Its all about food...

The one thing that I have tried exceptionally wild here in Seattle, is food. It's not just because of my adventurous attitude or cos I am a food junkie. Its just that it makes more sense to me to try Tacos or Chowder for five bucks than wasting it on one silly Aloo Parantha or Biryani which I anyways will be having in a few days time. Its not about home-food too. Had it been the case I'd have stuffed Ready-to-Eat food packets from India for me while coming. Its the fact that, I won't get all these once I am back home. So why not try them out while I'm here?

I have tried a lot of varieties of food here already. Greek(Pitas) , Mexican(Tacos), Thai(All the funny sounding names), Chinese(Funny again), Russian(Try the drinks, not the salads, specifically no to the Russian White Salad), American(McD, KFC, Fish and Chips, Salmon, blah blah) and Vietnamese(Chicken Bowl was yum)! All have their own style and taste, clearly depicting the culture of their respective lands. But after 3 weeks of experimentation, my taste buds revolted against me and I had to succumb to their pressure.

Moreover, today I went with my team to an "authentic" Chinese Restaurant called Tamarind Tree. Since it was lunch , we had our tables reserved and orders pre-placed, before we left from office. I made my taste-buds go through the ultimate torture test; which in cricketing terms can be compared to facing Brett Lee on a green WACA (Perth) pitch in a cold murky Australian morning. I ordered a Bún tôm nướng (it took me five minutes to Google this dish I ate) and they tasted horrible and I blame it to my choice rather than the chef. They served me rice noodles with grilled prawns and herbs. They also served me a bowl of boiling water and a plate of rice-paper (I swear had somebody not told me that they were edible, I'd have used them as table mats). They were thin transparent rice flakes with beautiful pattern made on it. I was supposed to dip them in the boiling water and put the rice noodles and the prawns along with herbs in it, roll it over, dip in the soya sauce and put straight into my hapless mouth. Believe me, once they are wrapped ,they looked more like garbage stuffed in miniature polythene bags. Tasted like that too!! Eeeks!!

Here's me with my team. Don't misjudge my smile; its more of a relief-smile than the one of satisfaction.

After this trauma, I decided to break-free. I told myself, no matter what happens, I am gonna eat something mouth-sloppering delicious for dinner! So I headed towards the First Avenue where Google Maps pointed me an Indian Restaurant, called 'The Taste of India'. There were mainly Phirangs who were eating there and I feared whether I have come to a wrong place again! However, the guy on the counter was a Punjabi and that gave me a real sense of hope. I ordered a Lamb Biryani and asked him to wrap it up for me, as it was still early for dinner. I had my dinner in the room and believe me, that guy was really generous when he packed that Biryani for me. I can bet a whole American family can eat that amount of stuff (Of course, after eating that spicy Mutton Biryani, they'd be a thing of the past). I truly enjoyed it a lot. In fact I still am, whenever I get to burp now :-P !!

More later...