Special Concert in Montclair

Plans for our fall tour are underway - we'll keep you posted on the details as they are finalized. In the meantime, we'd like to invite you to a tour of another kind. Joy will be in Montclair on Friday, September 18 for a flute and piano recital. The concert is at 8 PM at Grace Presbyterian Church in Montclair, right around the corner from us on Grove Street. No tickets needed. It is a benefit concert, with proceeds going to earthquake relief in Pisco, Peru. All are welcome and we'll be going back to our house afterwards for dessert and wine. Please join us.

Home Again

Arrived home this evening after a uneventful flight from San Francisco. The plane left on time, there was no turbulence over the Midwest, we didn't need to circle Newark six times before landing, the plane was early and our bags were there - and intact -when we got to the baggage carousel. Who could ask for a better return home?

Actually all the excitement was reserved for the SFO airport. After waiting in the security line for more than 30 minutes, we finally went through the metal detector and Alan - as usual - got pulled over for the individual search in the little glass cage. Just like a kid who knows there's no Santa Claus, but refuses to stop believing, he clutches his hip replacement card, continually hoping that it will be his "get out of jail free" card. Instead, it is always his "go directly to jail, do not pass go" card. His optimism is refreshing. We have it down pat - I go through security first so I can collect his belongings and wait for him while he has the individual "wand" search. This morning's was particularly thorough - I won't go into the details!

This is the view of sunrise from our hotel when we left for the airport at 6:15 or so. We stayed in Burlingame, right by the bay. Great walk along the bay last night. Lovely way to start the day.

Yesterday we left Santa Rosa and drove over the mountains to Napa, starting in Calistoga and then winding our way down to the town of Napa. The highlight was stopping at the Folie a Deux winery, which makes our favorite wine, Menage a Trois - great blends that come both in red and white. Apparently we are not their only fans.

We ended the trip the way we started - with dinner at sunset at the Waterfront Cafe and Restaurant.

Russian River to the Pacific

Drove along the Russian River west to the point where it meets the Pacific Ocean at Goat Beach, a little north of Bodega Bay. Beautiful trip with exotice scenery through redwood forests, over winding roads, along steep hills with patches of fog that open suddenly to reveal incredible ocean views. Wonderful beaches - Schoolhouse, Gleason, Shell Beach - all along the rocky coastline. Saw baby seals sunning themselves on the beach far below. The color of the ocean changed constantly from deep blue to green to aqua.

Stopped on the way to walk through Armstrong Woods, a redwood forest. Amazing quiet, deep shade, fragrant smell of pine. Didn't know that redwood roots are very shallow compared to the height of the trees - only about 12 feet deep, yet supporting a 300+ foot tree.

Enjoyed some wine at Kendall Jackson Winery on the way back. Had a picnic lunch in the lovely gardens at the winery and tried a new blend of white wine, Summation, which is about to be distributed to the east coast for the first time.

Finished the day with dinner at Cafe Citti in Kenwood, another recommendation from Amanda. Lovely day.

Spiders, Rattlesnakes, California Law and Other Vacation Derailments

After a lovely breakfast this morning at the Omelet Express in Santa Rosa (recommended by Amanda) where, despite more than 50 different omelets on the menu, Alan and I both ordered ham and cheese omelets, albeit with different cheese, our vacation got a bit derailed.

Turns out that what Alan thought was a small mosquito bite yesterday was actually a spider bite, which by late morning had grown to an alarming size and redness. Two trips to the pharmacy at Saveway, one trip to St. Joseph's Urgent Care Center, two nurses, one doctor, two large shots and several Vicodan later, he is on the mend. He spent the afternoon in a pleasant haze napping in our room. A slight derailment of our vacation plans.

I suffered alone poolside reading a book on Polly's Kindle, enjoying the 30 degree drop in temperature - today is in the 70's and very pleasant. By late afternoon, I decided I had lazed around enough and needed to get some exercise and take a walk. I drove to Nasagawa Park, up the hill from where we are staying and, yes, I had to drive because it is a BIG hill. After a lovely stroll around the lake, I headed back to my car, stopping then (a little late) to read the park information, which suggested that walkers keep an eye out for the rattlesnakes so as not to disturb them in their natural habitat.

Now, to Joy rattlesnakes are an incentive to walk/run a little faster (see http://www.divarunning.blogspot.com/). Had I read the sign BEFORE my walk, it would have been another vacation plan derailed.

On to California law. The California legislature could certainly give the New Jersey legislature a run for its money. This morning in the urgent care center, right after Alan had been given his two Vicodan, he had to sign a form that he was aware he was given a narcotic and a second form saying that he would not drive for 6 hours. I had to sign a form saying that I knew he had been given a narcotic and another saying that I was his designated driver.

Yesterday, right after we ordered breakfast at a local restaurant, where I substituted the pancakes for the toast with my eggs, a large laminated card was left at our table with the caloric content of everything on the menu. Did I really want to know that the banana blueberry bread on our table was the equivalent of an average person's daily caloric intake? (And I am assuming those were the calories for the whole loaf, not the two pieces we had). Did I want to know EXACTLY the consequences of my pancake substitution?

Apparently, like the myriad of forms related to the Vicodan, this full disclosure is a California law. I guess California believes in informed choice in a big way. Too bad you read the form after you order but before you eat!

Pictures today are of the Omelet Express and Castaway, a great name for a yarn shop on 4th Street in Santa Rosa and the view of the valley from Nasagawa Park, before I read the rattlesnake warning.

102 Degrees in Sonoma

It's 102 degrees in Sonoma. It's hot - too hot to walk around, too hot to taste wine, too hot to do much of anything. And contrary to popular belief about hot days in New Jersey, dry heat is every bit as hot as humid heat. The dry wind blowing today is feels like a furnace. It's really hot!

We did go to a couple of wineries, but didn't do much tasting. Kenwood Winery, in the picture with the grapevines, had some interesting white wines. I tried a pinot gris, which was very refreshing. Then on to Imagery wines where the labels, which they commission artists to do, are as good as the wine. Tried small tastes of a white burgundy, a viognier and a muscat.

Ended up at Valley of the Moon (two pictures above) to see the beautiful gardens, which we remembered from our last trip to Sonoma. And that was it - back to spend the rest of the afternoon in our cool room, after a short stop at the cheese shop in Sonoma.

Thought this picture of the feline friend we met at Imagery summed it up well. A little shade, a little nap, don't bother me, please, I'm just too hot to move.

Leaving San Francisco

Last day in San Francisco. Awoke to the most beautiful sunrise over the bay - the photos just don't do it justice. Had a wonderful time. Aside from the givens - Fisherman's Wharf, cable cars, Lombard Street, Ghiradelli Square, here are my favorites of the trip so far:

1) Visiting City Lights Bookstore and taking Alan's picture in front of the shop, just like we did more than 30 years ago on our first trip to San Francisco. Two English majors, fresh out of college, we couldn't come to San Francisco and not visit the place where the poets, like Ferlinghetti and Ginsburg, got started. Brought back great memories.

2) Dim sum lunch at a restaurant in Chinatown. Tried hot and sour soup for the first time - delicious. Not good enough to use the chopsticks - the waitress didn't ask, she just brought us the forks.

3) Richard Avedon photo exhibit at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Amazing photographs of famous people - one touching part of the exhibit were side-by-side photos of Rose Kennedy and Edward Kennedy - and not-so-famous people. His photos of people in the west were powerful and moving. My favorite was the only photograph not of someone's face. It was an amazing photo of Rudolph Nureyev's foot.

4) Sunset and sunrise over the bay. An exquisite way to begin and end the day.

5) The weird bow and arrow sculpture along the water near our hotel. Quite a landmark - helped us not to get too lost!

6) Just being with Alan - driving up and down these incredible hills, walking, talking, Peet's coffee overlooking the water, Wii bowling, travel Scrabble in the lobby last night before the cruise. just spending time together.

7) And, of course, Boudin Bakery, our new landmark.

Didn't try sushi - maybe next time. Off to Sonoma later today after Sausilito and Muir Woods.

Sunset on the Bay

Took a sunset cruise on San Francisco Bay this evening. Left from Fisherman's Wharf, cruised along the city, then past Alcatraz Island, Tiburon and Sausilito, and finally under the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a clear night and beautiful sunset. No need for words - the pictures speak for themselves.

Our Hotel in San Francisco

We are staying at the Harbor Court Hotel at the corner of Mission Street, right across from the Embarcadero. It is in a beautiful spot. This is the view from our room on the 4th floor. It is close to everything, has the Embarcadero for morning walks and is one block from the Ferry Building, the marketplace with everything.

It is really a fun place to stay. There are popsicles at 3 PM, wine at 5 PM and warm cookies at 9 PM free in the lobby. There is also Wii in the lobby during the wine hour. Alan and I did Wii bowling yesterday and attracted our own cheering section (everyone had quite a bit of wine by that point). I should only bowl so good for real - 147 twice and then a 188.

We did return to Boudin today for lunch. Tomato soup in a sourdough bread bowl. And they really do deliver anywhere!

California Baseball

Went to the Giants game (baseball, not football) on Tuesday, our first night in San Francisco. The Giants were Alan's favorite baseball team when he was growing up in the Bronx, at least they were before they made the big move to California.

California baseball is a little different than New York baseball. The fans are passionate - they wear team colors, they cheer, they filled the stadium, but things were, well, just a little quieter, sedate in fact.

The first clue to me that things were a bit different was as I watched one of the vendors selling something from a large backpack with a spigot, which resembled an industrial size leaf blower. I assumed it was beer, but on his 5th or 6th pass by our seats, I realized that it was hot chocolate! It was a little chilly in the stadium, but hot chocolate? And he had a can of whipped in his pocket. A little different.

We had a really good time. Turns out we were seated in the middle of about 80 Arizona Diamondback fans, season ticket holders who had made the trip from Phoenix for the two-game series with the Giants. They were all wearing red jackets (Giants colors are orange). I assumed they were there as parents of the drum corps performing on the field before the game - they were wearing red, too. But the man sitting next to me pointed out the Diamondbacks warming up on the field, also wearing red. Once a band parent, always a band parent.

Just to our right was the Giants fan with the loudest voice in the stadium. He singlehandedly drowned out the 80 Arizona fans cheering after a good play by their team.

The stadium in beautiful - it overlooks the bay and the Oakland Bay Bridge. And people were just so friendly and nice - it was a little scary. And the Giants pulled it out at the end to win.

Where to Begin?

We've had such a full and fun day that it's hard to know where to begin, so I guess I'll begin at the beginning - with the bread!

This is Edward. He works at Boudin Bakery. He let me take his picture in front of just some of the bread that Boudin bakes. It is amazing that he is so thin because the bread is delicious! I wanted it all, but confined myself to sharing one sourdough roll with Alan. It was heaven! Had I had more room, I would have eaten more, but we had already had breakfast and were headed to Chinatown for dim sum for lunch.

Now that my bread obsession has been outed, I decided that a tour of Boudin Bakery on Fisherman's Wharf was a "must-see" for the trip. There is a tour, there are windows into the bakery, where we observed the fastest croissant maker in the world, there are samples and there is a lot of bread to buy. Alan suggested that we buy some to take home, but who is he kidding - it wouldn't make it out of San Francisco.

Tomorrow I plan to use my power as the navigator for my directionless spouse to take us by Boudin again so I can purchase a loaf of the chocolate raisin sourdough bread! Going to the Golden Gate Bridge? Just past Boudin. Visiting Haight Ashbury? Just to the right of Boudin. The Museum of Modern Art (6 blocks from our hotel)? Let's just swing by Boudin first.

I am planning to suggest that they start a mail order bread of the month club!

Early Morning Walk

Walked this morning on the Embarcadero, along the San Francisco Bay. I expected a beautiful sunrise, but forgot the fog. It hung over the city like a veil, light and gentle, giving the city a chance to wake up slowly. It is a runners' paradise - lots of people out this morning, in all shapes, sizes and ages. Walked through the Ferry Terminal, which is a marketplace of many shops, bread, cheese, herbs, tea, produce, meats and fish. People were busy setting up - will definitely be back later when the shops open.

Here's some things I want to do while we are here:

1) Walk on the Golden Gate Bridge
2) Take a ferry somewhere - anywhere - in San Francisco Bay.
3) Visit City Lights Bookstore
4) Eat sourdough bread
5) Try sushi
6) Visit the Japanese Tea Gardens in Golden Gate Park

We did the first two things on our list yesterday - lunch at the Waterfront Restaurant, wine in the hotel and then the Giants baseball game at AT&T Park. Pictures to follow on that - it was a hoot! Baseball here is a little different than in NYC.

At The Waterfront

Vacation - Day 1 - Here we are in San Francisco at our favorite restaurant, The Waterfront at Pier 9 on the Embarcadero. We discovered this restaurant on a trip to San Francisco with friends in the summer of 1977 and have come for lunch or dinner almost every time we've returned to San Francisco. This is our 5th or 6th time. A wonderful way to start our vacation - great Bloody Marys, sumptuous clam chowder, good seafood of every kind (of course Alan had a hamburger while I splurged on lemon risotto with lobster) and the most amazing view of San Francisco Bay next to the Oakland Bay Bridge.

Great flight, made even better because Polly insisted that I take her Kindle instead of my usual 6 books plus an extra or 2 from the airport bookstore. What am amazing device. I downloaded a book while waiting at the gate and read it while everyone else slept through the 6:30 AM flight. My improving technological skills surprise me, although I suspect that technology is getting easier rather than me getter more adept.

Off to a Giants game tonight. They are playing the Diamondbacks or, according to Alan, the Razorbacks. Hot dogs, pretzels and beer!

It's a Wrap! (Pun Intended)

The Summer 2009 Gastronomic World Tour is over. Friday just didn't feel the same - no new menu to explore or new food to try. It was such an adventure to travel the cuisines of so many different countries and I am sad that it is over.

So what have I gained from the tour? (aside from a couple of extra pounds)

1) Some new favorite restaurants. The best for me were Stamna for Greek food, Mesob for Ehtiopian and Sesame for Chinese. I've already been back to all three (Stamna more than once) and brought new friends with me to share the adventure.

2) A reminder that I am blessed with wonderful family and friends. The best part of the tour was sharing it with family and friends and introducing my favorite people to each other. And I loved reading your comments on my blog - it made the trip even more fun.

3) The knowledge that we live in a wonderfully diverse place. Aside from Saveur Creole, all of the restaurants we visited were on Broad Street in Bloomfield or Bloomfield Avenue in Montclair. Where else, outside of New York City, could you have such a diversity of food, all within blocks!

4) The understanding that - yes - bread IS my favorite food. I don't think there was a piece of bread on the tour that I didn't love. To find new kinds of bread - like the injera at Mesob - was wonderful. And to taste different variations of the bread and potatoes staple of my background (Polish/Russan) was great. Can you believe Mesob had a potatoes and cabbage dish? And it is eaten on injera. Now that is a real Polish combination!

5) The discovery that I could do a blog. Who knew? It's been so much fun, I feel like a writer. And to be able to post pictures? Way above my technological skill level! Thanks especially to my seven followers - I won't tell anyone that two of you brought up the numbers by signing on twice!

6) The realization that it is sometimes better to think less and do more. This was an idea from summer 2008, which I thought about and didn't do. I thought about it a lot. Would we enjoy it? Would it be comfortable? Would people come? Would they feel comfortable with each other?Looking down the table with 12 friends at Bohemia, our second stop, made me realize that none of that mattered. That's when I stopped thinking (aka worrying) and started enjoying.

So what's next? Perhaps another blog. As I told Amanda, when she pointed out my obvious fondness for bread, my next blog might be I Love Bread followed quickly by a second one, Zumba is My Life (which I really do enjoy) to work off the pounds. Or maybe something about thinking less and doing more and the journey to get to there from here.

So, stay tuned. Maybe we'll do a fall tour of Italy, for all of you who asked me why there were no Italian restaurants on the tour. Or a tour of tapas and wine bars - there are a couple of good ones in our area.

In the meantime, you can come on vacation with us. Alan and I are headed to San Francisco and Sonoma next week. How many wineries in how many days? We'll see!

Love Those Empanadas!

Last stop on the summer tour - Saveur Creole for Creole/Caribbean food. Lovely little restaurant on Grove Street in Montclair with dining in and outside on the sidewalk in front. Takeout also available, along with a market of Caribbean spices and sauces. It was especially nice to share the last stop with my brother, Al, and his wife, Sue. They started with us at Pandan and it was fun to share a different dining experience with them again.

Best part of the dinner were the empanadas. For appetizers, Susan and I had crab empanadas and Alan had one with pork and raisins. For dessert, I had empanadas filled with mango and pineapple. The empanadas are very different - light and flaky, almost like phyllo pastry used in Greek spinach pie. Very delicious and flavorful. Al had a gumbo of crab and sausage, which he enjoyed.

The appetizer empanadas came on top of a salad of greens and creamy cheese in a sweet and tangy dressing, with a side of what appeared to be red cabbage. Beware the red cabbage! We had already tried it with the bread brought to the table at the begining of the meal. As Susan said when I frantically gulped my water after my first small (really miniscule) taste - "I TOLD you it was hot!" That proved to be an understatement!

For dinner, Sue and Al had a spicy shrimp dish, Alan had pork creole and I had beef stew creole. All three dishes were very good, with unique, but not overwheming flavors. For Alan the summer tour has been new ways to cook pork and lamb. The side dishes were great - I had a corn meal cake over black beans, Alan had creamy macaroni and cheese, Sue and Al had rice and beans. The side dishes were mild and a great compliment to the spiciness of the entrees.

Our one complaint - the service was somewhat slow and disorganized. It was fine until the air conditioning went off. We were really enjoying the leisurely pace until it got a little hot - too hot for Alan.

So was this really the last stop? Stayed tuned!

Last Stop - Creole

The summer world tour is nearing its end with our last stop Saveur Creole at 131 Grove Street in Montclair. Reviews describe this restaurant as Creole food from around the world - Haiti, Latin America, even Louisiana. The owner is from Haiti and many of the dishes, as well as sauces and spices sold in the store, are from his family recipes. Check out their website at http://www.saveurcreole.com/ and plan on joining us at 7 PM for our final dining experience on the world tour.

Here are some pictures from last week's dinner at Sesame, a Chinese restaurant on Bloomfield Avenue in Montclair. It was a real family affair, with Joy and Polly home for the weekend. The food was great - well-seasoned, flavorful sauces and some unusual combinations. Joy ordered a three-nut chicken with cashews, walnuts and almonds. Polly's chicken in black bean sauce was outstanding. The restaurant is lovely - brick walls, pretty lighting and a very relaxing atmosphere. We enjoyed it so much that Joy and I went back for lunch on Tuesday!

Hope to see you Friday at Saveur Creole.

Moving on to the Far East

We're back on the tour and moving on to the Far East. On Friday we'll meet for Chinese food at Sesame Restaurant on Bloomfield Avenue in Montclair, right next door to the Wellmont Theater. Check out the menu, address and directions at www.sesamerestaurant.com. As usual, dinner is at 7 - let us know if you can join us.

The Family Sitdown

Friday turned out to be a really lovely dinner - the first time that my father and his brother and sister were all together in 27 years. It was a real family dinner, with family members coming from Germany, Maryland, Florida as well as New York and New Jersey. The food was good, as usual. Mario's has been a Clifton favorite for Italian food for many years. I remember coming here for pizza when I was in high school.

The highlight of the evening for me - when my nephews ordered pizza after we had all finished dinner. A new take on dessert!

Change in Plans

Dinner this Friday, which was scheduled for Lalezar, a Turkish restaurant on Bloomfield Avenue, is canceled. We are having a big reunion with my father's family - my aunt is coming from Florida to visit, along with my cousin from Germany. Dinner will be at the family favorite, Mario's in Clifton . This will be the first time in 27 years that my father (age 90), his sister (age 86) and my uncle (age 82) have seen each other. It will either be tears or fireworks!

I'll send out a revised schedule for our last two dinners, on August 7 and 14, later this week.

Rosie's Wine Bar

Went out to dinner tonight at a new favorite - Rosie's Wine Bar in Garwood. Alan and I first saw it driving to a cooking class at Classic Thyme in Westfield last year and couldn't find it again until we happened upon it this summer. Went there in June and it has quickly become a new favorite for wine and now dinner.

It is a great place to sample wine. You can create your own flight by ordering half glasses of wine. The wine menu is extensive and includes 25 reds and 25 whites you can order by the glass or half-glass. We've had a great time sampling different wines. And even better, they sell bottles of the wine they serve, so you can bring home what you've sampled and enjoyed. The best part is that they sell the wine at store, rather than restaurant prices. We've bought a couple of wines for $9-$12 a bottle.

Tonight was the first time we tried a full dinner. The menu is eclectic with a nice selection of appetizers, salads and entrees. We all shared hummus, which was homemade along with warm pita bread. Really, really good. Alan had a flatiron steak, which was very tender and cooked in a great sauce. I had grilled salmon in a balsamic reduction which had a wonderful flavor. I also had Israeli couscous, which I like much better than regular couscous. It is larger and creamier, almost like orzo.

The nicest part of the evening was sharing it with Polly and her friend, Megan, who we haven't seen in awhile. It was so nice to see her - it made dinner very special.

Try Rosie's Wine Bar - it is well worth the trip. And if you have difficulty finding it, like we did, it is off North Avenue in Garwood, right across the street from the Shop-Rite.

Good, But Not Great

Moroccan food at Marrakech tonight - good but not great. The food was very interesting and had some really good flavors but, all in all, it just couldn't compare to some of the other restaurants we've tried over the last 8 weeks.

We started our meal by sharing an appetizer of ground beef and eggs in filo pastry, shaped like a cigar, called - no surprise here - cigar marocain. It was good, with a nice cinnamony-sweet taste. My entree was chicken tagine, which I enjoyed. It came in beautiful pottery cookware, with a lid decorated and shaped like an upside down funnel. It was cooked in an olive-lemon sauce, which was absolutely delicious. Alan was not as positive about his lamb tagine, which had an odd and unfamiliar taste to him. We shared steamed couscous, light and fragrant.

The best part of dinner was dessert. Alan had a delicious - and very sweet - mocha creme brulee. I ordered the pastilla au lait - rice pudding in filo dough with almonds and condensed milk. It came out looking remarkably like a piece of broiled flounder - very disconcerting. Once I got past the resemblance, I enjoyed it very much - it was the best part of the meal.

I was surprised that the items on the menu sounded so French, which makes sense because of the French ties to Morocco. (Not completely sure of my history, but there was a clear French influence.)

All in all, an interesting, but not great experience. Our biggest complaint: portions too small, chairs and table too small and cramped, but prices high. Not much value for the money.

A highlight of the evening was a new wine that we tried - Adesso, a dry red wine from Sicily. A very intersting flavor and a good contrast to the sweetness of the meal.

Next Stop - Morroco

Tomorrow we continue our journey up Bloomfield Avenue to Marrakech for Morrocan food. According to their website, Marrakech is a family affair, run by brothers from Casablanca, with Mom and Dad helping in the kitchen. The menu sounds great. I am curious to taste tagine, which sounds like an exotic way to cook chicken and fish. I've already picked out dessert - pastilla au lait - described as rice pudding in filo dough. Could it get any better?

Check out their website at http://www.marrakechofmontclair.com/and do plan on joining us tomorrow at 7 PM. It would be great to share this dining adventure with our friends. Just call and let us know.

Hope to see you tomorrow!

How Could I Forget the Bread?

Somehow I forgot to mention the best part of our dinner at the Taj Palace - the bread!!! We tried two kinds of naan - plain and flavored with nuts and raisins. It was delicious - and my favorite part of the meal. Actually, I could do a separate blog on the bread alone. We have had some new and delicious bread on our summer tour - the pita at Stamna, the injera at Mesob and now the naan at Taj Palace. As a bread lover, this has been an unexpected benefit of the restaurant tour. I've found recipes for each and would love to try making some. Maybe a wrap-up at the end of the summer?

Just the Two of Us

Just the two of us at dinner on Friday. We went to the Taj Palace for Indian food and decided to be adventurous and try some dishes we had never had before. We shared an appetizer sampler of samosas, pakoras and papadom. Alan ordered sultani, a specially-seasoned lamb tandoori, which is cooked in a clay oven. I had a chicken biryani, which was like an Indian version of fried rice. We ended the meal by sharing a custard dessert called firni. We thoroughly enjoyed the entire dinner.

Of all the foods we've tried so far, this had the most interesting selection and combination of ingredients, especially spices. The first mouthful of my biryani was a bit of a surprise - it tasted different from anything I've tried before. As I continued eating, I enjoyed it more and more - the spice combination was both fragrant and delicious. I was curious about the spices used in buryani, so I checked out some recipes online. Ginger, chili powder, turmeric, cumin, cardamon, cinnamon and saffron are all used in biryani. I especially enjoyed the inclusion of cinnamon it really did give the dish a unique flavor. There were also golden raisons and cashews - a wonderful touch. This was also the least expensive dinner we've had so far - a real bargain for a really delicious meal.

Would we try it again? Absolutely! Yes to both Indian food and the Taj Palace.

Taj Palace on Friday

Continuing our route up Bloomfield Avenue, Friday's dinner is Indian food at the Taj Palace. Check out the menu at www.tajpalacerestaurant.com and join us. Enjoying good company, introducing friends to one another and sharing interesting new food has been wonderful. Good food, great company - what could be better! Hope to see you on Friday.

Good Food, Great Company!

We had a great time at Tuptim on Friday. The food was good but the company was even better - Linda, Stephanie and Nick joined Alan and me.

Alan and Nick are "meat and potatoes" guys, so the thought of trying something different was a challenge for them, but they actually did enjoy their meals. They stuck to the basics of meat and chicken in traditional sauces. Stephanie and I were more adventurous - we had a shrimp, scallop and chicken combination dish in a roasted chili sauce - mild for me and hot for her. Linda is a vegetarian and had a delicious dish with tofu, which I tasted for the first time. It was crispy and really good - not at all what I expected. We shared some appetizers - the chicken satay was a favorite. The restaurant itself is spacious and comfortable - perfect for our table of five.

We decided to save room for dessert elsewhere and after dinner we walked down Church Street to Gimmie Jimmie's. Good coffee, cake and cookies. I had a slice of my favorite red velvet cake. It was nice to sit outside enjoying dessert, listening to music and watching the action on Church Street.

Next week is Indian food. In the meantime, Linda, Stephanie and I decided that we needed to take a special trip back to Mesob for Ethiopian.