A Taste of the Meditteranean

My friend Rica from Yuppie Universe asked me if I still write for fun. I answered “No”. It was a simple question but it was a wake-up call of some sort. I realized that I stopped writing for fun! I just write for money, which is not entirely bad. The problem with writing for money is that you only get to have fun after you get the money. It’s how it is in my profession. In fact, I am finding it difficult to write this entry for the simple reason that I am not getting paid for it! Where is the fun in that?!?  See? Once you start writing for money, you don’t look back…you always want money.  But that’s just my other personality talking to you. My other personality says “get on with the food discussion already…”

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I have a friend who is Bulgarian and she would tell me how she misses the food in her country now that she lives in the US. We talk about it a lot when we are playing Dungeons and Dragons Online, so I usually get killed in battle or be way behind them inside the quest. She would talk about Banitsa (pastry with filling) and Tarator (cold soup made of yogurt and cucumber) and other strange sounding delights that are representative of the Bulgarian cuisine. It may not be the kind of food that would make me take the next plane out, but it is a cuisine that I am very curious about. So curious that I went looking for a restaurant that specialises in Bulgarian cuisine. Unfortunately, there is no Bulgarian food place that I know of, mainly because there are not many Bulgarians in my neck of the wood. I am not even sure if there are Bulgarians here at all. Geography tells me that it’s part of the Southeastern Europe Cuisine with influences from Greek, Turkey, and Middle East cuisine. Bingo!  So, I got a short list of places and decided to head to Cafe Mediterranean. 

It was a bit tough deciding what to order given that I only know Kebabs and Shawarmas. While they are the house specialty, I just didn’t feel like eating them at that time, I wanted the Tarator and the Banitsa, which they did not have at that time. The waiter suggested the Little Plate Sampler. I get to choose from the menu that I know nothing about, but thanks to the short description, I at least had an idea of what I would be putting in my mouth. So I decided on FALAFEL, HUMMUS, and TZATZIKI (see photo -clockwise).

 

Falafel is a fried veggie ball with onions and tomatoes. Hummus is mashed chickpeas with garlic, salt, lemon juice, and spices. Tzatziki is made of cucumber with yogurt, garlic, pepper, lemon juice, parsley and dill. They are served with Pita bread (either regular or whole wheat).

 

As you can see from the picture, the don’t look very appetizing. I was not impressed at the first bite, but as I kept eating, I developed a fondness for each of them. It takes a while to get used to the burst of flavors but once they settle, it’s like a party in your mouth, balloons, confetti and all. This is a cuisine that I will definitely be learning more of as I go on with my adventures.

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