A Little Exotic Flavor

Every year there is a little exotic spice & flavor enjoyed here in my town for the good of a local charity. The event is called "The Taste of India" & I have had the opportunity to attend twice. Both times I was enthralled at the color, beauty, & the taste of the Indian culture. I'm not sure if it is just my eyes, but everything about their culture seems to have more color. Their clothing just sparkles & pops! The cuisine has almost an overload of flavor & their culture is diverse & intriguing. The event is comprised of a silent auction, a dance exposition, & a dinner. This year their efforts raised $17,000 for a local free health clinic.

These are my friends Rashmi & Sangita. They are a married couple. She was one of the pharmacists that I worked with when I had my second job. Rashmi is also a pharmacist & one of my friends is a technician at his store.

Rashmi is a fabulous dancer. He choreographed several of the dances that were showcased during the exhibition. They had no less than four different outfits that they wore while dancing. Of course they were all coordinating *grin*

Interesting tidbit about them: their marriage was arranged.

And they are a happy couple.

This is Whitney. She was another one of my coworkers at the second job. The last time Sangita went home to India Whitney asked if she could bring her a sari. This is the beautiful sari that Sangita brought back to her. I asked Whitney if she had trouble getting dressed in it. She said no but that when she arrived at the event Sangita said, "oh my, let me fix you," & then she proceeded to straighten out her sari *grin* I would have no idea how to get that thing on! but I think it is beautiful!



Here Sangita & Rashmi are dancing with a whole troupe & in this dance they use sticks. They strike their own sticks & then they strike the sticks of the other dancers.
I wonder, when they were first learning the dance did anyone get popped in the face with one of the sticks?
Or would that just be something that would happen to me?

This was a dance where they all had small scarves attached to their hands. Once again, the color & action was vastly entertaining.

The food was phenomenal. I'm very sad because I forgot to take a picture of it.

The Appetizers

Tandoori Chicken

Assorted Vegetable Pakora

Aloo Chaat Masala

Main Entrees

Lamb Curry

Frontier Chicken

Paneer Tikka Masala

Mixed Vegetable Curry

Dal Makhani

Jeera Rice Pulao

Naan

Salad

Papadam, Raita, Spicy Chutney

Desserts

Gulab Jamun

Carrot Halwa

Vanilla Ice Cream

The food was all very, very good. I only had one thing that I didn't like, the mixed vegetable curry. It was good until I got one bite in my mouth that I promise you, tasted JUST LIKE A CHRISTMAS TREE! I have no idea what could have had such a strong taste of pine but it was ICK ICK ICK.

The very best, best, best thing was the dessert - surprise, surprise! The vanilla ice cream was served with this little round thing that looked a bit like a plum. I think it was the 'Gulab Jamun'. It was a biscuit type thing that had been soaked in some sweet kind of syrup. I could have eaten ten of them *grin*

It was a very fun evening - almost like visiting another world.

Thanks Darla for taking me along!