness is that they take the different flavor/s of icecream that you choose and mash it together on a frozen slab of stone right in front of you. It’s something different from the normal icecream in that way. Taste wise? Its creamy and smooth, a bit like Haagen Dazs. Oh and very heavy. I think they do add lots of cream in it. I could just about finish two scoops of it in a waffle cup. I have had lots more than that in Bangalore comfortably!
So that brings me to an end of last week’s jaunts. This weekend we are off to Niagara (US side) by Amtrak. Two different experiences. Let me see how that goes.
