A Weekly Offering of This n That

Rainy Day is my alter ego. She is the little angel that sits on one shoulder and whispers in my ear to forgo that 6" piece of triple chocolate fudge with the four scoops of ice cream on it; she is also the little devil who sits on my other shoulder and convinces me that I can eat just one bite of each and be satisfied, and then laughs with such great abandon when in fact, I eat the whole thing, she falls off my shoulder. Mostly, Rainy Day helps me see the humor in living and, mostly, she encourages me down the right path. Not necessarily the straight and narrow one (how fun is that?) but the path that offers the most adventure and fun.


Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Rainy Day and Ethnic Menus


Rainy Day likes to say she has yet to meet a calorie she didn't like, and if it's from a culture and country other than hers, well, the enjoyment quotient goes up. Way up.

She loves Korean food, Japanese food, food from Szechuan, Vietnam, and what little bit of African food she has eaten. Greek? She loves it! East Indian? Yummmmm! Native American? Oh, to die for! Soul food, Southern food, Cajun or Creole, well, she's game to try just about anything from any culture that is classified as 'edible.' There are a few things she may not be all that willing to try, but we don't need to go into those delicacies here. (She would hate to say she wasn't interested in trying them, only to discover, at a later date, that she actually loves them!)

What Rainy Day has questions about are not the recipes but the menus in these (for lack of a better term) Ethnic Restaurants. Are the words deliberately misspelled so Americans will think the owners/chefs are more 'authentic'? Or are the words misspelled because they truly don't know any better? Now, Rainy Day really doesn't care if the chef can read, write, or even speak American English, as long as said Chef can cook and put yummy and authentic food in front of Rainy Day.

But, she just has to wonder about the menus and the information offered thereon and online. She has considered, for a small fee of course, asking the owners of the various Ethnic Restaurants if they would like to hire her to edit their menus, to spell the words correctly, to use American English words and word order and punctuation. But, maybe, they want to appear somewhat, ah, different?

Rainy Day doesn't have a clue. Do you? If you know the answer, would you please let Rainy Day know?

In the meantime, Rainy Day thinks you are missing a great adventure, if not a series of adventures, by not trying the Ethnic Restaurants in your area. She knows for a fact there is more out there than Burger King, Red Robin or Outback! Find a Russian restaurant and try some sauerkraut soup, a Korean restaurant and try the bulgogi, a Greek restaurant and have a salad! And for dessert, get thee to an East Indian restaurant and order Kheer (rice pudding).

Get out there, find, read, and order from some of those Ethnic Menus. Try new foods, and spices. You may discover a whole world right in your own back yard. And remember, other countries will have different cuisines between their North and South, East and West, just as we do. So if you don't care for something in one restaurant, try it in another. While it may not be as much fun as traveling the world for real, it's a heckuva lot less expensive;-) And doesn't require either an expensive Passport – or hassles with TSA;-)

Rainy Day apologizes for not getting this up on time. She is busy reworking/editing her latest Jiang Li novel, and was lost in the ancient world of China – where she almost ate her fill of hum boa (steamed bund), pickled vegetables, and rice.


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