Today, I had the opportunity to experience two parts of LA and two cultures. The day started with daily minyan where Rabbi El invited me to lead. Then, we headed out to Artesia where there are lots of Indian stores, restaurants and markets. We ventured into many stores that featured gorgeous saris, skirts and sequined shirts. Elianna and Sara sought embroidered Indian seat cushins. Meanwhile, I wondered in and out with them while they found enough covers to accommodate El's new dining table. Finally, we found a store with a lot of high quality merchandise. It made me really want a tapestry to hang over my bed. There were so many beautiful ones to choose from....Plus, it was there that they found very nice and affordable seat covers as well as placemats. What a cool part of town where I hope to return!
We followed up that experience with an adventure in Little Tokyo where the Tofu Festival was happening. It was fantastic for me to go to a festival that featured the mainstay of a vegetarian diet. Most of the stands were vegetarian only but some had tofu satay as well as the chicken version, for example. I sampled spicy tofu stir fry, tofu pate (soo delicious!), tofu-egg-vegetable pancake, fried tofu and berries with soy whipped cream....It was all so great (though real whipped cream is much better). I was also priviledged to see a Tofu Eating Contest. Though I find all eating contests repulsive, I was fascinated to see how fast one can consume a one-pound block covered with the sauce of their choice without using their hands....We walked away a bit poorer since the fest had an admissions fee and cost for food but very satiated.
Here's a humorous article on the fest from epicurious.com:
http://www.epicurious.com/features/news/dailydish/081606
I feel fortunate to have ventured out of my bubble and into two cultural areas of town.
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