Expanding My Horizons

If you've ever eaten a meal with me, you've probably figured out that I'm a picky eater. Yes, I'm one of "those people". I do my best to make life difficult- it would be no fun if it were easy all the time. hah. Since moving to Nashville, I have been slllooowwwlllyyy trying to spread my wings and be a bit more adventurous. I know for most of you reading this, you're probably thinking "ABOUT TIME". Not every flower blooms at the same time. My new friend Sepi introduced me to Indian food a few weeks ago. An Indian restaurant in Green Hills called "Shalimar" was the scene of my first Indian experience. I will be honest - the place didn't exactly look like your normal American restaurant. I mean, it was ETHNIC. With much trepidation, I put my faith in Sepi and opened the iron bar covered door (and the menu).

I decided to play it safe (I can see the irony- I know) and choose a chicken dish. And really, you can't go wrong with bread. No matter what country you are in, bread is bread. I ordered the Tandoori Chicken dish with Indian rice (it's not like the Chinese or Japanese or American rice). My bread order came out looking like a thick tortilla- not bad at all. Not being someone who likes spicy foods, I made sure to check with the waiter about the spicyness of the chicken. Apparently, their choices are Mild, Medium, Hot and AMERICAN Mild, Medium, Hot. Well I made sure to order the American Mild. It was still pretty spicy- thankfully, they left a pitcher of water on the table! Sepi ordered some appetizer that basically was potato and miscellaneous ingredients wrapped up in a dough type substance and fried. I tried it as well...not too bad. There were also a variety of sauces on the table. I tried 2 of the 3- the third once was a kind of minty green colored- you all know how I feel about green things.

All in all, my first experience eating Indian food was good. I don't think I will ever "crave" Indian food, but hey, it's all about trying new things....you never know until you try.

Asian Cuisine

On Tonight's Menu: Benihana's Japanese Fried Rice
From: America's Most Wanted Recipes From Your Favorite Restaurants


Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup uncooked short-grain Japanese white rice
soybean/vegetable oil
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup finely diced green onions
1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed
1 medium carrot, finely grated
4 teaspoons soy sauce
salt and pepper

Directions:
1. Cook the rice according to the package directions. Once done, empy into a mixing bowl.
2. In a large skillet, heat 2 teaspoons of oil. Scramble the eggs into small pieces until cooked. Empty the scrambled eggs into the bowl with the rice and stir together.
3. Using the same pan, add additional oil, the diced green onions, the peas, and the carrot. Let simmer on low heat for 5 minutes.
4. Add several sccops of the cooked rice and egg mixture to the skillet. Keep gradually adding a scoop at a time to the pan and stirring.
5. While mixing, slowly add the soy sauce until the fried rice is a golden brown color.
6. Add salt and pepper to taste.



Enjoy! This meal gets a rating of 8 out of 10. It was easy/fast to make and tasted just like the restaurant's!!

Doppelganger Alert!

Today I spent most of my day Downtown in a conference room at Baker Donelson. During one of the breaks, I was standing in the door frame of the conference room facing the reception area when I noticed a man kinda staring at me. I was partially listening to the two men speaking in front of me, but it was definitely hard to focus once I noticed that man staring in our direction. He left the reception area only to return seconds later (still staring) and lean over the receptionist's desk and speak softly with the receptionist. I then noticed that the receptionist turned around to stare in our direction. I was getting really self conscious (thinking my pants were unzipped or something) but eventually the man left. The receptionist called me over and asked me if I noticed that man staring at me. (Duh. Yeah I kinda noticed.) She said he asked her if the firm was representing Jennifer Aniston!!! He thought I was Jennifer Aniston!! I don't know what that says for his optometrist, but I'll take it!! (I need to figure out how I was standing and put that on repeat for sure!)

I must say that this isn't the first time that I've been compared to Jennifer- the first time I met Nicole's Dad he said that I looked like Jennifer Aniston. (He's always been a favorite person on my list!) lol


It's a definite self-esteem booster and I will float on this cloud for quite a while!