Love Rekindled

Just another couple weekends after this one, and kids will be back in school, and we'll have our routine back in place. Bet a lot of us are wondering: where on earth did summer go??? It has just zoomed by like crazy! And I have been slacking off on my blogging too! But hey, no complaints, because I have actually been enjoying summer this year, mainly because it involved some within-the-country travels, first to NJ, and the second to NC. And that really has been the highlight this summer.

NY City

My trip to NJ involved a bit of indulging in some par excellent Desi Khana, i.e. Indian food. I was stupefied, and I decided that the next time I get into the oh-I-miss-India-and-Seattle-is-so-blah mode, all I gotta do, is make a trip to NJ! It will be faster and cheaper than making a trip to India, for sure. I mean, the Indo-Chinese food there is exactly like the Indo-Chinese food we get in Bangalore! Gobi manchurian, chicken lollipop, schezwan noodles, chicken fried rice, you name it!

Gobi Manchurian

Chicken Lollipop: I have not found a single Indian restaurant here, in Seattle, that has this on their menu!! In fact, the Indian restaurants here are very very pathetic! There, I said it! I am sorry if you are somebody who owns an Indian restaurant in Seattle area, and are reading this post- but that is the ultimate truth! In fact, did you know that we have stopped going to Indian restaurants here?? Yep, that's right- we have stopped going to Indian restaurants because their buffets are plain simple BORING! As for Indo-Chinese--- we have one restaurant here, in Redmond, which, I guess, people go to, out of sheer desperation. I, very reluctantly, have to admit that a few weeks ago, I took my kids there, yes, out of sheer desperation!

Tokri Chaat: Who would have thought that this is available here in America?! I certainly didn't have the slightest idea! Well, my friends took me to this place called Dimple's Bombay Talk, and got me tokri chaat. "Tokri" means basket and chaat is of course, a lovely spicy, tangy, sweet, mixture of savory goodness. And you eat the basket along with the chaat. An edible basket, you wonder? Yes, the basket is made out of finely shredded potato and then fried- so yeah, you can go right ahead and eat it all! We have a few chaat places here- say, about 3 (wow!) and again, nothing impressive about them.

Tokri Chaat

OK, so you probably get the gist that Seattle's Indian food scene is not quite up to par. However, I have come to realize that this is in fact a good thing. Better for our health and better for my figure too. I mean, I have always been a chubby girl (hey, chubby sounds better than fat!), and eating chicken lollipop and gobi manchurian and gorging on deep fried tokri chaat will just make me go downhill at an amazing rate! So even though I am in awe of all that delicious Indian food in NJ, I think I am better off here, in Seattle.

In fact, when I came back, I realized that I actually missed Seattle. Nothing can beat our clean air, our evergreens, the Cascades, the hike and bike trails, the farmer's markets, the courteous drivers on our roads (mostly), and just the artsy charm, in general. Yeah, I prefer this to an overcrowded, noisy, polluted place filled with drivers in a mad rush, anytime. Agreed that the Desi Khana scene there is way better, but that certainly does not top my list of priorities!

In one way, I'm glad I made that trip, because it rekindled my love for Seattle.