After over 7 months abroad I am back on my home turf, Chicago, for a little while anyways.  One of the best things about this city is its diversity.  To me, this means reconnecting with the countries I’ve visited by seeing where their immigrants eat, shop, and live. 

On my ride home from the airport my father asks if I want to visit a grocery store to fill in the vegetarian gaps of their fridge.  Well, it wasn’t just any old grocery store like Jewel or Dominiks, but an ethnic one, selling curry powder, pickle shaped spikey green vegetables, tortillas, and everything in between.  As soon as I find the Indian aisle I couldn’t contain my excitement.  Mustard seeds, jaggery, tumeric, idly mix, all varieties of lentils, and on and on.  The check out lady was even Indian and told me how to cook the bitter melon we bought.  Before I left Malaysia I stocked up on some spices, but was surprised to find that they weren’t much more expensive here, and still basically cheap.

This afternoon I went to a Thai restaurant.  As I have written, I am not a fan of this cuisine because of the lack of vegetarian options.  However, it was nice to be able to understand everything on the menu for a change and not feel like I was paying tourist prices, although for what they charge here, you could eat 4 meals over there.   I opted for my favorite standby, pad see yew, which was as good as I had in Thailand (but this time I actually got the extra vegetables I ordered– no translation problem here!).  The friendly young waitress was from Bangkok and studies accounting at DePaul University and we had fun talking about where I’d been in Thailand.  While waiting for my friend to arrive, I noticed a sign advertising mango & sticky coconut rice… yum!!   I mention this to the waitress and she said they don’t have any today :( but for some unknown reason, midway through the meal I am asked if I still wanted any!  Hurrah!  It was delicious, but a little tastier  in Thailand.

My next foray into Asia America came when I needed to buy basmati rice for a Malaysian dish “Cardamom Butter Rice” I wanted to make for the 4th of July.  Where else to go but Devon Avenue, or Chicago’s Little India?  I was so excited walking by the sari shops, I wondered if anyone could tell I was wearing a dress I bought in India.  As it doesn’t look traditionally Indian, no one gave me a knowing glance, but I still felt like I somehow fit in.  I walk into one grocery store and ask where the rice was.  They either had huge 20lb burlap bags of rice, or overpriced plastic boxes of 2lbs.  I ask the sales woman where I could buy it in bulk and I tell her I only need 1 cup of rice, not 2 or 20lb!  She says nowhere on Devon do they sell it in self service bulk bins, rather, they only sell “chat” or dried spicy snacks in bins.  I tell her I know I remember seeing it, and tell her if it was not here, then somewhere, where could it have been?  I get a memory flash of being in a grocery store in Bangalore where they sell it by the kilo.  She looks at me quizzically and says, yes, in India they sell rice and lentils in bulk, so then I tell her that is where I must have seen it and leave, hoping to find the 2lb rice cheaper elsewhere.

The sidewalks are thick with families, and older women in saris walking slowly to probably buy the huge boxes of mangos which are now on sale.  I find my way to Patel Bros Grocery, where I had been many times in the past.  The entrance is so crowded with people I couldn’t figure out why they are all out shopping on a Saturday night.  It even appeared there was a line to get in.  I see a man with a camera around his neck which made me wonder if there was a special event.  I ask an Indian man on the sidewalk why it’s so crowded, and I was informed, “Madam, this is a fine shop which sells dry goods and Indian spices.”  I thank him and ask if it wasn’t because someone famous was there?  He assures me not (darn).  I then approach and realize everyone is in line to get freshly squeezed sugar cane juice, and not to enter the store.  Once inside I said twice aloud, “Wow, it’s really so crowded in here” but get blank stares as no one was listening.  The store smelled familiar, like spices and incense, and all I could think was, “I am totally moving to India again”, and “I really wish I knew what to do with the stuff they sell here”.  One day I will learn to cook more than a basic dhal (lentils)!

I finally find the rice section but no small bags, so I ask a store clerk who informs me they only sell basmati rice in 10 and 20lb bags.  Upon further questioning, he says their sister store “Patel Bros Handicrafts”, nearby does carry rice in bulk.  Now while I have been to a sporting goods store in India which sells musical instruments, this struck me as odd.  I ask, “A HANDICRAFTS shop sells rice?”  He assures me it does (but maybe in reflection he didn’t really understand me).  Wha?  Am I in America or India?  I felt like I was having one of those conversations where we were both speaking English, but I was not understanding how the words could make any sense.  I buy some Indian cheese, or “paneer” and leave the shop, only to discover there is no rice to be had in the handicraft store.  This time, I didn’t even ask.

I then go to another grocery store and settle on a 4lb bag of rice, the smallest bag but still cheaper than the 2lb I saw earlier. As I am in line to pay, the thrifty side of me thinks I should have a look at all the big bags of rice at the front of the store.  Maybe they are a better deal.  So I get out of line and go inspect the 10lb bags.  They are all of different prices, so I ask an Indian looking couple if they knew the difference between the qualities of the rice.  The husband points to the one bag and says with an accent, “Zebra is a good brand, very delicious.”  Hmmm… rice tastes all the same to me, but I know Asians really can tell the difference.  I decide that 10lbs of rice would probably last until Halloween, and return in line to pay for the 4lbs.  In the end, I ran out of time to make the dish, so it didn’t get made on July 4^th, but on the 7^th and fortunately it was worth the effort.  Mmm…

I’ve been told numerous times that on Malaysia’s Penang Island you eat, and on Langkawi Island you drink.  This has actually been my personal experience as well.   The food in Penang was interesting, inexpensive, and everywhere.   [For those in the Chicago area, you can visit Penang restaurant in the northern suburbs: http://www.penangarlington.com/]

My dear Malaysian friend Santhi had a business trip to Penang when I was on the island so I got a first hand lesson on local food.  She was practically drooling when we met up, anxiously awaiting her first meal of Nasi Kandar, or Indian Muslim food.  We ducked into an alley I had spotted and photographed during the three days I was in Penang before her arrival.  It was the place for people in the know, although by the looks of it, an outsider would never know.   A few shelves in a makeshift metal kitchen held bowls of brown and red gravy, trays of different kinds of meat and fish, rice of course, boiled eggs, greens, and tumeric cabbage with mustard seeds and carrot.  The draw are the gravies.  The server deftly flips his wrist as he dips into each bowl of gravy, making a brown brick pool of liquid over your rice.  Since I only had veggies, I was given only the red sauce.  We sat at metal picnic tables and drank teh tarik (“pulled tea”– sweetened with condensed milk and sugar and literally thrown from one cup to another to cool it) and iced lemon tea.  Santhi was in food heaven with a huge grin on her face.  She even licked her fingers afterwards.  The place was packed and everyone looked like they were eating the best meal of their lives.

Cendol is the dessert which is known to be delicious on Penang.  Imagine green jello shaped like short spaghetti noodles,  a mound of ice shavings, kidney beans, red beans, coconut milk, and brown palm sugar in the same bowl.   The textures and flavors all dance in your mouth and somehow it all makes sense and your tongue very happy.

Continue reading “Islands in the Sky” →

After a great adventure in mountainous Mae Salong hiking through rural villages with Natasja from Holland, we took 3 songthews (a combination of a pick up truck and mini bus with two long benches in the back) and one bus, taking 8 hours in all, to the much hyped up hippy enclave of Pai.  Sometimes it’s nice to travel with someone to share the journey and watch your pack when you need to use the facilities at the bus station.  This town has places called The Witching Well Cafe, Almost Famous Bar, Edilble Jazz, and Riverside Lodge and is full of tattooed bare chested foreigners from all the usual suspects:  Canada, UK, Ireland, Israel, Netherlands, Australia, and Germany.

While it’s pretty touristy with a few streets full of foreigner priced restaurants and gift shops, it also has a small river running though it… and across a rickety old bambook bridge you can find my bamboo bungalo.   From my hammock I see green covered mountains, two cows, the river and said bridge.  Is it any wonder I will have been here for 10 days?  It was my idea to sit here by the river and just do a lot of thinking about where-what next, but  I have mostly chilled out, or done nothing, which is hard to do, but great nonetheless.  And I am sad to be leaving so soon. Continue reading “A Slice of Pai” →

Today my Thai visa expired.  I had no idea I’d be here a full month, but sometimes with traveling you wind up where you don’t expect.  Like today, for example, in Myanmar.

In order to remain in Thailand one is able to exit the country at a border post, and re-enter on a new visa, albeit much shorter, the same day.  Since I am in the very far north, I went to Mae Sai  and walked over the  bridge to Myanmar.  I didn’t feel nervous but the bottom of my feet were sweating so I guess I was excited.   Now I really felt like an adventurer!   I didn’t quite know what to expect on the other side other than blocks and blocks of markets which surround the border area on both sides.

Tourists at this checkpoint get a one day or two week Myanmar visa for $10 and are only allowed to visit the border town and two other towns which are a distance away.  The border office keeps your passport til you return.  My plan was to hop bus to Kentung and stay for  week.  It’s an old British outpost and supposedly very beautiful surrounded my mountains.  The other main draw is the hill people who live in the area, and who come to shop at the city market, making it a lively place.  I even had a recommendation for an excellent guide.
Continue reading “Myanmar in 5 hours or less” →

What makes for a great day?  How often do you go to sleep and think, “wow, that was really a good day!”?  Food, relaxation, exploration, meeting interesting people, and feeling at the right place at the right time are all ingredients I need.  Here is one great day I had, although since I arrived in Chiang Mai, I have had many!

Woke up unsure how to spend my day.  Ate a banana and got some tea at the hostel.  Decided to head to the Hill Tribe Museum so I could learn about the ethnic groups in the area.  On the way to the Lonely Planet designated bus stop, hop into a huge Wat, or temple, which is beautiful and covered in gold, green and blue.  Hear monks chanting inside the main temple which is painted red inside, and see local men wearing rope tied in a circle around their head as a sign of something holy; the rope was attached to a square of ropes (like a rope matress) above their heads, connecting everyone.  Unsure if I should take a photo, so after seeing a foreign couple do, I discretly do the same.

Outside I meet the foreign couple, who is from Argentina and very friendly.  We take photos of each other next to the chedi, or round sacred temple monument, which is white with elephant sculptures at the bottom.  I walk towards the bus stop, getting a red bean bun on the way which I put into my pack and forget about til evening.  Can’t find any bus stop or busses, so walk in the direction I think the bus would go.  Mini taxis stop and ask if I want a ride, but they are charging too much so I stubbornly keep walking in the heat.  Darn Lonely Planet (or is it me?).  Give up and hop in a mini taxis after negotating a price.  The driver takes me to the museum which is closed for renovation.  So much for trying to be an educated traveler!  He gives me a piece of candy to make me feel better.  Negotiate again and ask him to take me to the Fair Trade shop which was far and a bit hard to find. Continue reading “The Anatomy of a Perfect Day” →