Food

No matter what the conversation starts off with, before the end of the conversation is over, the subject of food always comes up.

I love food, I love talking about food, I love trying new food. For me, food is to be enjoyed, savoured, relished, not something to wolf down as you're running from one place to the next.

As I was reading the email from my mother this morning, she mentioned going to Bayside for dinner last night. Normally when she tells me about where she's going for dinner, she has to tell me where it is or what the restaurant used to be called before as things are always changing, restaurants moreso.

I would have to say, my all time favourite type of restaurant is Indian. While I'm of Chinese descent and have been raised eating Chinese food, I don't like most Chinese restaurants. As most people who know me could tell you, I'm a food snob. I find that the more popular chinese restaurants do not serve authentic chinese food. Presumably making slight variations to appeal to the masses is what drives these restaurants. While I can understand that and appreciate that they have families to feed and clothe, I don't have to frequent such establishments.

In 1999 I had to go to Baltimore for a work-related conference and I was lucky enough to have a friend who lived in Baltimore. One of the places he took me to was The Helmand restaurant which serves Afghan food. I can still remember my first taste of the dish I had and how it melted in my mouth and it was the best tasting thing I'd ever had. I still rave about that restaurant and I know if I'm ever in the Baltimore area that's the first place I'd go. It is too bad that the restaurant hasn't figured out a way package their food for shipment as I'd be ordering constantly. Several weeks later I receive a package from Amazon, this same friend had sent me an Afghan cookbook.

Last year during Lent, one of my friends took me to an Ethiopian restaurant in Tuscon. She had been there before and had raved about the food. Since I'm up for trying different cuisines off we went. While being somewhat sparsely decorated, Zemam's more than made up for in food. It was quite a bit different eating with only ones fingers but believe me, I soon relished not being hindered by utensils. After I got home that evening I went looking up recipes. Unfortunately I haven't been brave enough to try them yet.

So this brings me full circle to this restaurant. In my email to my mother today I told her that everytime I'd been to that location, there was always a different restaurant there and I can't figure out why (apart from some traffic issues) it doesn't do better. Maybe they should have a different kind of restaurant there. Their menu should have a few regular items but a change of cuisine maybe once a month. Maybe have a guest chef in for a week or two to cook different types of food. I can't speak for all chefs but I would think that maybe a good way to see the world. The cuisines I can see right now would be something like Indian, Ethiopian, Moroccan, Afghan, Korean, Middle Eastern etc.

I know that as long as it wasn't terribly expensive, I'd go to that restaurant. Sometimes there's a comfort in knowing ahead of time what you'll order, but other times it's nice to have a different change of pace.