I thought the journey had begun well, when my coworker at the Indian Clinic informed me that there is enough time for us to drive to the nearest town, 25 miles away, for lunch at the Thai Restaurant there.. Off we went, and well rewarded at our tonsils with hot soup with mushrooms and chicken with coconut milk and also Radna.. very satisfying.Before leaving the reservation, I had a very nice experience, which I have detailed in the blog below.
I invited a good Indian friend of mine, to La Bouvette, at the Old market in Omaha, the place was brimming with people. all dressed to celebrate what might be the last warm day and night for the summer. it was good to see so many people out to enjoy themselves.
La Bouvette was a poor choice. the service was poor, i was attracted to it by the large wine cellar it has.. in fact it is a wine bar with a pretentious resstaurant.. they even use french words for their menu.. but the food was so below average: a huge chunk of lamb with metallic taste and a bunch of mussels which was virtually inedible. a glass of 2007 Greviere Bourdeux was the only consolation.. Waste of Money..Not recommended.. how they can call themselves a French Restaurant is beyond me.. it is a poor quality american restaurant...
Sitting at seat 2 E on the Continental Flight from Omaha to Houston, I noticed the chief flight atttendant had a Cuban flag on his lapel. We began chatting in spanish, his parents are cuban and he asked me the inevitable question: How is it in Cuba? needless to say, he would hear my very positive approach about Cuba which has been very very good to me.. I gave him my card and wished him well.
the breakfast was cereal which i didnt want, so i was given a bag of Pita Chips with cinnamon, a small bag of almonds along with coffee and orange juice. This country has a serious problem about FOOD.. it is something else mixed with ingredients of food, but never FOOD.. how can I eat Pita chips in a plastic bag with multiple chemicals and to my great surprise, even the small bag of almonds contained Maltodextrin which does not do very many good things to your liver!
Seat 1E to Miami from Houston. Lunch was : split pea soup ( i declined for fear of ham in it) and a chicken fajita wrap with cheese. The sweet biscuit with chocolate in between had hydrogenated palm oil..it was called Milano and made by pepperidge farms.. I had two glasses of Hamilton Russell Chardonnay.. not bad for a domestic flight.
My friend, JS, a Jamaican of mixed Cuban-arab ancestry, picked me up and i wanted to tell him that he had taken the wrong road when he left the airport. He knew how much i have missed good coffee while i was away in the middle of nowhere, our first stop was a typical cuban coffee shop, the kind which is fast disappearing.. where you can sit at the bar and sip a nice cortadito to your heart content.. Bienvenidos a Miami.
The purpose of this visit to Miami is to visit my sister, J. As I walked into the house, the smell of scotch bonnet hit me and a very nice dinner was waiting.
mackerel, calaloo, green banana... then a nice cup of english tea with milk... thank god for colonialism for uplifting our tonsils! eventhough mackerel was a food for the slaves, ah well..
DAY 2
The breakfast amidst talk and conversations was ackee and saltfish, a typical jamaican dish. Here I am in USA and what have i eaten.. very very seldom do i eat american food, perhaps that would guarantee good health? a lot of time, when i give lectures, someone might ask, what is your suggestion for good health: if it is a predominantly indian audience, I would say to them, live somewhere else! Yanks might get offended so i dont say that to unfriendly or unknown audiences..who knows some of the Bush supporters are still lurking out there..
Lovely chat with another jamaican of arab ancestry who is conscious of his health and thus knows about HighFructoseCorn Syrup and other poisons..He invited me to visit an erudite friend of his, a retired cardiothoracic surgeon but i was in a hurry to get to La Carreta to have a cup of cuban coffee.. it is a kind of addiction, you know... this love for Cuba and things Cuban..
There is nothing better than being there... if you love someone, make every attempt to be there for them. I dont understand the excuses of not having time when it comes to your loved ones.. what is more important than love?
if you are harmonious inside yourself, you would wish to bring harmony to other lives as well and that involves conversations, travel and spending time expecting nothing in return. But in terms of humanity, the returns are unlimited..
