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tamarind
n tamarind [ˈtӕmərind]
a tropical fruit, a brown pod with a juicy, spicy pulp used in medicines, drinks etc
My intentions have been to write on a timely and consistent basis, then along came the holidays and I failed. So here it is the New Year and by the way, Happy New Year to all. I am again at the starting gate, itching to go.
My sweet and precious friend Ni had been anticipating her upcoming 21st birthday for weeks. She asked if Diane and I would celebrate her big day with her. After some debate, okay maybe no debate the obvious choice for us to eat was Tamarind Tree on 12th and Jackson. I had asked Ni and Ling to make the reservations and both said they would. Okay slight communication break down here, English is a second language for both Ni and Ling and my Vietnamese is limited to Pho’, spring rolls and I’ll have a bubble tea! The girls are way ahead of me on that one. With that said no reservations were made, which we discovered when we were about seven minutes from the restaurant. Diane hurriedly called them, gave a cockamamie story and got us a table right away.
Diane and I had barely opened the menu when the waitress brought our water and asked if we were ready to order. Both of us started to say no when Ling started rattling off an order that we had no idea of its content and whoosh the waitress was gone. We were sitting there with our mouths open trying to understand what just happened.
Within minutes we were served delicate stuffed squid, a tray of petite rice bowls with savory accompaniments, crisp black sesame seed crackers, and the best escargot wrapped around fragrant stalks of lemongrass. This was followed by a beautiful daikon salad with slivers of red onion, pieces of toasted peanuts and topped with three perfectly seared bay scallops. Lucky for us that Diane does not care for scallops so no one had to share!
The main courses were tender marinated short ribs served on a mound of sweet jasmine rice and a beef noodle bowl. To my surprise this was a cold dish and absolutely delicious. Ni and Ling opted out of dessert, no wonder since the two little eaters ate twice what we did easily! Where did they put it? We however decided on dessert! Our dessert was made of cassava, yes the root vegetable, drowning in a sweet coconut milk, sprinkled with finely chopped green onion and roasted peanuts. If you’ve never had vegetables for dessert you may want to try this.
It was the perfect birthday celebration. We laughed lots and many pictures were taken for Ni to keep. Since this night Ni has moved back to Indiana to be closer to her family. You are missed, sweet girl and until our next meal…roux the day.
1 Sassy Tomato
