Southern Indian Food

Okay....so I am a born and bred Southerner but somehow Southern Indian food is not completely my cup of tea.

Today for lunch we went to a little place called Nila that specifically is authentic Southern Indian. We started out with Roti - a buttermilk based bread that is rolled flat - think crepe flat. It is served with 3 dips that were not too too spicy and rather tasty. That I could eat and would definitely eat again.

Ranjan ordered something called Kotthu Roti for me. It is the same bread chopped up finely with chicken, onions and who knows what else. It was what I call a slow burn. You taste a little spice the first few bites then it gradually has an after burn. Not too terribly hot but I knew my bland Southern girl tummy would not take too much of it so I stopped eating. It was an interesting combination of flavors but it was not for me. I felt bad that I left more than half my plate. Ranjan packed it up for his dogs. He said they would love it. They must have cast iron stomachs after eating curry in his house. Humm...I do not think my little Miss Sophie would fair too well on Southern Indian food.

I am certainly glad that I branched out and tasted it. Ranjan said that now he knows what NOT to order for me next time in Aussie land. lol Bring on the Roti but ditch the Kotthu! haha

Note: As we were paying Ranjan pointed out the buttermilk dough to me. Very sticky looking balls of dough. Guess where it was....underneath the stove just about 5 inches from the floor and not covered. That disturbed me a little.

Aussie Food

So after a long day at work yesterday I come back to the hotel and ordered room service. Not much of a selection so I ordered a "burger and fries." The burger shows up with 6 slices of tomato, lettuce...thus far normal.....then here comes the interesting stuff......4 slices of beets, 2 slices of thick ham, a fried egg and the beef!! HUH? This is not a burger! Fuddrucker's doesn't even offer this. Turns out this is a traditional Aussie burger. Uhm....I did not eat it all. Note: If you want ketchup for the fries you have to ask for tomato sauce.

Today we ate lunch at a Turkish restaurant. Thinly sliced lamb and chicken marinated and grilled. CAN YOU SAY YUMMY? Plus two dips, a salad of your choosing and unlevened bread. The bread was warm, tasteful and out of this world good. My dips were hummus and cucumber and my salad was greek which was basically FRESH cucumbers, olive and mozzerella. The downside of all this yumminess? I would be the size of a house if I ate this every week.

Hopefully tomorrow night I will get away from the hotel and enjoy more Aussie treats. The hotel room service is lacking. I stopped at one of the dozen 7-11's nearby tonight and got yogurt for breakfast. Literally there is one every block.