http://gertie.drivemeinsane.com/index.php http://gertie.drivemeinsane.com/index.php?entry=entry100725-154002 Manjula's Kitchen has some awesome food. After the lamb meatball experience, I got a little brave. I had never been too sure we'd like Moroccan food, but we loved those little balls of spicy joy. I carefully selected a few recipes, listed all the ingredients in Word in several form - English, Romanized Indian, and for those I was able to locate, in that cool squiggly script they have. My daughter turned out more happy to shop with me than I expected, though perhaps it was the influence of the pretty cookies I let her add to the cart.


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As you can see, it's a bit of an interesting location, just off the George Bush and 35E, so we were a little nervous of getting there, but it turned out very easy. We just exited an exit early on 35E north and followed the streets over. We were glad we took the chance as soon as we got inside. Everything was neatly stacked and sorted, with neat, hand-written signs on the shelves with the names of everything in English. We only had trouble finding two items, a fact I put down more to a sense of overload after wandering up and down the aisles peering at everything. We chose the Indo-Pak Super Market in Carrollton based on proximity to our favorite electronics shop and a few good reviews here and there around the web, and they didn't steer us wrong. It's a great little grocery with several choices for any Indian food product you might care to name. The produce was nice and fresh, if a tad bit limited, and the ginger I picked up there is the very freshest I've had in a while. Apparently people in small north Texas towns don't use a lot of fresh ginger. Who knew?

The day was sliding into afternoon, so we decided to stop in at Maurizio's Italian for some of this:



Yeah, I'm drooling, too! And it tasted even better than it looks.

When we got home late that evening, after a few more stops, I was too tired to do more than line up all my new spices and flours on the counter and do a little gloating dance around the kitchen. I know, very sad! Next day we got up a little late, so I immediately went to the kitchen, gathered up my little bags and boxes, and started measuring. It took me a little while to sort things out, so the family was poking their heads in and making whining "I'm hungry" noises before I managed to turn out this:



Everything tasted great. Maybe it's that our taste buds are used to jalapeno-spiced Tex-Mex, but it seemed pretty mild. I especially like the dish with the peanuts, Sabudana Khichdi. Something about it is absolutely addictive. The other dishes are brown rice, fresh bread we picked up at the Indo-Pak, and Laucki Chana Dal . All were delicious and came out exactly as Manjula said they would. I was so impressed to find every small step of the way was explained and detailed, so many cooking videos leave this or that out and you don't realize until you are elbows deep in cooking it.

The only downside, husband thought it should have contained meat. Hm? Wait, hello? Vegetarian food! Guess he isn't quite ready for it, so next time I will roast a quick chicken breast to add to his portion. Even so, great food, and great for my diet. Happily everyone in the family was completely won over by the egg-free pineapple cake. It has a great texture and tastes so yummy, they were fighting over the last morsels!



As you can see from the video, soooo very easy to make. I whipped another one up just so Restil will have some to take with him for lunch. I did add a sprinkle of coconut powder to the top, just for the pretty look. I think it added to the flavor as well. Sorry for no pictures, I couldn't fight off the family long enough.

Next blog, I'll post some pictures of the Pav Vadas. We made them as a late night snack, but I unfortunately succumbed to the fear the patties would be too small for the larger buns we bought. I'll be making them again, we did enjoy them, but next time I'll make them patties just a tad smaller. Shoulda listened to Manjula's advice to make six. :)]]> http://gertie.drivemeinsane.com/index.php?entry=entry100614-130232
I purchased a new, self-published Anime at A-kon. Could not resist the lure, his presentation was just so cute. If it is any good, I will post a review when I am done and try to find a link to the author's page, as he surely has one. At least he made an attempt to grab your attention as you walked by, glazed- and hollow-eyed from all the noise, flashing lights, and colors of the convention artist alley.

The convention was in the Sheraton Hotel on Olive Street in Dallas. Hate to say it, was not very favorably impressed. On the first night stayed in the VU volunteers girls only crash room in North Tower, which was very clean and worked out well. Moved to the room we got in the South Tower on Friday and found it wanting. First off, apparently they have some sort of energy saving system in that tower. The translation is the rooms are always too warm. Though we kept the ac on 72 degrees, it never got below 80 that we saw on the thermometer. I had heard bad things about this hotel some years ago, but forgotten, and boy am I sad about that. In addition, it was apparent the room isn't often used. Guess they got tired of complaints about the heat. There was a little pile of dust bunny in the back right corner of our sink in the bathroom, all the trim around the floor had a thick film of dust on it, and both corners under the sink platform were cruddy. The bedding and towels were fresh, but still, for the prices they charged us I kind of expect at least tidy and neat.

A lot of people were moving through the convention center and so I could understand a bit of heat there, I suppose, but it was terribly hot the entire time. Even in the night time. Yes, it was hot and humid, yes there were a lot of people spreading body heat. It's a convention center in downtown Dallas, Texas which yearly hosts a number of large conventions in summer. Surely this is to be expected? On the other hand, there was plenty of space, and plenty of water made available for free. The particular convention we attended has been held there for years and attendance was the largest ever yet, so I guess they will do alright no matter what I say of the space.

Made a trip to Killeen to see the darling grandbebe. He's growing like a weed and already adept at keeping them hopping to his tune, so things are fine there. He has the cutest, most excellent smile evah, too! Sure loved flashing it at his Auntie. Seems a bit puzzled by me, I think it is the dark hair like his mom. He gives me some very considering looks, let me tell you!]]>