A Few Things New

...like new food.  "Tea Lady" as Kat and I call her is back from vacation! Hallelujah!  I was starting to miss homemade ....(wait for it)..... INDIAN food.  Don't ask me what any of it is, I have no idea.  Except that white stuff - it's rice.  The greens on the right are a green bean dish.  The greens on the left are something with coconut shavings in it.  It doesn't sound good, but it's delicious.  My recipe: mix it all together and eat with hands.

Mmm goodness.

...and a (soon to be) new room.  We've been given a few project at school, one of which is helping fund, decorate and organize a "Sensory Room" designed especially for those kids with sensory issues.  I'm really excited about it and have lots of ideas so we'll see where we get with them.  Today we went with Gina, Sally (chairpersons) and Gopa (Early Intervention Instructor) to pick out tile for part of the floor.  We were surprised but they let Kat and I decide.  In Kats words "We've been promoted!"  I'm really shocked they let us pick it out since I've heard they like to have the final say but aren't the ones working with the kids (Gina and Sally...  not Gopa, she's with the kids almost everyday).  I don't want to spoil the surprise, but this room will look completely different when it's done.  Here are before pictures:

I can't get a pic of the entire room - but here's a good view of the entrance. Small room - only 14'x9'

...and a new hotel and restaurant.  Since we've been hittin' the Indian Club scene lately, we've met a few people.  One is Manash who just happens to be the restaurant manager for the new Holiday Inn they are building down the road from us.  He bragged about his Italian restaurant that he's opening and gave us all his business card (I think we have 5 of his by now...) and told us to come visit when it's open.  Well, it's not opened yet - of course...it's India and everything takes even longer.  Since we've asked him about it every time we've seen him, we were invited to a taste testing as long as we gave feedback.  He knows there are always about 8 of us that go out and that we've traveled the world so they were interested in our opinion.  It's a very nice hotel but not meant for long term guests at all.  The food was good, but prices weren't listed so it's hard to say that I'd get the soup again.  It could be priced at $10 for all I know!  (although it was veerrry good)  We got a grand tour of the hotel as well so in case you are wanting to visit and stay at a Holiday Inn, here's what it'll look like:

 

Lobby

We liked the bar!  Finally found some (small) pool tables!

The family style Italian Restaurant, Roma.

I think they were disappointed that we weren't going to switch hotels as soon as they opened, but it's a smaller hotel and not built for long term guests.  And since they are right on a highway, they have no outdoorsy area.  What would we do without the turkeys, roosters, chickens, and bunnies roaming around?