Weekend Excursion

Here is a picture of my boys at the White Rock Lake Dog Park in Dallas. In the picture, Mihir is trying to persuade Alfie to play with the other dogs. He declined to do so.

Favorite D-FW Restaurants

If there's one thing I love, above all else, about living in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, it's the wide variety of restaurants. We discovered some favorites, although I have a list--about a yard long--of places I still need to try. But these are the ones we go to over and over again:

1. Madras Pavilion, Richardson, Texas: There is no better place for South Indian vegetarian food. Their weekend lunch buffet is amazing--that's what we most frequently eat. But the a-la-carte menu is actually very tasty, too. Mihir usually gets an idli platter, while I opt for a dosa. Also enjoyed: the mango lassi.

2. Queen of Sheba, Addison, Texas: Ethiopian food! When I was in college, I ate at an Ethiopian restaurant in Ann Arbor. I thought it was to-die-for. I'd never eaten in a place with such an ethnic ambiance. And, I guess, it was good. But it was NOTHING compared to Queen of Sheba. I think part of the reason I love this restaurant so much is because the people are so nice. But, of course, the food is superb. If you have never eaten Ethiopian fare, you should try it. It's a very unique experience. There generally aren't any utensils, just spongy porous bread called injera. You tear of a piece, use it to collect your morsels from a common platter in the center of the table, and eat! Sometimes we indulge in lamb (my true food weakness) but their vegetarian dishes are very light and healthy. I definitely don't feel I'm sacrificing great food if we order the vegetarian plate.

3. Ferre, Dallas, Texas: This is where we went for our wedding-day dinner, so obviously it has a special place in our hearts. We went back for New Year's Eve and for our first anniversary, and it never disappoints. It's a seemingly authentic Italian place. Having never been to Italy, I can't be certain, but it does seem rustic. I've eaten steak, meatballs, pasta, and margherita pizza--all divine. The waitstaff are also very knowledgeable about wine, and they help me pair.

4. Bread Winners Cafe, Dallas, Texas: This place is a little gem. It's a local chain, with 2 locations in Dallas and one in Plano. We go here primarily for brunch on the weekends. My favorite is the Normandy French toast: sourdough bread, cream cheese, raspberry jam, and fresh berries. Mihir enjoys the Bananas Foster waffles--which are very good. I've tasted them. We also enjoy the mimosas and pomegranate margaritas. They are also a bakery, so we buy fresh bread when we visit, anything from gingerbread to pumpkin streusel, or just plain old whole-grain. We once bought Alfie some gourmet dog biscuits which had been dipped in carob, but he didn't care for them.

5. Obzeet, Dallas, Texas: I think this might be my favorite just because it's the wackiest place I've never seen in my life. You can't help but smile when you walk through the door. Picture silk plants, strands of white lights, healing crystals, plastic yard furniture complete with gaudy plastic tableclothes, plastic parrots, yard gnomes, and any other kind of kitsch you can conjure. Obzeet has it all. The full name of the establishment is Obzeet Restaurant Tropical Bar Furniture Home Decor and Gifts. And it really is all of the above. The food is truly junk food, but it is good. Sometimes we even share dessert, a slice of one of the dozens of beautiful cakes they have that day. After lunch, we peek in on the store. We once bought ourselves a bronze Lord Ganesha statue, one of the best we could find anywhere. The owners, I believe, are Turkish and they import beautiful handcrafted furniture from all over the world, most of it with an Eastern flavor. It's awesome. You'd think you were in a museum.

HONORABLE MENTION

*Avocado California Roll & Sushi: This place would probably be on the list above, but Mihir hasn't been there yet. I went with friends, and I'm hooked.

*Our Place: This is the Indian Restaurant across the Street. It's good, even better because it's right across the street.

*Gueros: Mexican Food. Their tortilla soup/chicken taco combo is our favorite.

*Hunan Dynasty: Chinese Food, also across the street. Come to think of it, I think it's the only Chinese place we've ever gone to here in Dallas. It must be satisfying!

Spiced Salmon with Mustard Sauce

Mihir and make every effort to maintain a healthy, balanced diet. We eat organic food when we can. Our main source of protein is plant-based, mostly beans and lentils. We never eat red meat, just the occasional chicken and white fish. Lately, however, I've made a concerted effort to incorporate salmon into our diet because it contains omega-3 fats, a valuable nutrient. This isn't always an easy task. We very much prefer milder-tasting fish, such as tilapia or mahi mahi, so it takes come great recipes to mask the strong salmon. Well, I think I found a winning recipe. I was planning to make salmon for dinner last night, and this recipe literally came to my email just as I was about to surf the Internet for something quick, easy, healthy, and tasty. I get daily recipes from this website and, lo and behold, there it was when I needed it most. And it was great! Last night we feasted on spiced salmon with mustard sauce, wilted spinach with tomatoes, and couscous. Here's the salmon recipe:

Ingredients
2 teaspoons whole-grain mustard
1 teaspoon honey
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 (6-ounce) salmon fillets
Cooking spray

Preheat broiler.

Combine first 6 ingredients in a small bowl, stirring well with a fork. Rub mustard mixture evenly over each fillet. Place fillets, skin-side down, on a cookie sheet coated with cooking spray. Broil 8 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness.

That's it! It's that easy! It's a 15 minute meal. Note on the ingredients: I only prepared two 6-ounce fillets, and the mustard mixture was just about enough to coat them evenly. My fish turned out looking exactly the the photo above. For the mustard, I used Grey Poupon harvest coarse ground. It has whole mustard seeds in it, which I think is essential for flavor and texture.

I ♥ Jhumpa Lahiri

This isn't the kind of entry I normally post on this blog, but I am so overwhelmed by the gravity and perfection that is Jhumpa Lahiri's writing that I just can't help myself. Everyone should read her latest book, Unaccustomed Earth. It's been awhile since I read something so obsessively. Come to think about it, the last book which captivated me so completely was another of Lahiri's, The Namesake. Even Mihir, who generally eschews fiction, read The Namesake in a single afternoon.

Jhumpa Lahiri is Indian American or, more precisely, Bengali American. Her books have that strong "stranger in a strange land" theme, but I happen to believe she is darned good at writing about people, emotions, marriages... life.

Unaccustomed Earth is Lahiri's second collection of short stories. The first part of the book consists of five unrelated short stories and most of them are very strong. My two favorites are "Hell-Heaven" and "Only Goodness." Overall, though, the characters in each and every story live and breath until the end, when you're sad to see them go. The second half of the book is three interwoven stories, a novella of sorts, about Kaushik and Hema. The stories span the course of their lives, from New England to India to Rome. They're wonderful.

I just finished this book 15 minutes ago, and now I'm so bereft, as if a close friend has left me. It's rare, these days, that I connect to a book so strongly. But when I do...boy, do I cherish it. I can't recommend this book, this author, any more wholeheartedly.

Jhumpa