Eating Brave, part 2

We're home. Settling in has turned out to be a maelstrom of visits with long-missed family and friends, errands that have sat dormant for 6 weeks, and the endless detail work of trying to get the house back in order. Not there yet. But tonight I actually have a minute to get back on this blog, so I'm going to try to finish up my thought from...what, like two weeks ago? Sheesh.

So near the end of our time in Colorado, my dear, dear friend Dawn (the kind of dear that makes me shake my head and sigh when I think about how much I love her) agreed to go on a little food adventure with me. We went to check out this place:
Note: my photos are on my camera, which has not been re-assimilated into our household yet, so these were all lifted from the web.

It's a tiny little place called "Indulge," with sweets and coffees and teas from places like Turkey and Morocco. The menu includes delicacies that sound exotic and intriguing...Persian tea infused with Bergamot oil, Mango nectar, Turkish coffee with cardamom, and things with names like Zaatar, Maamoul, Nammura, and Zalabia. These sound either like characters from a fantasy video game or like rare treats that a food adventurer should relish. And remember, in my imagination, I am in fact a food adventurer.

So Dawn, who is much more self-aware than I about her culinary hesitancies, agreed to go with me to Indulge because she loves me. We got in there and determined that it would probably be better for dessert than for lunch, so I, with far more confidence than is really warranted, suggested that we go to Taj Mahal, the Indian buffet across the street.

Dawn, who is fun and brave, hesitated only for a millisecond before enthusiastically agreeing to this plan.

My poser-foodie status was not exposed during our visit because the approximately 3 dishes I like from the Indian buffet near our home in NJ were also on this buffet. I also got to confidently identify the flat bread in the basket on our table as Naan. The only thing missing was the crazy soda thing with the confetti-looking stuff on top that the chuckling old woman at our NJ buffet made me drink. I would DEFINITELY NOT have tried it had I known that the stuff on top was chopped onions, but I have to tell you, it was pretty good.

So anyhow, I was enabled in my feigning of sophistication as I casually commented on the excellent quality (as if I have any idea) of the tikka masala, the potato stuff, and the curry. I didn't say much about the rest, mostly because if you held a gun to my head I couldn't tell you what any of it was, and I was scared to try it. I did venture out and try some kind of soup. It tasted like dishwater. So I may be sticking with my 3 dishes for the duration.

Dawn liked it. Or at least she said she did. She's nice.

After Taj Mahal we headed back over to Indulge. We told the guy behind the counter (who does not speak Turkish, we learned, but does speak Arabic...he seemed like a genuinely interesting person) that we didn't know much about Turkish food (I, at least, know less than nothing) and asked him for some options that were...I think I said "authentic." He steered us toward three little treats, and I also ordered a cup of tea.

The first was a "Maamoul": a butter cookie filled with dates. Here's one.
I generally distrust dates, as they kind of look like big bugs to me. Plus they always make me think of that scene in the first Indiana Jones movie where the cute/evil monkey dies eating poisoned ones. I doubted that these issues would sound reasonable to the Arabic-speaking guy, so I nodded and thanked him for the suggestion. And guess what? It was pretty yummy.

The second was a "Nammura": a "honeyed semolina [which means pasta to me, so that's how much I know] and coconut cake." Here's a pic:
It was sticky and sweet, and kind of coarse. The flavor was pretty delicate...definitely coconut, but not overwhelmingly so. Nice. Dawn thought it was the best of the three.

She had ordered the pistachio baklava:
...which was fabulous. Flaky and nutty and sweet and salty and exotic but not scary.

My peppermint tea was not exotic in its own right but came in an awesome cup that looked sort of like this:

So there you have it. Turkish food. Exotic sweets and interesting people and dear friends...so, so much fun.

I have two more new ethnicities to try before I can cross this one off. I'm thinking of trying out an Ethiopian place near our home, and then if I can get my friend Annette to make me something Syrian, I'll be good to go. Closing in on three months left!