I'm not eating around -

But JT is.

My husband is working in Bangalore at the moment. He's in India for a couple weeks with work and I told him I wanted food pictures, especially. He spends his evenings/my mornings on IM with me, telling me how WONDERFUL all the food is and getting me jealous. It's downright mean of him to tell me things like, "This is how cucumbers will taste in heaven" and "I haven't had mango like this since I was a kid in Mexico." Sigh. So I'm eating vicariously through him. I have to admit, though: fewer calories this way!

This morning for him, breakfast started with papaya, pineapple, melon, bacon, a rice cake that was made with rice, nuts, spices and vegtables, and then a sweet cake.



(The photo is clickable and leads to a ton of other pictures, only a few of which are food related, the rest are images from the trip. Food shots are on Day 3.)

Catering is phenomenal and, from everything he has said, I need to dig out my Indian cookbooks and get cracking!

On the road

Out here in the Kansas City area, hanging with friends. I have, unfortunately, continued to forget my camera every time we leave the room.

We had brunch at Blue Bird Bistro in Kansas City a couple days ago and oh, was it ever good! Darana has often commented on the place, so I was looking forward to trying it. I was not at all disappointed. I wish we had a bistro like this in Lancaster.

Pictures... eventually. I hope!

Cake!

Reviewing my posts, I can't believe I never posted about the cake Chef Duff Goldman of Charm City Cakes did for Roo's 13th birthday back in January!

She fell in love with Phantom of the Opera when we took her to see it in NYC. So, she asked for a Phantom Theme for her 13th. Easily done, especially with the movie version having come out. So we did the rec room up with stars and giant film strips and had individual bags of popcorn for the girls to go with movie munchies. Finger foods they could snack on while watching PotO on DVD. But.. the real star of the party, after the birthday girl, was the cake. After much discussion and research, Roo came up with the design she wanted for her cake, basing it off of a musical figurine:



She decided she wanted a mask and rose on the gondola, which Chef Goldman used in place of Erik and Christine. She was so thrilled with the cake that she wanted to save it for posterity.



Since *everything* on this was edible, except for the wire stem in the rose, that didn't happen. I can assure you, the cake was delicious.

It was so good and dealing with Charm City Cakes such a pleasant experience, that I have another order in for a Death Star cake for a small party at Shore Leave in July. I can't wait!

Why it's better to eat at camp

I've been neglectful, but I have good reason - I've been watching what I eat. HOWEVER - what that means now as I've started to get into the swing of things is that I'm realizing that food cannot be bland or boring. It must have flavor to satisfy me.

Recently, we traveled to Cherokee, NC. Lovely area. We camped, ate a roast done over the fire and sipped wine while stargazing. One afternoon was spent riding horses in the Great Smokies. Afterwards, of course, we were famished. So we left the peace and quiet of the mountain and headed into Gaitlinburg. We stopped for dinner at a little restaurant in town that was supposedly a great place to eat. You be the judge.

I'm not a big catfish eater, but it was on the menu as an appetizer. What the heck, we said, so we ordered it.

Bland. Bland. Bland. It had no flavor or even texture at all. But, I perked up. I'd ordered lobster bites for dinner. That had to be better, right?

It was as boring as it looked. Seeing a streak, we skipped dessert and left. We really didn't want to chance their coffee there! Not after how spoiled we've gotten with the good stuff, which seems to be even better cooked in the old campfire coffeepot we use. We walked through town instead, where we saw a great deal:

I had to wonder how they were seasoned! Hopefully better than my lobster bites.

The BEST meal we had that we ourselves didn't prepare was at Grandma's Pancakes and Steaks. A little restaurant with vinyl tablecloths was where we chose to have our Easter morning breakfast. It was homecooking, well prepared and, unlike our sad dinner, it didn't cost an arm and a leg. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures from that, as I'd left the camera back at the campsite.
Lesson learned, though? In touristy areas, stick to small, out of the way places or prepare it yourself if you can. Less fattening and more flavorful!