Thailand, India, Mexico and Israel - Tastings from Around the World

Diverse cultures abound here in San Antonio, and we love living here because we both love learning about other traditions and customs. San Antonio’s population is a mix of numerous nationalities, and we are finding it fascinating observing and participating with people from other cultures who are celebrating and honoring their ancestors’ holidays.

Bangkok 54 - best Thai food we've found in the US!

We’ve enjoyed a “tasting from around the world” this past weekend beginning Friday night with the best Thai dinner that we’ve ever had outside of Thailand. Bangkok 54 was a very lucky find because my initial Internet search began with a search for a good Vietnamese restaurant, and while searching for restaurants with excellent reviews, several Thai restaurants came up. Since we both love Thai as well as Vietnamese food, I scanned reviews until I found a restaurant that had multiple 5-star reviews, and it happened to be Thai. The inside wasn’t fancy still it reminded us of local restaurants that we’d visited in Thailand. We received an immediate warm welcome by a tiny little Thai woman; it was just like walking into a local Thai eatery. The food was fresh, flavorful and seriously spicy hot, just like in Phuket (not the American “watered down” version). Our mouths tingled for quite some time after we’d finished dinner. Bangkok 54 is now at the top of our favorite restaurants list, and we’ll without doubt be going back often.

Saturday afternoon we headed to downtown San Antonio to “Diwali San Antonio”. Diwali (or Divali or Deepavali) is the Indian “festival of lights”. It’s an ancient Hindu festival celebrated in autumn every year, and it spiritually signifies the victory of light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance, good over evil, and hope over despair. We arrived early so stopped into a bar for a drink. Only by luck, I chose a table so that Steve sat just below the Ravens mascot sign. He thought this must be a good luck omen for their game on Sunday (not to be as they lost!). So much for drinking to a Ravens victory and back to the festival . . . .

Absolutely beautiful and graceul

A long string of booths providing traditional Indian food was one of the main features of the festival. We walked around to see what they each had to offer. As they were well into cooking their specialties, the smells of curries, samosas and biryanis mingled around us so that our mouths were watering and already beginning to anticipate fantastic tastes.  Entertainment provided by a few young students singing traditional songs followed by dance groups representing various states in India started off the SA Diwali festival. A great addition to the program was that an emcee explained which state the dance came from and what it signified. He also gave us information about the state being represented. There are numerous classical and folk dance forms in India, and we got to see several of them before the food smells overwhelmed us and our stomachs demanded to be fed.

Delhi representatives

Samosas were our first choice. They were so incredibly melt-in-your-mouth scrumptious that we had to go back to that same booth to get a couple more. A samosa is a triangular pastry stuffed with curried potatoes, peas and loaded with spices and then fried until crispy. Ours were extremely spicy and were the best we’ve both had since leaving the UK! A mother and daughter stopped to ask what we were eating because obviously we had a blissful look on our faces. The food they had chosen was way too spicy for them, so they were hoping for a recommendation that didn’t leave their mouths on fire. The samosas certainly wouldn’t have been a good choice for them.

While wandering down the row of booths perusing each of the menus, we watched to see what delicious offerings others were carrying away. We finally settled on a Pav Bhaji that we shared. It’s a lentil (dhal) dish originating from Mumbai. This one was also incredibly spicy and left our mouths tingling for the rest of the evening. I wish we would have had room to taste other dishes, but there was just too much to choose from, and we’d pigged out on the samosas. Local restaurants provided the booths, so we now have a list to visit when Steve is craving an Indian meal.

Lighting candles for Diwali

Lighting of the candles is really what Diwali is all about, so we followed a crowd down several flights of stairs to some fountains where people were placing lighted candles into the water at the bottom. I’m guessing for those who were from Indian heritage, they were saying a prayer to Goddess Lakshmi (goddess of wealth, love and prosperity). For the rest of us, we just appreciated a truly beautiful tradition!

You can see more photos from the evening by clicking here: Diwali

On Sunday, Steve had a Grand Prix plus a couple of American football games (including the Ravens) to watch. However; we managed to fit in another trip downtown for Dia de los Muertos (Mexican Day of the Dead) celebrations. Since this holiday originated in Mexico, it’s very popular here in San Antonio. The Dia de los Muertos honors the dead with festivals and celebrations. History says that it combines indigenous Aztec rituals with Catholicism brought to Mexico by the Spanish invaders in the early 1500’s.

One of the unique alters

We wandered through the exhibits of altars which were unique to the person or persons they were honoring. Dia de los Muertos altars are decorated with photos of the deceased, painted skulls, flowers and things that the deceased really loved in life.

Of course, there were several booths of food – everything from burritos, tacos, fajitas and gorditas to carnitas – truly authentic Mexican dishes. There were smells of frying onions, sizzling meat, and you could watch them preparing your order, so the food was tasty and freshly prepared. Lines were long at every booth but judging by the smiles on everyone’s faces; it was well worth the wait! Steve headed first for the panadería for a taste of Pan de los Muertos, a sweet bread that has the shape of bones on the top. (I think he endorses the motto “life is uncertain – eat dessert first”) It wasn’t what we were expecting. It tasted like a doughnut but was much heavier and more condensed and baked rather than fried.

Steve with his Pan de los Muertos

Because the afternoon had warmed up, we decided a beer was in order before making our way to the entertainment area. Children performed dances from both Spain and Mexico starting with a group of tiny little girls who must have been only around 3-years old. Dancers in various age groups progressed to more and more complicated footwork and twirling throughout the program. All of them had painted on skull faces and dressed in vibrant, colorful costumes and headdresses. The final dance was a flamboyant flurry of vivid skirts.

Beautiful dance, beautiful girls and beautiful costumes!

I absolutely love the concept of Dia de los Muertos. It celebrates the lives of the deceased with food, drink, parties and building alters, rather than the morose idea than when you die that’s it.

For more vivid photos of the dancers click on Dia los Muertos

Added to our tastes from other countries, we’ve just recently had Israeli falafels that were just as good as the ones that we had in Israel. mmmm – were they ever yummy!! I can’t believe our luck in finding authentic ethnic food - it’s brilliant!

All of these recent fun festivals and good food brings to mind the saying

“you don’t need a silver fork to eat good food” Paul Prudhomme. 

This saying was certainly true for our weekend treats and our falafels because we were either using very inexpensive or plastic forks and spoons or mostly our hands!! But the food and entertainment equaled those we’ve found in other countries which left us filled and contented!