Unanswered Prayers

             When the thought began wrestling around in my head about resurrecting the blog, I asked myself how long it had been since I actually posted something. “Maybe a year and a half ago?” Couldn’t have been longer than that. No way. It’s really been closer to three years! September 2014 was the last post I published. Wow.

            So much has happened between then and now. I started my blog originally after being inspired by a book written by a local Tampa woman detailing her attempts to get over many her many fears by making a list and conquering them one by one. I was also going through a bit of a transition in my life, much like that of the author’s, and I thought why not share my journey through the magic that is the internet? Needless to say, it helped me move through to the next stage in my life immensely.

           

            “Then why did you stop blogging, you might ask?” Well, I started a new job and things got busy, as they often do, and I just did not have the time to keep it up consistently. I had the best of intentions but just not enough follow through at the time. Now, fast forward three years, and I find myself a couple of years further into my 30’s (absolutely unbelievable), hopefully somewhat wiser, and ready to try my hand at this crazy blog thing once again.

            Am I going to exclusively post about overcoming obstacles that are outside my comfort zone? No, not exclusively. Although they may make an appearance every once in a while. This time around, I’ve felt compelled to take a chance on writing about the ups and downs of being a Christian, professional girl, in her early 30’s, who happens to be single at a time when many of my contemporaries are married with kids (that they had on purpose!). Think of it as in the style of Sex in the City, or since it’s about being a Christian single, NO Sex in the City! Ha! Nor will this be completely all about dating and trying to find the George to my Amal. I hope everyone will get that reference. If not, just Google it. As a complete aside, what on Earth did we do before Google? How did people resolve arguments and immediately prove their friends wrong? What a time to be alive.

            Back on topic. It’s definitely going to require more vulnerability on my part than anything else I’ve ever set out to accomplish but maybe that will be half the fun. I am a true believer that one purpose of experiencing difficulties in our lives is so that we can share what we learned about God and from God, with others going through similar situations. And that’s honestly what I’m hoping to accomplish through this blog. To maybe give some little nugget of sunshine to someone struggling with the same things I struggle with, if I’m being honest, pretty much each day. I’m also hoping to make these posts light-hearted and fun. Perhaps even inject a little humor into a topic that can get discouraging real quick.  

Recently I was driving home from the office and I had an epiphany, or at least the most epiphany like experience I’ve probably ever had. That week I’d been working through a disappointment, one that I had been praying to come to fruition for a really, really long time, and I discovered that it was not going to work out the way I had hoped. When I say really long time, I mean a really, really, long time. I probably have prayer journals filled with prayers about this specific thing going back a couple of years. I would even sometimes start my prayers with “God, I know I talk to you about this a lot but…” And the Angels would roll their eyes and say “Ugh, not this again.” Just kidding, at least I hope so! But you get the picture. We all have one of those, you know what yours is. Anyway, I’m sure many of you are familiar with the saying that “God answers in three ways; yes, no, and not yet.” Well, this particular request turned out to be a flat out No, and it had been for probably as long as I’d been asking for it to work out and I just didn’t want to see it that way. What does Selena Gomez say? The heart wants what it wants. Only that day, instead of being totally devastated, I was truly relieved. It was like blinders had been taken off my eyes and I realized that had I gotten exactly what I was asking for, that it would have been a huge disaster. All the reasons why it would have not been God’s best for me came flooding into my mind and I finally saw that “No” as a huge blessing. That’s why I titled this post, “Unanswered Prayers.” Now, the Garth Brooks classic did not magically start coming through the radio the moment I had this awakening! Although that would have been a great way to wrap this post up. So instead, I’ll just end with this, if you’ve been dealt some cards that weren’t what you had in mind, maybe ask God “What do you want me to learn from this?” instead of the ever popular “Why me?” Easier said than done, but incredibly more useful.

Stay classy and see ya next time!

   

The check engine light is on

For this week’s challenge I decided to get my hands a little dirty and learn how to change the oil in a car. Back again to help out was my buddy Steve. It’s not that I think I might take up changing my own oil on a regular basis it’s just something that I thought might be a good idea to know how to do if the occasion ever arose requiring me to know how to complete this particular task. But enough chit chat, away we go…

Once when I was about 17 or 18 my dad thought I should know how to change my own oil and proceeded to teach me on my car in the driveway at home. Now teenage me did not have the appreciation for how useful this might be and did not pay one bit of attention. Besides, I didn’t want to wreck my freshly painted nails so I just nodded and said “ok” at the appropriate times until the lesson was over. Little did I know this would end up on a list of things I wanted to accomplish years later. 

Steve has access to a garage that includes a pit especially for changing oil so I wasn’t going to have to roll around underneath the chosen automobile. While I’ve aged some years I still don’t really want to get dirty unless it’s absolutely necessary so the pit was a definite plus. So last week after work I met Steve up in San Antonio (Florida, not Texas!) and followed him to his parent’s house where the garage with the said pit was located. If I didn’t know Steve as well as I do I would have thought he was luring me out to an isolated area to make me into a skin suit. Luckily for me, Steve isn’t really the skin suit wearing kind of guy!

Once we got to his parent’s house Steve changed into a handy dandy jumpsuit which was just perfect for changing oil. I already had on clothes I didn’t mind getting dirty so there was no need for me to don a jumpsuit. But I did bring my gardening gloves so I could keep my mani intact. What can I say, some things never change. Now I just got the oil in my car changed last week when I had to make an unexpected trip to the mechanic’s shop after a dead battery incident so we were going to change the oil on Steve’s car. Which worked out perfectly because if I’d had to go to the auto parts store to pick up the supplies I would have been clueless.

Steve and his jumpsuit

After getting the car properly situated over the pit we climbed down in there so we could get started. Steve very thoroughly explained how oil works in the engine and what happens when you don’t change it when you ought to. Surprisingly enough I’ve let my car go a wee bit longer than I should before making it down to the shop and I was familiar with the rattling Steve described when you let it go too long. Oops.

Moving on, Steve showed me where the plug thingy was and we got started on unscrewing it and getting a pan underneath to catch all the oil. Once the oil had drained we put on the new filter. I have to say it didn’t take nearly as long as I thought it was going to and there was a lot more oil in the pan that I thought there would be. I’m not exactly sure why I thought there wouldn’t be that much oil in the car but I just did. In my head oil changes were needed because all the old oil had disappeared somewhere which necessitated new oil being put in. Not at all how it works but that’s how I pictured it. Oh well.

draining the oil

 

Now for the final part. We found a funnel and I got started pouring all the oil into the car. And presto, we were all done! Now for the cleanup and a kind of funny story. Before you all think I’m a terrible person for laughing at what I’m about to tell you let me assure y’all I was given permission to include this in the blog. As we were cleaning up, Steve went to pick up the oil pan to drain it and his cell phone fell out of the pocket of his jumpsuit and landed right in the still full oil pan! After a split second of utter shock, Steve plunged his gloveless hand into the hot oil to retrieve the phone. After getting the majority of the oil off it we gave it a test to see if it was still alive and wouldn’t you know it, it was! So lesson of the day, submerging your Iphone in motor oil does not completely ruin it.

Adding the new oil

 

I don’t think my mechanic shop needs to worry about losing my business every 3,000-5,000 miles or so but I’m super glad that I know how to change my own oil should the need present itself. Thanks again Steve!  

 

 

Surf's Up aka Shark Week

Now that I’m back on track with crossing things off the list I thought I’d tackle one of the bigger challenges. Surfing. Funny that I should pick this task to complete on the very day Shark Week started but I’ll get to that later on. This past weekend I, along with a few friends including my friend James, who is a surfing instructor extraordinaire, caravanned out to Cocoa Beach. The whole week had been so dreary with rain that we were all worried the weather was going to ruin our day. Fortunately, Saturday turned out to be a gorgeous day for the beach and the conditions were great for catching some waves.

Cocoa Beach is about two hours away from Tampa and we left around 8:00 a.m. and arrived a little after 10:30a.m. Our first stop, after the mandatory breakfast at Chick fil A of course, was the surf shop down by the beach so we could rent some boards. The guys at the surf shop were super cool and let my friend Julie and I borrow rash guards so we wouldn’t get burned. We didn’t have our own to bring and probably would have completely fried without them so they were a total godsend. Out of the whole group of seven there were four of us who hadn’t surfed before so James got us set up with boards that were nine feet long. Apparently the longer the board the easier it is to learn on.

After getting the boards loaded up into the car which was a lot more difficult that one would think we finally got out to the beach. If you think surfing might be hard let me tell you it wasn’t nearly as tricky as getting all your beach stuff and the board out onto the beach! I’m about 5’3 on a good day so trying to balance the nine feet long surfboard on my head along with carrying my beach bag, cooler, and chair was slightly problematic. Thank goodness for boys because after seeing the trouble I was having my friend Tommy swapped boards with me since his was a lot smaller and less awkward to carry. Eventually my sweaty self made it out to the beach and unloaded all my baggage. Being a total girl I had to take a few pictures before getting in the water and taking on the look of a drowned rat. Check us out…..

Julie, Loren, and Me

The crew

catching a wave

 

Onto the exciting part. James gives us a few tips while on dry land before we hit the waves and then we were off to the ocean. I’ve been a Florida girl my whole life but most of my beach trips are to the Gulf of Mexico. I don’t think I’ve ever actually swam in the Atlantic Ocean. It’s a lot colder than the Gulf that’s for sure but by the time we sting ray shuffled into the water it felt fantastic. Once we got out far enough we jumped on our boards so that we were lying down and started paddling out further into the water. Once we got out past where the waves were breaking we were able to sit up on our boards and get used to the feeling. I could have stayed that way forever. It was so peaceful just sitting there on our boards in the water watching the waves roll in but that’s not why we came out there. We came out to surf and that’s what we were going to do! Well, we were at least going to try. Haha! We had to paddle up closer to the beach in order to “catch a wave” so that’s what we did. Once we saw a wave coming in we had to paddle as fast as we could in order to “catch” it and ride it into shore. After a few failed attempts to catch a wave I finally got one and was able to ride it in while lying on the board. I could believe how fast I was going! It probably wasn’t all that fast but it sure felt like it. I tried it a couple of more times while lying down and then finally got up the courage to try making it to my knees. I was able to ride a couple of waves in on my knees and it was the coolest thing!

By this time we had been out in the water for a couple of hours so we decided it was time for a little break and we headed up to the beach. I don’t know what exactly is in the sand over in Cocoa Beach but holy guacamole it was hot. I’ve scampered over some pretty hot sand but this was ridiculous. The skin was melting off my feet it was so hot. I think I screamed and threw down my board to make a run for my towel. After a short break it was time to head out again but by the time we got in the water we heard the lifeguards aka Baywatch whistling for everyone to come to shore. Now I’ll explain the Shark Week reference. Apparently there had been a shark attack pretty close to where we had been surfing. The beach was closed down for about 30 minutes while everything got back under control. As crazy as it sounds we could not wait to get back in the water even with the shark sighting. I guess it’s the out of sight out of mind mentality because you know they’re out there swimming all around you but if you don’t see them it’s like they aren’t there. Later we found out that a little girl had been attacked while wading in the water with her parents. The shark got her on her leg and she was taken to the hospital. While we were waiting to get the green light to go back in the water we did get to scope out the Baywatch guys strutting their stuff along the beach! Ha!

Once we got the ok to head back out it was later in the afternoon so the waves were picking up a lot more than they were in the morning. Altogether James says we were in about two to four foot waves that day. It doesn’t sound like a lot but think of something that high over your head coming straight at you and it seems like more of a big deal. Since I’m so short I kept having a problem getting back out past where the waves were breaking and kept getting swept back to shore. That was the most frustrating part of the day though. James took pity on me and helped me get further out in the water so I could keep trying to surf. At the end of the day though I managed to stand up on my board once. Only for a second or two but for me that was a huge accomplishment!

I’m so glad I was able to cross surfing off my list and even more glad that I had such a great teacher to help me out! James was awesome and so patient with all of us newbies. It definitely wasn’t my athletic ability that kept me out there all day more likely it was my stubbornness and determination not to quit and be the only one who didn’t make it her feet. I would totally go again and actually can’t wait for another weekend to head out to catch some waves!  

 

Wok N Roll

I’m back! Finally after a long hiatus I’m ticking things off my fear list left and right. I’m combining two tasks this week to make up for my long summer absence and the first up is tackling my fear of uncooked fish or raw sushi. Without further adieu…

Wok (Raw Sushi)

Usually Fourth of July is spent with fireworks and bbq but this year I decided to spend it with two friends, Heather and Russ, taking in a comedy show in Ybor City at the The Improv. Good decision too because it ended up raining all day. Before the show we needed to grab dinner and Russ decided we should go to Samurai Blue, a sushi restaurant, and cross this food challenge off my list.

Just to give y’all a little background on my issues with sushi I’ll take you back to where it all began. I’ve always been a little picky. A couple of posts ago I told you that a friend has said that I have a “conservative palette” and that is absolutely true but I’d like to think that in my later years I’ve become somewhat more adventurous with cuisine choices. The first time I tried sushi I was on a law school trip to Washington DC. We were exploring Union Station and lunchtime rolled around and the group decided they wanted sushi. “Try the California Roll” they told me. “It’ll be good, you’ll like it” they said. WRONG. It was one of the worst things I’ve ever put in my mouth. I guess that’s what I get for trying sushi from a to-go place in a train station. That experience led to a long time sushi ban until I let myself get peer pressured into trying a Tampa Roll at SoHo Sushi in South Tampa. The Tampa Roll was made with tempura shrimp so it wasn’t raw. Turns out it was delicious so that quickly became a favorite. I still wouldn’t try the raw stuff though.

Fast forward to Samurai Blue. Here’s what we ordered….

Spicy Tuna Roll- which is just tuna, sriracha sauce, and scallions

Volcano Roll- crab, scallop, cucumber and spicy mayo on top of a California Roll

Tuna Summer of Love Roll- tuna, scallions, and mixed greens

Mexican Roll- tempura shrimp and cream cheese

I threw in the Mexican Roll because I knew I’d like that one so it doesn’t count towards the task at hand. I tried all of them and actually loved them all. I think the Volcano Roll was probably my favorite though. Who wouldn’t love anything that has spicy mayo on it? So in the end I discovered I actually like raw sushi, well at least the tuna rolls. Maybe next time I’ll branch out even more and try something with eel!

Volcano, Mexican, and Spicy Tuna Rolls

 

Roll (Public Transportation)

Last week I was able to cross using public transportation off my list with the help of my friend Lindsey. She’s ridden the bus before so I thought it would be a good idea to go with her rather than try it out on my own. Who knows where I’d end up if I went by myself! Riding the bus isn’t something I’d really consider to be a fear but is definitely something I’m not super comfortable doing just because I’ve never experienced it. I’ve grown up and continued to live in an area in Tampa that isn’t very conducive to using public transportation or even walking so it’s never really been a consideration.

We met down at Britton Plaza off of South Dale Mabry down in South Tampa. This was a good idea on Lindsey’s part because it’s a shopping plaza and we could park our cars there while we rode around on the bus. I met Lindsey at 10:15am to catch the Number 19 bus arriving at 10:30am going downtown and to the surrounding areas. We took a pretty laid back approach to our travels and decided we would get off whenever the mood struck us. We decided that since we weren’t sure how long we’d be on the bus or where exactly we were headed we would just get the all day pass which was only $4. As someone who isn’t familiar with bus riding I took a little longer to get on and pay for my ticket which I’m sure didn’t endear me to the people waiting to get on behind me since it was stifling hot even at 10:30am. At least the lady bus driver was patient enough with me while I was sorting out my change and trying figure out where to put it. Apparently you don’t pay the driver, which is what I tried to do. You actually put your money in a machine and it spits out your ticket. How I didn’t see that I’m not sure because it pretty much blocks your way onto the bus. Rookie mistake.

Our bus was pretty empty so we had our choice of seats. I guess not too many people were headed downtown at that time of day. It was also absolutely freezing on the bus which was great because like I said before it was hotter than you know where. Now time to figure out where to get off the bus. Lindsey and I referred to our map and checked out where the bus was taking us and before we knew it we were cruising down South Howard Avenue. Being the old souls that we are we made a last minute decision to hop off at Howard and Azeele because we saw an antique store that caught our eyes. After a little shopping and lunch at Ribbet’s BBQ we decided it was time to catch the bus once more. We located a stop a couple of blocks away at Armenia and Azeele next to the Greenwise Publix that would take us back to Britton Plaza and was due to arrive within the next few minutes.

I have to say I’m so grateful that I don’t have to use the bus my primary means of transportation because it was so hot outside and we had to stand there for several minutes without much shade. It sounds like a silly thing to complain about but just try it some time and see how long you last in the unforgiving Florida summer. I was also super glad I had Lindsey with me because I could not get a grip on the bus schedule.  I mean I passed the bar exam for heaven’s sake so you’d think I could figure out a bus schedule, but sadly no. I can’t even imagine trying to deal with that on a daily basis or if I was traveling with children or in the rain or other bad weather. Needless to say we were so glad when we caught sight of the bus rolling down the street with its much anticipated air conditioning.

While I don’t think I’ll be jumping at the chance to trade in my car in favor of the bus I’m glad I now know (at least somewhat) how to navigate the public transportation system. Task completed!   

   

Number 19

Britton Plaza Stop

Who needs Triple A?

Hey Y’all! This week in the mail I received a letter from Triple A letting me know my membership was about to expire and that I needed to renew it. That’s one of those things you never really think about until you’re stranded on the side of the road, in the rain, with a flat tire and have no one to help. It was with that in mind that I chose my task for this week. Changing a tire. I originally planned on knocking out the tire and learning to change my oil all in one sitting but as you’ll soon see my plans went slightly awry.

My companion for today’s task was my buddy back from week two, Steve R. Not only is he handy with a shotgun but he is also a mechanic extraordinaire. So naturally he was my first choice to help me cross these two tasks off the list. We decided on a Monday afternoon since Steve was lucky enough to be off of work that day. Since he lives way up around Dade City/San Antonio I took advantage of being in that area to have lunch with my favorite pregnant attorney and law school bestie, Stephanie, since she happens to work close by. Well my day did not start out the way I planned it which really threw me off. Remember week one where I conquered my fear of snakes. That apparently only related to docile, non poisonous pet snakes. I found this out because after heading back to my condo from getting my tan on at the pool I stumbled upon a HUGE snake stretched out across my garage door. The same garage door I needed to open in order to get into my house. As I walked up the driveway to go inside I spotted the deviant snake chilling in the shade by my garage door. I simultaneously dropped by beach bag and uttered a few colorful phrases and retreated to the mailbox pavilion across the street to conduct my snake surveillance. I thought to myself I could just go around to the front door to get inside and it was just about that time that I realized my house keys were sitting on my kitchen counter. So scratch that idea. Now what, I thought to myself. BTW the snake has still not moved. In fact he lifted his snaky little head and looked directly at me. Taunting me, I know! So I call my mom to bring over her set of house keys so I can get on with my day because now I’m running late to meet Stephanie which means I’ll be late to meet Steve. Of course after I call her the darn thing starts slithering away around the corner. I waited until I was sure it wasn’t coming back and darted across the street and into the garage safe and sound but running late. Story of my life. Ha!

Earlier in the week when I talked with Steve about what would constitute proper tire changing/oil changing attire I decided I would bring a change of clothes with me. So I packed a bag with old clothes that I wouldn’t care if they got sweaty and gross. After lunch I start the drive south towards Steve’s place and I start doubting whether or not I remembered to put the bag into the car on my rush to get out the door after being accosted by the snake that morning. I looked into the backseat (don’t worry, I looked while stopped at a traffic light) and sure enough, no extra clothes. This also meant no elastic band to pull my hair back with either. Just peachy. This day just kept getting better. And little did I know it wasn’t through yet because what inevitably happens every afternoon during the Summer in Florida? If you guessed thunderstorms you’d be right.

I roll up to Steve’s in the middle of a rainstorm strong enough for me to get my umbrella out of the car when I get out. This does not phase Steve. For one he has a hat on but he is also a boy so he’s not too concerned with getting his hair wet. After surveying me in my less than tire changing appropriate outfit (a black maxi dress and sandals) Steve decides that this is actually going to work to my benefit. How so? Well, if I were to actually have to change a flat tire on the side of the road I would most assuredly be wearing nice clothes. With my luck it would also be raining. There would probably be snakes too.

It’s still raining when we decide to commence the tire changing lesson but save the oil changing for another day.  I began by pulling stuff out of my trunk while holding an umbrella and trying to not let my dress drag on ground. If I thought I looked ridiculous at that point I was wrong because it was only going to get worse! After emptying the truck and pulling up the mat covering my spare tire it finally stopped raining. Yay! Wrong. What happens in the Summer in Florida after thunderstorms? The most insane, intense humidity you’ve ever felt. Lovely. I would have preferred if it kept raining. At least that would have disguised the gross sweat that was now dripping down my face. Oh well, these were realistic conditions so I tried to embrace it.

Once we had the spare out of the trunk and had laid out the jack and lug nut wrench thing it was time for the real work to begin. We laid the removable cover down on the ground so I could use that to kneel on while changing my back driver’s side tire and limit the damage to my dress. Step one- loosen the lug nuts. Lug nuts are the things that keep the tire latched securely onto the car if you weren’t already aware. What a terrible name. Surely some man came up with that. Who else would give something a name with the word “nuts” in it?! Anyway Steve tells me we do this part first before jacking the car up so that you don’t look like an idiot when the car is off the ground and you try unscrewing the lug nuts only to have the tire spin round and round. Good to know. I’m sure I’ll have plenty of other opportunities to look stupid soon enough so I’m glad I dodged that one. So now I’ve got the lug nuts partially unscrewed and I get to move onto step two and learn how to jack the car up off the ground. Turns out my car, a Ford Taurus, comes equipped with a special notch underneath the car by the tire that is made especially for the jack so we don’t have to blindly search for a good spot to put it. After lots and lots and lots of turning I finally get the jack up high enough that the tire is off the ground. By this time my hair is plastered to my neck and sweat is rolling right off me in an oh not so attractive manner. But wait! I remembered I had a baseball cap in the car. I piled my hair up and underneath the hat to get a little relief from the sauna like atmosphere. Hallelujah! I’m certain this new look I’ve got going on, maxi dress and Atlanta Braves bedazzled ball cap, is not going to inspire a new fashion trend. Steve is wise and does not comment on my new look.

Moving on, now that I’ve got the car up and off the ground I have to take the lug nuts all the way off and put them somewhere safe so they don’t go rolling away. Luckily for me we’re doing this on a concrete driveway instead off the side of the road so there’s really no place for them to roll off to. Step three- take off the tire. Even I can’t mess that part up. Now that we’ve got the “flat” tire off the car it’s time to put the spare on. Matching up the screws on the car to the holes on the spare sounds easy enough but let me just tell you it’s not if you’re not used to it. It takes me a couple of tries with Steve giggling in the background before I manage to stick it on there. So now I grab those pesky lug nuts and screw them on with my fingers so the tire will stay in place. Steve tells me I want to make sure there isn’t a “wiggle room” in between the tire and the car because that’s bad. Since we’re changing a tire on my actual car that I have to drive home in we don’t plan on leaving the spare on and so we take the lug nuts and then tire off so it can go back to it’s home in my trunk. Now I get to try and put the original tire back on the car so I’m able to drive it after our lesson. Honestly I thought I could manage to put the tire back on since I just did it with the spare. WRONG. My original tire is huge, and as it turns out, pretty flippin heavy. After watching me struggle with it for a few minutes Steve gratefully cuts in and puts it back on for me. We get the lug nuts back in place and I get to use the wrench again to screw them back on. Since they need to be on pretty darn tight Steve tells me to step on the wrench handle to get them tighter after I’ve used my hands. Steve, being the insightful man he is, tells me this maneuver will alert any passing male that I have absolutely no clue what I’m doing and should get someone to take pity on me and stop to help. Once I thought I had them on there as tight as they could go, Steve went back behind me and tighten them some more. Guess I’m not as strong as I thought I was! Ha!

It turns out that changing a tire isn’t quite as difficult as I thought it might be. Although that may be because I had an expert telling me what to do instead of having to figure it out myself! I’ll have to save changing the oil for another day but at least I know that if I ever get stranded with a flat tire, I’ll survive!    

Y'all Come Eat...

Hey Y’all! So after last week’s adventure I thought it was time to cross one of my food challenges off the list. When my friend Jake invited me to lunch this week I knew exactly which one I could do. Ethnic food. Jake is probably as adventurous with food as I am conservative. I’ve heard him say more than once that the best restaurants are the ones the health inspector hasn’t found yet! My tastes tend to lean more towards the vanilla side of things. My friend, Abby could not have described it more perfectly when she said that I have a “conservative palette.”

After telling Jake what I wanted to accomplish for this week’s entry he knew just the place to test my cuisine boundaries. So Monday afternoon I pulled up at Jai Ho, an Indian restaurant with a lunch buffet tucked into a little shopping center off of Fowler Avenue in Tampa. I’ve heard good things about this place from my pal, Scott, who absolutely adores Indian food. In fact, he said that if he had to pick his top restaurants to eat a last meal at Jai Ho would be on his list. And that’s saying a lot.

So we went inside the restaurant and were greeted by the most precious little man who happened to be the owner. After getting settled into our booth and ordering some waters we headed up to the buffet. Apparently I was going to need some water as a few of the dishes were going to be a little spicy as Jakes tells me. I’ve already mentioned how vanilla my taste buds tend to be so this makes me a little nervous. Spicy food and I don’t always get along if you know what I’m saying. ;-)

Here’s what Jake loaded up onto my plate…

Nan- light Indian bread

Steamed White Rice- self explanatory

Butter Chicken- chicken marinated in a yogurt and spice mixture

Chicken Biryani- chicken cooked in a copper pot with basmati rice, herbs and spices

Vegetable Pakora- basically fried vegetables

Murgh Tikka- chicken with Indian herbs cooked in a clay oven

Goat Curry- goat mixed with a curry sauce  

Baingan Bhartha- eggplant mashed with tomatoes and onions with herbs and spices

Dal Makhani- black lentils steamed with Indian herbs and spices

            Jake explained to me that I was to use the nan (bread) as a utensil and eat with my hands! What???? I half expected that to go about as well as when I forget that I have no coordination whatsoever and try chopsticks and end up with rice all over me. But it wasn’t too bad at all. I just tore up some pieces of nan and scooped up my food with it. Although that only lasted about two or three tries before my inner etiquette queen started freaking out about eating with my hands. So I switched to the fork and knife that must have been provided just for silly white girls like me. Jake tells me that it’s a good thing we’re in ‘Mercia and not India because there wouldn’t be a fork to be found!

            I surprised myself with how brave I was because I tried everything on my plate without hesitation. Didn’t even blink! I probably just didn’t want to embarrass myself in front of Jake. To my astonishment everything was really, really good. I couldn’t believe it. Here I was, someone who absolutely refused to try this kind of cuisine because of my “conservative palette” just eating it all up like it was no big deal. Th goat curry was actually quite delicious but I do have to say the butter chicken and vegetable pakora were probably my favorites. Shocking, I know. I would like anything fried or that had "butter" in the name. Must be the Southern girl in me.

            Dessert is always my favorite part of a meal so I was super excited when Jake went to get  it from the buffet. He returned with these little donut hole looking things that had been soaked in honey (gulab jamun) and a bowl of carrot pudding (gajar ka halwa). Both were just scrumptious. I mean, how could anything soaked in honey not be good, seriously!      

            I can’t believe I was so afraid to try this out! Lunch was completely delightful and I will definitely go again. Maybe I’ll even be able to eat my whole meal with just the nan?? On second thought, that might be pushing it. J