Birthday Party with Delicious Indian Food

Delicious Indian and Indo-Chinese food from Chopaati in Decatur. As you can see they cater!

Our friends' baby turned one in August and we were invited to share in the festivities. In addition to hanging out with more one year olds than I've ever seen at the same time in one room, we enjoyed a delicious Indian/Indo-Chinese lunch with food catered from Chopaati. I definitely look forward to going to this place and recommend it if you are looking for Indian food catering.

We also enjoyed watching the birthday girl tear into this special cake made just for her. So cute and fun to be included in this family's special day.

Palo Alto Farmer's Market and Half Moon Bay

Blowing in the wind at Half Moon Bay.

While in California we also checked out Half Moon Bay and visited the Palo Alto Farmer's Market. The market is full of fresh foods, delicious prepared items and my favorite: free samples.

Making naan at the Palo Alto Farmer's Market.

Pear & Chocolate Crepe with Whipped Cream.

Rotisserie chickens at the market.

Canada O' Canada - May Toronto Trip

Pure bliss - a Toronto Hot Dog from the cart - with fries.

Back in May Calvin and I traveled to Toronto for a wonderful extended weekend for a family wedding. We stayed at the awesome Fairmont Royal York Hotel, which reminded me of what I think it would have been like to stay on The Titanic. The wedding was held at the hotel and was gorgeous. See below for a photo-log.

Shabbat Dinner at our cousin's house.



St. Lawrence Market goodness: St. Urbain Bagel. These bagels are nothing like what we get in the south: warm, chewy, with a very unique taste - there's really nothing like it!

Indian Buffet in India town.





Delicious Naan.

Greek dips at the night-before-the-wedding dinner.





Greek Salad.



Chicken kabob.

Restaurant atop the famous CN Tower.

Frittata.



Quiche with salad and sweet potato fries.



Fish from the lake!



Salmon - not from the lake!



Chocolate mousse.



The family at brunch, high up in the sky.

Fabulous dessert at the wedding dinner.



Famous ice cream shop.



We tried roasted marshmallow, sweet cream, cardamom and lemon merigue.

BEFORE



AFTER

Salt and Pepper Calamari.

Crepe and croissant-wich at a cute place near our hotel - can't remember the name!

Omelet and toast with fruit.

Awesome Homemade Indian Meal

Spicy chickpeas.

A couple of weeks ago a friend invited me over for homemade Indian food. Everything she prepared was delicious, with just the right amount of spice. I also tried vadas (below) for the first time. I would like to learn to cook more Indian food as it's one of my favorite cuisines.

Vada.

Potato & Cauliflower dish.

Pit Stop in Greenville, SC - Saffron Indian Cuisine

Garlic Naan - warm and just out of the oven.

On the way to the NC mountains I stopped for dinner at Saffron Indian Cuisine in Greenville, SC for a very enjoyable dinner. The Kachumber salad, chicken tikka masala and okra dishes I tried, along with the garlic naan, were all delicoius. I also sampled a mango lassi and tried a sip of fabulous hot spiced tea. Apparently Saffron has a great lunch buffet also. This is a nice place to stop along I-85 between Atlanta and Charlotte (Exit 51, Woodruff Road, turn right) if you're looking for a good meal. We did spend about an hour here so it's not th best place to come if you're in a hurry. Still, if it's lunchtime, I'm sure the buffet would be much faster! There is also a Whole Foods at this exit as well as many other restaurants.

Kachumber Salad.



Chicken Tikka Masala (left) and Bhindi Masala (okra with vegetables).

Loooong Overdue Mishmosh Post!

At Katzinger's Deli in Columbus

So yet again it has been awhile since I have posted...

In Columbus I did eat some good brisket at an authentic German deli called Katzinger's in the Germantown section where German immigrants settled generations ago. I also had some fairly decent Vietnamese food while I completed my adoption law exam in Columbus prior to leaving.

Back in Philly, I hit up Ten Stone, a nice bar/pub on South Street for a late lunch. I had a nice duck sandwich with berry sauce.















On August 8 I left Philly for a quick stop in Williamsburg and then on to Charlotte. In Charlotte I ate with my mom and stepdad, Steve at Copper, a modern Indian restaurant. We had some fabulous shrimp and Steve had his favorite lamb dish.

The next night my Dad, AKA Big Jon, took me to Nolen Kitchen, a newish restaurant that was voted "Best New Restaurant" in Charlotte by Creative Loafing's critics. I had a wonderful warm octopus salad and Dad had some yummy scallops served with pureed corn, asparagus and red peppers. For dessert we shared a strawberry shortcake with pink peppercorn ice cream! The ice cream was quite good, very creamy with a peppery kick.


Finally, on Saturday August 12 I had some food native to Arequipa, Peru at an event hosted by the Charlotte Sister Cities organization. My dad's girlfriend Diane is a Board Member so we had to check it out! The food was awesome and I don't really know what I ate exactly but the hot peppers stuffed with ground beef, raisins and nuts were very spicy and extremely delicious!