There seems to have been some confusion over what I meant by Southern Food. At least with my family. You see, I didn’t mean that I grew up eating typical deep south fried chicken and BBQ brisket type of food. I meant I grew up eating the same type of stuff that my friends ate. Stuff like casseroles, fish sticks, baked chicken, and, of course, pizza.

Of course, my family got on to me about this while sitting at the Catfish Plantation restaurant, wolfing down a bunch of typical, deep South-type deep fried stuff. And topping it off with some good ole’ bread puddin’. 🙂

You know guys, that’s what the “comments” section is for….

I found this article to be hilarious…. because it is so true:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/989256.stm

So, curry is just not good – it’s addictive? Cool.

You see, I was raised in a pretty typical southern home. Well, my Mom tried to cook more healthy food and less fried food, so not TOO typical. But I couldn’t even like Chinese food because I thought it was too “weird.” Then I took a trip to the Middle East and got to experience authentic Middle Eastern food and Indian food. I was hooked then. I also got to try some true Chinese food on a trip to India, and have been hooked since then (even though nothing in the States even comes close). I was in Darjeeling, which is near the border of China, and a cook from China had opened a good restaurant there. Or, I think he was a Chinese guy from Bhutan. I think we hit that place every other day we were there. Plus it had a great view of the Himalayan foothills around the town.

Curry spice found to fight cancer:

“HOUSTON, Jul 12, 2005 (United Press International via COMTEX) — Turmeric, a spice that is a key ingredient in Indian curry dishes, contains a potent cancer-fighting agent, the New York Daily News reported Tuesday.

A study published in the upcoming issue of Cancer magazine related that curcumin, a chemical pigment in turmeric, helped stop the spread of breast cancer tumor cells to the lungs of mice.

Now doctors have launched clinical tests to see if it works on humans, said Bharat Aggarwal of the Department of Experimental Therapeutics at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, who led the study.

Earlier studies suggest that people who eat diets rich in turmeric have lower rates of breast cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer and colon cancer, Aggarwal said.

He noted that many cancers are 10 times rarer on the Indian subcontinent than in the West.

The breakthrough came as no surprise to the owner of an Indian restaurant in downtown Manhattan. Abu Syed told the Daily News: “We already knew that Indian food tastes good. But it is good to hear it can help with cancer, too. It is one more reason to eat plenty of it.””

We decided to get out some and go to the Taste of Dallas. I think the entire city was there, always standing in front of us, getting in our way. You ever notice that for some reason in crowds like this you always seem to end up behind the same person over ad over again? And they are usually sweaty .

It was probably a good idea, but we just aren’t crowd people. I really wanted to see Robert Randolph and the Family Band in concert, but they didn’t go on until 11:00pm and we both got really tired before then.

I don’t mean to turn this blog into a bunch of restaurant reviews…. but, I do like to eat. And all you Amazing Race fans will be interested in this one.

We got hooked on the Amazing Race a few seasons ago (I think the 5th one). They had two brothers on there named Marshall and Lance that “owned a pizza place in Dallas.” Well, we found that “pizza place.” It’s actually more like an Italian cafe called Cafe Nostra.

It was raining when we rushed in, so we mostly had the place to ourselves. And we were served by Lance himself. It’s a little weird knowing so much about someone that you just met. But he said that the Amazing Race was the best experience of his life. Very nice guy.

The food there was also great. If you are familiar with Waco, then this place is a little like Baris. Great Italian food at a great price. Only, the decor here is a little cooler, and it’s on a street filled with cool/hip eating places/fondue bars/whatever. We highly recommend it.