"Taste of India" is Back

Here's a letter I received today:

We take this opportunity to invite you all on our Grand re-opening of Taste of India, Indian Restaurant on a new location close to PTI on this Saturday July 7 with inaugural Dinner Buffet for $12.95 from 6:00 PM to 10 PM including beverages. We also take this opportunity to inform you that we got a highly skilled chef in our team and we will ensure you a truly unforgettable cuisine experience. It will be the confluence of ancient with modern and take you down the path of losing yourself in the exotic flavor of India.

We open daily 11 AM to 10 PM. Daily lunch buffet except on Sunday $7.95 all you can eat (11AM to 2PM). Our all day ala-carte menu featuring special dishes like Tandoori Chicken, Nan Bread, Curry Dishes and a variety of begetarian dishes including that of spiced Tea (Masala Chai) & Mango Lassi and much more.

Come, enjoy teh Big Feast on our inaugural Dinner Buffet, and ensure that you reserve your seats in advance calling 234-8448.235-5547.

How to Eat Out with Kids and Keep Your Dignity

(Here's my column from today's Saipan Tribune.)

We were in Guam a while ago, and were staying with our friends who are first-time parents. Their child is two – the same age as our youngest. For those of you who haven’t gone through it yet, let me tell you, the first kid is a shock to the system. It’s stressful trying to figure out the workings of a baby and adjust to frazzled sleepless nights. The thought of ever having more than one of these critters is incomprehensible to the first-time parent. At that point in your life you cannot imagine that some day you may look back and think, “One kid was eeeaaasy.” When a few more kids come along, you’ll think, “One kid?! That was hardly stressful!” After our second child was born, I realized how simple it was to just have one. When people would ask me about the transition of going to two kids, I would respond “One kid is a hobby.”

Nevertheless, our friends, like many first time parents, were frazzled. I introduced them to the idea of how to eat out, and they were so liberated by the simplest of concepts.

The reason it’s hard to eat out with young kids is that they don’t sit still and they don’t like to wait. The eating part isn’t so bad. It’s the waiting-for-the-food part that leads to mayhem and beaded sweat on your upper lip. So, Mara and I long ago came upon a simple solution: we place the order from home.

We have the menus of our favorite restaurants at home, and when we do want to go out to eat, one of us becomes the waiter and collects everyone’s order. We call the restaurant, and place the order. The restaurant inevitably asks “Will this be for take out or delivery?” and we say, “We’re eating there. We’re coming with kids, so we want to have the food ready when we get there.” They understand. They are soooo thankful. After all, they don’t want our kids sitting idle for 20 minutes waiting for the food to arrive, because, well, they won’t be sitting idle. They’ll be shooting spitballs, making toothpick forts, spilling water, torturing one another by looking at each other, dropping silverware, wasting napkins, and commenting way too loudly about the wads of chewing gum stuck under the tables. So the restaurant loves that we call ahead. We walk in, they whisk the food out as we pull out our chairs, we eat, and go home with minimal disruption to anyone’s sunny disposition.

That’s all. Nothing earth-shattering. Very easy. Call ahead and order so the food is ready when you get there. It’s a way to reclaim your dignity… sort of… or maybe not really. After all, you’re still carrying a diaper-bag and wearing a “dad badge” – that patch of dried drool on your shirt.

Taste of the Marianas

Tonight is the last night of one of Saipan's greatest annual events -- the Taste of the Marianas Food Festival that runs each Saturday night during the month of May. For the folks in Japan who have recently been visiting my blog, here is the description from the Marianas Visitor's Authority.

The smell of scrumptious and delectable food is in the air at The 9th Annual Taste of the Marianas International Food Festival and Beer Garden. One of Saipan’s most popular of events will take place on May 5, 12, 19 & 26, 2007 at the American Memorial Park. This event is complete with live entertainment, food, beverages and numerous competitions in the tropical Saipan weather making this outdoor evening event a favorite of visitors in the region who swarm for a "Taste of the Marianas".

There is no fee to join in on the fun and festivities, but you will need to purchase tokens for food and beverages. Saipan’s very best restaurants and hotels participate in this event making it a delectable culinary and cultural experience extravaganza not to be missed.

Locals show the Hafa Adai spirit to visitors of our tropical island of Saipan, sharing in the culture and enjoying all that the festival has to offer. So come and enjoy!!

Our family has been every Saturday night this month. It's great for the kids, and it always strikes me that we (and all the other parents) just let them run around and have a good time -- something you wouldn't do in a larger place.

Young Dancers
(Photo courtesy of Dave Hodges - visit his site for more great shots of Saipan)




Photo opportunity with the Carolinian dancers
(Photo courtesy of David Hodges)




The main stage




Artwork at the Taste of the Marianas



The ubiquitous roasting pig

Food huts on the grassy lawn at American Memorial Park, the usual venue.
Come join us next year!

Saipan Dining Adventures

My friend and colleague, Mark, and his wife, Bev have probably eaten in every restaurant on Saipan. They have an adventurous streak, which you have to have to explore the full range of dining experiences here.

Take for example the time they went back to the new Mexican restaurant. The burritos had been fantastic the first time, so they returned for a “known known.” Again, the burritos came smothered in sour cream. But the first bite betrayed the true identify of tonight’s sour cream. Not sour cream. What is that taste? It's familiar. Could it be...??? Yep. Sure enough. Thick rich creamy white mayonnaise glopped on top of that hapless burrito. Yummy. The kitchen was out of sour cream, so the cook used the next best thing – the next white thing. Mayonnaise. Makes perfect sense. That’s why you just keep eating.

The following week they ventured out to a Korean restaurant. They are warmly welcomed at the door with halting English and a sense of excitement that real live Americans are visiting the establishment. This could be a new beginning, a whole new market! Mark and Bev are seated with grace and a flourish at a table for two, a red plastic rose on the white plastic tablecloth. They are given menus.

One of the nicest things about many Asian restaurants is that the menus include photos of the food, which is necessary in this case, because the rest of the menu is in Korean. But the photos are still not completely helpful to Mark and Bev, because they are only slightly larger than a flattened clove of garlic.

Mark strains to make out the details of the pictures. Bev can do no better. The logical thing to do is to ask the waitress for help -- try to get enough of a description from her to make an informed choice. So they begin, and ever so slowly, work their way, item by item, down the menu. The waitress struggles to find words – any words – but particularly words for foods that have no English equivalent. “Is this spinach?,” asks Mark, pointing to the picture. “No,” says the waitress. “Is it kelp?,” asks Bev. “What ‘kelp?,’” inquires the waitress. “Oh, kelp is like seaweed,” offers Mark “What seaweed?,” asks the waitress. “Seaweed is nori,” explains Bev, drawing on her knowledge of a Japanese word that might be familiar to the waitress. “Ahhhh,” says the waitress as her face lights up, “No, not nori.” “What is it then?” asks Mark. “Like spinach,” reports the waitress. Ahhhh, full circle. Not spinach. Like spinach.

Mark and Bev are enjoying their detective work and are quite content to explore the menu in this way. But the waitress, who has never experienced happy inquisitive Americans before, must believe that Mark and Bev are struggling and suffering as much as she is through this ordeal to place a simple order.

Eager to bring some relief to everyone, she offers a great solution. “Maybe you go eat someplace else. Maybe someplace that have spaghetti.”

In that instant, her suggestion doesn’t quite register with Mark and Bev. But after a few seconds pass, their comprehension catches up with their hearing. Did she really just ask us to leave?? To go eat spaghetti??? They glance at each other over their menus and try to hold back their laughter.

Undeterred and ever adventurous, Mark and Bev plow forward, asking a few more questions, making a decision, ordering their meals, and enjoying it all. And tonight they have an opportunity to use their recently gained knowledge -- to taste everything white to make sure it’s not mayonnaise in disguise.