An Indonesian in Mississippi. Not as catchy as "An Englishman in New York"
Appetite for Jackson
We made it to Appetite for Jackson after all, and I’m glad we did. Fun event that can be completely free if one so chooses, good food and music, a celebrity appearance, and a warm (by winter standards), beautiful day–what’s not to like?
China Express Restaurant at closing time
Score another local find for Denise. A couple months ago she noticed that China Express Restaurant had taken up residence in the old location of the by-then-defunct Euphoria Smoothies and said that some Asian folks were eating in there. I remember her saying that but for some reason it didn’t register in my consciousness that this could be the first solid Chinese place in Clinton, so we didn’t go until recently after being reminded of its existence by a friend from church (thanks, James!). Maybe the name made me dismiss it right off the bat, but whatever the reasoning at the time I was sorely mistaken. Oh, China Express… please forgive me for neglecting you. I prone myself before you both begging for mercy and basking in your magnificence, for you are truly a marvelous restaurant–to my knowledge the first and only authentic Chinese restaurant in Clinton.
Moon cakes inna bag
I have to admit, despite being of ethnic Chinese background I’m very nominally Chinese. I speak and understand very little Mandarin and am almost entirely illiterate, and I don’t observe most of the customs and holidays. About the only thing I’m very Chinese about is food, and I crave moon cakes at least once a year. Problem is that they’re served on and around the Mid-Autumn Festival, which because of the lunar calendar upon which it is based the date always changes. As a result I’m always craving moon cake when none are available.
Fortuitously, because Denise signed us up to be a host family for a foreign student this year and we are hosting a student from China, this time around the Mid-Autumn Festival came up in conversation a day before it was to happen and as a consequence I was able to pick up some moon cakes before I missed them again. Thanks, Samuel! Yes, he got some too, entirely by serendipitous way of my own selfish craving.
Burrito Mexpress
“Burrito Mexpress”!? Really!? The name of this new restaurant in Clinton filled me with nothing but doubt. Thankfully Denise convinced me that we should try it, and because of that we’ve discovered the first authentic Mexican restaurant in Clinton and the best tacos in town.
Birthday snow cone
Sofia had her birthday party. This year’s theme: dinosaurs! The snow cone… er… the ice age. Yeah, that’s it!
Tiger Roll and Tsunami Roll at Edo
Just a quick public service announcement reminding everyone that Edo is still the best sushi restaurant in Jackson.
Sofia's sushi
Sofia and her chipmunk cheeks agree.
Denise feeding Penelope Chicken Teriyaki
So would Penelope if she had sushi. Not quite ready for that yet, so she had Chicken Teriyaki instead.
Partied out
Penelope turned 1 year old last week, so we had a tiny celebration in traditional Pamudji family style–we cooked a special meal. It’s always about the food! I cooked a Chinese/Indonesian noodle dish as is the custom, and Denise baked some carrot cake cupcakes. » Continue Reading…
Babalu
Babalu Tacos & Tapas is a trendy new restaurant on Duling Avenue in the Fondren district of Jackson that serves (surprise!) tacos and tapas, among other things. Denise tells me there used to be a tapas place in Jackson, but it must not have done very well because it’s long gone. Having wanted to try tapas for a long time but not having the chance to, Babalu is a sort of answer to that wish. “Sort of” because if I had to categorize it (and I’m just as hopeless at categorizing food as I am music) I’d call it Mexican/Spanish-Southern/American fusion. It has a distinct Mexican base with its tacos, empanadas, enchiladas, etc., as well as Spanish with tapas; but the end product is very much informed by American sensibilities in general and Southern sensibilities in particular. So it’s not authentic tapas but, as is increasingly apparent to me, food doesn’t have to be 100% faithful to original regional/national recipes to be good.
As for the “trendy” bit, Denise and I are decidedly un-trendy. We don’t wear the latest fashion, drive a late model car, or even bother to go to the movies or watch popular TV shows to stay current. So as it seems everybody in town has eaten at Babalu twice already, we just got around to our first visit last week. Now we’re sorry we didn’t go sooner because in this case “trendy” has a healthy helping of substance to go with its style. » Continue Reading…
Haircut
Hoping it wouldn’t dull her Samson-esque physical strength, we took Sofia to get her first haircut. Christe’, our family hair specialist and likely the greatest in all of the Jackson Metro area, did the honors.
It's snow. Serious!
We got snow! Not nearly as much as last year’s big (for Jackson anyway) snow, but Sofia loved what little of it we got.
First snow
Penelope, on the other hand, was not convinced of the virtues of this cold, white stuff.